Miles & More

Miles & More is the largest frequent flyer program in Europe with more than 15 million members as of May 2008. The program was launched by Lufthansa (LH) in 1993 and is currently used by 13 European airlines. The program enables its members to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles on all of the fully integrated airlines as well as all the Star Alliance members. Furthermore, all customers are able to build status, which gives them access to certain privileges. Miles & More is free of charge and everybody can sign up.

Partnership history

* 1993 - Lufthansa introduces Miles & More on January 1, 1993
* 1997 - Star Alliance is founded by Air Canada, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International
* 2000 - The Austrian Airlines Group joined Miles & More
* 2003 - LOT Polish Airlines becomes a fully integrated partner
* 2006 - Swiss International Air Lines is bought by Lufthansa and its frequent flyer program, Swiss TravelClub, is converted to Miles & More on April 1, 2006
* 2009 - Brussels Airlines joins Miles & More

Airline partners of Miles & More

Fully-integrated airline partners

* Lufthansa
o Air Dolomiti (partner-airline of Lufthansa Regional)
o Augsburg Airways (partner-airline of Lufthansa Regional)
o Contact Air (partner-airline of Lufthansa Regional)
o Eurowings (partner-airline of Lufthansa Regional)
o Lufthansa CityLine (partner-airline of Lufthansa Regional)
o Lufthansa Italia (from February 2009)
* Austrian Airlines Group (since 2000)
* LOT Polish Airlines (since 2003)
* Swiss International Air Lines (since 2006)
* Adria Airways
* Croatia Airlines
* Luxair
* Brussels Airlines (since March 29 2009)

Star Alliance partner airlines

* Air Canada
* Air China (since December 2007)
* Air New Zealand
* All Nippon Airways (ANA)
* Asiana Airlines
* bmi
* EgyptAir
* Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS)
* Singapore Airlines
* South African Airways
* Spanair
* TAP Portugal
* Shanghai Airlines (since December 2007)
* Thai Airways International
* Turkish Airlines (since April 2008)
* United Airlines
* US Airways

Star Alliance regional partners

* Blue1
* Adria Airways
* Croatia Airlines

Other partners

* Aegean Airlines
* Air India
* Air Malta
* Cimber Air
* Cirrus Airlines
* Condor Airlines
* Ethiopian Airlines
* Jat Airways
* Jet Airways
* Mexicana
* Qatar Airways
* TACA
* TAM

The miles

There are three types of miles within the program.

Award miles

These are the miles that can be collected in the account of a member and later on be used to buy flights, upgrades, merchandise from the Lufthansa WorldShop and other Miles & More partners. For standard Miles & More members they retain validity for 36 months, after which they expire. For Frequent Travellers, Senators and HON Circle Card holders, the miles have no expiration date. However, as soon as a customer does not hold any of these cards anymore, the expiration date of all miles is set to 36 months counting from loss of frequent flyer status. For Miles & More Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard) holders issued in several countries, miles have no expiration date as long as the card is held. After the credit card expires, the original expiry date of the miles is reinstated; although the earliest miles can expire is at the end of the quarter after the credit card contract is ended.

Status miles

Status miles can only be earned when flying on the fully integrated partner airlines or on Star Alliance members. There is no other way to earn these miles. In addition, status miles expire at the end of each calendar year. They are used to identify the frequent flyers and members are able to qualify for a higher status on the basis of the status miles that they have collected in one year.

HON Circle miles

HON Circle miles can only be earned when flying on the fully integrated partner airlines and Air-Rail trains in Germany (up to a total of 600.000 Miles within 2 calendar years). They are necessary to attain the top-tier status on Miles & More - HON Circle. Until April 1, 2006 it was possible to also collect this type of miles on United Airlines. This option does no longer exist.HON-miles are valid for 2 years. Furthermore, only Senators (with an account balance of more than 300,000 status miles over two years) and existing HON Circle members can see these miles on their account statement.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/