Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.
Only recently, Lufthansa‘s Miles & More frequent flyer scheme expanded its online booking tool for award travel, by adding the ability to book redemption tickets on additional Star Alliance airlines. Last month, Miles & More added online award booking for Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, ANA, Eva Air, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Egyptair, SAS, South African Airways and TAP.
Traditionally, you could only redeem for a few airlines online – mostly those using Miles & More as their loyalty programme – and you had to call your local service centre to make award bookings on other airlines.
Miles & More has now added online award booking for United and Asiana.
This is good news because you can now book, for example, your low-tax redemptions for domestic travel in the United States. New York to Los Angeles is only 12,000 Miles plus $5.60 each way:
A Business Class redemption on United’s lie-flat 757 service requires only 17,000 miles each way, but availability seems rather hard to find. If you manage to find it, it is an excellent deal! An Avios redemption on the same route in American Business Class would cost you 37,500 Avios each way.
For those looking to travel to Asia, take a look at the following options:
Note that redeeming on Asiana rather than Lufthansa will bring your taxes/surcharges down, and you will be able to fly direct between London and Seoul on the Asiana A350.
Want to bring your taxes and fuel surcharges down even more? Consider positioning to the continent, as it will bring down the surcharges to approx. 190 GBP:
Bottom line
It is simply more convenient to book online. You will no longer need to call your local service centre to book M&M redemptions on these airlines.
It is also good news for those that believe that Lufthansa’s surcharges on redemption tickets are ludicrous and devalue the scheme massively. Asiana and United both impose minimal surcharges on award travel, and you will now be able to spot the difference right away on the online booking tool.
Regular readers will have noticed that I write about the Miles & More frequent flyer scheme quite a bit. I’m generally quite taken by Lufthansa‘s premium cabins and do believe that the Miles & More scheme can offer genuine value. Check out my post on some good redemptions here.
Finally! Transcontinental on UA has been my preferred M&M redemption for years. Yes, J inventory is hard to get but I usually manage with a little flexibility!