The Fly Smart discount – a great use of your Miles&More miles
I have long maintained that any Malta frequent flyer should be a member of Lufthansa’s Miles&More.
Behind the dubious delights of Air Malta’s Flypass, it is probably the second most relevant frequent flyer programme to Malta.
With that in mind, Miles&More’s regular Mileage Bargains, can be viewed here. The problem I have with Mileage Bargains is that availability is always very limited.
The very useful alternative I have found is Lufthansa’s Fly Smart flight awards. In short, these discount M&M redemption flights by roughly 50% of the miles needed, provided that you book online between a maximum of two weeks and a minimum of two to four (depending on the flight) working days prior to departure.
Per Lufthansa’s own example, a return flight between two European destinations will cost you 15,000 award miles, instead of 30,000. 15,000 Miles&More miles for an intra-Europe flight with Lufthansa is excellent value, and a business class flight on the same route is a mere 25,000 points.
The full mileage redemption table is here:
| Economy Class | Business / Comfort Class | |
| Flights within | ||
| Europe | 15,000 | 25,000 |
| Middle East, South America, south-east Asia | 15,000 | – |
| From Europe* to (or flight in opposite direction) | ||
| North/central Africa, Middle East, Caucasia |
35,000 | – |
| North America, southern Africa, India |
50,000 | – |
| Central America, Caribbean | 60,000 | – |
| South America, central and south-east Asia, Far East | 70,000 | – |
*Also Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia
Fly Smart applies to flights operated by Adria Airways, Austrian Airlines Group, Brussels Airlines, Condor, Croatia Airlines, Germanwings, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS, and whenever I have booked, availability has been generally good.
The only bad news in all the above is the additional requirement for Lufthansa’s less-than-competitive tax payment. Where you’re paying 15,000 miles for a European flight (or 25,000 business class), this still generally makes the redemption value, but do bear it in mind. Although of less relevance to Malta, LOT (Polish) airline flights generally charge much lower taxes than Lufthansa.
If you want to get value for your M&M miles and are struggling with Mileage Bargains, I strongly recommend a look at Fly Smart.