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KrisFlyer now shows Lufthansa First Class awards a year in advance

Singapore is largely left out - but new Lufthansa First Class availability outside the usual 15-day partner redemption window has appeared on lots of other Asia Pacific routes.

LH A380 First (Lufhansa Group)

One of the more coveted first class products out there – indeed one on the wish list of many frequent flyers the world over – is Lufthansa First Class.

On the face of it the cabin pictures don’t look all that revolutionary – you’re certainly not getting fully enclosed suites or shower spa facilities here. Dig a little deeper however and you realise the product has earned a distinct reputation for impeccable service, fine food and an excellent on-ground experience.

Lufthansa FCT (Travel With Miles).jpg
Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt. (Photo: Travel With Miles)

If you’re lucky enough to be departing from Frankfurt in the Lufthansa first cabin there’s another added treat – their First Class Terminal.

That’s right – an exclusive terminal building dedicated to first class passengers. You’re greeted by your own personal assistant who escorts you through security and looks after your travel documents, then within minutes you’re enjoying an extensive bar and exquisite à la carte dining.

The added touch comes at the end of the visit – your assistant will come to collect you for your chauffeur driven limousine ride straight to the aircraft door when it comes time to board.

You can read more about the experience in this review.

Redeeming Lufthansa First Class

As many of our readers will know Lufthansa traditionally held back award space for their first class cabins to members of other Star Alliance frequent flyer programs (like KrisFlyer) until around 15 days prior to departure.

Even then it was often slim pickings especially on popular routes like Singapore to Frankfurt where you had to be very flexible with dates to secure a seat – and good luck securing two!

LH 748 First (Lufthansa Group).jpg
Lufthansa First Class on the Boeing 747-8. (Photo: Lufthansa Group)

What’s Changed?

Recently several blogs were reporting that award space has been showing up through these channels much further in advance on selected routes. Some flights between Europe and the USA appeared to no longer have the 15-day limit for partner award redemption in the Lufthansa First Class cabin, and indeed this extended to certain Europe – Asia flights too.

On Tuesday View from the Wing reported on another US route which previously hadn’t been showing up outside the 15 day window but which can now be booked months ahead.

Later that day Lucky at One Mile at a Time noticed it was far more widespread than that with many USA routes now open to instant redemption throughout the summer months.

We decided to take a look at the situation for Singapore-based KrisFlyer members to see if there was any advance availability showing on Asia – Europe flights and vice versa, as these are likely to be of the greatest interest to our readers.

For simplicity we actually stuck to South East Asia and East Asia destinations but Lufthansa do fly their first class product to India. If you’re interested you may wish to search availability on those routes yourself.

KrisFlyer and LifeMiles

For whatever reason the Air Canada Aeroplan and United MileagePlus programs do not have access to this award space. Their systems still only show the Lufthansa First Class awards available over the next 15 days.

KrisFlyer and LifeMiles can see and book the space however. In all cases if you have sufficient LifeMiles that’s the way to go with these bookings as you’ll see below they not only significantly beat the KrisFlyer miles rates on these redemptions but also have a much lower cash cost as they don’t apply additional carrier fuel surcharges, only taxes and fees.

Note that LifeMiles currently have a 125% bonus promotion if you buy their miles directly which means at the top end you’re acquiring them for just under S$0.02 each. That makes a Lufthansa First Class redemption pretty attractive.

Before you rush to buy though – read our section at the bottom of this page ‘Is it Real?’ for some important analysis on ‘phantom’ award space!

What’s Available?

First of all here’s a map of the routes you can fly Lufthansa First Class between Frankfurt / Munich and Asia Pacific destinations (excluding India).

LH F Routes Asia.jpg
Lufthansa First Class Routes to and from Asia Pacific. (Generated at greatcirclemap.com)

Flights on these routes featuring the Lufthansa First Class cabin are operated by a mixture of the following aircraft:

  • Airbus A340-600
  • Airbus A380-800
  • Boeing 747-8
LH 748 (Grzegorz Jereczek).jpg
Flying first class on the Lufthansa 747-8, such as between Tokyo and Frankfurt, means you can still experience sitting in the iconic ‘nose section’. (Photo: Grzegorz Jereczek)

Note that some other Lufthansa Asia Pacific flights are operated by the Airbus A340-300, Airbus A350-900 or 747-400 planes, such as the recently commenced Singapore to Munich route (A350), and these aircraft are not fitted with a first class cabin.

Availability searching was done using LifeMiles, with random verification on the KrisFlyer site.

Singapore

First the bad news. Singapore – Frankfurt flights on the A380 are very popular in first class and Lufthansa rarely have to make many (if any) award seats available in this cabin. We found some seats inside the normal 15-day window on this route as usual – but after that it’s very slim pickings indeed between now and early May 2019.

These are the relevant redemption rates:

Lufthansa First Class Singapore Miles Rates
KFtrans LMtrans
Frankfurt – Singapore 129,000 + S$501 102,000 + S$169
Singapore – Frankfurt 129,000 + S$414 102,000 + S$68

Taxes and fees are converted to Singapore Dollars (where necessary) at XE.com rates on 10th May 2018.

Redemption availability is as follows:

Frankfurt (FRA) to Singapore (SIN)
Date Seats Date Seats
30 May 1 14 Jun 1
6 Jun 1
13 Jun 2
Singapore (SIN) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Date Seats
24 Dec 3

Don’t despair though, for other Asia Pacific routes it’s a much better situation.

Bangkok

Lufthansa flights between Bangkok and Frankfurt only offer a first class cabin after 28th October 2018 using the A380, then the A340-600 (after 29th March 2019). Currently the route is operated by the A340-300, which doesn’t have first class.

There’s very little availability from Bangkok to Frankfurt (only 1 seat on Christmas Day), but a very decent amount of availability in the westbound direction from early 2019 if you’re heading back from Europe.

