Top First Class Close-In Upgrade Strategy to Europe Comes Out of the Lockdown Closet

Availability has opened up for bags-packed and already-booked travelers—plus LifeMiles joins the availability club.

Ah, spring. And this is a spring for the ages because we’re not only coming out of winter, we’re coming much further out of The Lockdown.

A Big Blue and Yellow Bird

Speaking of birds, a big one just flew in. It’s German and answers to the name of Lufthansa. The airline had pushed back the relaunch on many of its routes with First Class seats to the U.S. several times already as The Lockdown lingered, but now has resumed service on most routes with more to come. How did they know that “lockdown exhaustion” would be happening right now? I’m not privy to that stuff, but it’s great news for premium flyers itching to leave the nest.

First Class Scene to Europe

Nowadays, the pickings are few for First Class airficionados using miles to Europe. There’s American to London from Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. There are only two Emirates flights, New York/Newark-Athens and New York/JFK-Milan. Singapore has only one route: New York-Frankfurt, and then there’s British Airways to London, which is OK. But I love Lufthansa First Class and here’s where it is now flying: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, to Frankfurt and Boston-Munich.

Coming Soon:

• New York-Munich starts May 6, 2022.
• Los Angeles-Munich starts June 1, 2022.

How This CLOSE-IN Strategy Works

Gotta hand it to the Germans. They keep their cards close to their Brust, but unfortunately that also means availability for First Class is a bit of a mystery as Lufthansa typically makes First Class seats available to Star Alliance partners 14 days prior to departure. This matters because the airline’s miles are hard to come by, directly, as they don’t partner with the major points-transfer credit card programs.

And until last month, the airline had NOT even made seats available 14 days out very often. But now, we’re beginning to see availability using Air Canada miles (an Amex, Capital One, and Chase points transfer partner), LifeMiles (a Capital One and Citi points transfer partner), Singapore Airlines (Amex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi), and United (Chase) for up to four seats a pop.

Pow!

Who Can Fly Highest with CLOSE-IN Availability?

• The You-Already-Have-an-Award-Ticket-in-a-Lesser-Class Traveler.
• The Last-Minute “Opportunity” Traveler.
• The Can’t-Find-a-Round-Trip-in-First-Class Fly Lufthansa First Class on your night flight and return in Business Class for your day flight on an award ticket.
• The First-Class-Fares-Are-Steep-So-You-Purchased-Business-Class Traveler.
• The First-Class-Wasn’t-Available-So-You-Booked-a-Business-Class-Award Person.
• You can also use this plan to kick-start our awesome Leg Stretch Strategy to Europe.

So you’ve already paid for your ticket. No big deal. If you find that First Class seats open up, just cancel the published fare you already purchased and use it for another trip later. Instead, you can fly Lufthansa using your Amex, Capital One, and Chase points via Air Canada miles *OR* Capital One and Citi via LifeMiles *OR* Amex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi via Singapore miles, *OR* Chase via United for a First Class ticket and you’re on your way to becoming an upgrade ninja. Just don’t cancel your original reservation until AFTER your big score, quadruple check everything like ticket numbers and seats.

If you have an award ticket with another airline, cancel the same way you would a paid ticket, which is even less of a hassle. Get your miles refunded, and fly First Class on Lufthansa.

This changes the game as many of you are taking off to Europe every day now. Here’s what you want to consider, two weeks from departure until all the way up to your ride to the airport. I once changed a flight in a yellow taxi on the way to the airport in Miami. Why? Because my perfectly ideal flight just wasn’t available.

Until then.

Make sure you check the airline’s cancel policy window depending on how daring you are. Most of you won’t go that far to upgrade and I don’t blame you. But two minutes of research once or twice a day starting 14 days or so ahead of your trip can land you an amazing First Class seat. More on the two-step strategy here.

If Germany is not your preferred destination, we’ve got you covered here.

Lufthansa First Class Availability
Coming Out of the Lockdown Closet

We’ve found First Class award seats on Lufthansa and they’re available using your Amex, Capital One, and Chase points with Air Canada, Capital One and Citi with LifeMiles, Amex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi with Singapore, or Chase points when booking through United. This ticket otherwise goes for up to $10,300 one-way or $19,800 round-trip!

Example Availability

On any given day, First Class Lufthansa availability will vary over the 14-days-from-departure mileage award seats are released. Here’s an example of date opportunities in April, by mileage redemption program and the number of seats, 1, 2 or 4, that were available on April 13.

A One-Way Bird in the Hand
Is Better Than Beating Around the Bush

What if the availability is spotty, meaning you’re unlikely to find seats close-in for both your outbound and return flight? If you already have an award ticket, think about searching for availability for both directions — but settle for one-ways as they become available. Just cancel that piece of your original ticket, provided that your return flight can be preserved.

If you’re like me, you’re booking one-way tickets and this wouldn’t be an issue, but most people are booking round-trip so just be careful. In other words, canceling the outbound part of a round-trip ticket might require you to rebook both the outbound and return, which is why you might want to secure a one-way return before you cancel the entire round-trip ticket.

Don’t Fall into the First-Must-Be-Way-More-Expensive-than-Business Trap

Lufthansa’s First Class can actually be cheaper than many airlines’ Business Class seats. For example, the lowest one-way Delta Business Class for New York-Frankfurt that we’ve seen recently booking through Delta is 180,000 miles. But First Class on Lufthansa is just 121,000 miles with United and 100,000 miles with low-tax Amex partner, Air Canada.

