Welcome to Part III of our Lufthansa buy-miles series for Business Class (available to anyone)…
We love to talk about Lufthansa right now. Back in December, we told you about their lucrative new buy-miles sale called Bundle&Go (you can sign up in five minutes if you haven’t already). And then last month a sale reappeared as we extolled the virtues of using miles for Lufthansa’s free connections from all over the U.S. to all over Europe.
When the miles are on sale you can purchase a maximum of 100,000 per transaction and up to 250,000 miles annually. The most recent sale costs 1.5 cents per mile. That’s great value as you’ll see in a moment. Check out FCF’s unlimited buy-miles strategy if you need more than the annual limit.
And now we’re going back to the well, or Brunnen, as Germans might say, on Lufthansa’s Business Class to see how Bundle&Go helps unlock the wider world.
Big call. Let’s get to it.
Don’t Live in a Lufthansa U.S. Hub?
No Problem!
~ Get Free Connecting Flights to Lufthansa’s Hubs Within the U.S. ~
Lufthansa offers awards that allow for partner travel between its U.S. hubs and countless other U.S. cities, so you can get free domestic connecting flights with United.
Sample routes United flies to Lufthansa’s U.S. hubs:
Chicago To/From: Boston, Dallas, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Raleigh
Houston To/From: Atlanta, Columbus, Denver, Las Vegas, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Nashville, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tulsa
Los Angeles To/From: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Seattle
Newark To/From: Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, and San Francisco
San Francisco To/From: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa, and Toronto
Washington, DC To/From: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Seattle
*Connecting flights may not always offer a Business Class cabin
Not Flying to Germany?
No Problem!
~ Get Free Connecting Flights Within Europe from
Frankfurt, Geneva, Munich, Vienna, and Zurich ~
Fly almost anywhere in Europe on one ticket: Again, Lufthansa offers awards that allow connections on flights both it and its partners operate. So feel free to tack on the following destinations as long as they’re available beyond Austrian’s, Lufthansa’s, and SWISS’s hubs, with their many other partners: Aegean Airlines, Air Dolomiti, Air Malta, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Eurowings, LOT Polish Airlines, Luxair, Olympic Air, Scandinavian Airlines, TAP Portugal, and Turkish Airlines.
Remember the typical Boise to Budapest connections allowance.
Sample destinations you can get free connections on
Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, and SWISS to all over Europe:
Frankfurt To/From: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Bordeaux, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Florence, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Malta, Milan, Munich, Mykonos, Naples, Nice, Paris, Rome, Santorini, Stockholm, Venice, Vienna, and Zürich
Geneva To/From: Athens, Brussels, Catania, Copenhagen, Corfu, Dublin, Florence, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Kos, Lisbon, London, Malaga, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Mykonos, Nice, Palma, Paris, Santorini, Thessaloniki, Valencia, Vienna, and Zürich.
Munich To/From: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Florence, Lisbon, London, Milan, Mykonos, Naples, Paris, Rome, Santorini, Venice, Vienna, and Zürich.
Vienna To/From: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Basel, Berlin, Budapest, Brussels, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Florence, Geneva, Hamburg, Lisbon, London, Lyon, Manchester, Marseille, Milan, Munich, Mykonos, Naples, Oslo, Palermo, Palma, Paris, Prague, Rome, Santorini, Split, Stockholm, Valencia, Venice, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb, and Zürich.
Zurich To/From: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest, Florence, Lisbon, Milan, Naples, Nice, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna, and Valencia.
*Flights within Europe may be in economy.
Sample Itinerary with Connecting Flights:
Denver to Dubrovnik
Fly Business Class for Just 56,000 Miles
The Two Different Types of LUFTHANSA Mileage Awards
There are two award types you can book using Lufthansa miles. The airline offers a Business Flex award (fewer miles, more cash) and Business Flex Plus award (more miles, less cash). Depending on your itinerary, there are benefits to each.
The Two Principles to Keep in Mind:
Principle #1: There’s no limit to the number of miles you can buy with FCF’s unlimited buy-miles strategy, so it doesn’t matter that it costs more in miles to pay less in total cash with Business Flex Plus awards. That said, you should always run the numbers on your particular itinerary.
Principle #2: In general, you want to go with Lufthansa’s Flex Plus award because the total cash outlay (after buying miles and paying the taxes) usually works out to less total cash spent — unless your itinerary requires flying with an airline other than Austrian, Lufthansa, or SWISS — like United — in which case you MUST use a Business Flex award.
Sample Business Flex Award Opportunity
On routes that include a United domestic connection to an Austrian, Lufthansa, or SWISS hub
For example, the round-trip cost of a Business Flex ticket between the U.S. and Europe on Lufthansa is 112,000 miles (56,000 each way). The cost to buy those miles is $1,763. Then add in the taxes on tickets between the U.S. and Europe, which are about $1,337 if you book two one-ways (if booked as a round-trip, you’ll pay an additional $636-ish in taxes, who knows why!). This gives you a total cost of $3,100.
Considering that published Business Class round-trip fares from Denver to Dubrovnik in the aforementioned example go for $6,300+, your savings can easily be $3,200 (51%) round-trip.
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Sample Business Flex Plus Award Savings
On Miles & More member routes that ONLY include flights operated by Austrian, Lufthansa, and SWISS
For example, the round-trip cost of a Business Flex Plus ticket between the U.S. and Europe on Lufthansa and two of its Miles & More member airlines is 156,000 miles (78,000 each way). So the cost of buying those miles during this sale, including taxes on tickets between the U.S. and Europe of about $86, comes to a total cost of $2,541.
Considering that published Business Class round-trip fares from Houston to Madrid in the aforementioned example go for $6,436+ round-trip, your savings can easily be $3,895 (61%).
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Best Long-Haul Routes to Find Business Class Award Availability
To fly in Business, remember the opportunity travel mindset, the positioning flight strategy, the Boise to Budapest connections allowance, and why to avoid Booking Backwards, too. These allow you to have the proper perspective on these long-haul “bridge flight” opportunities — which is where Business Class comfort matters most.
If you want to know where Austrian, Lufthansa, and SWISS’s seats are, go here to find the best award seat availability at the time of publication, which will certainly change over time.
So now’s the time to think about jumping on Lufthansa’s next buy-miles sale (or use it now for less savings) as well as convenient connections all over the U.S. and Europe to unlock great Business Class flights to Europe. Auf Wiedersehen!