[Anonymous]

[RoadKing]

Hi

Aiming at burning of several hundred thousand miles before they expire I emailed Eurobonus (Scandinavian Airlines) the other day to ask at what time I would be most likely to be able to secure a redemption in First class with Lufthansa to South Africa.

To my surprise I got the following answer:

It is highly unlikely that Lufthansa make First Class seats available for points redemption.

Well, to some extent I was not that surprised, but nevertheless, if this is the case, why on earth do Star Alliance (Eurobonus) show First class as an option in their redemption table????

I have to admit, I am very disappointed, at the same time I know for sure now that it has been a wise move for me to migrate to British Airways over the last three years.

I understand that any airline will keep available seats for redemption by points at a very minimum. But it is a totally different issue to advertise something and then state that this is not real offer.

Thoughts and experiences anyone?

[SimonRowberry]

Hi RoadKing,

I too am an SK Eurobonus member. I can’t comment on LH’s First Class redemption policy, but I recently redeemed SK points for a Lufthansa Business Class trip from the UK to Tbilisi, Georgia.

I had no problems at all booking the seats (even only a few weeks ahead) and I even changed the booking (put it back a week) without any availability problems. The booking and the subsequent changes were made over the phone via SK’s Eurobonus booking office (in Tallinn, I think).

As I said, I can’t comment about First, but there doesn’t seem to be a redemption problem in Business.

Regards, Simon

[RoadKing]

Thanks Simon.

Yes, I have the same good experiences myself that redemption into Biz, EE and E is no problem (except of course during periods that is high in demand).

I have generally been very pleased with my membership in Eurobonus. It is just that now that I plan to take my lady on our great luxury trip and we even have full freedom of when to take, I feel cheated when the big prize suddenly don’t exist.

[ANDREWYOUNG1]

I recently secured two First Class seats with LH from Shanghai to Frankfurt in March though BMI Diamond Club which obviously has the same availability as EuroBonus – so there are times, albeit on maybe less popular routes, that LH make First Class available on redemption fares.

[RoadKing]

Andrew

I suppose you are right. I am just off the phone with Eurobonus support and they told me that there are -no- First tickets with either Lufthansa, Swiss or South African available at all for a year ahead.

I suppose it is due to lack of competition. Because she could also tell me that even Biz and Economy seats were far and few between.

I figure we will have to aim at more destinations with more competition then.

Well, lesson learned…

[ANDREWYOUNG1]

Yes, I think it’s definitely destination dependent, the flights I booked were as part of a flight from Auckland to London, I had to be very inventive with the routing as a standard AKL to LHR (via HKG or SIA) was never available, however AKL-PVG-FRA-LHR with Air New Zealand and LH was fine in a mixture of Biz and First. Just be flexible on when and where you go and I’m sure you’ll find a First Class seat or two with LH.

[RoadKing]

Doesn’t have to be LH, I wanted them in the first place both because of the destination but also to experience the First service at Frankfurt.

Anyways, we are certainly flexible. The questions is probably more like to see how much trouble the Eurobonus people will be to go through all the hassle to find one 🙂

[MartynSinclair]

It may have been luck but on 3 occasions I have made award bookings using Lufthansa’s call centre/ticket office on USA, when Europe was closed, i.e. late on a Friday evening UK time. Each was in First and albeit 1 on anoter airline. 3 out of 3 fisrt choice dates, booked in a matter of minutes. I am not sure whether USA has different airmiles seat allocations, but it certainly worked for me.

[RoadKing]

Martyn,

was this MM or another FF program within Star Alliance?

[ANDREWYOUNG1]

My understanding is that all airlines in the Star Alliance have access to the same availability levels set by the airlines who are offering the seats for availability – your best-bet is to use the Star Alliance website timetable tool to see what variables there are for the routes you are considering and then just be persistent on the phone with the call centre – the hours I’ve spent on the phone to the BMI call centre in India trying to find available redemption seats, it’s their job so just keep asking them to check new dates and routes until you ‘strike gold’. And then book straight away, as obviously all the members of all the airlines in the alliance have access to book those very seats and it’s a snooze you loose situation! Good luck with your booking.

[MartynSinclair]

RoadKing this was MM. 2 redemptions were for LH First and the third was for Thai First. Maybe I was lucky, but the staff in the US could not have done enough to accomdate me and also there was no language barrier. I woul dbe interested to hear if it works for you as well.

[RoadKing]

Sounds good. I will hear with the missus what destinations we could like and take it from there.

Thanks a lot all, for the input.

[Senator]

RoadKing,

Couple of points to consider. Except for the LH B747-400 which as 16 seats in First, the rest of the LX/LH fleet only have 8 seats. So finding 2 seats for awards will always be tough.

Secondly, the LH/LX network to South America is limited.

Please post the preferred dates and destinations. I will do a search for you and come back with options (if I can find them). These should be available for you to book.

In my experience, sometime you need to break the segments to find what you need.

[RoadKing]

Senator;

This is a very kind offer from you. Please allow me to discuss preferred alternatives with the missus and come back to you over the weekend.

In general, we just want to spoil ourselves with a luxury trip, preferably with the opportunity to experience the famous First class lounge at Frankfurt (I believe they don’t have First class flights from München?)

We have pts for two in First class covering East Asia, South Africa and South America (and the US of course, but I am so often over there so…).

Actually I was thinking that if we were to go East, I would consider SIA and Thai if it were not for the famous lounges of Lufthansa.

Have a great weekend!

[Author]

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