This Bird Goes Cheap, Cheap

Upgrade Lufthansa from Business to First Class for $299 Each Way

Here’s a choice: Spend 77,000 United miles on a Lufthansa Business Class flight, or 100,000 Air Canada miles for a Lufthansa First Class flight.

That’s right, just a 23,000-miles difference for a vastly different experience in comfort. Some say First Class is only 10 yards away from Business. I’d call it a million miles, but you only pay 23,000 to upgrade.

Let’s go further. If you were to buy 23,000 miles during one of Air Canada’s sales promos at 1.3 cents each, they would cost you $299, meaning the entire upgrade from Business to First Class costs just $299 each way. That’s a great deal in any language.

Air Canada’s regular selling price is 3 cents per mile with a maximum purchase of 250,000 per year. If you missed the promo you can still save by buying Amex at 2.5 cents per mile, saving $500 over Air Canada’s regular 3-cents-per-mile price.

The published First Class fare on Lufthansa’s Chicago-Frankfurt route is $10,300 one way. But using Air Canada’s recent 1.3 cents purchase strategy, you could have paid $1,300 instead (that price excludes award taxes of $55 outbound, and $187 return), netting you a savings of about $9,000 (87%). Wunderbar!

Good LifeMiles News Just in

Just as we were getting close to pressing the “go” button on this month’s Upgrade Advisor, some breaking news came to hand. LifeMiles has joined the Lufthansa good-availability partner club, whereas the loyalty program was historically an outsider for the most part when it came to close-in First Class opportunities. While their customer service leaves a lot to be desired, (and an Air Canada miles purchase is a solid option given the price of a one-way ticket is only 100,000), LifeMiles at 87,000 miles one-way, is still something to consider, especially for those of you who’ve purchased LifeMiles cheaply in the past.

Connecting Flights in the U.S. and Europe

You can add U.S. connecting flights for as little as 6,000 miles. Save time, money, and hassle (nobody wants to recheck their bags) by having all your flights on one ticket. And when you cross the Atlantic, Star Alliance, with its 26 member airlines, offers a wide range of flights beyond Germany.

Add Connecting Flights to the Long-Haul International Flight with a Partner Airline

Example: Columbus to Copenhagen

By making a multi-segment booking with Air Canada miles (screenshot below), you can book itineraries like Columbus to Copenhagen via Chicago and Frankfurt for 117,814 miles one-way (or $1,531 if you purchased Air Canada points during the sale we mentioned) — or transfer Amex or Chase points to Air Canada miles.

Compare that to a purchased fare of $8,591. Note that the connecting flights may be in economy or Business Class. The trick is to search for the long-haul segment first, since that’s the one you want to fly in upgraded comfort. More on that here.  More on booking with Air Canada here.

BOOKING OPTIONS

For Amex, Capital One & Chase Points Collectors: Air Canada, because of its low taxes. It charges 100,000 miles each way and only $55 outbound, or $187 return in taxes. Plus 100,000 miles isn’t bad when you consider that most (generally inferior) Business Class seats run in the mid-100,000s anyway. Here we’re talking about a First Class ticket that normally goes for $10,300 to $17,700.

For Chase Points Collectors: United Airlines is still a relatively good deal at 121,000 miles, $5.60 in taxes outbound and $118 taxes on the return.

Don’t Miss the Next Sale

FCF Sweet Redeems often finds deals such as this Air Canada Aeroplan 1.3¢ deal, which included taxes and processing fee, through an up to 80% bonus miles buy promo, as seen here and here. Watch for future buying opportunities because those can be an upgrade game-changer.

No Amex Points? No Problem.

Getting Air Canada miles is relatively simple. They’re a points-transfer partner with Amex, and transfer times are nearly instantaneous. Think of it this way. You can buy up to 500,000 Amex Rewards points per year for just 2.5 cents each. Compared to the baseline First Class fare from Chicago to Frankfurt of $10,300 one-way ($17,700 round-trip), if you buy 100,000 Amex Rewards Points for $2,500, and add in taxes only $55 outbound, or $187 return in taxes, you would save $7,558 — that’s 73%.

How to Book Lufthansa First Class with Air Canada Miles Transferred from Amex, Capital One, and Chase Points

1. Sign-in to Air Canada’s Aeroplan website.
2. Click “Flights” and “Points.” Fill in your details. Click “Find.”

3. If your date is available, choose your flight, then click “Select” for the Lowest Reward.
4. If your date is not available, click ”Modify” (see screenshot below) and make another date selection. Click “Find.” Note that if Business Class is the highest option shown, First Class is not available and you must choose another date.

Low Risk and High Reward

Due to lockdown uncertainty, Air Canada is currently offering a “travel fee waiver” for award flights through April 30, 2022. After April 30 you get one free change with no fee (and probably longer as airlines are updating this on a month-to-month basis). That means it won’t cost you anything to cancel or change your ticket for international travel. More on that here.

Conclusion

If Germany is not your preferred destination, think opportunistically and reap the rewards. There’s also pond skipping gold available in our transatlantic masterclass: The Art of Skipping Stones & What We Can All Learn from the Boise to Budapest Premium Traveler

As our name suggests, I get excited about First Class travel to see the world, and especially, cheap First Class travel. First Class makes an otherwise arduous activity as effortless as possible. It makes you feel like someone has your back, relatively speaking. You get on board with little stress. We’ve recently reported on First Class to Europe here, here, here and here.

What else can I say? If you’re not willing to take what’s being given, someone else will.