These are the miles rates applicable on this route:

Lufthansa First Class Bangkok Miles Rates
KFtrans LMtrans
Frankfurt – Bangkok 129,000 + S$501 102,000 + S$175
Bangkok – Frankfurt 129,000 + S$395 102,000 + S$65

Taxes and fees are converted to Singapore Dollars (where necessary) at XE.com rates on 10th May 2018.

Here’s what’s available on the award side:

Frankfurt (FRA) to Bangkok (BKK)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
28 Nov 2 28 Feb 2 2 Apr 3
4 Dec 1 5 Mar 1 3 Apr 2
11 Dec 2 6 Mar 1 9 Apr 3
3 Jan 1 7 Mar 2 10 Apr 1
16 Jan 1 11 Mar 1 11 Apr 1
23 Jan 2 12 Mar 1 16 Apr 4
28 Jan 1 13 Mar 1 17 Apr 1
29 Jan 2 14 Mar 1 23 Apr 3
5 Feb 2 19 Mar 3 24 Apr 2
6 Feb 1 20 Mar 2 25 Apr 2
12 Feb 2 21 Mar 1 29 Apr 1
14 Feb 1 25 Mar 1 30 Apr 3
20 Feb 1 26 Mar 3 1 May 2
21 Feb 1 28 Mar 2 2 May 2
26 Feb 2 1 Apr 1
Bangkok (BKK) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Date Seats
25 Dec 1

Hong Kong

Lufthansa First Class award availability on Hong Kong flights is broadly quite limited over the next year, with the exception of Munich to Hong Kong where we found a pretty healthy 63 redemption seats – concentrated between 25th May 2018 and the end of August 2018, then reappearing in April 2019.

Hong Kong is where you’ll get the biggest miles saving by using LifeMiles over KrisFlyer miles as the rate for Star Alliance first class redemptions on this route is over 20% lower.

Lufthansa First Class Hong Kong Miles Rates
KFtrans LMtrans
Europe – Hong Kong 147,500 + S$501 115,000 + S$169
Hong Kong – Europe 147,500 + S$59 115,000 + S$92

Taxes and fees are converted to Singapore Dollars (where necessary) at XE.com rates on 10th May 2018.

Frankfurt (FRA) to Hong Kong (HKG)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 2 13 Jun 3 28 Jun 1
28 May 1 14 Jun 4 8 Aug 1
30 May 2 15 Jun 2 9 Aug 1
4 Jun 1 16 Jun 1 15 Aug 1
6 Jun 1 18 Jun 2 23 Aug 1
12 Jun 2 19 Jun 1
Hong Kong (HKG) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Date Seats
27 May 1
28 May 1
Munich (MUC) to Hong Kong (HKG)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
28 May 1 2 Aug 1 10 Apr 1
5 Jun 1 3 Aug 1 16 Apr 1
14 Jun 1 6 Aug 2 22 Apr 1
28 Jun 2 7 Aug 1 23 Apr 1
3 Jul 2 8 Aug 2 24 Apr 2
5 Jul 2 9 Aug 2 25 Apr 2
10 Jul 2 14 Aug 2 26 Apr 2
12 Jul 2 15 Aug 2 29 Apr 1
17 Jul 1 16 Aug 2 30 Apr 2
18 Jul 1 21 Aug 1 1 May 1
24 Jul 2 22 Aug 2 2 May 2
30 Jul 2 23 Aug 2 3 May 2
31 Jul 2 3 Apr 2
1 Aug 1 5 Apr 1
Hong Kong (HKG) to Munich (MUC)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
10 Jun 1 7 Apr 1 30 Apr 2
11 Jun 1 8 Apr 2 4 May 1
25 Sep 1 15 Apr 2
1 Apr 1 29 Apr 2
LH A380 First Bed (Pilot Patrick).jpg
Lufthansa A380 First Class Bed. (Photo: Pilot Patrick)

Shanghai

Shanghai has pretty good award availability in the first class cabin to and from both Frankfurt and Munich. Here are the redemption rates:

Lufthansa First Class Shanghai Miles Rates
KFtrans LMtrans
Europe – Shanghai 138,000 + S$501 115,000 + S$149
Shanghai – Europe 138,000 + S$387 115,000 + S$52

Taxes and fees are converted to Singapore Dollars (where necessary) at XE.com rates on 10th May 2018.

Here’s how award availability looks on the Shanghai routes over the next year:

