Originally Posted by qasr
It applies to US flights, but why not fly to FRA or MUC on UA and then take LH down to MAD. At least you can then upgrade the Y fare to NC for 15K miles each way...
the upgrade to envoy on a Y/B class ticket on US is "only" 10k US miles. not a bad deal either - especially if you're on a A330 and can get row 1.