Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult to redeem partner airline miles for travel in Lufthansa first class. Admittedly this has been a slow and steady trend over the past 15 years, going back to when Lufthansa had 16 first class seats on the upper deck of its Boeing 747-400s (time flies!).
Nonetheless, Lufthansa first class remains one of the best mileage values for those looking to travel in first class across the Atlantic, given the lack of options. In this post, I want to look at the current state of redeeming partner airline miles for travel in Lufthansa first class.
In this post:
Lufthansa first class award availability trends
While Lufthansa’s own Miles & More members can book first class awards as soon as the schedule opens (subject to capacity controls), Lufthansa has significant restrictions for those booking first class through partner frequent flyer programs.
When it comes to redeeming partner miles for Lufthansa first class, historically it has been possible to redeem miles for first class up to 15 days before departure. That’s not to say that all available first class seats were made available 15 days out, but rather, that was the outer limit for when space opened up.
In early 2024, that window was narrowed significantly, and ever since, Lufthansa seems to be opening first class awards to partner programs at most three to four days before departure. As you can tell, that provides a limited period during which you can redeem for Lufthansa first class.
Seats.aero is an awesome tool for searching award availability, and it has a Lufthansa first class award tracker. Tools like this are great, in terms of making it easy to find award space. At the same time, the ease with which space can be searched is probably also one of the reasons we’ve increasingly seen airlines add restrictions on many types of award tickets.
Let me also mention that sometimes you’ll find a lot more award availability in one direction of travel, either to Germany or from Germany. That’s generally not because availability is blocked, but rather, just reflects demand trends over particular travel periods.
Yesterday I (incorrectly) reported that Lufthansa was only opening award space in one direction of travel, and that’s not the case, so my apologies, as I want to be sure I correct that. If you do notice this trend, it’s likely temporary, and just reflects how full flights are.
What does the future hold for Lufthansa awards?
When it comes to redeeming miles for Lufthansa first class, I have to imagine that our best days are behind us:
- Lufthansa is increasingly introducing its new Allegris first class, and that’s blocked for both awards and upgrades
- Lufthansa Miles & More is moving to dynamic award pricing in the coming weeks, and it remains to be seen what that means for premium cabin award costs through Miles & More, or saver award availability through partner programs
The general industry trend we’ve seen is clear, as I wrote about some time back. We’re seeing airlines increasingly restrict award space to partner programs, to focus on monetizing their own programs.
So I’m not saying that Lufthansa will completely eliminate partner first class awards, but… I’m also not saying it won’t? I think the more likely direction this goes is that we see Miles & More added as a partner for international transferable points currencies, so that Lufthansa has more control over its award space.
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.
Bottom line
If you’re looking to redeem partner airline miles for travel in Lufthansa first class, expect that these seats will open up at most a few days before departure. This availability has become tougher to snag over the years, which is hardly surprising, given how this hobby has evolved, and also factoring in that airlines have become a bit savvier.
It’s anyone’s guess what changes we see next, but I have a hard time imagining that things will get much better, especially with the continued rollout of the new Allegris first class.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s first class award availability trends?
Hey Ben,
You didn't have to write this post at all, especially since you didn't say anything above and beyond what you said in your post yesterday, other than basically acknowledging that it was incorrect. You could have simply posted a comment on the comments thread. Your source misled you yesterday. The way to correct that is "trust burt verify".
@ VS -- A lot of people don't read the comments, which is why I wanted to update the post to be fully accurate.
While I generally believe that first class should not be available for points/miles and should be strictly cash only, Lufthansa is really testing their luck implementing this on their ridiculously outdated product. Allegris first is more or less equivalent to business on full service airlines.
I really like LH F and don't view it as "ridiculously" outdated. The champagne/caviar selection is great, and I love the bedding. It's a great way to fly still...
And glad to see some BOS-MUC F opening up in the last two days.