Frankfurt (FRA) to Shanghai (PVG)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 1 22 Aug 2 17 Jan 2
28 May 1 23 Aug 3 18 Jan 1
6 Jun 1 24 Aug 1 23 Jan 1
7 Jun 4 30 Aug 2 24 Jan 3
11 Jun 2 6 Sep 1 25 Jan 2
12 Jun 2 7 Sep 1 30 Jan 2
14 Jun 3 27 Sep 1 31 Jan 3
15 Jun 2 4 Oct 1 1 Feb 2
20 Jun 3 8 Nov 2 6 Feb 2
21 Jun 3 9 Nov 1 8 Feb 2
27 Jun 1 16 Nov 1 15 Feb 1
28 Jun 2 23 Nov 1 20 Feb 1
29 Jun 1 28 Nov 1 21 Feb 2
3 Jul 1 29 Nov 2 27 Feb 1
4 Jul 1 30 Nov 1 6 Mar 1
5 Jul 3 5 Dec 1 7 Mar 1
12 Jul 1 6 Dec 2 13 Mar 1
18 Jul 2 7 Dec 2 14 Mar 2
19 Jul 3 12 Dec 2 20 Mar 1
20 Jul 1 13 Dec 1 21 Mar 2
25 Jul 2 14 Dec 1 22 Mar 1
26 Jul 2 19 Dec 2 27 Mar 1
2 Aug 3 20 Dec 3 28 Mar 2
3 Aug 1 21 Dec 1 29 Mar 1
7 Aug 2 2 Jan 2 3 Apr 1
8 Aug 3 3 Jan 2 4 Apr 2
9 Aug 1 4 Jan 1 11 Apr 1
10 Aug 2 9 Jan 1 18 Apr 1
14 Aug 1 10 Jan 2 25 Apr 2
16 Aug 3 11 Jan 1 1 May 1
17 Aug 1 16 Jan 1 2 May 1
Shanghai (PVG) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
28 May 3 2 Oct 4 28 Jan 5
29 May 3 8 Oct 3 29 Jan 4
30 May 1 9 Oct 3 30 Jan 2
4 Jun 3 15 Oct 2 3 Feb 2
5 Jun 3 16 Oct 4 4 Feb 5
10 Jun 3 22 Oct 3 6 Feb 2
11 Jun 3 23 Oct 3 11 Feb 4
12 Jun 4 29 Oct 2 12 Feb 4
14 Jun 1 5 Nov 2 13 Feb 2
17 Jun 3 6 Nov 2 17 Feb 1
18 Jun 3 12 Nov 3 18 Feb 4
19 Jun 5 13 Nov 2 19 Feb 4
25 Jun 1 18 Nov 1 20 Feb 2
2 Jul 2 19 Nov 3 24 Feb 1
3 Jul 1 20 Nov 3 25 Feb 4
4 Jul 1 26 Nov 4 26 Feb 4
10 Jul 3 27 Nov 1 27 Feb 2
11 Jul 1 28 Nov 1 3 Mar 1
16 Jul 3 3 Dec 4 4 Mar 4
17 Jul 3 4 Dec 4 5 Mar 4
18 Jul 1 5 Dec 1 6 Mar 1
23 Jul 4 9 Dec 1 10 Mar 1
24 Jul 2 10 Dec 4 11 Mar 4
25 Jul 1 11 Dec 3 12 Mar 4
30 Jul 3 12 Dec 1 13 Mar 2
31 Jul 4 17 Dec 2 17 Mar 1
5 Aug 1 18 Dec 4 18 Mar 4
6 Aug 5 19 Dec 1 19 Mar 4
7 Aug 5 23 Dec 1 20 Mar 1
8 Aug 3 25 Dec 5 24 Mar 1
12 Aug 1 26 Dec 2 25 Mar 4
13 Aug 4 30 Dec 3 26 Mar 4
19 Aug 2 2 Jan 3 27 Mar 1
20 Aug 4 6 Jan 2 31 Mar 1
21 Aug 4 7 Jan 4 1 Apr 4
22 Aug 2 8 Jan 4 2 Apr 4
27 Aug 4 9 Jan 3 3 Apr 1
28 Aug 4 13 Jan 1 8 Apr 3
29 Aug 1 14 Jan 4 9 Apr 3
3 Sep 2 15 Jan 4 15 Apr 2
4 Sep 3 16 Jan 2 16 Apr 2
10 Sep 3 20 Jan 1 22 Apr 2
11 Sep 3 21 Jan 4 23 Apr 2
17 Sep 1 22 Jan 4 29 Apr 3
25 Sep 1 23 Jan 2 30 Apr 3
1 Oct 3 27 Jan 2
Munich (MUC) to Shanghai (PVG)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 2 10 Jan 2 3 Apr 2
29 May 1 17 Jan 2 4 Apr 2
1 Jun 2 23 Jan 1 5 Apr 2
13 Jun 2 24 Jan 2 6 Apr 2
19 Jun 2 31 Jan 2 7 Apr 2
27 Jun 2 14 Feb 2 8 Apr 2
11 Jul 1 21 Feb 2 9 Apr 2
18 Jul 2 28 Feb 2 10 Apr 2
20 Jul 2 1 Mar 1 11 Apr 2
25 Jul 2 7 Mar 2 18 Apr 1
27 Jul 1 8 Mar 1 19 Apr 1
1 Nov 1 14 Mar 1 25 Apr 2
6 Dec 1 21 Mar 1 2 May 2
13 Dec 1 28 Mar 1 3 May 1
20 Dec 2 1 Apr 2
3 Jan 2 2 Apr 2
Shanghai (PVG) to Munich (MUC)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
26 May 2 1 Apr 2 7 Apr 2
27 May 2 2 Apr 2 8 Apr 2
28 May 2 3 Apr 1 9 Apr 2
31 Mar 2 6 Apr 2 23 Apr 1

Tokyo Haneda

One of the more wide-open Asia Pacific flights for Lufthansa First Class award availability is between Frankfurt (FRA) and Tokyo Haneda (HND) – operated daily by the Boeing 747-8. In February 2019 alone for example there is at least one first class award seat practically every day of the month on FRA-HND, with up to 4 seats on some days.

This is also the route where we first found 5 award seats on the same flight – on 2nd July 2018 from HND to FRA. Amazing considering the first class cabin features only 8 seats in total. Just in case you think we’re joking…

5 LH F Seats.jpg
The whole family (or you and four friends) can enjoy Lufthansa First Class on the 747-8 between Tokyo and Frankfurt for 690,000 KrisFlyer miles or 575,000 LifeMiles.

You’ll also find 5 first class award seats on the same route on 24th December 2018, and on several of the Beijing and Seoul flights too.

Lufthansa First Class Toyko Miles Rates
KFtrans LMtrans
Europe – Japan 138,000 + S$501 115,000 + S$169
Japan – Europe 138,000 + S$162 115,000 + S$65

Taxes and fees are converted to Singapore Dollars (where necessary) at XE.com rates on 10th May 2018.

Note that Munich to Tokyo is mostly operated by the A350 with no first class cabin, with some A340-600 flights on certain days of the week between now and the end of July 2018 – hence the limited first class award availability on that route.

