Pro Tip – Using Lufthansa Miles for Domestic First Class on United

by Enoch

Much of points and miles blogging involves traveling in aspirational products, like luxurious first class product complete with Porsche transfers to lounges where free massages are offered. However, a big part of the points and miles hobby is also finding good value redemptions. Below is a reminder on one such value award….

Domestic First Class products do have a particularly good reputation, and with a high percentage of those seats being occupied by upgraded frequent flyers, it’s difficult to blame airlines for not making them better. However, if you compare domestic First Class to many intra-Europe business class seats (Economy with middle seats blocked off), you will likely agree that domestic First Class is a pretty nice step up from Economy.

Redeeming miles for domestic First Class is typically not worth the price. United Airlines, for example, charges double the mileage cost of Economy for travel in domestic First Class. In may cases, especially on long flights, flying First Class does make a difference—on selected transcontinental flights, you are offered a meal and a fully-flat bed.

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To redeem for domestic First Class, United charges 50,000 miles roundtrip. But let’s take a look at Lufthansa’s award chart:

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The key here is that flying a two-cabin First Class (aka what Lufthansa calls “Business Class”) within the United States only costs 35,000 Lufthansa miles roundtrip. If you value Lufthansa miles the same as United miles, that is a 30% savings.

The easiest way to earn miles in the Lufthansa Miles & More program is to sign up for their credit card, which is issued by Barclays. Depending on the offer, you could have enough miles for a roundtrip domestic First Class ticket as a sign-up bonus!

Have you taken advantage of this known “sweet spot” in Lufthansa’s award chart?

Thanks to Juicy Miles booker Enoch for this guest post. Need help planning an award trip? Consider Juicy Miles for all your award booking needs!

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Pro Tip - Stop Paying United's Phone Booking Fee! - Point Me to the Plane - Point Me to the Plane March 8, 2015 - 3:25 pm

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