The Miles and More card is your chance to travel the world for free. Unlike many of the other mile earning cards you may have in your wallet, the Barclays Miles and More card is tied to one of the largest frequent flyer programs in Europe and includes a number of European airlines. Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines Group, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Regional, Lufthansa Private Jet, Luxair and SWISS are ALL Miles and More partner airlines, meaning unlike the traditional airline cards, your miles are earned to a program with more than one airline in it!
This card provides you with the opportunity to travel on award winning European airlines and the entire Star Alliance. And the best part is, not only do you can earn up to 50,000 bonus miles after opening this card, you also have an opportunity to churn a new card with a new airline, ever expanding your changes to earn a FREE vacation!
The Miles and More card is currently offering a sign up bonus. New card members will earn 20,000 points after their first purchase and another 30,000 after spending $5,000 in the first 90 days. Although the spending requirement is somewhat steep, this is the best bonus offer this card has had in well over two years. In addition, with the use of BlueBird, Amazon Payments, etc, it’s pretty easy to meet spending requirements these days.
Card Details:
- Earn 20,000 award miles after your first purchase
- Earn Additional 30,000 miles after spending $5000 in first 90 days
- Cardholders receive an Economy Class companion ticket annually anywhere in the world that Lufthansa flies.
- Enjoy 2 award miles per $1 on Miles & More integrated airline ticket purchases
- Earn 1 award mile per $1 spent everywhere else
- No mileage expiration with monthly qualifying purchases
- $79 annual fee
Reasons to get this card/Sign Up Bonus:
1) Up to 50,000 Bonus points
Although this card does have a $79 fee, which is completely reasonable as far as point earning credit cards go, this $79 fees is negligible when one considers that with the points sign up bonus you are getting.
2) More Premium Award Travel Opportunity
The Lufthansa group/Miles & More participating airlines have been known to reserve award space for their own frequent flyers and only release award space to other Star Alliance airlines last minute, resulting in higher fees for last minute bookings. This is especially true on Swiss Air, which offers an extremely solid business class product (see my review of Swiss Air Business class JFK-GVA).
3) 2 points per dollar spent on 9+ airlines
The Miles & More participating airlines includes 9 different airlines (as listed above), meaning that your double points earning opportunity is good for a number of airlines, not just one! This is especially great for people who travel to, from and within Europe! Not to mention, this is more lucrative than, say, the Delta or US Airways card, which only allows 2 points on purchases from a single airline.
4) Annual Companion Ticket
The Lufthansa’s Miles and More card generously gives cardholders 1 free economy companion ticket each year. The ticket must be booked in H class or higher on Lufthansa in order to use the pass and the award ticket still incurs taxes on their ticket. Yet, with hundreds of destinations around the globe, yourself and a travel companion can save hundreds of dollars a year with the use of this companion pass.
5) Discount Award Tickets on Select Routes
Miles & More members are able to redeem miles for travel on select routes for fewer miles than other Star Alliance members. For example, a flight within Croatia on Croatia Airlines costs only 15K in economy or 25K in Business, the same flight booked via United would cost 25K/40K roundtrip.
6) Discount Travel for Children
Hate paying full price for your child to fly? Then Stop! With Miles & More children only have to pay 75% of the Award ticket cost! This means a roundtrip economy class ticket from the USA to Europe for your child is only 12,500 miles! Child award tickets are only for children 2-11 and cannot be booked online, yet either way this is a HUGE saving, meaning this 50K miles can go a LOT further if you travel with children!
7) No Close In Booking Fees
Unlike United, who just increased their close-in Award Booking Fees, Lufthansa allows you to book your award trip any time between 1 day before your flight to 361 days prior and NEVER charges a booking fee. The airline will charge you a reissue fee if you change your ticket, but NEVER worry about a last minute ticketing fee!
As you can see there is a number of advantages to using the Miles & More program and credit card to book your award travel. Not only will you get 50,000 bonus points but you’ll have more opportunities for FREE travel.
Happy flying and enjoy your free travel!! Or what I call a #DoubleWideDelight!!