Frankfurt (FRA) to Tokyo (HND)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 3 6 Dec 4 15 Feb 2
27 May 1 7 Dec 1 16 Feb 1
1 Jun 3 8 Dec 1 17 Feb 1
3 Jun 1 9 Dec 1 18 Feb 3
4 Jun 1 11 Dec 1 19 Feb 1
5 Jun 2 12 Dec 2 20 Feb 3
6 Jun 2 13 Dec 1 21 Feb 3
7 Jun 3 14 Dec 3 22 Feb 3
8 Jun 1 17 Dec 2 25 Feb 2
11 Jun 4 18 Dec 2 27 Feb 3
12 Jun 1 19 Dec 4 28 Feb 2
13 Jun 1 20 Dec 2 1 Mar 3
14 Jun 1 23 Dec 1 2 Mar 1
18 Jun 1 25 Dec 2 4 Mar 2
22 Jun 1 26 Dec 3 6 Mar 3
23 Jun 1 27 Dec 4 7 Mar 3
25 Jun 3 28 Dec 4 8 Mar 3
26 Jun 1 29 Dec 2 9 Mar 1
27 Jun 1 3 Jan 2 10 Mar 3
2 Jul 1 6 Jan 1 11 Mar 2
5 Jul 1 7 Jan 1 13 Mar 3
9 Jul 1 8 Jan 2 14 Mar 2
18 Jul 1 9 Jan 3 15 Mar 1
19 Jul 2 10 Jan 3 18 Mar 1
26 Jul 1 11 Jan 3 20 Mar 2
31 Jul 1 12 Jan 2 25 Mar 2
2 Aug 1 14 Jan 3 28 Mar 2
5 Aug 1 15 Jan 1 29 Mar 2
8 Aug 1 16 Jan 1 2 Apr 1
9 Aug 1 17 Jan 3 3 Apr 1
10 Aug 1 18 Jan 1 4 Apr 3
20 Aug 1 20 Jan 1 5 Apr 3
23 Aug 3 21 Jan 2 6 Apr 1
24 Aug 1 23 Jan 4 8 Apr 1
26 Oct 1 24 Jan 4 9 Apr 1
5 Nov 1 25 Jan 3 10 Apr 3
6 Nov 1 26 Jan 1 11 Apr 3
11 Nov 1 27 Jan 2 12 Apr 2
14 Nov 3 28 Jan 2 15 Apr 2
15 Nov 1 29 Jan 1 16 Apr 1
16 Nov 3 30 Jan 4 17 Apr 3
17 Nov 1 31 Jan 3 20 Apr 1
18 Nov 1 1 Feb 3 21 Apr 1
19 Nov 1 2 Feb 1 24 Apr 3
21 Nov 3 3 Feb 1 25 Apr 3
22 Nov 2 4 Feb 3 26 Apr 2
24 Nov 1 5 Feb 2 27 Apr 1
26 Nov 1 6 Feb 4 28 Apr 1
27 Nov 1 7 Feb 3 29 Apr 1
28 Nov 3 8 Feb 2 30 Apr 1
29 Nov 3 9 Feb 1 1 May 3
30 Nov 4 10 Feb 1 2 May 3
2 Dec 1 11 Feb 3 3 May 3
3 Dec 1 12 Feb 1 4 May 1
4 Dec 2 13 Feb 2 5 May 1
5 Dec 4 14 Feb 3
Tokyo (HND) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 1 4 Dec 1 13 Feb 3
26 May 1 5 Dec 1 14 Feb 1
28 May 3 6 Dec 1 15 Feb 1
29 May 2 9 Dec 1 17 Feb 1
4 Jun 2 10 Dec 1 18 Feb 3
5 Jun 3 11 Dec 4 19 Feb 3
13 Jun 1 12 Dec 1 20 Feb 3
17 Jun 1 13 Dec 1 21 Feb 1
18 Jun 2 14 Dec 1 25 Feb 2
19 Jun 3 16 Dec 1 26 Feb 4
20 Jun 1 17 Dec 3 27 Feb 2
25 Jun 3 18 Dec 4 28 Feb 1
28 Jun 1 19 Dec 3 4 Mar 3
2 Jul 5 20 Dec 2 5 Mar 4
4 Jul 3 21 Dec 1 6 Mar 2
8 Jul 1 24 Dec 5 7 Mar 1
11 Jul 2 25 Dec 4 10 Mar 1
12 Jul 2 2 Jan 3 11 Mar 2
18 Jul 1 6 Jan 2 12 Mar 4
20 Jul 1 7 Jan 2 13 Mar 3
24 Jul 2 8 Jan 4 14 Mar 1
26 Jul 2 9 Jan 3 15 Mar 1
2 Aug 1 10 Jan 2 17 Mar 1
7 Aug 1 13 Jan 2 18 Mar 1
14 Aug 1 14 Jan 4 19 Mar 4
20 Aug 2 15 Jan 4 20 Mar 3
27 Aug 2 16 Jan 3 21 Mar 1
28 Aug 3 17 Jan 2 22 Mar 1
5 Sep 1 20 Jan 2 24 Mar 1
19 Sep 1 21 Jan 3 25 Mar 1
24 Sep 1 22 Jan 4 26 Mar 4
2 Oct 3 23 Jan 4 27 Mar 3
15 Oct 1 24 Jan 2 28 Mar 1
16 Oct 2 25 Jan 2 29 Mar 1
17 Oct 1 27 Jan 1 1 Apr 3
23 Oct 2 28 Jan 4 2 Apr 3
30 Oct 3 29 Jan 4 3 Apr 2
5 Nov 3 30 Jan 3 8 Apr 2
6 Nov 1 31 Jan 2 9 Apr 1
12 Nov 1 1 Feb 2 10 Apr 1
13 Nov 3 3 Feb 2 16 Apr 3
14 Nov 2 4 Feb 3 17 Apr 1
19 Nov 3 5 Feb 4 22 Apr 1
20 Nov 3 6 Feb 3 23 Apr 3
21 Nov 3 7 Feb 2 24 Apr 1
26 Nov 2 8 Feb 1 30 Apr 3
27 Nov 3 9 Feb 1 1 May 1
28 Nov 2 10 Feb 1 2 May 1
29 Nov 1 11 Feb 1
2 Dec 1 12 Feb 4
Munich (MUC) to Tokyo (HND)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 2 7 Jun 2 21 Jun 1
1 Jun 2 8 Jun 1 22 Jun 2
3 Jun 2 15 Jun 1 24 Jun 2
4 Jun 1 17 Jun 1
Tokyo (HND) to Munich (MUC)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
28 May 1 15 Jun 2 25 Jun 2
29 May 1 18 Jun 2 29 Jun 2
1 Jun 1 19 Jun 2 30 Jun 1
9 Jun 1 22 Jun 2

