Lufthansa “Mileage Bargains” Award Tickets

Each month, Lufthansa offers a series of discounted awards called “Mileage Bargains”. Although they are restrictive and require advance planning, the savings can be tremendous.

Like Air France Flying Blue Promo awards, Lufthansa Miles & More offers discounted awards to its own members on select routes, when booked in advance. Each month, the list of “Mileage Bargains” can be viewed and booked here. You can specify your country of origin at the top of the search page.

Here are some important things to remember about “Mileage Bargains” awards:

• Space is capacity-controlled
• “Mileage Bargains” can only be booked with Miles & Mores miles
• “Mileage Bargains” can only be booked online
• Taxes, fees, and surcharges apply (see below)
• “Mileage Bargains” cannot be rebooked or cancelled
• You can book for friends or family members from your account

Let’s take an example. This month, Lufthansa flights between Los Angeles and Germany are available for booking in economy class (30K round-trip) or business class (55K round-trip). In the case of business class, that is a discount of more than 50%. Tickets must be booked by 30 June 2019 for travel that takes places between 15 September and 31 October. Space is capacity-controlled, but Lufthansa does make additional seats available to its own members and generally only offers these reduced-priced awards on routes with plenty of award space.

55K miles is a great price, but there are also taxes/fees. On a round-trip from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, you’ll pay $1376.20 in taxes/fees, $1200 being a “Carrier-imposed surcharge (YQ)”

While that does not wholly defeat the value of these awards, it certainly reduces it. Still, better than paying double that and the identical taxes and surcharges if booking outside the sale period or with Aeroplan.

Reduced priced awards are also available on Austrian, Brussels, Croatia Airlines, LOT, Luxair, and SWISS.

CONCLUSION

From time to time, I’ll note exceptional “Mileage Bargain” deals, as I do with Flying Blue Promo awards. These awards are worth considering if your travel plans are locked in. Just note that once booked they cannot be changed and that you’ll still pay high surcharges.