Lufthansa First Class Awards With Partner Miles: I Assume It's The End

Hi Ben,

Curious if you saw the same space as Live and Let's Fly apparently did 1 day ago? I know that Lufthansa first class space has been touch and go, it just seems odd that they have a seats aero screenshot with availability from yesterday. https://liveandletsfly.com/lufthansa-first-class-partner-award-redemptions/

@ Joy -- Hah, good catch, but that post was from 2025 and not 2026 (funny it was yesterday, one year ago). 🙂 Seems something similar happened around the same time last year.

Bummer. Was looking to take my first ever later this month, even with the increased Aeroplan cost that coincided to the day.

I've been keeping an eye on LH F awards with lifemiles for over a month now and there has been ZERO availability. Interestingly, economy awards were completely gone as well until just a few days ago when I started seeing some random availability here and there. I haven't checked again for Y awards so they might be all gone again for what it's worth...

There's nothing wrong with LH wanting to prioritize M&M redemptions, if it weren't for the fact that M&M doesn't seem very engaging or useful (I have no idea how things are for people based in Germany, though).

Let's hope this is just a temporary thing instead of a permanent Allegrification.

From time to time, partner availability does disappear for a few days on seats.aero and then suddenly it pops back up. I did notice that this time it's longer than usual. Hopefully, its only temporary.

"Obviously this hobby is quite different than it used to be, but it’s not all bad news — there are also a lot of amazing opportunities that didn’t exist years ago."

Can you name any? I've tried to stay positive, but both in my professional capacity as an award consultant (12 years in business) and my personal capacity as a traveler (16 years being a miles/points enthusiast), I've never seen things this bad.

The only advantage I see now is that it's way easier to accrue points. 100k signups are much more common than they used to be, bonus categories keep getting better, etc. I can reliably generate over a million points in a year. But in terms of using them, the amount of creativity/flexibility needed is just way higher.

@ James K. -- Oh, on the redemption side, the state of things is mostly really bad, I totally agree. We're both old timers with this, and I think we have exactly the same impression.

My point is that points earning opportunities have increased massively, from sign-up bonuses, to bonus categories, to earning points on housing payments. Back in the day most of us would use the SPG Amex, which earned one point per dollar spent, and I think had a welcome offer of like 20K points.

Points earning opportunities through non-flying means have increased exponentially, and I do think that has to be factored into the math.

I think loyalty programs have just become so mainstream, and when you combine that with the increasing tools that automate search, it makes it really tough to get good value.

@ VS -- Indeed, we've seen it a few times in the past, but this is lasting a bit longer, and something about this happening on the first day of the month concerns me (like it's a policy that was intended to be implemented as of that date).

According to the SEN hotline in Switzerland, it seems that LH F will soon be restricted in similar ways to LX F, considering the rollout of allegris etc. At first restricted to M&M members only, but in the future likely restricted to HON/SEN as with LX

LuftKafka is not an airline. It is a social experiment. It is as if Stanley Milgram himself designed it - except it is much more sadistic.

The ease with which space can be searched probably contributes in a small way - but to say that it is responsible for the rather drastic award availability decrease and price inflation of the last 5 years is false.

The amount of miles out there, be it from credit cards, or OPM "spend"-based earnings is the main culprit. Then comes the slow deterioration of partner space within Star Alliance. Good luck finding United or AC J space with any partner. Or TK. Or even longhaul CA or SQ, the list goes on.

@Ben, this was enlightening. Although now I feel that the takeaway should be "redeeming points has never been as bad as it is now." 🙁

:'(

Ben the greater ability to earn points is actually contributing to the problem. If we viewed the airlines as central banks they really just printed more currency. Of course the cost of redemptions would increase.

They're probably just holding seats to sell at the last minute for those who want to come to the US for the World Cup.

Just Kidding! Nobody wants to come to the US for any reason.