Seoul

When you consider that services between Frankfurt and Seoul only offer first class during the northern summer timetable (A340-600) it has by far the most wide open availability for Lufthansa First Class awards, totalling 846 seats in both directions over the coming year.

The service reverts to the 747-400 for the winter season at the end of October 2018, which does not have first class, however the first class cabin returns on this route from 1st April 2019 with the A340-600.

To redeem on this route here’s what you’ll need in the miles bank:

Lufthansa First Class Seoul Miles Rates
KFtrans LMtrans
Frankfurt – Seoul 138,000 + S$502 115,000 + S$169
Seoul – Frankfurt 138,000 + S$405 115,000 + S$68

Taxes and fees are converted to Singapore Dollars (where necessary) at XE.com rates on 10th May 2018.

And here’s the award availability itself:

Frankfurt (FRA) to Seoul (ICN)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 1 26 Jul 3 9 Oct 1
26 May 3 27 Jul 5 10 Oct 4
29 May 3 28 Jul 1 11 Oct 1
30 May 3 31 Jul 4 17 Oct 4
31 May 3 1 Aug 3 18 Oct 5
2 Jun 2 2 Aug 1 19 Oct 4
4 Jun 1 3 Aug 2 23 Oct 1
5 Jun 5 7 Aug 1 24 Oct 2
6 Jun 1 8 Aug 5 25 Oct 1
7 Jun 4 9 Aug 4 26 Oct 1
8 Jun 4 10 Aug 3 2 Apr 3
12 Jun 1 15 Aug 5 3 Apr 5
13 Jun 1 16 Aug 5 4 Apr 5
14 Jun 4 17 Aug 1 5 Apr 5
19 Jun 1 21 Aug 3 6 Apr 2
20 Jun 1 22 Aug 5 8 Apr 3
21 Jun 4 23 Aug 3 9 Apr 5
22 Jun 5 24 Aug 1 10 Apr 5
26 Jun 2 29 Aug 1 11 Apr 5
27 Jun 4 30 Aug 1 12 Apr 1
28 Jun 3 4 Sep 2 16 Apr 3
29 Jun 3 5 Sep 2 17 Apr 5
30 Jun 1 6 Sep 1 18 Apr 5
1 Jul 3 11 Sep 2 19 Apr 5
2 Jul 3 12 Sep 1 20 Apr 1
3 Jul 4 13 Sep 5 23 Apr 4
4 Jul 3 14 Sep 1 24 Apr 5
10 Jul 1 19 Sep 4 25 Apr 5
11 Jul 5 20 Sep 4 26 Apr 5
12 Jul 4 21 Sep 4 27 Apr 1
17 Jul 1 25 Sep 2 30 Apr 3
18 Jul 4 26 Sep 2 1 May 5
19 Jul 4 27 Sep 2 2 May 5
20 Jul 5 2 Oct 1 3 May 5
24 Jul 3 3 Oct 4 4 May 1
25 Jul 5 4 Oct 1
Seoul (ICN) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 1 28 Jul 1 3 Oct 2
27 May 5 29 Jul 5 7 Oct 1
28 May 1 30 Jul 3 8 Oct 2
29 May 3 31 Jul 5 9 Oct 5
30 May 4 1 Aug 4 10 Oct 3
31 May 3 2 Aug 4 11 Oct 2
2 Jun 1 4 Aug 1 13 Oct 2
3 Jun 1 5 Aug 4 14 Oct 2
4 Jun 4 6 Aug 5 15 Oct 2
5 Jun 2 7 Aug 5 16 Oct 5
6 Jun 5 8 Aug 3 17 Oct 1
7 Jun 5 9 Aug 4 18 Oct 2
8 Jun 1 11 Aug 3 20 Oct 2
9 Jun 3 12 Aug 5 21 Oct 1
10 Jun 5 13 Aug 5 23 Oct 4
11 Jun 4 14 Aug 5 24 Oct 3
12 Jun 2 15 Aug 2 25 Oct 3
13 Jun 5 16 Aug 4 27 Oct 2
14 Jun 5 18 Aug 3 28 Oct 4
16 Jun 2 19 Aug 4 1 Apr 3
17 Jun 2 20 Aug 1 2 Apr 5
18 Jun 3 21 Aug 5 3 Apr 4
19 Jun 2 22 Aug 4 4 Apr 4
20 Jun 3 23 Aug 4 6 Apr 3
21 Jun 1 25 Aug 3 7 Apr 4
24 Jun 4 26 Aug 3 8 Apr 3
25 Jun 5 27 Aug 5 9 Apr 5
27 Jun 5 28 Aug 3 10 Apr 4
28 Jun 2 29 Aug 5 11 Apr 4
1 Jul 3 30 Aug 4 13 Apr 3
2 Jul 5 1 Sep 1 14 Apr 4
3 Jul 5 2 Sep 2 15 Apr 5
4 Jul 4 3 Sep 5 16 Apr 5
5 Jul 4 4 Sep 5 17 Apr 5
7 Jul 3 5 Sep 3 18 Apr 4
8 Jul 3 9 Sep 2 20 Apr 3
9 Jul 3 10 Sep 3 21 Apr 5
10 Jul 5 11 Sep 1 22 Apr 5
11 Jul 5 13 Sep 3 23 Apr 5
12 Jul 4 17 Sep 4 24 Apr 4
14 Jul 3 18 Sep 5 25 Apr 4
15 Jul 4 19 Sep 4 27 Apr 3
16 Jul 5 20 Sep 3 28 Apr 4
17 Jul 5 23 Sep 2 29 Apr 3
18 Jul 4 24 Sep 4 30 Apr 5
19 Jul 4 25 Sep 3 1 May 5
21 Jul 3 26 Sep 3 2 May 4
22 Jul 2 29 Sep 2 4 May 3
23 Jul 5 30 Sep 5 5 May 5
24 Jul 5 1 Oct 1
25 Jul 3 2 Oct 5
LH A346 F (Travelling the World).jpg
Lufthansa First Class cabin on the A340-600 (Photo: Travelling the World)

