Air travel: save money with Lufthansa Senator status at half price

Fly more relaxed

: Frequent flyer status can still be achieved more cheaply until the end of June

Photo: Lufthansa/ dpa

In February I had already pointed out a travel boom in 2022 in my column.

The latest figures from Lufthansa confirm this assessment.

According to Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, Easter bookings were already above the pre-crisis level.

And it looks the same in summer too.

The demand for long-distance travel has already increased significantly in March and April: However, this is accompanied by price increases, and flight tickets are becoming more expensive again.

This development also has an impact on the topic of Lufthansa frequent flyer status.

Lufthansa Miles & More published

at the beginning of the year .

The highlights were the following regulations:

·

on flights with the Lufthansa Group until June 30, 2022 (Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, Eurowings Discover and Brussels Airlines as well as Edelweiss Air, Air Dolomiti, Lufthansa Private Jet, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Luxair)

· A

for each intercontinental segment flown with the airlines mentioned in the 2nd quarter.

These goodwill regulations were due to the pandemic and it can be assumed that they will no longer exist now that the booking numbers are approaching or even exceeding the pre-crisis level.

That means: Until the end of June there is the last chance to get a Lufthansa frequent flyer status or to extend an existing one as cheaply as never before.

There are innumerable ways.

With certain

.

The following is intended to show what is now important for mile-optimized flight bookings.

It's

.

The latter are calculated differently and are not affected by the goodwill regulations.

Premium Economy for the status miles boost

The rule normally applies to airlines: the higher the service class (economy vs. premium economy vs. business class vs. first class), the higher the status mile credit.

This is not always the case with Lufthansa Miles & More.

For Premium Economy flights you get e.g.

B. just as many or even more status miles than for cheap business class flights.

And that, although the Premium Economy usually costs 50 to 60 percent less.

Premium economy class flights are trendy.

Emirates and Swiss have recently launched new products.

You can

.

You can then achieve Lufthansa Frequent Traveler status with just one flight.

Because you will receive 16,570 status miles for the route, which can be used for all flights up to 30.6.

still to be doubled.

There are also 2 x 2,000 status miles for the intercontinental segments.

In total, that's 37,140 status miles.

Frequent Traveler status is available from 35,000 status miles.

The price per 1,000 status miles, the so-called ratio, is around 40 euros.

As a Lufthansa status customer, it would even be 45,420 status miles, because status customers also receive the so-called

.

Departure from nearby countries is usually cheaper

If you

.

On the other hand, if you start in another European country, you often save up to 50 percent for the same flight.

You can combine the small detour with great city trips.

In June you can fly

.

From Frankfurt it would be almost 3,300 euros.

If you already have Lufthansa frequent flyer status and thus receive the Executive Bonus, you get a total of 34,748 status miles or HON Circle miles including double miles and an intercontinental bonus (a ratio of EUR 55 per 1,000 status miles) for this flight.

Other most attractive departure airports are

With the right booking class through Europe

But you don't always have to look far away.

10 to 15 years ago you could primarily collect cheap status miles with intercontinental flights.

Nowadays, however, this also works above all within Europe.

But you have to pay attention to the right

class.

Booking classes stand for the value of the flight tickets.

bring the highest status mile credit in Business Class and are the only booking classes that

make sense for mileage

(=mile-optimized flights) within Europe.

So you can e.g.

For example,

, spend a great weekend there and fly back again.

In the end, you will receive 20,000 status or HON Circle miles for this routing including Executive Bonus and mileage doubling at a ratio of only 37 euros per 1,000 status miles.

Anyone who has done the math carefully will have noticed that all the routings presented would bring you a little over 100,000 status miles as a status customer -

.

Once the grace period expires,

.

What does a Lufthansa frequent flyer status bring?

But is a Lufthansa frequent flyer status worth the effort?

From my point of view yes, but only if you can combine the necessary flights with great vacations or city trips.

A Senator status achieved for the first time would be valid until February 2025, i.e. almost three years, and during this time you will benefit from:

· Check-in at the Business or First Class counter (can save a lot of time)

· 20 kg additional baggage allowance

· Priority baggage handling

· Fast track through security checkpoints

Lounge access for two (incl. Senator Lounges)

· Priority boarding

· Companion Award (for award flight bookings, a second person only pays half the miles)

· Free Miles & More Credit Card Gold

· Two upgrade eVouchers (e.g. one upgrade from Business to First Class)

Conclusion

A Lufthansa frequent flyer status will probably never be as cheap as it was until the end of June.

So if you want to benefit from a pandemic bonus one last time, you should act quickly now.

The holiday pent-up demand is huge.

So why not combine the useful with the pleasant now.

Alexander Koenig is the founder of First Class & More, the largest German-speaking advice portal for cheap business and first class flights and the optimal use of frequent flyer and hotel programs.

In his column "Koenigs Klasse" he regularly addresses topics that are of interest to frequent flyers and travellers.