Lufthansa will devalue the Miles & More reward chart – book now

Lufthansa is devaluing Miles & More on 9th May.  Members have not been emailed yet but there is an announcement on the M&M home page.

You can see the new reward chart here (PDF).  The changes apply to flights on Lufthansa Group airlines and partner airlines.

The changes are fairly modest if I’m honest.  Here are a few examples:

UK to USA, Business – was 105,000 miles return, will be 112,000

UK to USA, First – was 170,000 miles return, will be 182,000

UK to SE Asia, Business – was 135,000 miles return, will be 142,000

UK to SE Asia, First – was 210,000 miles return, will be 222,000

UK to Middle East, Business – was 70,000 miles return, will be 70,000 miles return

UK to Middle East, First – was 125,000 miles return, will be 130,000 miles return

A “Round the World” flight award will increase by 10,000 miles in Business and 20,000 miles in First.  The “three region” flight award will increase by 10,000 miles in Business and 20,000 miles in First.

Whilst this changes are relatively low, this moves comes on top of a shift to revenue-based earning at Miles & More last year.  This means that most members have also been receiving fewer miles when they fly and have therefore taken a double hit.

For me – who never flies Star Alliance for cash and picks up miles via Marriott Rewards / Starwood Preferred Guest transfers (60,000 points = 25,000 miles) and from the new Miles & More Mastercard (a very good 1.25 miles per £1), the impact is modest.

Given that our most common redemption is UK to Middle East, 70,000 miles return is still laughably better than 100,000 Avios off-peak / 120,000 Avios peak.  I also love doing the occasional one-way Lufthansa First Class redemption – it is the classiest F product in the air – and this will only add a few thousand miles to those trips.

If you are comparing the figures above with over schemes, remember that children under 12 get a 25% discount on redemptions as long as you book with Adria Airways, Austrian Airlines, Air Dolomiti, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Eurowings, Germanwings, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Luxair or SWISS.

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How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (October 2024)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.