Beijing

Lufthansa First Class award seats to and from Beijing are very widely available. In fact on this route we found 1,297 award seats over the next year across the two routes.

Note that Munich – Beijing availability disappears in the northern winter season as the route is operated by an A350 during that period with no first class cabin.

The required miles for these flights is as follows:

Lufthansa First Class Beijing Miles Rates
KFtrans LMtrans
Europe – Beijing 138,000 + S$501 115,000 + S$168
Beijing – Europe 138,000 + S$385 115,000 + S$52

Taxes and fees are converted to Singapore Dollars (where necessary) at XE.com rates on 10th May 2018.

Frankfurt (FRA) to Beijing (PEK)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 3 18 Sep 2 25 Jan 4
30 May 3 19 Sep 1 26 Jan 1
31 May 3 20 Sep 2 29 Jan 3
1 Jun 3 25 Sep 1 30 Jan 3
5 Jun 1 26 Sep 1 31 Jan 3
7 Jun 2 28 Sep 1 1 Feb 3
8 Jun 4 5 Oct 2 2 Feb 1
11 Jun 1 11 Oct 1 5 Feb 3
12 Jun 4 12 Oct 1 9 Feb 1
15 Jun 4 16 Oct 2 12 Feb 3
19 Jun 2 18 Oct 2 13 Feb 3
20 Jun 3 23 Oct 2 14 Feb 3
21 Jun 3 25 Oct 2 15 Feb 1
26 Jun 2 26 Oct 2 16 Feb 1
27 Jun 2 31 Oct 1 19 Feb 3
28 Jun 2 8 Nov 1 20 Feb 2
29 Jun 3 14 Nov 2 21 Feb 2
3 Jul 2 15 Nov 2 26 Feb 3
4 Jul 2 16 Nov 2 27 Feb 2
5 Jul 2 20 Nov 1 28 Feb 2
6 Jul 2 21 Nov 1 1 Mar 2
10 Jul 1 22 Nov 2 5 Mar 3
11 Jul 1 23 Nov 3 6 Mar 2
12 Jul 2 27 Nov 2 7 Mar 2
13 Jul 2 28 Nov 2 8 Mar 1
18 Jul 1 29 Nov 1 12 Mar 2
19 Jul 2 30 Nov 3 13 Mar 1
25 Jul 1 4 Dec 2 14 Mar 2
26 Jul 2 5 Dec 2 15 Mar 2
27 Jul 1 6 Dec 3 19 Mar 2
31 Jul 1 7 Dec 3 20 Mar 1
1 Aug 1 11 Dec 3 21 Mar 2
2 Aug 2 12 Dec 2 22 Mar 3
3 Aug 2 13 Dec 2 26 Mar 2
7 Aug 3 14 Dec 3 27 Mar 2
8 Aug 2 18 Dec 3 28 Mar 2
9 Aug 3 19 Dec 1 29 Mar 2
10 Aug 3 20 Dec 3 2 Apr 2
14 Aug 2 21 Dec 1 3 Apr 1
15 Aug 2 22 Dec 1 4 Apr 1
16 Aug 3 1 Jan 4 5 Apr 2
17 Aug 1 2 Jan 3 9 Apr 1
21 Aug 3 3 Jan 3 10 Apr 1
22 Aug 2 4 Jan 3 11 Apr 1
23 Aug 1 5 Jan 1 12 Apr 1
24 Aug 3 8 Jan 1 16 Apr 1
28 Aug 1 9 Jan 3 17 Apr 1
29 Aug 2 10 Jan 3 18 Apr 2
30 Aug 3 11 Jan 3 19 Apr 2
31 Aug 3 15 Jan 3 23 Apr 1
4 Sep 2 16 Jan 2 24 Apr 1
5 Sep 1 17 Jan 3 25 Apr 2
7 Sep 3 18 Jan 3 26 Apr 2
11 Sep 2 19 Jan 1 30 Apr 2
12 Sep 1 22 Jan 2 1 May 1
13 Sep 2 23 Jan 2 2 May 2
14 Sep 2 24 Jan 3 3 May 2
Beijing (PEK) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 3 27 Aug 4 14 Jan 4
26 May 2 28 Aug 4 15 Jan 3
27 May 5 29 Aug 3 16 Jan 1
28 May 5 30 Aug 1 17 Jan 1
30 May 2 31 Aug 2 20 Jan 2
31 May 3 2 Sep 2 21 Jan 4
1 Jun 1 3 Sep 4 22 Jan 4
2 Jun 2 4 Sep 3 23 Jan 2
3 Jun 4 5 Sep 2 27 Jan 2
4 Jun 3 6 Sep 1 28 Jan 4
5 Jun 4 9 Sep 1 29 Jan 3
6 Jun 3 11 Sep 2 30 Jan 3
7 Jun 1 12 Sep 2 31 Jan 1
8 Jun 1 17 Sep 3 3 Feb 3
9 Jun 2 18 Sep 3 4 Feb 4
10 Jun 3 19 Sep 2 6 Feb 3
11 Jun 1 23 Sep 1 10 Feb 3
12 Jun 4 24 Sep 1 11 Feb 4
13 Jun 5 25 Sep 3 12 Feb 4
14 Jun 2 26 Sep 2 13 Feb 3
16 Jun 1 30 Sep 1 14 Feb 1
17 Jun 4 1 Oct 3 17 Feb 2
18 Jun 5 2 Oct 2 18 Feb 4
19 Jun 3 3 Oct 2 19 Feb 3
20 Jun 2 7 Oct 1 20 Feb 3
21 Jun 2 8 Oct 3 24 Feb 2
24 Jun 2 9 Oct 2 25 Feb 4
25 Jun 4 10 Oct 2 26 Feb 3
26 Jun 3 15 Oct 4 27 Feb 2
27 Jun 2 16 Oct 3 28 Feb 1
28 Jun 1 17 Oct 2 3 Mar 2
29 Jun 1 21 Oct 2 4 Mar 4
