Just hours after writing my latest update on the ongoing saga with Lufthansa Group business and first class partner award space, it appeared that Lufthansa had began releasing space again…but instead it seems like a glitch that may reveal what’s available to Miles & More members, but not partners like United MileagePlus.
Lufthansa First Class Award Space Reappears, But Not Bookable Right Now
Earlier I wrote about how Lufthansa is not just blocking first class award space, but also business class award space. But within the last hour or so, a ton of first class award space appeared on seats.areo.
These seats showed up on united.com as well, but were unbookable (in both business class and first class). At “press time” (around 10:15 am ET), they are still showing up…but every time you click through, you receive an error message:
Furthermore, this was not just close-in space that appeared available…space appears bookable all the way into next summer:
But this space was phantom too:
Even space within the next two days (the sort of space we could actually book until June 1, 2026) is not bookable:
So my theory is that United is somehow displaying a subset of business class (I) and first class (O) awards that are only available to Lufthansa’s own flyers and Lufthansa is not confirming the seats when a booking attempt is made.
So what does this tell us about the space? I’m not quite sure, other than that Lufthansa appears to be deliberately holding back space.
Mark this as developing. I’ve just spent the last 30 minutes trying to book this space and cannot do so. I’ll update this story again if the space just disappears altogether or if it becomes bookable.
@ Matthew — Maybe bookable for 1K/GS?
Not the case unfortunately
This exact same situation occurred a week or so ago, when I tried to book business class from FLL to BCN. Booking through the UA site, space showed available on both SWISS and LH (for a very low 70K). But as soon as I tried to actually book it, the same pop-up message came up.
Yeah, the giveaway here is that the space is not bookable with other *A partners. This morning I got an alert that space was available on UA for flights I was tracking early next year on LH & LX, but the same flights were not showing on AC. Got the error message on UA.
The solution is to look at other *A programmes. No F availability appears for me.
How can phantom space not be false advertising? Same with AA and JAL Biz/FC its not bookable. But what if you bought a lot of points thinking you could…seems bait and switch to me but everyone seems to tolerate it.
If when you click on the box to select a flight and it immediately says “not available” before you have transferred any miles, that is one thing and I don’t mind it much, but if you have to transfer miles, provide credit card info, and only after you click the “make purchase” box does it tell you it is not available, that is something else, I think. As I mentioned below, I am willing to take a chance transferring a reasonable number of points to a program I use all the time to try purchasing a saver award, but I would not do that to a program that I rarely use.
This has gotten absurd. If airlines are gonna systematically deny these premium seats to their programs, there really needs to be regulations against such practices. There should be availability. Enough is enough.
The phantom LH and LX saver awards I saw earlier and mentioned in the other thread have disappeared, but SN business saver awards just appeared, also phantom. I’m inclined to think it is an IT glitch at LH.
Yes, I’m noticing the same. Wonder what this was all about and why it only impacted United?
Industry experts believe the Star Alliance network (StarNet) is accidentally leaking internal inventory intended solely for LH’s own Miles & More loyalty program members, displaying it to partners who do not actually have the rights to book it.
As some of you may have noticed, the main risk in this situation right now is transferring points from flexible credit cards (like Amex, Chase, or Capital One) to a partner program such as Air Canada Aeroplan or Avianca LifeMiles, simply because you spotted an open First Class seat on Lufthansa. Points transfers are one-way. If you transfer your points, they will remain permanently locked in that partner program, without you being able to obtain a First Class ticket in return.
By the way, business class availability looks fine. I just booked an one-way back from GIG as a backup for a trip in November. I can survive 2-2-2 but very much hope to find something better.
Phantom space is out of control. How many people have done transfers from credit cards into the airline only to discover it was phantom. Something needs to be done. Seriously.
Strange that it’s all showing up now, but LH and LX often have this phantom space in when booking through UA. I have booked a few tickets from North America – Africa via Europe on United and the one leg that constantly would do this would be LH or LX between their hubs and North America.
There seems to be a rash of new phantom space on ba.com with partners as well. Really annoying and time wasting. At least UA.com lets you know it won’t book before you transfer points and hit the payment page. On ba.com, everything looks like it is going to work until it starts processing your credit card. (I did transfer some CC points to BA Avios to make the booking, but its not a lot and I know they will be used within the next few months anyway.)