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Lufthansa’s Miles & More moves to revenue-based miles earning from today

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In what may be a model for BA’s upcoming Avios revamp, Lufthansa’s Miles & More scheme moves to revenue-based mileage earning for tickets issued from today.  Existing bookings are not impacted.

In theory, it is meant to be simpler and to reward those who buy more expensive tickets.

(Regular readers will know that I disagree with this model.  The majority of people who ‘buy’ higher priced tickets are spending their employers money, not their own.  In many cases the employer will have a route deal which forces the flyer to use Star Alliance irrespective.  People who are obliged to fly Lufthansa irrespective of their genuine loyalty to the airline get more miles, whilst leisure travellers and small business owners – who genuinely have a free choice in who they fly with – get less.)

This is the chart (click to enlarge):

Miles & More changes to earning

The € value used is ‘base fare plus airline-levied YQ surcharges’ which means they will exclude Air Passenger Duty (for UK departures) and airport fees before calculating what you earn.  This could lead to cheap one-way tickets from Heathrow earning under 50 miles!

Codeshares will be based on the operating airline and not the marketing airline.

Except:

“The new system applies to all tickets sold by Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings or Brussels Airlines. If you book via a direct sales channel of Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings or Brussels Airlines, i.e. the website, miles will be awarded based on the new system. If you book via a third-party sales channel, i.e. a travel agent or online travel agency, you will be able to tell by the ticket number whether your award miles will be calculated according to the new system. If the first three digits of your ticket number are 220 (Lufthansa), 724 (SWISS), 257 (Austrian Airlines) or 082 (Brussels Airlines) or Eurowings, the new system applies to your flight – if not, the award miles are calculated according to the old system. The one exception are tickets purchased through a tour operator. Here award miles are allocated according to the booking class, irrespective of the ticket number. In rare cases where no fare information is available, Miles & More reserves the right to continue to award miles according to the booking-class-based system.”

So …. the chart above is what you get, except when you don’t.  If you want to earn miles under the old system, you still can!  Simply use a third party booking agent or a Star partner such as LOT or United which can also issue Lufthansa tickets.

More confusingly, status, select and HON Circle miles will continue to be awarded under the current system.

For readers who earn the bulk of their miles from non-flying methods such as credit card spend, there is unlikely to be much difference to their earning.  Lufthansa claims that the new system is neutral in terms of miles awarded, which implies that those buying cheaper tickets (with their own money) will be worse off.

Category

Lufthansa and Miles & More

Comments (75)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Lucy says:
    12 Mar12 March 08:42

    LATAM MAD to SCL Avios availability

    Now I know LATAM are never generous with AVIOS rewards, but looking to go from MAD to SCL early next year in Y.
    Can only see flights up to April 28th

    Is this a year end thing or do they only show a couple of months ahead on this route as opposed to the full 330 days?

    Thanks

    • Lady London says:
      12 Mar12 March 23:21

      I have a feeling you might get better offers looking via iberiaplus rather than exec club. If you do find something you want then easy and quick to pull the Avios to IB.

      • Lucinda says:
        13 Mar13 March 09:42

        Thanks for the reply.
        LATAM from from MAD has virtually no £ in taxes (£22.70) so I doubt there is a better offer on Iberia (£200 taxes)

        LATAM charge more AVIOS (30K) than Iberia (25500).

        Still a bargain though.

  • Tom1 says:
    12 Mar12 March 09:32

    Lloyds avios.
    I got the card early Feb.
    If I spend £13,999 in march/April 2018, and then spend £1 after the one year anniversary in feb 2019, will that trigger the 2nd upgrade voucher?
    Or is it £7000 spend in each year (ie £7k feb-18 to jan-19, then another £7k from feb-19 onwards?

    I realise that’s assuming the card and benefits are still around a year from now.
    Thanks in advance.

    • Lev441 says:
      12 Mar12 March 09:43

      It’s £7k spend per card year so you’d only get the voucher in year 2 if you then spent £6,999 more!

      • Tom1 says:
        12 Mar12 March 10:24

        Shame!
        Ok thanks. In that case I need to think about where else to put my non-amex spend
        Let’s hope a new Hilton or virgin card comes around soon.

  • Jon says:
    12 Mar12 March 10:04

    OT: Don’t have one right now, but can I check- is it just the Platinum card where you get the full referral bonus of 18k even if the person being referred takes out a non-platinum card? I.e. Could I refer a friend for the free BA amex from my PRG card and get 9k? Or do you get a lower amount/can’t refer for other non-PRG cards? Thanks.

    • CBoy says:
      12 Mar12 March 13:22

      Yes, you would get the 9k if you refer from your PRG and they take the free BA card.

      I have received 18k for referring PRG and Nectar cards from my Platinum.

