Over time, it has grow to be more and more tough to redeem companion airline miles for journey in Lufthansa firstclass. Admittedly this has been a sluggish and regular development over the previous 15 years, going again to when Lufthansa had 16 firstclass seats on the higher deck of its Boeing 747-400s (time flies!).
Anyway, it seems that in current weeks, Lufthansa has added yet one more barrier to redeeming for firstclass. It stays to be seen if that is everlasting, or what precisely is happening…
Lufthansa firstclass award availability traits
Whereas Lufthansa’s personal Miles & Extra members can ebook firstclass awards as quickly because the schedule opens (topic to capability controls), Lufthansa has important restrictions for these reserving firstclass by means of companion frequent flyer packages.
With regards to redeeming companion miles for Lufthansa firstclass, traditionally it has been doable to redeem miles for firstclass as much as 15 days earlier than departure. That’s to not say that each one out there firstclass seats have been made out there 15 days out, however fairly, that was the outer restrict for when house opened up.
In early 2024, that window was narrowed considerably, and ever since, Lufthansa appears to be opening firstclass awards to companion packages at most three to 4 days earlier than departure.
Now we’re seeing yet one more restriction (because of Connor for bringing this up) — in current weeks, it seems that Lufthansa is just releasing firstclass award availability to companion packages for lengthy haul flights originating in Germany. In different phrases, there’s some award house from Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC) to locations across the globe, however not within the different path.
Seats.aero is an superior instrument for looking award availability, and it has a Lufthansa firstclass award tracker. As you’ll see there, the one firstclass availability is departing Germany, and that has been the case for a while.
Now, I wouldn’t assume that this transformation is everlasting, because it might change, and it’s not the primary time that we’ve seen the airline solely launch award house in a single path of journey. It’s anybody’s guess how lengthy this lasts, nevertheless it’s one thing to pay attention to in the interim.
I feel everyone knows which path that is headed…
With regards to redeeming miles for Lufthansa firstclass, I’ve to think about that our greatest days are behind us:
The final trade development we’ve seen is obvious, as I wrote about a while again. We’re seeing airways more and more limit award house to companion packages, to deal with monetizing their very own packages.
So I’m not saying that Lufthansa will fully remove companion firstclass awards, however… I’m additionally not saying it gained’t? I feel the extra seemingly path this goes is that we see Miles & Extra added as a companion for worldwide transferable factors currencies, in order that Lufthansa has extra management over its award house.
Backside line
Lufthansa is more and more proscribing award house by means of companion frequent flyer packages. Because it presently stands, count on that you could solely redeem companion miles for Lufthansa firstclass at most just a few days out, and just for lengthy haul segments originating in Germany (that latter restriction is new).
It’s anybody’s guess how this all evolves, however I’ve a tough time imagining that issues will get significantly better. So if you wish to fly Lufthansa firstclass with companion miles, it won’t be a foul time to take action…
What do you make of those Lufthansa’s firstclass award availability traits?
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