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I have upcoming flights with both Lufthansa and then Turkish Airlines. In the end I would like the miles accumulated from both flights and possible future ones in account to be used for an award flight.

Here's some details about my flights:

  • Amsterdam to Frankfurt with Lufthansa, Economy Class (W)
  • Frankfurt to Tehran with Lufthansa, Economy Class (W)
  • Tehran to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, Economy Class (O)
  • Istanbul to Kuala Lumpur with Turkish Airlines, Economy Class (O)

I don't foresee to use one airline more than the other. I also don't fly often that could upgrade my status in one program.

I see 3 option:

  • Sign up for Miles&More and use it for both flights
  • Sign up for Miles&Smiles and use it for both flights
  • Sign up for both programs and use it with their own airline. Later when needed transfer the points to the other program.

Which of these options maximizes the value?

user46504
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2 Answers2

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The best strategy is typically to select one carrier of each of three big alliances (Star Alliance, OneWorld and Skyteam) and credit all miles you fly in each alliance to these carriers.

Which one to pick depends a bit on your details: which airlines do you fly the most and which ones are closest to your home turf.

If you only fly rarely, it makes no difference. Almost all airlines have significantly devalued their Frequent Flyer programs over the last 10 years or so. There are no real benefits anymore unless you fly a lot and that fairly consistently.

Hilmar
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After putting the numbers into miles&more apparently it gives more miles for the Turkish Airlines flights than what Turkish Airlines is promising me on their own platform, simply because miles&more decides based on distance and class for Turkish Airlines but Turkish Airlines decides based on price.

It also looks like Miles&Smiles might only earn 50% of Lufthansa miles based on my class.

With that in mind, it looks like Miles&More to be more promising for my case.

user46504
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