Its expected turn of events. More people are hunting for these seats while the number of seats in those cabins are reducing with the Allegris updates.

I won't be surprised if they stop award bookings on first class cabins completely.

Asking for a friend....Does anyone know when the upcoming LH strikes may occur? Traveling with my 95 year old mother in Business class sucks when the flights are cancelled!

"Our ability to earn worthless points is better than ever!"

(click below to apply)

All LH F or just Allegris F (which are already restricted)?

It's not just LH. Alaska, Aeroplan, FlyingBlue, and Qantas used to have the sweet spots. No one is releasing anything of real value anymore (not F, not even J.) Sure, you can still get Economy. It's a sign of greater economic strife across the industry and the world (namely, increased fuel costs, etc.)

In this context, in the last couple of weeks I have not seen any ANA F (or C) availability, even far in advance, anymore either, when trying to redeem ANA points...

You have to remember that frequent flyer programmes in Europe are for frequent flyers, they're not banking loyalty schemes masquerading as something else. M&M isn't a terrible programme, there are offers to buy mile bundles or get extra miles from flying, the dynamic pricing creates opportunities and you can always redeem across Star Alliance. I'm neither a Lufthansa fan nor even a M&M member (I have *G with another airline) but it really isn't materially worse than the competition [though I wouldn't consider switching to it as I am not losing any sleep over LH F awards since I'm not exactly enamoured with that cabin- when it comes to long haul I'd rather be travelling in business class with Turkish, AF or even IB].

I was able to snag a flight on 4/27 this year

@Nards the issue is not the cost of redemptions, it's the availability altogether. If redemptions were available for 1 million miles, it's would be different. I think airlines have understood that there is a lot of halo effect around their programs so that they can release 0 awards but money is still flowing in. And it's less damaging to their reputation than outright devaluations. If you don't find availability it's because you don't know how to play the game. If you find availability and it's too expensive it's the airlines fault.

This situation won't last. Airline have invested a lot in their product and now want to maximize cash in and minimize cash out. But world will come on the street that playing with miles is not a good game anymore and it will all vanish. The credit card companies will want to stay out of this though so that game will move to another industry and airlines will start collapsing.

@Ben , your claim that 'points earning opportunities through non-flying means have increased exponentially' is simply inaccurate in the context of the European market. If anything, the merchant fee caps have REDUCED those opportunities.

I'm sure you can earn more points in the USA, and a handful of other major markets like Brazil and China have both increasing middle class populations and large loyalty ecosystems, but this doesn't really move the needle as far as the likes of M&M, Eurobonus, AY+, Miles&Bonus, Suma etc are concerned. (AFKL and BA/VS are aggressively targetting the US market so they're probably issuing more points than the other European airlines)

@ben I respect that take. But point earnings are greatly diminished if aspirational travel become non-existent anymore. What use is it to collect Aeroplan miles one day if all partners become like United Polaris and Lufthansa first where they only allow their own members to redeem? At that point, you would still earn lots of miles with no where to use them. Wouldn't it be better to just cash out in that case and forfeit the points and miles game all together? Just asking as someone who sees many programs in the last couple years turning dynamic and limiting their own flight redemptions to their own programs.

@ Eric -- Let's be clear, points absolutely aren't worthless. For example, Qatar Airways saver award availability is garbage nowadays, while the rule-buster availability is quite good. It typically costs twice as much as the cheapest fares, and I'd say big picture, points earning opportunities have more than doubled compared to 15 years ago. I'm not saying we should be excited by those opportunities, but when you factor in "buying power," it's not all terrible.

@ Throwawayname -- You're absolutely right, that answer was US specific, and outside the US it's generally a different story, and much more difficult. The reality is that a countless number of points are being printed in the United States, and of course that has implications globally.

