Lufthansa Miles&More Adds Steep Fees To Refund Some Award Flights

The Lufthansa Miles&More program has added steep fees to refund certain types of award tickets booked through the program, and these pertain to flights on all Lufthansa Group carriers.

Recently, the program added punishingly high fees to cancel revenue tickets that apply across all fare classes, and now it’s done the same for award tickets.

Here’s what you need to know about this unfortunate development.

Lufthansa Now Charging $1,100 or More To Cancel Some Award Tickets

The Lufthansa Miles&More program has added steep fees of €1,000 to €1,500 ($1,167 to $1,750), depending on your fare class, to issue refunds for some award tickets, as first reported by LoyaltyLobby. And some tickets don’t allow for any refunds whatsoever.

On some flights, refunds are not permitted on Business Light and Business Saver fares. Business Base tickets can be refunded for €1,500 ($1,750), and Business Flex fares can be refunded for €1,000 ($1,167). In our searches, this primarily applies to long-haul flights originating in Europe.

These fees apply to award tickets on flights operated by all Lufthansa Group airlines. However, Star Alliance partner flights booked with Miles&More miles come with a far more reasonable refund/cancellation fee of about $58.

This is the latest in a series of significant, negative changes for the program. Last year, the program switched to a dynamic pricing model. Earlier this year, it instituted high fees for canceling or refunding revenue tickets, and now it’s added similar fees for canceling award tickets.

Each of these changes, taken individually, was bad news for consumers. But taken together, they add up to a program that is becoming almost impossible to use. With scant availability, minimal transfer partners, and high prices for award tickets, essentially removing flexibility for customers is not the way to show appreciation to loyal program members. Plus, it incentivizes customers to look toward other programs that charge more reasonable fees — or none at all.

Final Thoughts

This is another negative change from Miles&More, which continues to make itself more difficult to use. First, it was dynamic pricing. Next, it was steep fees to cancel revenue tickets, and now it’s similarly steep fees to refund award tickets.

The addition of such steep fees on already expensive award tickets practically eliminates all flexibility and will push customers to look to other programs to redeem their points and miles.

At this point, you shouldn’t book flights with Miles&More miles unless there’s absolutely no chance your plans will change.