dre_techie

This thread gives you the basic resources you'll need to successfully book your award flights using your Miles and More miles. This thread is for everyone, both newbies and long-timers needing assistance. All award and upgrade questions are welcome.

Basics - What you need to know
Award travel can be booked either online or on the phone. Phone numbers can be found under "Help and Contact" when you login to the M&M website.
The first point of reference should be the Miles & More flight awards information page. This thread is meant to help clarify issues once you've read the information on the M&M website.

Online booking is possible for:

• Round trips (one or more segments each way)
• One way trips
• Open jaw trips
• Double open jaw trips
• Most Star Alliance partner awards or other M&M partners

Phone booking is required for:

• 3 region awards
• Round-the-world awards
• Infant awards
• Few Star Alliance partner awards or other M&M partners

Information Not Documented on M&M

Number of connecting flights allowed

• One region awards - 1 connecting flight (2 segments each way)
• Two region awards - 2 connecting flights (3 segments each way)
• Three region awards (or more) - 3 connecting flights (4 segments each way)

Stopovers

• One region awards - no stopovers allowed
• Two regions (or more) - 1 stopover outbound, 1 stopover inbound. Stopovers cannot be in award originating region.

Award Hold
It is possible to place an award on hold for up to 6 days from the creation of the booking, before having to issue the ticket. This is dependent on the airlines involved, some airlines require immediate ticketing, while others allow a 48 hours hold.

Important Links

• Miles & More flight awards information page
• M&M Award Chart PDF - from 9 May 2019
• M&M Award Chart PDF - up to 8 May 2019
• M&M Award Chart PDF - from 15 September 2016 to 8 May 2019
• M&M Award Chart PDF - up to 14 September 2016
• List of countries by region
• Please post your award booking experience in C and F - FlyerTalk
• The Menu Thread (business class / first class)

I welcome any correction or addendum, as information changes. PM is the best way to reach me.

dre_techie

Can I change the dates and the routing on my award, or do I need to cancel and book again?
For normal (Flex Awards), date changes can be done for a change fee even after travel has begun, however routing changes are not permitted. The only exception is changing from a 2-segment to the direct flight. eg: ZRH-MUC-SFO to ZRH-SFO. For all other changes in routing you will have to cancel the award and issue a new one. Beware that mileage redeposit can take a number of days (own experience 2-7 days).

Is there a difference in travel benefits between revenue tickets and award travel?
No, there isn't. Depending on the class of service award you have booked you are entitled to the same benefits. If you are in Business or First you are entitled to access the lounges and baggage allowance of that class of service.

How can I book award travel on the LH A380 in First Class?
Just like any other awards! F awards on the A380 were once upon a time restricted to SEN & HON.
First awards on the A380 are reserved only for SEN & HON status members. You will need to call M&M for these, anecdotal evidence indicates it's easier if you call the German numbers.

Why are taxes & fees for awards higher through Miles & More than through some US-based mileage programs?
The main difference is that M&M charges fuel surchage (YQ) for the awards, that US/UA/CO do not charge. For awards on LO a discounted YQ is charged, the difference can be 100€ or more for long-haul destinations, compared to an award on LH.

Please suggest more questions and answers to add.

NewbieRunner

Thanks for starting a very useful thread! ^

DownUnderFlyer

Great resource. Maybe this can be incorporated into the M&M Guide sticky?

olm022

Actually, Miles and More has started to charge YQs on its LO award tickets, too. The YQs are lower than on OS/LH/LX, but the says of just gov't and airport tax only are gone (just did a random booking KBP-WAW-TXL-WAW-KBP. The taxes were 190 USD, exactly the same if booking a revenue ticket).

Shofar

Question:
LX is owned by LH but booking a RTW, LX regularly refused me a C ticket - only willing to give us Y.

What gives?
Shouldn't LH, LX, OS and LO be governed by the same rules?
Isn't a SEN a SEN?

By the way it seems that OS has dropped their Senior discount on being purchased by LH.

dre_techie

They may be charging YQ, however I need to do some more digging. I just checked a trip in C on OTP-WAW-ORD RT for 19-25 April, M&M charges 176.70€ vs 275.51€ on the LO website for the same flights. YQ is 183.86 for those flights.

I'll edit that for now.

dre_techie

Hi Shofar, I'm somewhat familiar with your two threads about the RTW award ticket, trying to change the dates so you can spend more time in China instead of Japan.

Regarding LX refusing to give you a C ticket. Do you mean that the agents say there is no availability on that date? Have you found award seats available on the flights in questions?

SEN only grants you the option of using the Senator Premium Awards for better availability which cost 150% the miles of a normal awards, cannot be used in RTW awards.

Shofar

Basicly LH has been very good. They couldn't get me the LX flights I wanted but LH flights worked out anyway. All our flights are in C except CO which refused to release their F flights and we are in Y - I'm still hoping for a last minute C/F seat.

I am concerned about the situation in Japan and instead of 9 days there I will try and change it to 5 and spend more time in the Shanghai area.

The downgrade of OS is painful. It was always cheaper that LH and the Senior discount helped but no longer. As the seat is worse (food is better), not much reason to fly OS anymore.

more4less

+1

Thanks dre_techie

olm022

Just checked KBP-TXL-KBP again:
Miles and More: 180 USD
LOT webpage: 188 USD

For similar routes within Europe (LON-RZE, for instance):

Miles and More: 152 USD
LOT webpage: 155 USD

M&M agent could not confirm that LO changed its policy...

dre_techie

I agree they charge full YQ in Europe, but partial for long-haul.

When I used a feeder (OTP-WAW-ORD) - YQ was about 45% of that for revenue flight. When I only did WAW-ORD it was under 30%.

olm022

A possible supplement to "stopovers" section.

On one-way awards on fully integrated M&M carriers, stopovers are not permitted. However, when booking a one-way award over the phone, it is possible to request a connection that utilizes a stop of under 23 hours 59 minutes. Unlike with FlySmart award booking, "the next available flight" rule does not apply for one-way awards. For instance:
01/01 12:00-13:00 FRA-MUC
02/01 12:59-14:00 MUC-TXL

Not sure to which section to put this: the availability of award seems to be dependent on the market, from which the award inventory is accessed. So, if from your current login location your preferred flights are not available online, it is worth temporarily "relocating" to other countries and trying from there. In such instances, your mileage balance may go down to zero, but within 20 minutes it will restore to its original value.

(Last night, I wanted to book XXX-MUC-FMO for 21/04. From my current login (US address), no awards on MUC-FMO were available; the flight showed J0C0D0Z0Y3B0B0...Relocating to Ukraine, I could score 2 award seats).

Lack

Looking up WAW-FRA award routings, LH YQ is around 35 EUR, LO YQ is 20 USD. Revenue is 35 EUR on LO.

olm022

Hmm, strange... When I check WAW-FRA-WAW, on M&M it comes to 175 USD on LH mental and 115 on LO-operated flights