I've seen plenty of CA space recently, TK including business class connections all over Europe, TG F to LHR, BR to various destinations from BKk, Shenzhen Airlines (!)...Heck, even Asiana continue to offer long haul premium class awards despite their imminent exit from the alliance. Everyone knows that SQ have been drastically restricting partner availability for years, and UA now seem to be copying them but that's not a great loss as far as I'm concerned.

@ Thomas -- That's fair, but I think you have to consider the other side of the coin. You're right, we're increasingly seeing programs "save" availability for their own members.

But we've also seen absolutely massive growth of transferable points currencies, and of transfer partners. So the opportunities to earn those miles are on a different level compared to a long time ago. I think the argument would be that partner redemptions aren't as necessary as in the past.

Don't get me wrong, I'm on your side, and all of this sucks. But I also have to be realistic here, and acknowledge how I used to earn one Starpoint per dollar spent, there were no big sign-up bonus, transferable points currencies weren't a major thing, etc.

Honestly I would not be mad about this.
On my last FRA-MEX, which I paid with cash, there were five Americans loudly yelling in the cabin "that they booked with points" and partied a lot. Honestly super annoying.

I got 100,000. Booked Biz to Paris. Sadly, the plane changed gates at the last minute and it was going to cost 500,000 to go from Gate 45 to Gate 46 so I could not take the trip..

Due to declining jet fuel inventories, many airlines are considering the possibility of reducing flying in future months.

Far out premium cabin awards are an untenable liability if you might be drastically reducing your schedule later this year.

I just checked MEL-LAX November 6th and nearby dates (possible trip).

600k Quantas points in business class versus $3500 for a cash ticket.

Reaffirms my decision to switch to Robinhood Gold 3% cash back card for essentially all of my spend.

What are you talking about?

I’ll take things that didn’t happen for $1,000 Alex

PS - NOBODY cares you paid cash for that rubbish

Reading points and miles news is really depressing these days. Seems like there's some negative development every single day. I'm sitting on almost half a million AC points, and reasonable options to redeem them are disappearing day after day.

Indeed. Today's posts could be renamed "Special issue: the end is near!"

@Jake212 , I think that anyone would pay thousands of euros for a few hours in that mediocre cabin deserves our sympathy, or perhaps pity.

*who would pay...

Meanwhile you can book BUD-MUC-India F awards with M&M for as low as 60.000 Miles 🙂
At least that was the case a month ago with wide open availibility.

500k?
Thats at least a one way to Red Deer in Signature Class 😉

Curious what examples of longhaul CA J or F can you provide
Or TK J from North America?

That are available on Aeroplan or United points, heck even Lifemiles, and not TKs own program

I noticed the same thing recently. My wife and I just flew Lufthansa on a 747 back to the states and the cabin only had four passengers. I had booked us last year so my interest in availability was simply avgeek curiosity.

I have no problem finding Flying Blue awards these days. The first class award costs have gotten ridiculous (sort of inline with the cash costs, one supposes), but availability isn't horrible, not sure if that's because of status or the routes on which I fly AF.

And the reason award prices and restrictions keep coming is also due to the huge opportunities in earning points miles with SUBs and other promotions. It is called inflation anytime more of a currency chases the same number of products (or fewer based on restrictions and actually selling more seats for cash). That simple and to be continued. No one should get upset about award restrictions or cost while at the same time praising the ability to earn points/miles as they are tied together.

That is why you focus almost exclusively on transferable points. I don't care that Singapore Airlines limits partner business class awards when I can simply transfer Amex points to Kris Flyer and book the seat. That is the only way to go.

I wasn't looking to fly Turkish from North America, they had lots of business class seats available through partners from HAN and a few other places in the Far East I was looking at and, as long as there was a seat to IST, you could get a connection to basically any of their European destinations (I checked numerous as my plans were rather complicated).

I think I did see one or two dates with of CA F availability to FRA. I'm not certain about the business routes as they were invariably connecting itineraries and it may be that the CA segments were within Asia before connecting to Europe on another *A member- but there certainly didn't seem to be a blanket ban on partner business class awards.