1 Jul 2 22 Oct 4 5 Mar 3
3 Jul 3 23 Oct 3 6 Mar 3
4 Jul 3 24 Oct 2 7 Mar 1
6 Jul 1 28 Oct 1 10 Mar 2
8 Jul 2 29 Oct 3 11 Mar 4
9 Jul 4 30 Oct 3 12 Mar 3
10 Jul 3 31 Oct 2 13 Mar 2
11 Jul 2 4 Nov 1 17 Mar 2
12 Jul 2 6 Nov 1 18 Mar 4
15 Jul 2 11 Nov 1 19 Mar 3
16 Jul 4 13 Nov 2 20 Mar 2
17 Jul 3 19 Nov 1 24 Mar 2
18 Jul 3 20 Nov 2 25 Mar 4
22 Jul 2 21 Nov 1 26 Mar 3
23 Jul 4 25 Nov 1 27 Mar 2
24 Jul 3 26 Nov 3 31 Mar 2
25 Jul 3 27 Nov 2 1 Apr 4
26 Jul 1 28 Nov 1 2 Apr 3
30 Jul 4 2 Dec 1 3 Apr 2
31 Jul 3 3 Dec 3 4 Apr 1
1 Aug 2 4 Dec 3 7 Apr 2
2 Aug 2 5 Dec 1 8 Apr 3
3 Aug 1 9 Dec 1 9 Apr 3
5 Aug 3 10 Dec 3 10 Apr 2
6 Aug 5 11 Dec 3 11 Apr 1
7 Aug 5 12 Dec 2 14 Apr 1
8 Aug 4 16 Dec 2 15 Apr 4
9 Aug 2 17 Dec 2 16 Apr 3
10 Aug 1 18 Dec 3 17 Apr 3
11 Aug 1 19 Dec 2 18 Apr 1
12 Aug 3 23 Dec 2 21 Apr 2
13 Aug 5 24 Dec 5 22 Apr 3
14 Aug 4 2 Jan 3 23 Apr 2
15 Aug 4 3 Jan 2 24 Apr 2
16 Aug 2 4 Jan 1 25 Apr 1
17 Aug 1 6 Jan 3 28 Apr 2
19 Aug 3 7 Jan 4 29 Apr 3
20 Aug 4 8 Jan 3 30 Apr 3
21 Aug 4 9 Jan 3 1 May 3
22 Aug 3 10 Jan 1 2 May 1
23 Aug 2 11 Jan 1 5 May 2
26 Aug 2 13 Jan 2
Munich (MUC) to Beijing (PEK)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
25 May 2 29 Jul 1 9 Oct 2
28 May 1 30 Jul 1 10 Oct 1
29 May 2 31 Jul 2 11 Oct 2
30 May 2 1 Aug 2 16 Oct 2
31 May 2 2 Aug 2 17 Oct 2
1 Jun 1 3 Aug 2 18 Oct 2
5 Jun 2 8 Aug 2 23 Oct 2
6 Jun 2 9 Aug 2 24 Oct 2
12 Jun 1 10 Aug 2 25 Oct 2
13 Jun 2 14 Aug 2 2 Apr 2
14 Jun 2 15 Aug 2 3 Apr 2
19 Jun 1 16 Aug 2 4 Apr 2
22 Jun 1 17 Aug 2 5 Apr 2
26 Jun 1 21 Aug 2 8 Apr 1
27 Jun 2 22 Aug 2 9 Apr 2
28 Jun 2 23 Aug 2 10 Apr 2
29 Jun 1 24 Aug 2 11 Apr 2
3 Jul 1 28 Aug 2 12 Apr 2
4 Jul 2 30 Aug 2 16 Apr 2
5 Jul 2 31 Aug 2 17 Apr 2
6 Jul 2 5 Sep 2 18 Apr 2
9 Jul 1 6 Sep 2 19 Apr 2
10 Jul 2 7 Sep 2 21 Apr 1
11 Jul 1 11 Sep 2 22 Apr 1
12 Jul 2 12 Sep 2 23 Apr 2
13 Jul 2 13 Sep 2 24 Apr 2
17 Jul 2 14 Sep 1 25 Apr 2
18 Jul 2 18 Sep 2 26 Apr 2
19 Jul 2 19 Sep 2 29 Apr 1
20 Jul 2 20 Sep 2 30 Apr 2
23 Jul 1 21 Sep 1 1 May 2
24 Jul 2 26 Sep 2 2 May 2
25 Jul 2 27 Sep 2 3 May 2
27 Jul 2 4 Oct 2
Beijing (PEK) to Munich (MUC)
Date Seats Date Seats Date Seats
28 May 1 30 Jul 2 4 Oct 2
30 May 2 31 Jul 2 7 Oct 2
31 May 2 6 Aug 1 8 Oct 1
4 Jun 2 7 Aug 2 9 Oct 1
5 Jun 2 8 Aug 2 10 Oct 2
6 Jun 2 9 Aug 1 11 Oct 2
7 Jun 1 12 Aug 2 15 Oct 2
11 Jun 1 13 Aug 2 16 Oct 2
12 Jun 2 15 Aug 2 17 Oct 1
13 Jun 2 16 Aug 2 18 Oct 1
14 Jun 2 19 Aug 2 21 Oct 2
16 Jun 1 20 Aug 2 22 Oct 1
18 Jun 2 21 Aug 2 23 Oct 2
19 Jun 2 22 Aug 2 24 Oct 2
20 Jun 2 23 Aug 2 1 Apr 2
21 Jun 2 26 Aug 2 2 Apr 2
24 Jun 1 27 Aug 1 3 Apr 2
25 Jun 2 28 Aug 2 4 Apr 2
26 Jun 2 29 Aug 2 7 Apr 2
27 Jun 2 2 Sep 2 8 Apr 2
1 Jul 2 3 Sep 2 9 Apr 1
2 Jul 2 4 Sep 2 10 Apr 2
3 Jul 2 5 Sep 2 11 Apr 1
4 Jul 2 6 Sep 1 14 Apr 2
8 Jul 2 9 Sep 2 15 Apr 2
9 Jul 2 10 Sep 1 16 Apr 2
10 Jul 2 11 Sep 2 17 Apr 2
11 Jul 2 12 Sep 2 18 Apr 1
12 Jul 2 13 Sep 1 21 Apr 2
15 Jul 2 16 Sep 2 22 Apr 2
16 Jul 1 18 Sep 2 23 Apr 2
17 Jul 2 19 Sep 2 24 Apr 2
18 Jul 1 23 Sep 2 25 Apr 1
19 Jul 1 24 Sep 1 28 Apr 2
22 Jul 2 25 Sep 2 29 Apr 2
23 Jul 2 26 Sep 2 30 Apr 2
24 Jul 2 27 Sep 2 1 May 2
25 Jul 2 30 Sep 2 2 May 1
26 Jul 2 1 Oct 2 5 May 2
29 Jul 2 2 Oct 2

