Lufthansa Miles & More
Miles & More is the largest frequent flyer programme in Europe with more than 15 million members as of May 2008. The program was launched by Lufthansa (LH) in 1993 and is used by 13 European airlines.
There are three types of miles within the program.
Award miles
These are miles that can be collected in the account of a member and be used to buy flights, upgrades, merchandise from the Lufthansa WorldShop and other Miles & More partners. For standard Miles & More members they retain validity for 36 months, after which they expire. For Frequent Travellers, Senators and HON Circle Card holders, the miles have no expiration date. However, as soon as a customer does not hold any of these cards anymore, the expiration date of all miles is set to 36 months counting from loss of frequent flyer status. For Miles & More Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard) holders issued in several countries, miles have no expiration date as long as the card is held and/or used. After the credit card expires, the original expiry date of the miles is reinstated; although the earliest miles can expire is at the end of the quarter after the credit card contract is ended.
Status miles
Status miles can only be earned when flying on the fully integrated partner airlines or on Star Alliance members. There is no other way to earn these miles. In addition, status miles expire at the end of each calendar year. They are used to identify the frequent flyers and members that are able to qualify for a higher status on the basis of the status miles that they have collected in one year.
HON Circle miles
HON Circle miles can only be earned when flying on the fully integrated partner airlines and Air-Rail trains in Germany (up to a total of 600,000 miles within two calendar years). They are necessary to attain the top-tier status on Miles & More - HON Circle. Until April 1, 2006 it was possible to also collect this type of mile on United Airlines. This option no longer exists.[4] HON-miles have to be accumulated within two calendar years. Only Senators with an account balance of more than 300,000 status miles over two years, and existing HON Circle members, can see these miles on their account statement.
Earning miles
Status miles can only be earned when flying on either the fully integrated partner airlines of Miles & More or the Star Alliance partners. The number of status miles earned is always equivalent to the number of award miles earned on these flights (excluding promotions).
Flying
The miles that a member receives after having completed depend on the mileage flown, the class of service and the booking class.
Other earning opportunities
Lufthansa always has a number of promotions, most lasting for 1-2 months only. They include double mileage on new routes, extra miles for using electronic check-in and alike. Some of the promotions are restricted to residents of certain countries and others are restricted to certain customers.
There are other ways to collect award miles when not travelling. The Lufthansa Miles & More Credit Card can be subscribed to (which may be issued as a VISA, Mastercard or American Express card, depending on the country in which it is issued) and collect one award mile for every Dollar/Euro spent. A one-time sign-up bonus is given and sometimes introductory promotions may apply, such as double or triple award miles for an introductory period.
Award miles can be earned on certain Deutsche Bahn trains, when staying in certain hotels, shopping in certain shops (such as the LH Worldshop), renting cars, investing in certain funds, opening an account with certain banks, picking up a catalogue in a Bang & Olufsen store, and others. For all offers see Miles & More website as offers vary between countries. However, all these offers do not earn any status miles. If a customer does not have enough miles for an award then up to 12,000 miles can be acquired for €290.00.
Redeeming miles
Once a member has collected the necessary number of miles, they can be used to buy flights, upgrades and products from the Lufthansa Worldshop.
Redeeming miles for flights
Miles in a member's account can be exchanged for award flights on all the fully integrated airline partners and all of the Star Alliance carriers. The number of miles that is deducted from the account depends on the origin and destination of that flight. The number of miles that is required can be checked in this file.
Redeeming miles for upgrades
Miles can be redeemed for upgrades on all fully integrated carriers of Miles & More and on the following Star-Alliance partners: All Nippon Airways (ANA), Asiana Airlines, Condor Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways International, United Airlines. Again the number of miles required depends on the destination of the flight. The exact number is found on [1]. Passengers are only allowed to upgrade one class of service. Only certain booking classes qualify for upgrades.
Redeeming miles for car, hotel, shopping etc
Miles can be redeemed for rental car, hotel, shopping etc. Avis car rental in US costs 47000 miles at the minimum, finding a Hilton hotel and shorting the list based on miles is impossible, selection of hotels in Best Western is very limited (The hotels are available in Best Western but most of the hotels in the list in US are NOT available for miles).
Status
On Miles & More all customers can build status through collecting status miles. The status miles from 1 year only count towards status. Status is important as there are many privileges and advantages that status holders receive (such as priority check-in).
There are four status level on Miles & More:
Miles and More card Miles & More status
This is the normal status that everybody gets after they join the program. This status does not receive any officially documented privileges. A Miles & More member starts with a temporary paper-card, which is usually cut out from one of the Lufthansa magazines or printed from the internet; a plastic card is sent once the member has credited at least one flight to Miles & More.
Source: wikipedia
Leave a comment | View Comments
