Is Lufthansa restricting award availability to *A partners?
Jul 14, 2010 | 6:19 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2007
Programs: TK Elite, QR Gold, KL Silver
Posts: 204
Is Lufthansa restricting award availability to *A partners?
I checked ANA for award availability in first class on the FRA-BKK route and found close to none for LH metal in August. When checking from my M&M account I was really surprised to find availability wide open. Is Lufthansa having different award availability for members of its own FFP than for star alliance partners? So far, I always thought this was not the case.
Jul 14, 2010 | 7:45 am
#2
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 52,779
LH offers different availability for the German Point Of Sale (POS) than for the others. That explains why you wouldn't get the same availability if you check via ANA, call the M&M call center in YPQ/IST/CPT and want to cash in cheap cheap US DM miles you hit cold hard stone.
Jul 25, 2010 | 10:48 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2007
Programs: TK Elite, QR Gold, KL Silver
Posts: 204
oliver2002, thank you for your reply. I'm not sure what you mean with german point of sale. Are there other airlines' FFP with german POS? If I call the Frankfurt office of UA or ANA, would I get a different answer? I'm a bit confused what point of sale means in this case. If M&M is the only one with a german POS then effectively LH was "restricting award availability to *A partners" as per the topic question.
Jul 25, 2010 | 4:37 pm
#4
Senior Moderator, Moderator: Community Buzz and Ambassador: Miles & More (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, and other partners)
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: 150km from MAN
Programs: LH SEN** HH Diamond
Posts: 30,428
I think LH is making more award seats available to its own members. This is certainly true for members with status. 
Jul 26, 2010 | 8:16 am
#5
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 52,779
Exactly. LH has played around with availability settings so they can offer they own FFP (M&M) better access to their award inventory. The past years witnessed a massive run on the F & C product, so they took action. The F & C awards are still offered to other *A partners, just capped at one point.
Jul 26, 2010 | 8:51 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2007
Programs: TK Elite, QR Gold, KL Silver
Posts: 204
Oliver, thank you for the clarification. I guess I can't blame them. Availability on LH is generally pretty good.
And I did find (and ticketed) the FRA-BKK leg a few days later. Availability on that route did improve quite a bit a few days after I posted the question. I was just surprised by the large discrepancy of "any day available with M&M" vs. "nothing available in August on ANA" which I had never seen previously.
And I did find (and ticketed) the FRA-BKK leg a few days later. Availability on that route did improve quite a bit a few days after I posted the question. I was just surprised by the large discrepancy of "any day available with M&M" vs. "nothing available in August on ANA" which I had never seen previously.
Jul 26, 2010 | 1:59 pm
#8
Moderator, Hilton Honors
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: on a short leash
Programs: some
Posts: 71,446
Exactly. LH has played around with availability settings so they can offer they own FFP (M&M) better access to their award inventory. The past years witnessed a massive run on the F & C product, so they took action. The F & C awards are still offered to other *A partners, just capped at one point.
Aug 2, 2010 | 5:22 am
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: DCA
Programs: AMC MovieWatcher, Giant BonusCard, Petco PALS Card, Silver Diner Blue Plate Club
Posts: 22,314
Aug 2, 2010 | 5:23 am
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: DCA
Programs: AMC MovieWatcher, Giant BonusCard, Petco PALS Card, Silver Diner Blue Plate Club
Posts: 22,314
As have many. Point of this thread is that Miles & More members get BETTER award availability than members of partner airline programs. So those times when awards are NOT available on LH (or LX) they may be available using M&M miles.
Aug 2, 2010 | 8:05 am
#14
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Stuck on this planet - mainly in STR and LAX
Posts: 5,032
My experience is: When I can see availability on the ANA tool i always see it also online on the LH website (as SEN). But usually there is significantly more availability on LH.com
It seems that very far out (300 days or so) the availability on ANA and LH is similar, 30 days out there is far less on ANA and a few days out ANA shows similar availability again. Not sure if this was just a coincidence for the flights I checked.
It seems that very far out (300 days or so) the availability on ANA and LH is similar, 30 days out there is far less on ANA and a few days out ANA shows similar availability again. Not sure if this was just a coincidence for the flights I checked.