SWISS is the only major airline in the world to offer first class on all of its wide body aircraft, which includes Airbus A330s, Airbus A340s, and Boeing 777s (and as of 2025, Airbus A350s). The airline offers a solid first class, which I rank among the 10 best first class experiences in the world. The airline also has excellent first class lounges in Zurich, including both the Schengen and non-Schengen locations.
One question that often comes up is whether it’s possible to redeem miles for SWISS first class. I wanted to address that in this post, as the answer is (sort of) nuanced.
In this post:
You can’t redeem partner miles for SWISS first class
Unfortunately SWISS doesn’t allow redemptions in first class when redeeming through partner airline frequent flyer programs. So if you have miles with a program like Air Canada Aeroplan, avianca lifemiles, United MileagePlus, etc., SWISS first class is off limits.
This applies both in advance and close to departure, so it’s not like Lufthansa first class redemptions, where they open up to partner programs up to 15 days before departure.
Just to take a brief trip down memory lane, back in the day SWISS first class was wide open using partner airline miles, and it was one of the easiest first class awards to snag. Ah, the good old days of roundtrip first class awards from the United States to Asia via Europe with Aeroplan, including two stopovers, for just 120,000 miles. Unfortunately that policy changed in 2014.
Select Miles & More members can redeem for SWISS first class
While most of us can’t redeem miles for SWISS first class, that’s not the case across the board. SWISS is part of Lufthansa Group, and Miles & More HON Circle and Senator members (the top and mid-tier status levels in the program) are allowed to redeem miles for SWISS first class.
Admittedly these are pretty exclusive elite tiers, and on top of that, Miles & More miles can be tough to rack up. However, if you do have that status and a sizable balance of miles, you can redeem for SWISS first class.
How you can score a SWISS first class deal
Given the size of SWISS’ first class network, the airline does often have attractive first class pricing. You’ll generally get the best deal when originating in Europe outside of a Lufthansa Group hub or focus city.
Totally randomly, I pulled up Budapest to Dubai via Zurich in SWISS first class, and that came out to ~$2,750 roundtrip. That’s not bad for an international first class itinerary, and I’m sure there are better deals out there with some effort.
Another way to potentially score a SWISS first class seat is by upgrading a business class ticket. SWISS does release a lot of business class award availability, so you could redeem partner miles for SWISS business class. Then at check-in (either online or at the airport), the airline will often sell upgrades to first class on a space available basis.
You can expect these upgrades to typically cost in the range of $1,000-2,000 one-way, give or take. In the United States, pricing is generally lower from the Northeast (Boston, New York, Washington, etc.), and more expensive from California Florida (Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco). In particular, I’ve heard that the New York to Geneva route often has the most attractive pricing.
I’m not suggesting that’s some amazing value, but it’s the most economical way to fly SWISS first class, aside from finding a great fare sale.
Bottom line
Nowadays it’s not possible to redeem partner airline miles for SWISS first class. The only consistent option to redeem for SWISS first class is that Miles & More HON Circle and Senator members can redeem this way.
Your best bet for scoring a decent deal on SWISS first class is to find a fare sale, or to upgrade at check-in, when discounted upgrades are available.
If you’ve flown SWISS first class, how did you go about booking it?
Just a few data points. My 3 last LX flights on partner J awards, the online updrade to F would not work (during check in) this had to be done at the counter. Swiss seems to be blocking this feature for partner awards. If you purchase an LX ticket, you also ge the possibility of bidding for an upgrade. Thats another common way to upgrade to F.
Pay that much money for the most boring First Class ever?
I am Senator for years and have never seen any availability in Swiss First. However if the flight schedule changes - usually you get opportunity to choose any flight with any airline in the alliance - Swiss, LH, ANA etc.
You can probably find better deals flying from Cairo. OUCH!!
Had an award on LH F FRA ORD and due to a strike in LH they routed me
on SWISS from ZUR on F .
Has an award on LH F FRA ORD and to a strike in LH they routed my on SWISS from ZUR on F .
Had an award on LH F FRA ORD and due to a strike in LH they routed me
on SWISS from ZUR on F .
Why don't you actually do a deep dive into the Miles and More program?
Tons of people would find it useful. Your paragraph in the middle is pretty useless without going into availability, redemption costs, etc.
I think that would be helpful - if you fly to DACH with any frequency it's not hard to reach SEN status and that comes with some nice benefits, particularly the half price companion award which is can be super helpful on J and F award tix.
