Why All Lufthansa Points Transfers Are Suspended

I pray that LH is losing in court. I’m so done with them. Already shifted my loyalty to another carrier. As soon as we are legally allowed to cash in our miles with LH, I will make use of it and never board a “Kranich”-plane again. Spohr: shame on you!

Lucky, did you read my Ask Lucky post about Iberia expiring miles? If you mix old miles with new miles, the new miles expire at the same time as the old miles. I just lost 11,500 points I transferred from Chase 4 months ago. I'm on my 3rd call and 7th email and they aren't budging. It's pretty f'd and your readers should know so they don't loose points.

Interesting story. If anything it perhaps opens up more space in the interim with Aeroplan etc as people are unable to transfer from hotels or credit cards to LH directly. I scored an F four days out from FRA-IAD this week and just landed a few hours ago. Honestly, IAD rarely ever comes up for me so was wondering. And there were only three people in the cabin which is rare for Washington.

Barclays Miles&More credit card is affected as well? Or not? I have one, and so far have not received any info/letter/email/warning from them, so I wonder if it's just a matter of time and if I should even bother putting any spend on this card or maybe just outright close it?

A repeat from another post. To stress how serious this issue potentially is. I side by LH just to safeguard the future value of my assets. Careful what you wish for.

Hah, Germans trying to ruin miles & points for the whole world.

Once it becomes cash, the IRS (and each country’s equivalent) can easily justify it as income.

Loyalty Programs will be under the Patriot Act, Money Laundering Act, Currency control, etc. Makes it easier than ever for Big brother to now see where, when, and how we go around. Also let’s Big Brother seize without notice or fair trial.

This is the 4th Reich attacking the 21st century free world capitalism.

The point is, that LH is sued in a German court by a customer who has millions of miles (really, not literally) in his account and wants to have a cash withdrawal with the arguement, the miles are "e-money" related to Ger€an and EU laws...

Credit card miles from LH cards should not be affected, as these are not transfers, but earned direcly.

I think the issue is you can buy points in those programs for cash and immediately transfer to Miles & More - so this is much closer to something having a cash value than something you just earned say flying butt-in-seat miles on LH

This could imply all points transfer to European based airlines and hotels will be blocked in the future...

From how I understood it, the issue is not the transfer but the fact that those programs (e.g. Marriott) let you buy miles and that could be considered an e money transaction. Some dumbass sued Lufthansa because he wants his ~700k miles paid out as ~21k€ in cash and argues that this should be possible under the e-money act because you can buy them from another loyalty program and transfer them, effectively making M&M miles e-money. This is what happens when you sue someone before thinking about the consequences... At least some programs (like payback) are not blocked from transferring because you can't buy points there.

@Sam G

There is no issue here. Everyone knows that there are unofficial value to points and miles, for now mostly for accounting purposes.

It is just a matter of time before they are considered cash and income. Dynamic pricing that reflects cash price even support that there is a value. (Hello Delta)
Eventually it will be regulated.

This German (I assume, could be Swiss) A**H** just made the process 10 years faster.

That’s not the only issue currently with Miles & More, since they have launched a new website design mid-April even simple steps can become painful and frustrating.

Based upon this, does it mean that under German Law we would be able to sell our Lufthansa miles without repercussions?

@Eskimo - the status of miles under US law as, effectively, a discount on future purchases is well established in legal precedent. Changing that status would likely require an act of Congress - the IRS can't do it with a regulation.

@Endre: can you be more specific as to why? This is just a completely unjustified rant. I've been flying with them for many years without a single issue.

@Chilangoflyer: as far as I know the person suing has about 700.000 miles. That's far from being "millions".

i am thinking about the complete opposite: so one day we can ask Delta to buy back our miles in cash? lol

And also a great way to ensure your miles never expire again particularly if you have a small balance that you can’t use - simply cash it in 🙂
There is always a downside and an upside

LH miles are a complete scam. I hope they go under and this guy wins in court. Last time I used LH miles for a trip from the US to the EU they charged me $689 in taxes which was only $59 cheaper then actually buying the freaking full fare economy ticket! To add insult to injury, LH does not refund of the taxes paid in the event you need to cancel or change the flight but they have no issue refunding the miles back to your account! They really do deserve to go under, F* those greedy basturds!

I am so mad at this and wish I have read this article sooner.

I just transferred 50k worth of points from Amex to Bonvoy with the intent to transfer the rest of the points from Bonvoy to Lufthansa, but only to realize the carrier is no longer redeemable.

Meh, I think you're all a bunch of blowhards and I hope LH wins. I get incredible value out of my miles with last-minute LH F redemptions (sometimes 20c per mile minus taxes/fees).

I want to know when this case will finally be over so I can begin transferring from Marriott again. Anyone have a timeline?

Has anybody any update on the court-case and potential reinstatement of points transfer? Thanks