Lufthansa’s Miles & More Launches Dynamic Award Pricing — Here’s the Good and the Bad

Updated: June 3, 2025, 12:27pm CDT

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Table of Contents

A Quick Overview of Miles & More’s Dynamic Pricing
Analyzing Miles & More’s Dynamic Pricing Model
Final Thoughts

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Dynamic pricing refers to an award scheme in which the number of points and miles you’ll pay for a given award fluctuates depending on the cash price. If a flight is on sale for a cheap cash rate on a random Tuesday in November, then you’ll likely need fewer points to book it.

Conversely, during popular travel periods when cash rates soar, you’ll probably cough up many more miles for that same flight.

Miles & More — the joint rewards program of Lufthansa, SWISS, Brussels Airlines, and Austrian Airlines, among others, and soon to include ITA Airways — announced it would move to dynamic pricing earlier this year, and that change is live as of today, June 3, 2025.

Here’s what you need to know — both the good and the bad.

A Quick Overview of Miles & More’s Dynamic Pricing

These moves weren’t a total surprise, as Miles & More announced earlier this year it would move to dynamic pricing — a move we were sure would involve devaluations of the award program.

Prior to June 3, the Miles & More program had a fixed award chart for flights on its full-service carriers like Lufthansa, SWISS, and Austrian. Using that chart, you knew exactly how many miles you’d need to fly from A to B with these airlines, regardless of the date or cash price of the ticket.

However, Miles & More hasn’t adopted the dynamic model we’re used to with programs like JetBlue TrueBlue or Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards. With those programs, points are worth a fixed amount (or operate within a small range) toward flights, and every seat is available using points.

Let’s dive into the details of Miles & More’s changes to see how it’s different from other dynamic pricing models.

Bottom Line:

Typically, airline programs using dynamic pricing use their points almost like cash, and you’ll know roughly how many points or miles you need based on the cash price of the ticket. Miles & More has done something different, and miles aren’t worth a fixed price. Additionally, not all seats are available with miles.

Analyzing Miles & More’s Dynamic Pricing Model

Positives

Those flying partner award tickets (airlines other than Lufthansa, SWISS, and Austrian, which form the backbone of Miles & More) in economy between North America and Europe will be happy to know that prices dropped from 60,000 to 50,000 miles per person round-trip.

Additionally, economy flights from North America to South America dropped from 60,000 to 50,000 miles on partner airlines — and that’s round-trip pricing.

Another positive: Partner economy flights to the Middle East, North and Central Africa, and the Caucasus got cheaper. Round-trip pricing dropped from 80,000 to 75,000 miles per person.

However, the biggest positive seems to be that there’s still a defined award chart for flights on partner airlines. If you want certainty surrounding how many miles you’ll need for a flight, using your Miles & More miles to fly on other airlines might make more sense, as counterintuitive as that may seem.

Finally, for those who are wondering: Partner award programs still appear to have access to booking Lufthansa first class.

United LH F award 24hr BOS MUC United miles — Want to fly tonight? It’s available. Image Credit: United Airlines

Negatives

Most airlines using dynamic pricing let you book any seat on the plane using points — no matter how much it costs and even if it’s the last seat on the plane. Miles & More isn’t doing that. You’ll still need to find award space using the existing fare codes the program uses:

First class: O
Business class: I
Economy: X

Awards between North America and Europe on partner airlines (think United and Air Canada, for example) are now more expensive in every class but economy. In terms of miles required per person on round-trip tickets, first class jumped from 182,000 to 215,000, business went from 112,000 to 125,000, and premium economy increased from 80,000 to 85,000.

Further, awards in premium cabins with Lufthansa Group airlines have gone up in numerous searches, except for flights entirely within Europe.

Lufthansa 747 8 Docked Frankfurt — Image Credit: Alberto Riva

Using your miles to fly from the continental U.S. to Hawaii on partner airlines has also increased by 5,000 miles on round-trip bookings in all fare classes. You’ll now pay 45,000 miles per person to Hawaii and back, which isn’t a good deal.

Finally, Miles & More is now selling basic economy fares, which come with additional restrictions on choosing seats, checking luggage, etc. Award bookings fall into the program’s traditional fare classes found on paid tickets, so it’s worth understanding the differences between Light, Basic, Basic Plus, and Flex tickets (on long-haul flights) or those between Light, Classic, and Flex fares (flights entirely within Europe).

Hot Tip:

Booking Lufthansa first class using points and miles can be complicated, and dynamic pricing adds just another layer. It’s worth comparing several points of origin to see if starting in city A, B, or C affects pricing — or whether booking with a partner award program might provide a cheaper rate. However, these typically require booking within a few days of departure.

Final Thoughts

Lufthansa Group’s Miles & More program moved to dynamic pricing today. If we tried to boil it down into 1 sentence, we’d say that partner flights still have a fixed award chart, partner programs still have access to Lufthansa first, and most bookings in premium cabins went up in price while some economy awards got cheaper.

This isn’t the type of dynamic pricing we’re used to, and it seems unnecessarily complicated. Basic economy has also been thrown into the mix. Those with a stash of Miles & More miles will need to take time to study their redemption options going forward.