MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.


The 50k mile bonus offer is back on the Lufthansa card mentioned in this post until 6/30/14. Get it now!

  • Earn 20,000 award miles after your first purchases or balance transfer
  • Earn an additional 30,000 award miles when you spend $5,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of account opening
  • Earn 2 award miles per $1 on ticket purchases directly from Miles & More integrated airline partners and 1 mile per $1 on all other purchases
  • Cardholders receive a companion ticket after first use of the account and annually after each account anniversary
  • No Foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside the U.S.
  • Redeem miles for flight awards and upgrades on Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, SWISS, Star Alliance member airlines and on other partners
  • $79 Annual Fee. Please see Terms and Conditions for complete details

Application Link: The Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard

———————————————————————————-

I just (almost) booked myself an award from Moscow, Russia to Greensboro, NC with 13 hours in Singapore Business Class for 52k Lufthansa miles + $240.

Screen Shot 2013-11-21 at 2.32.36 PM

The 50,000 mile sign up bonus on The Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard ends December 15, 2013. I want to give another example of a great way to use the sign up bonus for the many people who’ve emailed me to tell me they’ve gotten the card.

I’ve already discussed:

This Anatomy of an Award will illustrate:

  • How to book a ticket with Lufthansa Miles & More miles
  • How to search for Singapore Business Class bed award space
  • How to add on segments within the US (and the solution to the problem you face with adding domestic space)

Why Singapore Business Class?

Next March, I’ll be in Europe, looking for a way to Greensboro, NC. I was hoping to return in Lufthansa First Class to enjoy the First Class Terminal and finish off my dream trip with Singapore Suites, Cathay Pacific First Class, and Lufthansa First Class.

Plan A: Cathay Pacific First JFK-HKG-SIN, Singapore Suites SIN-LHR, Lufthansa First FRA-ORD
Plan A: Cathay Pacific First JFK-HKG-SIN, Singapore Suites SIN-LHR, Lufthansa First FRA-ORD

But the United devaluation kicks in right before I want to book Lufthansa First Class, which will go from 67.5k miles one way to 110k.

Happily I was lucky enough to hop on the glitch two weeks ago when Lufthansa First Class award space was bookable with United throughout 2014, so I’ll be visiting the First Class Terminal next September.

That means that flying Lufthansa First Class is no longer a priority for me in March. Instead, I looked at the other great options to fly from Europe to the US. One that immediately jumped out at me is Singapore Business Class. Singapore flies from Frankfurt to New York as part of a flight from Singapore to Frankfurt to New York and from Moscow to Houston as part of a flight from Singapore to Moscow to Houston.

Plan B from Europe to the US is Singapore Business Class
Plan B from Europe to the US is Singapore Business Class

Singapore Business Class caught my eye because the fully flat beds look more like a First Class product to me, and I would expect the service and food to be above US-based airlines’ first class standards.

Seriously, check out this video of Singapore Business Class.

Searching for Award Space

Moscow to Houston was my top choice. The route is longer than Frankfurt to New York, flies from Russia where I’ve never been but am eager to go, and goes to Houston where I have friends.

I searched for Moscow to Houston on singaporeair.com. I was planning to use Lufthansa miles to book the award, so I would eventually book with Lufthansa, but where you search and where you book are often separate place. (For instance, I search Cathay Pacific space on ba.com then by calling American Airlines.)

Searching at singaporeair.com is easy. After signing in, check “Redeem award flight(s)”, type in your cities, dates, and cabins. Do not check “Pay with KrisFlyer miles” which is actually a scheme where you get a fixed value for your KrisFlyer miles.

Moscow to Houston runs five days a week, and I found excellent award space. Lufthansa has access to all Business Class Saver award space, so I was looking for an “Available” in that column. Ignore the Standard and Full columns. Also ignore the mileage price listed. Lufthansa’s price in miles is determined by Lufthansa’s own award chart.

Screen Shot 2013-11-21 at 3.04.02 PMThe date I wanted had Saver award space, so I noted its date and flight number and moved on to finding the connecting flights from Houston to Greensboro. Lufthansa has access to Saver award space on United and US Airways, so I went to united.com to search for the domestic legs.

I decided to spend the evening in Houston to catch up with friends and take off the next morning to get to Greensboro in time to see the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Spending the night in Houston is allowed for no extra miles as long as I take off within 24 hours of landing.

Searching for award flights the next day, I found excellent award space in United economy and US Airways First Class. The latter would of course be more comfortable and involve a shorter trip via Charlotte or Washington-National.

Unfortunately as I’ve mentioned a few times, US Airways First Class space codes as three-cabin First Class space on Lufthansa awards. United’s domestic First Class space codes as Business Class space on Lufthansa awards.

That means that adding US Airways First Class space would cause the award to price at the First Class Europe-USA price of 85k miles one way instead of the Business Class price of 52k miles one way. I certainly wouldn’t blow an extra 33k Lufthansa miles to upgrade two short flights to US Airways First Class.

Screen Shot 2013-11-21 at 1.21.32 PM
Not worth 33k extra miles

Not finding a United First Class itinerary with Saver space, I noted the best economy itinerary from either airline, which happened to be on US Airways.

Booking the Award

Booking an award with Lufthansa miles is very easy. I dialed 800-581-6400 and waited on hold a few minutes.

When I was connected, I fed the agent the three segments I had found online–one in Singapore Business Class and two in US Airways economy.

She pieced them together and quoted me a price of 52k Lufthansa miles and $240.20. This includes a fuel surcharge of about $200, exactly what Singapore would collect if you booked the Moscow to Houston flight with KrisFlyer miles.

Screen Shot 2013-11-21 at 2.34.50 PM
The Singapore Price (174 eur is $235. The other $5 is the taxes on IAH-CLT-GSO.)

The 52k miles price is straight off the Lufthansa chart with one quirk: the price should be 52,500 miles, but Lufthansa rounds down to the nearest thousand miles. This chart shows the roundtrip prices with Lufthansa miles.


I was about to give my credit card, and I chickened out. I’m not 100% sold on Russia in early March, especially since I need to get a visa. Should I book the ticket?

Getting the Miles

The Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard currently offers 50,000 bonus Miles & More miles after spending $5k in the first three months. This offer will end December 15, 2013. The standard offer is only 20k bonus miles.

  • Earn up to 35,000 award miles with qualifying transactions
  • Earn 20,000 award miles after your first purchase or balance transfer
  • Earn up to 15,000 award miles with balance transfers (1 mile per $1 transferred) within 30 days of account opening
  • Earn 2 award miles per $1 on ticket purchases directly from Miles & More integrated airline partners
  • Earn 1 mile per $1 on all other purchases
  • Complimentary Companion Ticket after first purchase, then annually thereafter
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • $79 Annual Fee, waived for SEN and HON Circle Members

———————————————

Application Link: The Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard®

Any questions about booking Singapore Business Class with Lufthansa miles or booking with Lufthansa miles in general? What’s your favorite use of Lufthansa miles? Should I book this trip and visit Russia?

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.

With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!


Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.