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Regular readers will know that each month the frequent flyer scheme for Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss etc – Miles & More – offers ‘Mileage Bargains’. These are heavily discounted award tickets in economy and business class to certain destinations. Because of the relatively high taxes and surcharges on economy redemptions, I will primarily look at business class options from the UK. Those in the regions will be pleased to learn that Miles & More long-haul redemptions already include your feeder leg to Frankfurt or Munich free of charge.

Miles & More Mileage Bargain Promotion October 2017

Book between 2 and 1 November 2017, travel between 1 February 2018 and 15 March 2018

Book on the dedicated offer page here

Business Class return flights for 70,000 Miles & More points (usually 135,000 points!):

• London Heathrow to Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hong Kong
• London City to Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hong Kong
• Manchester to Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hong Kong
• Birmingham to Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hong Kong
• Edinburgh to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing

Business Class return flights for 55,000 Miles & More points (usually 105,000 points!):

• London Heathrow to Washington Dulles, Boston, Detroit
• London City to Washington Dulles, Boston
• Manchester to Washington Dulles, Boston, Detroit
• Birmingham to Washington Dulles, Boston, Detroit

Here’s a dummy booking for Edinburgh to Hong Kong via Frankfurt on the Lufthansa 747-8i:

Bottom Line

Yes, you will pay a ludicrous 589 GBP in taxes and surcharges, but you will only pay 70,000 miles. How does this compare to BA? I would argue favourably. BA will ‘only’ charge you 355 GBP in taxes and surcharges, but you will require 150,000 Avios on off-peak and 180,000 Avios on peak dates for a return business class redemption from Heathrow to Hong Kong. And this doesn’t even include your feeder leg from Edinburgh, which would cost you another 15,550 Avios on an off-peak and 18,000 Avios on a peak date in Club (plus 45 GBP in taxes).