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Miles&More: Booking Lufthansa vs United

Miles&More: Booking Lufthansa vs United

  1. Anonymous Guest

    Hey All,

    I am about to book an international ticket from the US to Europe. The problem is as follows: I am a Miles&More member (close to gold for this year), and I want to get the most miles for the buck for this trip by booking either Lufthansa or United. (I do not and will not start using Mileage Plus until I get Miles&More gold.)

    There are two issues. First, both the United and Lufthansa tickets are the same cost BUT I don’t know the extent, if any, my choice of airline will have on points issued to my Miles&More account. Second, the flight will be operated by United regardless if I book with Lufthansa or United. I know this flight and plane well as I’ve flown this route many times before, and usually just went with United + Miles&More account.

    The reason I always went with United is because it was cheaper AND I had the chance to score upgrades to business class at the time of check-in at a relatively cheap price. I don’t know how upgrades would work to Business as a Lufthansa booking (for example, I don’t know if Lufthansa’s check-in will provide me with the option to upgrade to business for say $300, which is what United did provide).

    So, I’m wondering whether booking the Lufthansa ticket will garner more points for me, and whether that outweighs the costs of potentially not being able to upgrade to business on the cheap.
    I would call Miles&More but they are closed on weekends, so I defer to this board.

    Help would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    SnF

  2. SanF New Member

    Hey All,

    I am about to book an international ticket from the US to Europe. The problem is as follows: I am a Miles&More member (close to gold for this year), and I want to get the most miles for the buck for this trip by booking either Lufthansa or United. (I do not and will not start using Mileage Plus until I get Miles&More gold.)

    There are two issues. First, both the United and Lufthansa tickets are the same cost BUT I don’t know the extent, if any, my choice of airline will have on points issued to my Miles&More account. Second, the flight will be operated by United regardless if I book with Lufthansa or United. I know this flight and plane well as I’ve flown this route many times before, and usually just went with United + Miles&More account.

    The reason I always went with United is because it was cheaper AND I had the chance to score upgrades to business class at the time of check-in at a relatively cheap price. I don’t know how upgrades would work to Business as a Lufthansa booking (for example, I don’t know if Lufthansa’s check-in will provide me with the option to upgrade to business for say $300, which is what United did provide).

    So, I’m wondering whether booking the Lufthansa ticket will garner more points for me, and whether that outweighs the costs of potentially not being able to upgrade to business on the cheap.
    I would call Miles&More but they are closed on weekends, so I defer to this board.

    Help would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    SnF

  3. David W Community Ambassador

    UA issues miles based on how much your base ticket is, before taxes and fees. Assuming you have no status with UA, you would only earn 5x the base cost of the ticket in redeemable miles. You would earn status miles for actual distance flown. This is regardless of a paid upgrade as redeemable miles are issued based on original booking fare class.

    In your case, I’d continue to credit to Miles & More. You should come out ahead by crediting to M&M, unless you purchased tickets in the cheapest fare class, where M&M only awards 25% of flown miles. Earning chart is here [URL]http://www.miles-and-more.com/online/portal/mam/us/earn/flight/offer?nodeid=2511385&l=en&cid=1000390[/URL]

  4. SanF New Member

    Hi David,

    Thanks for your response. Your answer doesn’t appear to answer my question: is there a difference in points accrued for Miles&More if you book a United flight versus booking a Lufthansa flight? (Even though operator will be united, the ticketing agent will be either United or Lufthansa, and I don’t know which is better option, if there even is a better option.)

    Best,

    SanF

  5. SanF New Member

    Never mind, just saw the link! Thanks David.

  6. David W Community Ambassador

    It really depends on the fare class you are booked into. See if youre able to find the booking class for the UA flight and the LH flights and compare. If you’re booked into the lowest fareclass for either UA or LH, theres no difference in earning miles

    Miles & More earning chart for LH can be found here [URL]http://www.miles-and-more.com/online/portal/mam/us/earn/flight/offer?nodeid=2507840&l=en&cid=1000390[/URL]

  7. SanF New Member

    [QUOTE=”David W, post: 15149, member: 29″]It really depends on the fare class you are booked into. See if youre able to find the booking class for the UA flight and the LH flights and compare. If you’re booked into the lowest fareclass for either UA or LH, theres no difference in earning miles

    Miles & More earning chart for LH can be found here [URL]http://www.miles-and-more.com/online/portal/mam/us/earn/flight/offer?nodeid=2507840&l=en&cid=1000390[/URL][/QUOTE]

    Appreciate the quick response. I will be in B class for either so it appears that’s 1.5x miles. The only difference I can find is that I won’t be awarded “select miles.”

    Do you know if I can upgrade to Business class the cheap at Lufthansa’s check in? When I check-in 24 hours in advance for United, I get the option to upgrade to Business for relatively cheap…I don’t know if that’s the case for Lufthansa….

  8. David W Community Ambassador

    Is there a huge difference in price between your ticket and business class? B is full fare economy and a discount business class ticket isnt that much more expensive sometimes.

    I’m not sure how cheap an upgrade at check in would be.

  9. SanF New Member

    [QUOTE=”David W, post: 15151, member: 29″]Is there a huge difference in price between your ticket and business class? B is full fare economy and a discount business class ticket isnt that much more expensive sometimes.

    I’m not sure how cheap an upgrade at check in would be.[/QUOTE]

    Yah the discount business is 3x as expensive (don’t know why). Wish I could find out whether Lufthansa check-in allows for business class upgrades.

  10. David W Community Ambassador

    Depending on your route if flying LH, there are some upgrade opportunities:

    [URL]http://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/Upgrade-for-fixed-price[/URL]

    [URL]http://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/premium-economy-myoffer[/URL]

  11. SanF New Member

    [QUOTE=”David W, post: 15153, member: 29″]Depending on your route if flying LH, there are some upgrade opportunities:

    [URL]http://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/Upgrade-for-fixed-price[/URL]

    [URL]http://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/premium-economy-myoffer[/URL][/QUOTE]

    Thanks. Next step is to call Lufthansa, I think.

  12. No Name Member

    [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER]

    Merge?
    [URL]http://asklucky.onemileatatime.com/threads/miles-more-united-vs-lufthansa-book-for-points.6052/[/URL]

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