Lufthansa Launching Green Fares on More Flights, Rewarding Flyers Who Choose Them

Lufthansa Group is rolling out Green Fares on most long-haul flights next month, giving travelers a way to offset their C02 emissions while earning bonus miles and elite-qualifying points. Green Fares will be available on 850,000+ Lufthansa Group flights next year.

This comes after Lufthansa Group launched Green Fares on short- and medium-haul flights last year. This program aims to lower traveler’s emissions by allocating a portion of the ticket costs to funding contributions to climate protection programs and through the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Beyond the environmental positives, travelers booking Green Fares also benefit. Specifically, Lufthansa Miles & More members earn bonus miles and elite status qualifying points when flying Green Fares. These tickets are also more flexible than standard economy fares.

Here’s everything you need to know — and some thoughts on whether or not you should book Green Fares.

Lufthansa Launches Green Fares on Long-Haul Flights

As mentioned, Lufthansa Group will offer Green Fares on all of its flights starting December 4. 2024. This includes all flights operated by Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Edelweiss, and SWISS.

Green Fares offset the entirety of an individual traveler’s C02 emissions for the flight they’ve booked. According to the airline, 80% of these emissions are reduced through climate protection projects, while the other 20% is reduced through the use of SAF on short- and medium-haul flights. Meanwhile, intercontinental flights will be offset 90% by funding climate projects and 10% through SAF.

There’s an additional incentive to booking these eco-friendly fares: Booking a Green Fare and crediting the flight to Lufthansa’s Miles and More loyalty program yields bonus miles and elite qualifying points. Travelers also have the option to rebook their flights free of charge, something that isn’t included with cheaper fares.

On European flights, Green Fares earn 20% bonus miles plus 20% bonus points and elite qualifying points on Economy Green fares. Meanwhile, travelers earn the same bonuses plus a 20% bonus on HON Circle points when flying Business Green fares.

Intercontinental Green Fares are less rewarding. You’ll be able to book Green Fares for intercontinental economy, premium economy, business, and first-class tickets on more routes starting next month. However, you’ll only earn 10% bonus miles, points, and status qualifying points. Business Green and First Green tickets will also earn 10% bonus Hon Circle points.

Are Lufthansa’s Green Fares a Good Deal?

Lufthansa Group isn’t launching intercontinental Green Fares widely until next month. However, it launched them on a handful of routes earlier this year, including Frankfurt (FRA) to Miami (MIA). Here’s pricing for the Frankfurt to Miami leg on a sample date in January.

As you can see, the Economy Green fare is considerably more expensive than Economy Light and Economy Basic fares, but it costs the same price as Economy Flex. In this case, it makes sense to book the Economy Green fare if you already want a flexible ticket but don’t think you’ll need a refund. You can still rebook flights without paying a rebooking fee, get 10% bonus miles, and your C02 emissions are offset.

Economy Green and Economy Flex aren’t always the same price though. For example, this flight from Munich (MUC) to Seoul (ICN) prices Economy Green slightly lower than Economy Flex.

So, should you book a Green Fare? It depends on your needs. If you want a flexible ticket but don’t need the ability to get a refund for your ticket, a Green Fare could be a good deal if it’s cheaper than an Economy Flex fare. Meanwhile, Green Fare prices are considerably higher than Economy Light and Economy Basic, so they’re worth skipping if you just need to get from point A to point B and don’t foresee yourself needing to change your flight.

Final Thoughts

It’s great to see Lufthansa Group work to roll Green Fares out to more routes. This gives flyers another way to offset their carbon emissions when traveling, and it rewards them for doing so with bonus miles and elite qualifying points.

That said, whether or not you should book Green Fares depends on the prices you see when searching for flights. It could be worthwhile if you’re just short of elite status. But if the price difference is high, you might consider booking a cheaper fare and buying carbon offsets separately.