Is it Real?

One issue with things like this is ‘phantom’ award availability – a redemption shows but isn’t actually available. The problem is that any award availability could be ‘phantom’ – there’s no way to tell it’s ‘real’ until progressing all the way through the booking and payment stage and having the tickets issued.

Some comments on the One Mile at a Time post (see here) suggested that not all of this availability could be replicated at the Lufthansa Miles & More site (which requires a minimum balance of 7,000 miles to perform a search). Others stated that LifeMiles couldn’t actually make the booking once passenger details were entered.

Quite a number of people though stated that they have successfully booked using both LifeMiles and through KrisFlyer. Here are some examples over the last few days:

LH Discussion.jpg
Some of the successful redemptions reported by One Mile at a Time readers

Unfortunately there’s no way to know which seats are ‘phantom’ and which aren’t – but it’s clear that not all are. However do be wary of buying miles (e.g. LifeMiles) to take advantage of one of these redemptions, as it might not actually work even if it shows up as available on their site.

One alternative is potentially to purchase a much lower number of miles and then plan to use the LifeMiles + money option to secure your ticket. Not totally risk-free but in case it doesn’t work – it would leave you a lot less exposed.

LM Part Pay.jpg
An option to purchase this flight would be to buy 50,000 LifeMiles then top up with money. It’s not a terrible deal as you’re ‘buying’ the remaining miles at 1.5 US cents each (about 2 Singapore cents). If it doesn’t work at least you aren’t stuck with 115,000 miles.

What Next?

We don’t know exactly what Lufthansa’s plan is with this – however if anything it appears that these advance first class awards are becoming increasingly available across the network through KrisFlyer and LifeMiles.

LH A380.jpg

One thing is for sure – Lufthansa could go back to their original 15-day restriction for these partner awards at any time meaning this advance availability might not last long, so our advice would be to snap up any award seats now if you can.

(Cover Photo: Lufthansa Group)

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1 comment

  1. Hi Andrew..

    I’m desperately trying to find a way to check out FRA’s FC Terminal and hope you can help..

    I’ve actually already got tix for DUS>SIN.. but from the write-ups and pics that I’ve seen.. drooool…..

    What’s another 2hr drive from DUS>FRA, right?!

    Then come the complications… From what I’ve dug up.. in order to use that terminal, aside from having status.. would be to fly either LH or LX metal.. both of which will incur huge surcharges in access of S$500 each, if using KF miles (and is also near impossible for 2, let alone 3 award seats, from what I gather).. exception would be LH using LifeMiles.. but I haven’t got any and/or can think of a way to get LifeMiles (aside from actually buying them)..

    I’ve combed the http://www... used both awards hacker and awards maximizer.. and I wind up w more questions than answer cos whilst both cover miles needs from different FFPs, neither cover surcharges..

    In summary.. I’d love to check out/ use the terminal.. I’ve got access to any FFP that are on either Citi or Amex transfer lists.. but not so much the others.. I’m okay with anything from USD25-75 in KF change or redeposit fees, and then on top of that another USD100 or so in taxes/airport charges (even KF on SQ incurs some charges but like 1/7 of LH or LX).. cos SGD1600-1800 for ‘the experience’ of a coupla hours may be a bit to rich for me..

    Do you see or have you already found a way…?

    Of course I’m not expecting you to spend hours digging thru what I lalready have and look for what I missed.. but if you’ve already worked it out, could you share..? if not, no sweat.. I may likely just stick to Plan A and abandon for another time when maybe it’s just me flying solo..

    Thanks in advance! 🙇🏻🙇🏻

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