From my perch in the northeast US, I still see plenty of Lufthansa, Swiss, and Austrian J availability transatlantic on the Air Canada website. You should not have any trouble using your points. I still have a couple hundred thousand.

I did get to fly Lufthansa F last year including on the A380, so I'll miss that if this is a permanent development. And my partner wanted to fly LH F for a vacation, so it would be too bad if true. On the other hand, if I'm flying by myself, I'm not sure if the fare difference between F and J is worth it for me anyway.

What are you redeeming these supposed longhaul CA an TK awards with (not shorthaul within Europe)

Aeroplan is outright blocking them and
United doesnt have any either.

Can you provide a date/route

The answer is very simple: there is a high demand from paying customers wishing to fly in First Class

Yeah we're 100% on the same page here. We're rich in a rapidly inflating currency. Which might be better than being poor in a stable currency? But it's not great for when you want to go to the store

Umm... No. Exactly the opposite. On my flight from Germany today, first class was half full. Lufthansa could easily have sold some of the remaining seats to partners to draw additional revenue but chose not to.

at least. that's a great decision from lufthansa. as a HON I have now more availability when all these third party programs do not get any seats anymore. Just do it like AF Lufthansa and only release FCL Award space for own elites.

According to pointsyeah.com, HAN-IST-FRA is available in TK business class this coming Monday for 78k LifeMiles and $60 in taxes and charges- e.g. TK165 connecting to TK1587 with a 2h40' connection.

I didn't end up flying TK as most of my miles are in a programme which passes on fuel surcharges (and which is also showing availability for those flights on Monday), and I ended up finding another redemption that didn't involve paying €400 on top of the miles.

This sounds more like an Aeroplan issue than a TK one.

elites being the key word to bypass the boatload of opportunistic miles transfer

“ there are also a lot of amazing opportunities that didn’t exist years ago.—- don’t agree with this this statement . In general it seems that the points game is on the way out and it’s all about being captive to one airline ecosystem and extortionate point redemptions.

I have never been that impressed by anyone’s transatlantic First Class. British, American, United or Lufthansa. I believe a much better value is to use those frequent flyer miles on hotels as that is where you will spend most of your time.

And what, $1800 in surcharges??

With lifemiles looking for F with LH. Currently you cant find even J availability with lifemiles. It has been like this for quite some time..

Air France, Emirates, or Singapore. You keep telling yourself that about hotel redemptions.

Agreed.

It was good while it lasted and we all had plenty of time to try it out.
So many first class products are restricted to members of own programs these days (Air France, Singapore, Emirates, Cathay) that it's not surprising to see Lufthansa join the list

A sad day indeed, especially since I never got to try F in either the 747-400 or 747-800. At least I will always have the memories, such as the day I flew FRA-JFK first class in an A380 for just 70,000 Aeroplan points in May 2019.

I was in the USA last week and saw quite a bit of Qantas first class availability back to Oz in F. 110k American or 130k Alaska.

Also loads of Fijian biz for 80k or 75k respectively.

I’m flying Syd to Bali next week in biz and economy. 29k biz and 11k economy on Garuda via flying blue. Wife in biz. Family in efonomy.

Definitely still opportunities out there (but def more limited than prior).

United killing off partner awards is tough as buying aeroplan or lifemiles for these redemptions was handy. But still a lot of 90k sfo or lax availability to Sydney close in if you have a United card… and you want to visit Australia 🙂

@1990 we’ve been posting on Omaat for years (I’ve been here for at least 10-12 years). When do we get diamond?!

Perhaps one little shoot of hope is the following: When you could book first class awards, Lufthansa made business class awards unavailable on those few days. If you look at Aeroplan now, for example, you will still find no business class availability today and the next few days; it only kicks in on about day 4 (with some variability). So maybe they will eventually go back to allowing partner availability for first class. A slim hope, but why would they keep flying so many empty first class seats?

