Lufthansa Group has grown a ton in recent times. The group purchased a number of European airways whereas increasing the Lufthansa route community from its Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and Munich Airport (MUC) hubs. One factor chances are you’ll not learn about Lufthansa is that a number of airways round Europe use its Miles & Extra loyalty program, a few of which are not a part of Star Alliance.
Moreover, Miles & Extra has some attention-grabbing candy spots that make it value taking a more in-depth take a look at when you’re based mostly in Europe. Plus, U.S.-based flyers that often fly to Europe on Lufthansa or one other Lufthansa Group airline could discover extra use in incomes Miles & Extra miles than miles with United Airways or one other Star Alliance accomplice.
You are in the best place in case you are curious concerning the Miles & Extra program. Right here, we’ll clarify the whole lot it is advisable to know, beginning with elite standing and accomplice airways and shifting on to incomes and redeeming miles.
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An outline of Lufthansa’s Miles & Extra program
Lufthansa Group owns Miles & Extra, however it’s used as the first loyalty program for a lot of completely different airways all through Europe. The airways that use Miles & Extra as their major loyalty program are:
- Air Dolomiti
- Austrian Airways
- Brussels Airways
- Croatia Airways
- Uncover Airways
- Eurowings
- LOT Polish Airways
- Lufthansa
- Lufthansa Metropolis
- Luxair
- Swiss
Many of those airways are both completely owned by Lufthansa Group or have beforehand been partially or wholly owned by the group. Nevertheless, some airways — particularly LOT Polish Airways and Croatia Airways — have by no means been affiliated with Lufthansa Group however nonetheless choose to make use of Miles & Extra as a loyalty program.
As most of those airways are members of Star Alliance, you will not be stunned to study you may earn and redeem miles on the Star Alliance airways:
- Aegean Airways
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- All Nippon Airways
- Asiana Airways
- Austrian Airways
- Avianca
- Brussels Airways
- Copa Airways
- Croatia Airways
- Egyptair
- Ethiopian Airways
- EVA Airways
- LOT Polish Airways
- Lufthansa
- Shenzhen Airways
- Singapore Airways
- South African Airways
- Swiss
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways
- Turkish Airways
- United Airways
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This system additionally companions with a handful of different airways, together with:
- Air Astana
- Air Malta
- Cathay Pacific
- LATAM
- Vistara
Be aware that there could also be restrictions relating to the flights on which you’ll earn or redeem miles inside these partnerships. Evaluation the airline’s accomplice web page on the Miles & Extra web site earlier than you intend your travels so what to anticipate.
Miles & Extra elite standing tiers
Like most airline loyalty packages, Miles & Extra gives a wide range of elite standing tiers that provide elevated mileage earnings and advantages like lounge entry, upgrades and fast-track safety. There are three standing tiers: Frequent Traveller, Senator and HON Circle.
Incomes Miles & Extra elite standing
If you wish to earn Miles & Extra elite standing, you will need to earn each factors and qualifying factors. You may earn factors on carriers that use Miles & Extra as their loyalty program, in addition to on Star Alliance companions. Qualifying factors and HON Circle factors can solely be earned on the next airways: Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airways, Brussels Airways, Croatia Airways, Uncover Airways, Eurowings, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Metropolis, Luxair and Swiss.
Moreover, HON Circle factors are solely earned on business- and first-class flights.
Listed below are the next level thresholds wanted to attain standing:
- Frequent Traveller standing: 650 factors and 325 qualifying factors in a calendar yr
- Senator standing: 2,000 factors and 1,000 qualifying factors in a calendar yr
- HON Circle standing: 6,000 HON Circle factors in a calendar yr
You may solely earn factors, qualifying factors and HON Circle factors for elite standing by way of flying, versus another packages that will let you earn standing from bank card spending. Nevertheless, a restricted variety of factors, qualifying factors and Hon Circle factors will be earned on journeys with Austrian AIRail, Lufthansa Categorical Rail and Swiss Air Rail (with a most of round 1 / 4 of the factors wanted for every standing stage).
You earn factors, qualifying factors and HON Circle factors based mostly on two components: journey class and whether or not your flight is taken into account intercontinental or continental. All factors are awarded as follows:
| Financial system class | Premium financial system class | Enterprise class | Top quality | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flights inside Europe (together with Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) | 20 | 20 | 40 | 40 |
| Intercontinental flights (all different locations) | 60 | 80 | 200 | 300 |
Incomes Lufthansa standing is not straightforward, however every standing tier comes with attention-grabbing advantages. High-tier HON Circle standing comes with a number of the most premium perks of all airline statuses. Here is a take a look at every tier’s respective advantages:
Frequent Traveller
- Enterprise-class check-in with Miles & Extra airline companions.
