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Very interesting comments. I think there’s been an easing and more Lufthansa space is bookable with US Airways miles, but certainly not all as the original article and post title suggest.
US Airways is no longer blocking Lufthansa award space as far as I can tell. This is huge news!
Starting several weeks ago, if you called US Airways and fed the agent award space on Lufthansa flights that you had found on united.com, the agent would say there was no space on that flight.
I explained how to solve that problem in Anatomy of an Award: Booking Lufthansa Flights with US Airways Miles. You instructed the agent to do a “long sell” and she would find the space, which was then bookable.
Soon after that post, US Airways sent a memo, telling all agents that they were not allowed to long sell award seats under any circumstance. At that moment, in my mind, this went from a glitch with a workaround to US Airways intentionally blocking Lufthansa award space.
I was in the middle of writing a post just now with a similar title to How United is Cheating Its Frequent Flyers, and I decided that I better give some concrete examples. So I searched united.com and found some Lufthansa space.
I found economy award space from Newark to Frankfurt roundtrip in February. I called US Airways and requested the space… And she saw it!
I asked, “Did you just do a long sell?”
She said, “We aren’t allowed to do long sells. It’s just available.”
I asked about surrounding dates, and they were all available. I hung up and looked up more routes.
Frankfurt to Johannesburg in business class another agent saw.
Munich to Frankfurt in economy another agent saw.
And on and on. Every route I tested, US Airways saw the same space as united.com. I tried different days of the week, different continents, and different cabins. (I didn’t try First Class because US Airways miles can’t be used for Lufthansa First Class according to the US Airways award chart.)
I believe US Airways has fixed the glitch and Lufthansa flights are now bookable again with US Airways miles.
Test it out for yourself on your US Airways awards and let me know in the comments if you see something else.
This is great news since the US Airways/American Airlines merger got the green light, and US Airways will soon leave the Star Alliance. (Your best play on the merger by the way.) This may be our last chance to use US Airways miles on Lufthansa; let’s take advantage.
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I don’t think Economy was ever in doubt … was it?
I’d rather fly United economy, at least there’s E+.
In my experience, everything was blocked. I had to get them to long sell economy when I needed it for an award.
[…] Anscheinend sind auf LH-Metal wieder deutlich mehr Plätze verfügbar? Ich gehe ohne Selbstversuch dann vielleicht sogar von den Zubringern abseits der sonst verfügbaren Tage aus: BREAKING: US Airways No Longer Blocking Lufthansa Award Space | milevalue.com […]
I believe you have a slight typo. “Soon after that post, Lufthansa sent a memo …” should be “Soon after that post, US Airways sent a memo …”.
Corrected. Thanks.
[…] BREAKING: US Airways No Longer Blocking Lufthansa Award Space […]
economy was being blocked too…i hope this really happened!
Now when did you last do this? Yesterday, this morning? Cause people at other travel blogs were complaining of US Airways as of recent. Thanks
I gave it a try yesterday afternoon and UA could not find at least 3 different segments that I found availability on using ANA. All three segments were in Lufthansa business class (FRA-IAD, FRA-NRT, FRA-MCO). Hopefully things changed since then…
Your bold headline grabbing statements are really something. You’re turning your blog into a tabloid.
How about backing up your statements with some real facts (flight numbers, dates etc.) and providing a large sample before making such announcements.
It is improper and misleading reporting.
I just called US Airways and the agent could NOT locate space on LH business class after I had confirmed it via ANA search tool bar. Not sure if you got lucky with a competent agent or not sure what you’re suggesting..
Specifically LH435 ORD-MUC, ANA shows availability in business class on 11/24, 11/25. Agent could not locate either flight.
Scott, back it up with real data and a large sample before making bold statements like that. It dilutes the quality of your blog.
My experience has been that transatlantic and longhaul economy and business class blocking is much less prevalent than intra-Europe and Asia-Europe in business or economy. In light of your post, I just called myself and several Lufthansa routings I would have liked to book for clients that do not depart on a Saturday or Wednesday remain blocked by US Airways. There is no fix and my sources say there will be no fix.
I would encourage you–since they are tired of talking to me–to push them and see if they will at least admit this is deliberate and more importantly, why they are failing to correct this even with a merger on the horizon.
I have called. I will call again. It’s fun. 🙂
p.s. I would definitely add a question mark though to the end of your title – because my experience is certainly different, even now as of 13hr PST.
This post definitely does not match my experience, including today.
Just spoke to US Airways about Detroit – Frankfurt. Space is offered in business class on Feb 2, 3, 4, and 5. US Airways could not see it on Feb 2 or 3 but could see it Feb 4 and 5.
it’s “still”, not “no longer”.
Nope, just tried to book ORD-FRA on LH 747-8 on Dec 22 and they said no.
Yep, they are still blocking quite a bit.
What little is available still is being blocked (just got off the phone )
Mark