RIP :'(

Tons of availability now via United

Came here to say this - but also, is it phantom?

Availability out to May 2027

Might be phantom.

All phantom

Or, said another way, the widespread availability of easy to acquire points made it inevitable that sites like seats.aero would be developed to serve such a growing market.

I was able to book an award today. Ticketed

wow, so much sudden availability, they'll shut it down soon of course

Hah no, high surcharges only affect ex-US flights. My guess is, that LH used this as a way to generate more revenue from the influx of award bookings ex-US. If you fly to or from Asia (Africa or South America), you’ll pay surcharges in the low €100s

It comes and goes with Lifemiles. Sometimes you can get all the LHG J stuff. Right now it seems to be very limited (I can't tell if that is a LHG choice or a Lifemiles choice, but probably the latter). Could change again in 3 months.

I would argue that UA is now becoming attractive again for partner awards because of the 80k low fee offerings. With so many of the Aeroplan itineraries going to 75k (with slightly higher fees), it makes sense to consider UA. I've also seen some attractive PE pricing on UA's own metal.

I noticed about 3 months ago Lifemiles was blocked from ALL business class (and of course first) redemptions. I am starting to wonder if that is permanent as I haven't read anything except Flyertalk on that.

So are there any preferred ways to transfer points to M&M ? Or is it not a thing / Better to just fly another carrier?

@Christian, seems unfair to have so many empty seats when they promote their loyalty programs so heavily. Maybe they are saving money by not having to spend on food/drinks/lounge for those empty seats? If you multiply all the daily flights with empty seats it could be like a million euros of money saved by the end of the year? I mean, I'm trying to find an explanation when there should be no excuse.

Lots of availability with United Mileage Plus now; all the way into May 2027!

But they’re supposedly phantom, or like, error messages when you go to checkout at UA.

Are C to F upgrades using PPs still possible? How far out?

Wait until the next pandemic or other economic catastrophe. Lufthansa will once again release space and the Spaniards will be begging for tourists. If they grovel at my feet I'll consider it.

They frequently sell miles bundles or have partner offers - I think there's currently a newspaper one that works out at something like 1.3cpm. However, my view is that LH F isn't any better than a good business class product, so I wouldn't go out of my way to fly it.

the game is officialy up after 30 years was a fun ride not buyiing miles any more straight up cash back

the game is NOT up. It's just more costly. You can buy a Bundle & Go at a discount , pay the miles plus cash co-pay, and you're out roughly $3300 , say 3200 right now because the euro is week--EACH WAY. Is this better than paying cash and earning miles and status? In most cases, such as ROM the US, definitely "YES."
Accept the stock market has soared and there are a lot of people willing to do this, particularly from SFO and LAX.
Look at stubhub or the cost o a ticket to the World Cup inals starting around $15,000 and then you'll get it.

Me? I don't have any stocks and am retired, but if I make 3 05 international trips per year I'd spring for the Bundle and Go on one.

I had never flown LH F/C until Dec 2023. After getting stuck at MUC in a snowstorm while trying to get to BOS I woke up one morning and scrolled to see if we had been reassigned seats to leave that day. We were stuck in Coach but had used United miles for Business seats. I looked to see if any Business seats remained through the United app. To my amazement I saw F/C seats available and for only 140K miles. I tried to book 2 seats and it went through. I never imagined that! We grabbed our stuff & headed to the Airport. Of course that flight was cancelled, too, due to snow but now we have F/C lounge staff working for us for rebooking & room for the night. We have found seats like that only available the day of or 24 hours before the flight & have done it 3 times since. But not lately. I don't even see it offered. Disappointed in LH.

IMHO, I feel this could very well to restrict partner awards during what seems like a hyper-travel event such as the World Cup. Germany is one of the primary North American gateways to Europe and even beyond, so I get it. I suspect things could slowly return beginning in August.