How to Book a Miles & More (Lufthansa) Award Ticket

For a limited time, the Premier Miles & More® World MasterCard is offering 50,000 bonus Lufthansa miles after spending $5,000 and paying the annual fee in the first three months. It’s a fantastic offer that I’m planning to get for myself.

In that spirit, I’ve been spending time learning exactly how to book a Miles & More award in a way that doesn’t make me want to pull my hair out (I have a child who does that for me already).

Miles & More is the loyalty program of:

• Lufthansa
• Austrian Airlines
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Swiss International Air Lines
• Adria Airways
• Croatia Airlines
• Condor
• Luxair
• Brussels Airlines
• Germanwings

In addition to these airlines, Miles & More miles (which I often call Lufthansa miles) can book any of the 27 Star Alliance member airlines.

What award space can you book with Lufthansa Miles & More miles? How do you book the awards? How many miles do the awards cost? Those are some questions that came to mind when I started my research.

What award space can you book with Lufthansa Miles & More miles?

In short, Lufthansa miles can book all the award space on miles-and-more.com and all the “Saver” award space of Star Alliance partners on united.com.

Searching miles-and-more.com

Once you have miles in your Miles & More account, you can search for award space on all Miles & More airlines on this page:

• Lufthansa
• Austrian Airlines
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Swiss International Air Lines
• Adria Airways
• Croatia Airlines
• Condor
• Luxair
• Brussels Airlines
• Germanwings

The search form is extremely straightforward.

The results are listed in order of duration.

Searching United.com

Miles-and-more.com shows only a few of the airlines you can book with Lufthansa miles.

The easiest place to search the Saver award space of most Star Alliance airlines is united.com. (The only three Star Alliance airlines not searchable at united.com are Brussels Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Shenzhen Airlines.)

When you search united.com, any award space operated by a Star Alliance partner that is in the Saver Award column can be bookd with Lufthansa miles.

For instance, here is a screenshot of a search on united.com from Newark to Chicago.

• The 6 AM flight has only “Standard Award” space. Lufthansa miles cannot book this flight.
• The 7 AM flight has “Saver Award” space in economy but not in First. Lufthansa miles can only book the 7 AM flight in economy.

Looking at the results of the same search with flights later in the day, we see the blue button indicating Saver Award space in both economy and First on both the 6 PM and 7 PM flights. That means Lufthansa miles can book either cabin on either flight.

This Saver Award/Standard Award distinction on united.com is only relevant to United flights. Any other partner that shows up on united.com will always have Saver award space. For instance, here is an Avianca flight:

Did you catch the part that only Star Alliance award space on united.com is bookable with Lufthansa miles? United.com also shows some non-Star-Alliance partners. These are not bookable with Lufthansa miles.

For instance, here is award space from Boston to Dublin on united.com. The flight is operated by Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus is not in the Star Alliance, and its flights are not bookable with Lufthansa miles.

How Do You Book Miles & More Awards?

If the award was searchable on miles-and-more.com, book it there.

If you had to search the award space elsewhere, like united.com, call Miles & More to book the award.

The Miles & More reservations center can be reached at 800-581-6400 from 8 AM – 8 PM ET Monday through Friday. There is no fee to book a Miles & More award by phone.

As with all phone agents, give Miles & More agents the date, flight number, and cabin of the flights you found by searching united.com.

How Many Miles Do Miles & More Awards Cost?

Here is the award chart for Miles & More miles. Always use this award chart to determine the number of miles that an award booked with Miles & More miles requires.

The chart shows the roundtrip award price. You can book one way awards for half the price of roundtrip awards.

I should have 55,000 Miles & More miles soon from taking advantage of the limited time offer on the Premier Miles & More® World MasterCard and meeting its minimum spending requirement.

My  plan is to search for award space on united.com, refer to the Miles & More award chart for the cost of my award with Lufthansa miles, and call Miles & More at 800-581-6400 to book the space.

Hopefully my research serves as a helpful guide to you. What Miles & More awards have you booked before?