    • Olly says:
      12 Mar12 March 14:48

      I don’t know about the free BA card but referred a friend just before Christmas who took out the Gold card and I received 18K for it.

      • Jon says:
        12 Mar12 March 15:34

        Thanks both. I will wait until I can get the PRG card again before I refer anyone!

  • Yuff says:
    12 Mar12 March 10:06

    OT: does anyone know how to get the 5k bonus points for the Amex plat supplementary card or is it automatic?

    • mark2 says:
      12 Mar12 March 10:14

      You have to apply here
      https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/platinum-companion/

      • Yuff says:
        12 Mar12 March 10:46

        Thanks Mark2 😉

      • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
        12 Mar12 March 11:34

        That’s the companion card, not a supplementary card.

        • mark2 says:
          12 Mar12 March 11:43

          True, apologies. In my experience, for supplementary card it is automatic.

        • mark2 says:
          12 Mar12 March 11:44

          But is si worth getting the companion card for another 5,000 MR.

        • Alex W says:
          12 Mar12 March 20:28

          After I applied for the Companion Platinum card last month i got rejected 🙁 first time I’ve ever been rejected for anything financial! What a bummer. The letter says I can write to them to appeal but I need to apply for SPG next month so will wait until after that.

      • jtz says:
        12 Mar12 March 12:10

        Is the 5k for adding a companion credit card on the gold card too?
        Just finished the spend and need to wait a couple of months before upgrade to Plat, this may seem a good option…

        • mark2 says:
          12 Mar12 March 16:18

          There is a £500 spend required on the companion card. Suggest you cancel it before upgrading charge card so that you can do it again for platinum companion.

      • a270 says:
        12 Mar12 March 17:59

        Can the companion card be for someone who is already a supplementary on your Platinum card? I don’t understand the difference between the two other than the companion card requires a £500 spend.

        • Genghis says:
          12 Mar12 March 18:08

          A supplementary card on an Amex Plat allows the holder to spend on the main account holder’s account. It is not a separate product per se, just an additional card with no separate credit limit.

          The companion card, however, is a credit card, a ‘companion’ to the Plat charge card. It is a separate product which would potentially require another credit search and has its own credit limit. Presumably also possible to get a supplementary card on the companion card?

  • Carl says:
    12 Mar12 March 10:16

    OT: For HSBC Jade, does the Etihad Guest Gold status last for a certain fixed period or if I reduce the balance in my account will I lose Jade and the status. I’m hopefully buying my first house shortly so will only be able to maintain the required cash balance for a few months. I was wondering whether it’s worth the hassle of consolidating all my savings in a single account and applying for Jade or not.

    • Axel says:
      12 Mar12 March 16:49

      You will need the funds in HSBC for quite a few months before you are offered Jade. It is invite only. Basically HSBC have setup Jade to create a pipeline for private banking.

      The Eti Gold will last until Feb 2020 (I think). Many of the offers are adhoc. I was offered front row seats at London Fashion week. I said I found the £10 of £30 spend at Iceland on the Visa card more attractive.

  • Nick says:
    12 Mar12 March 10:26

    The other problem with this new awarding system is that it doesn’t take account of market factors. Fares on infrequent routes will be high because there’s no competition, so attract more points where there’s no need for a big incentive for choice of airline. Conversely where fares are low because there’s lots of choice of airline (e.g. across the North Atlantic), points issued are lower despite there being a need to attract customers to your specific airline rather than the competition. IMV this is warped marketing economics and airlines may come to regret it!

  • Zoe says:
    12 Mar12 March 11:21

    OT Trialfinders are promoting a Malaysian Airlines sale that is today only. Headline fares don’t look special but there might be something useful ex EU.

  • Tracy says:
    12 Mar12 March 11:45

    O/T I have the IHG black credit card. If I spend £ in a hotel indigo restaurant but don’t spend a night there do I get 2x or 4x points on the credit card?

    • John says:
      12 Mar12 March 12:36

      Would expect it to be 4x unless the restaurant has an independent card processing system.

      • Tracy says:
        12 Mar12 March 14:45

        Its detailed on my credit card as a charge from Hotel Indigo but only 2x points, not sure whether to contact IHG or not…..

        • RussellH says:
          12 Mar12 March 16:50

          I would definitely complain, but to Creation. It is them who have agrred to issue the points on the credit card. Ask why just 2 points whenthe Ts+Cs say 4 for use at an IHG hotel.

          It could just be that their system does not recognise the transaction as IHG

          • Rob says:
            12 Mar12 March 18:13

            It is 99% likely that Creation does not have the merchant code for that particular hotel in its system as one which should trigger double points. This is really IHG’s fault of course.

        • Tracy says:
          13 Mar13 March 00:41

          Thanks, will contact creation and see how I get on…

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