Introduction
Lufthansa has one of the best first class products on the market. While the seat is dated at this point and due for a refresh in the coming years, the overall experience is still one of the best available, with top-notch service, food, lounges, and the possibility of being driven to your flight in a Porsche (if visiting the Lufthansa First Class Terminal during your trip). Below are some photos of my recent trip in Lufthansa First Class, and in this post, I will cover how you too can easily book Lufthansa First Class with miles.
Finding Lufthansa First Class Award Availability
When booking Lufthansa First Class with miles, it’s important to note that Lufthansa only releases first class award seats to partner mileage programs within 14 days of departure. In other words, to fly Lufthansa first class with miles, you will need to make a booking within two weeks of the date you will be departing.
Understandably this is short notice for most people, so I view booking Lufthansa first class as an opportunity for a spontaneous trip. You could also book another confirmed flight for your trip ahead of time and then fly Lufthansa First Class instead if availability opens up closer to departure.
In the past, finding Lufthansa First Class Class award availability within 14 days of departure was quite cumbersome, but it has become a lot easier recently, thanks to a new tool. “Seats.Aero” offers a free tool to enable you to see all Lufthansa First Class flights in the next two weeks with open first class award seats. This is great as you can search for a few different city pairs and dates to try and find availability. See an example of Seats.Aero’s Lufthansa First Class Availability Finder below.
To narrow down the overall availability list, you can enter filter criteria in the search box on the right. Let’s assume I want to fly Lufthansa first class to/from Chicago (ORD). I put ORD in the search box, and now I can see what days I can book Lufthansa First Class with miles.
If one origin doesn’t work, you could consider positioning yourself to another airport to begin your journey. In this case, I try New York (JFK) to find other flights. The beauty of this tool is that it’s easy to see everything available and then narrow down the list as it suits your needs. You can even hover over the green bar that indicates the cost in miles of the Lufthansa First Class flight to see how many award seats are available.
At time of this post, Lufthansa is flying first class to the following US destinations, which could be on a Boeing 747, Airbus A380, or Airbus A340: Boston (BOS), New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Washington Dulles (IAD), Charlotte (CLT), Miami (MIA), Houston (IAH), San Francisco (SFO), and Los Angeles (LAX).
I prefer the 747 because it’s a unique experience to fly in the nose of a plane, but the actual seat and otherwise experience will be about the same across all three plane types.
Booking Lufthansa First Class With Miles
Not only can Seats.aero shows you the available Lufthansa First Class awards, but it also assists you in booking.
If you click on the info icon next to your desired flight and go to the “First” tab in the pop up window, you’ll see the flight details. Below the details, you’ll notice the blue booking button, which includes links to the most popular ways to book Lufthansa First Class with miles. Typically you can book a Lufthansa First Class Award with United MileagePlus miles, Air Canada Aeroplan miles, and Avianca LifeMiles. However, sometimes there are discrepancies between what award seats each program can access, so only sometimes will all three programs be listed as options.
How Many Miles Does Lufthansa First Class Cost?
Which mileage program you book with depends on what program(s) you have miles with and which will be your cheapest option. Generally speaking, booking Lufthansa First Class with miles is cheapest with Avianca LifeMiles and most expensive with United MileagePlus miles (with Air Canada Aeroplan in the middle). See the price comparison in the First column for this sample flight between Newark and Munich.
Earning Enough Miles to Lufthansa Fly First Class
If you are new to mileage programs, I wanted to outline some basic ways to earn sufficient miles in each program to fly Lufthansa First Class. Of course, if you fly enough, you may already have enough miles to book a Lufthansa First Class award, but for the majority of the population, I’ll discuss alternative ways to earn miles without flying.
Earn a Credit Card Sign Up Bonus
- Capital One, Chase, and American Express offer travel rewards cards that can transfer points to airline mileage programs. If you sign up for a credit card with a substantial sign-up bonus, you can earn enough miles for Lufthansa First Class outright. Below, I indicate which card issuers transfer to which mileage programs.
| Capital One Travel Rewards Cards (Venture) | Chase Travel Rewards Cards (Sapphire, Ink Preferred) | American Express Travel Rewards Cards (Everyday, Green, Gold, Platinum) | Citi Travel Rewards Cards (Citi Preferred) |
| Air Canda Aeroplan | Air Canda Aeroplan | Air Canda Aeroplan | – |
| Avianca LifeMiles | – | Avianca LifeMiles | Avianca LifeMiles |
| – | UnitedMileagePlus | – | – |
- Avianca LifeMiles, Air Canada Aeroplan, and United MileagePlus also directly offer credit cards. Like the option above, if you sign up for one of these cards with a substantial bonus, you can earn enough miles for Lufthansa First Class outright. I suggest going with the above cards first over one of these program-specific cards because they allow you to transfer points to multiple mileage programs rather than being locked into one. However, these program specific cards can make great sense with a high sign-up bonus offer.
Buy Airline Miles
- Buying Avianca LifeMiles can be a great way to fly Lufthansa First Class cheaply. While not free, imagine spending somewhere between $1,000-$2,000 for a ticket that could cost upwards of $10,000 if making a revenue booking. Avianca LifeMiles often has promotions where you can buy heavily discounted miles. I’d wait for one of those promotions to get the best value. You could also buy LifeMiles to supplement the credit card bonus you received from the previous options I outlined. In this case, you are paying a couple hundred bucks to top off your LifeMiles account, so you have enough miles to book Lufthansa First Class.
- Air Canada AeroPlan and United MileagePlus also sell miles and sometimes offer promotions. That said, the cost is often much higher than Avianca LifeMiles, so I wouldn’t recommend buying too many miles with these programs other than to top off your balance to get you to the cost of your Lufthansa first class award.
Lufthansa First Class with Miles – Pilot Debrief
Lufthansa First Class is one of the most well-rounded and fun first class experiences out there. Its such a treat to fly it, and luckily you can book Lufthansa First Class with miles. To book Lufthansa First Class with miles, first, find availability on flights within two weeks of departure. I’d recommend Seats.Aero to assist you in this search.
In addition to finding a desired Lufthansa First Class flight, ensure you have enough miles to book with programs such as Avianca LifeMiles, Air Canada Aeroplan, or United MileagePlus. You can earn enough miles by flying, earning a credit card sign-up bonus, or buying miles.
I hope this post has helped you to understand how easy it can be to redeem for Lufthansa first class with miles. If you are new to the world of miles and points and have any questions about how to book Lufthansa First Class with miles, please leave a comment below!