FYI if you try to upgrade a partner award online it almost always fails and the phone people cannot fix it, so would not recommend counting on that as an option.
There’s a fifth freedom route from sao Paolo that’s bookable on other programs too I believe.
Apparently SAS euro bonus members were able to book LX F for about 1,5 years pre-Skyteam
Slightly off topic: I think many of these programs are going to ultimately kill the golden goose in their quest to Delta-ize their rewards program. It starts off pretty innocuous: United goes dynamic on their metal, but nobody wanted to fly those birds anyways. Then booking and inventory restrictions are put in place with partners, and then ultimately partners close premier class bookings, and customers are wonder "what do I care if this United card...
Slightly off topic: I think many of these programs are going to ultimately kill the golden goose in their quest to Delta-ize their rewards program. It starts off pretty innocuous: United goes dynamic on their metal, but nobody wanted to fly those birds anyways. Then booking and inventory restrictions are put in place with partners, and then ultimately partners close premier class bookings, and customers are wonder "what do I care if this United card offers 100k miles at sign up? No value proposition and I can't redeem for the things I wanted in the alliances."
I think the recommendations in this article are the future - positioning for the best cash booking options (I do that these days.) But it will spell existential problems for those profitable parts of the loyalty programs on the domestic carriers, so curious how that plays out.
My main beef is the corporate spew that comes along with this rapid erosion of customer value. "We heard customers like choices, and this is a choice!" :P
What is award availability on LH F like, if you were M&M Senator?
Pretty poor. And it's also pretty poor as HON unless you're super flexible on your booking dates and patient as your intended travel date closes in. I ultimately abandoned being HON because I had so many points and upgrade vouchers that were basically unusable.
On top of that, LH F was starting to show its age. And then the product started to become inconsistent with the allegris rollout. And then LX F became really hard...
Pretty poor. And it's also pretty poor as HON unless you're super flexible on your booking dates and patient as your intended travel date closes in. I ultimately abandoned being HON because I had so many points and upgrade vouchers that were basically unusable.
On top of that, LH F was starting to show its age. And then the product started to become inconsistent with the allegris rollout. And then LX F became really hard to get. And then you only really want the 77W or the A340 F because the A330 F is noticably worse. And then you realize it's all pointless. The only truly amazing F product across the Atlantic is:
1) to fly non-stop. Beats connecting for the same or more expensive every time no matter how much champagne they shove down your throat or inconsistent they are with whether they car transfer you to your connecting short-haul flight that's really semi-glorified economy class.
2) La Premiere. Which is now extremely expensive unfortunately.
SEN here: it depends. If you are looking during peak travel times, particularly summer or holidays, it's not great. If you are flying off-peak (winter/spring), it's decent. LX F awards are another issue as you can't search for LX F award availability online and have to call to find what's available. I've found that to be highly dependent on the agent; I've had one tell me there is none available over a two month period...
SEN here: it depends. If you are looking during peak travel times, particularly summer or holidays, it's not great. If you are flying off-peak (winter/spring), it's decent. LX F awards are another issue as you can't search for LX F award availability online and have to call to find what's available. I've found that to be highly dependent on the agent; I've had one tell me there is none available over a two month period - HUCB and the next agent found five separate flights on the days I wanted. LHG IT is terrible but if you're persistent it can work out pretty well and there can be value if you look for it.
Sorry, I meant to ask about award availability as Sen on LX F and not LH F. But thanks for the responses. I wasn’t aware that LX F can only be booked by calling, which would be a major pain. I’m a hair’s breadth from making Sen this year and would easily make it if I did a trip on Dec. But even they doesn’t seem worth. Airline loyalty programs have gone down the drain...
Sorry, I meant to ask about award availability as Sen on LX F and not LH F. But thanks for the responses. I wasn’t aware that LX F can only be booked by calling, which would be a major pain. I’m a hair’s breadth from making Sen this year and would easily make it if I did a trip on Dec. But even they doesn’t seem worth. Airline loyalty programs have gone down the drain and it really doesn’t make sense to spend any extra money / fly an inconvenient route to make status. Nowadays, I just go for the best route-price-product combo, irrespective of which airline / alliance it is.
LX F is one of the best deals, especially if you use the companion award deal.
HKG-ZRH / And a few months later / ZRH-LAX in LX F costs 303.000 miles + 90USD for 2 pax.