Lufthansa Miles & More changes see some flyers earn less, some more
By David Flynn, March 10 2018
Lufthansa's Miles & More frequent flyer program will shift to a revenue-based program this week, with the number of 'award miles' earned on Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines being based on the price of your airfare rather than just the booking class (or the booking class and length of the route).
Kicking in from March 12, the new Miles & More formula will take the total fare in Euros – including surcharges – and multiply it by what the airline calls an 'X factor' of between four and six to determine the number of award miles to land in your account.
The base rate will be x4, which will include the basic Miles & More membership tier.
Higher levels of Miles & More status – Frequent Traveller, Senator and HON Circle – will hoover up six award miles per Euro on most Miles & More partner airlines, apart from a smaller 5x serve on some other carriers including budget airline Eurowings.
The new system takes effect from March 12, 2018, and Lufthansa Group says there will be "no change to status miles and privileges."
Lufthansa says the revised award miles table will reward "the purchase of higher-priced tickets more strongly than is currently the case."
"This change will also not have a fundamental impact on the number of award miles that are distributed by the airlines over all, or on the availability of flight rewards."
Miles for tickets booked before March 12, 2018 will be credited according to the present system, even if the trip itself begins on or after the cutoff date.
For more information on these changes, visit miles-and-more.com/mileage-allocation.
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
05 Aug 2017
Total posts 17
This will become a really poor earning / loyalty program! Assuming you have no status and stick with the x4 "X factor" this means that one will need to whip out 25k€ to reach the 100k miles for LH's *A Gold threshold. Even in the x6 category you will need to spend 16k€+. I am looking into ways on how to fast-track *A gold and I for sure will not consider LH's M&M program. For example, in comparison, with QF FF scheme: 1.5 return trips in J on QF-ticket form AUS- EU will land you ~900 SCs, easily reaching QF Gold (700 SC), and assuming a $8k return ticket in QF J the "cost" for OW Gold is ~$12k (=7.5k€), whopping 10k€, or $15k+ difference in reaching Gold status bw LH and QF. Even if you do the same math for reaching QF Platinum you will end up spending much less with QF than with LH M&M to reach Gold (not to mention HON).
13 Aug 2015
Total posts 40
This change is only for Award miles. Status earning remains unchanged.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
11 Oct 2014
Total posts 691
Given SQ and LH have just inked a 'closer' relationship, I wonder how SQ's management (and passengers) will view the 5 points per Euro - as a 'partner' airline - as opposed to the 6 points per Euro gained by UA and Air Canada?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Apr 2017
Total posts 132
Will make earn rates garbage, especially since Lufthansa prices are typically much lower than other airlines. If there’s a way to transfer miles from a Lufthansa to another star alliance carrier, someone let me know!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Aug 2012
Total posts 65
This is a massive devaluation of points earned for residents of Oz. A combination of not-expensive LH tix and the poor exchange rate with the Euro kills it.
I did a 7 sector trip last year on a Lufthansa issued ticket, in a mix of Z, C and J booking classes (I avoid the cheapest P tix). The trip netted 54,086 points (35K needed to retain Silver)
Three of the sectors were on Star airlines (NZ and Thai), and the other four on Lufthansa family airlines (LH and Austrian).
Doing the calculation on dollar value, converted to Euros and multiplied by either 5 or 6, this trip under the new scheme would net 23,835. Even if multiplied the whole thing at 6x it is still only 25,800. Not even enough to retain silver, and a massive reduction in points earn, nowhere near the 54,086 earned under the current scheme. Plus LH have been chipping away at the program for the past 18 months, it's a bit of a dog now.
So I am out of Star Alliance, will be burning the last points next week in Europe. Have moved over totally to Oneworld (QF). It's slightly less convenient than Star for my Euro travels, but it's not worth staying.
06 Dec 2017
Total posts 110
stingy.i will stick with royal orchid plus for any star alliance travel that is not singapore airlines as i have velocity for those SQ TRIPS.
British Airways - Executive Club
07 Sep 2012
Total posts 47
I can earn more miles staying at Hilton Hotels where they currently award 2500 miles per stay!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Apr 2017
Total posts 132
Converted to Turkish.
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