- Entry to the First Class Terminal (solely with a first-class ticket on Lufthansa and/or Swiss flights).
- One additional checked bag in financial system, two additional luggage in premium financial system and enterprise class, and three additional luggage in firstclass.
- Entry to Lufthansa Enterprise lounges when flying on Lufthansa Group and Star Alliance carriers.
- Earn as much as 50% extra redeemable miles: You may earn 25% bonus miles on flights operated by Uncover Airways, Eurowings, Luxair and different Miles & Extra airline companions, and a 50% bonus with choose carriers together with Air Canada, All Nippon Airways, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airways, Brussels Airways, Croatia Airways, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Metropolis, Swiss and United Airways.
- Miles will not expire so long as your standing stays.
- Devoted cellphone assist.
These advantages are surprisingly wealthy for low-tier elite standing. Bear in mind that you would be able to solely entry Lufthansa Enterprise lounges, not Star Alliance accomplice lounges like United Golf equipment or the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges. It’s because Frequent Traveller contains Star Alliance Silver advantages, not Star Alliance Gold.
Associated: Remade and reworked: First take a look at Lufthansa’s shiny new lounge at Newark Liberty
Senator
- The entire advantages of Frequent Traveller.
- Senator and Star Alliance Gold lounge entry.
- First-class check-in.
- Precedence safety.
- Precedence boarding.
- Two improve eVouchers annually that you should use for a one-class improve. You should use one eVoucher for an improve inside a single area or two vouchers for an intercontinental one-class improve. For instance, upgrading from premium financial system to enterprise on a transatlantic flight requires two eVouchers.
- 48-hour reserving assure earlier than departure within the highest reserving class.
- Companion Award: This allows you to add a companion to all award tickets at a 50% mileage low cost. This is applicable when flying award tickets on Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airways, Brussels Airways, Croatia Airways, Uncover Airways, Eurowings, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Metropolis, Luxair and Swiss.
- Free seat choice.
HON Circle
HON Circle is the cream of the crop for Miles & Extra standing. It contains all Senator standing advantages already talked about and entry to the well-known First Class Terminal at Frankfurt Airport on all Miles & Extra flights whatever the class of service. This can be a big perk because the terminal is a devoted house for first-class and HON Circle vacationers, with upgraded lounges and extra. Plus, members will get the next perks:
- Limousine switch on flights operated by Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airways, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa and Swiss.
- Obtain 4 improve vouchers, which can be utilized in the identical means that Senator members can use certificates.
- 24-hour reserving assure earlier than departure within the highest reserving class.
- Elevated award availability as much as 14 days previous to departure.
- Two or three luggage in financial system class (relying on the route), three luggage in premium financial system and enterprise class, and 4 luggage in firstclass.
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Incomes miles with Miles & Extra
Miles & Extra miles are considerably more durable to earn than different airline miles. Although the loyalty program would not have switch companions, that does not imply they’re unattainable to earn — listed below are all the perfect methods.
Earn by flying on Miles & Extra and Star Alliance carriers
You may earn Miles & Extra miles by flying on Miles & Extra and Star Alliance airways. Tickets booked with a Miles & Extra member airline — like Lufthansa or Swiss — will earn miles based mostly on fare price. When you’re touring on a Star Alliance accomplice flight not ticketed by a Miles & Extra airline, you may earn miles based mostly on the next calculations:
- Miles on continental flights: You will earn a flat charge based on the reserving class.
- Miles on intercontinental flights: You will earn based mostly on the reserving class and distance flown.
Incomes charges can differ from service to service and rely on how the ticket was booked. Examine every service’s incomes charge for probably the most up-to-date data.
Spend on a Miles & Extra bank card
Within the U.S., Lufthansa and Miles & Extra supply a cobranded bank card issued by Barclays known as the Miles & Extra® World Elite Mastercard. The cardboard is providing a present welcome bonus of 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 within the first three months of account opening. You should use this card to earn 2 miles per greenback spent with Miles & Extra airline companions and 1 mile per greenback spent on all different purchases.
Extra card perks embody two Lufthansa Enterprise lounge passes and a complimentary annual companion ticket for every account anniversary.
This card has an $89 annual payment and could be a good possibility for incomes Miles & Extra miles.
The knowledge for the Miles & Extra World Elite Mastercard has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or supplied by the cardboard issuer.
Ebook lodge rooms and rental vehicles
You can even earn Miles & Extra miles if you e book lodge rooms with the Miles & Extra lodge reserving platform. For instance, you may earn 500 miles per qualifying keep at choose Hyatt motels. Simply observe that you just typically will not be capable of earn lodge factors or use lodge elite standing advantages on these bookings because you’re reserving by way of an on-line journey company. Nevertheless, many boutique and unbiased motels are listed on the Miles & Extra portal, so it could be worthwhile to make use of it to e book motels that you just would not in any other case earn factors with.
You can even e book rental vehicles by way of the portal however could not be capable of use automotive rental standing advantages or earn rental automotive standing. As at all times, take into account whether or not incomes Miles & Extra miles outweighs these doable exclusions.
One factor to bear in mind: At all times cross-check lodge and rental automotive costs when utilizing the Miles & Extra lodge portal. Whereas the costs are normally similar to reserving straight, typically the costs can differ.
Redeeming miles with Miles & Extra
We typically suggest redeeming your Miles & Extra miles for award journey. Whilst you can redeem for merchandise, lodge stays and present playing cards, this is not really useful as you may get a a lot decrease redemption worth than for flights.
Redeeming Miles & Extra miles for award flights
Miles & Extra employs a typical award chart, that means that flights do not fluctuate in worth. Award flights are priced based mostly on zone and sophistication of service, and you may e book any Star Alliance flight with award house. As for pricing, award flights are surprisingly affordable. For instance, transatlantic flights are 30,000 miles in financial system, 40,000 in premium financial system class, 56,000 in enterprise class and 91,000 in firstclass. The business-class charge particularly is great.
You may view the whole Miles & Extra award chart on the loyalty program’s web site (PDF hyperlink); observe that the award chart reveals round-trip costs.
Do observe that Miles & Extra provides gas surcharges for many tickets — in follow, that is about $850 per round-trip ticket for intercontinental flights in firstclass. The one exceptions are Air Canada flights inside North America and United Airways flights inside North America, South America and Oceania; these awards incur minimal taxes and costs.
Redeeming miles for flights is straightforward, with one massive caveat. Head to the Miles & Extra web site and navigate to the “Spend miles for flights” web page. Scroll to the middle of the display screen, enter your flight particulars and click on the blue “Search flights” button. Then, your flight choices will seem on the heart of the display screen; click on on the flight you wish to e book and comply with the on-screen prompts to e book.
Nevertheless, there’s a maddening restriction on the flexibility to go looking award flights: You have to have no less than 7,000 miles in your account earlier than you may even seek for award availability, not to mention e book it.
The very best makes use of of Miles & Extra miles
Redeeming Miles & Extra miles is one factor, however discovering an ideal redemption is one other. The award chart may be very affordable and a few actual candy spots will be discovered. Here is a take a look at a number of of our private favorites for U.S.-based vacationers:
- Lufthansa firstclass: Miles & Extra gives a good redemption worth for transatlantic tickets in Lufthansa firstclass following the current LifeMiles devaluation. Nevertheless, Lufthansa solely opens first-class award house to its companions a most of two weeks earlier than departure (and normally solely three days earlier than the departure date), however this is not the case for Miles & Extra. You may entry Lufthansa’s first-class award house months beforehand, so planning holidays on one of many world’s greatest first-class merchandise is simpler.
- Financial system flights to Hawaii: You may e book United financial system flights from anyplace in america to Hawaii for simply 20,000 miles every means in financial system class, which is a superb deal, particularly in case you are originating on the East Coast.
- North America to Oceania in enterprise class: Flights from the U.S. to Australia, New Zealand and the remainder of Oceania price simply 71,000 miles one-way.
- North America to Southeast Asia in enterprise class: Likewise, flights from North America to Southeast Asia price simply 71,000 miles one-way in enterprise class. You will need to pay gas surcharges on these tickets, however you may fly superior business-class merchandise on carriers like Air Canada, All Nippon Airways and EVA Airways for a fraction of a income ticket.
Associated: Is United Polaris enterprise class value it to Singapore?
Backside line
Lufthansa Group’s Miles & Extra program is among the many most rewarding loyalty packages. HON Circle and Senator standing supply standout advantages, and its redemption charges for premium-cabin awards are a number of the greatest. Nevertheless, its miles are additionally one of many hardest currencies to earn, particularly for these of us based mostly within the U.S.
