Lufthansa Business Class, Up To 9 Seats
Charlotte only has a few non-stop options to Europe, so it's nice to see some business class award space on this route.
While Lufthansa business class isn't fancy, if you need 4 or even up to 9 seats for a trip to Oktoberfest or Christmas, it could be just what you need. Lie-flat seats with friends and family is certainly better than splitting up across multiple flights (or being tired and cranky after flying economy together).
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Now, let's get into it!
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Straight To The Points:
Routes: CLT-MUC
Operating airline: Lufthansa
Class of service: Business class
Dates: July 2023 - February 2024
Seats available: Up to 9
Cabin layout: 2-2-2 (A350)
Book with (per person, one-way):
- *Air Canada Aeroplan: 70,000 points
- ANA Mileage Club: 88,000 miles (round-trip only)
- Asiana Club: 40,000 miles
- *Avianca LifeMiles: 63,000 miles
- EVA Infinity MileageLands: 65,000 miles
- Lufthansa Miles & More: 56,000 miles
- Singapore KrisFlyer: 81,000 miles
- Turkish Miles&Smiles: 45,000 miles
- *United MileagePlus: 77,000 miles
*No surcharges
Taxes/fees (per person):
- From US: $5.60
- Munich to US: ~$115
- With Surcharges:
- From US: ~$869
- From Munich: ~$285
- Round-trip from US: ~$1,718
Aeroplan and LifeMiles have a small partner booking fee.
Bank transfer partners:
- Air Canada Aeroplan: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Marriott
- ANA Mileage Club: Amex, Marriott
- Asiana Club: Marriott
- Avianca LifeMiles: Amex, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
- EVA Infinity MileageLands: Citi, Capital One
- Singapore KrisFlyer: Amex, Chase, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
- Turkish Miles&Smiles: Bilt, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
- United MileagePlus: Bilt, Chase, Marriott
Don't forget to let me know if you book and how you did it!
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Two 90,000-point Sign-up Bonuses Ending
I don't flag too many credit card offers in my Premium newsletter, but two $900 (90,000-point) sign-up bonuses are ending in a couple of weeks. While I'm not sure what the offer will be after that, it was previously 75,000 points.
If you're under 5/24, this is a great time to apply. These are business cards, but any kind of side hustle counts. There are reports of people over 5/24 getting approved. For those over 5/24, reducing your biz card credit limits with this bank can help get you an instant approval.
If you are thinking about applying, I have links to cards on my site.
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Flight Experience
While seats are lie-flat, this 2-2-2 business class cabin layout does not provide direct aisle access for all passengers. If you want easy aisle access without your seatmate having to climb around you, pick one of the middle seats.
While the seat won't win any awards, the service and food is generally solid.
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Available Dates
CLT-MUC
April: 1, 3, 8, 10
July: 3, 4, 9-11, 23-25, 31
August: 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, 20, 21
September: 3, 11, 18, 24-26
October: 1-3, 8-11, 15-17, 22-24, 29, 30
November: 6, 13, 20, 25, 26, 27
December: 3, 4, 10, 11, 24, 25, 30, 31
January: 1, 3, 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 21, 22, 24, 28, 29, 31
February: 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19, 21
MUC-CLT
April: 5-7, 10, 12, 13, 19, 20
May: 11
June: 8
August: 30, 31
September: 1, 5-9, 12-15, 19, 27, 28
October: 4, 10, 12, 19, 25, 26
November: 9, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30
December: 6, 7, 13, 14
January: 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 31
February: 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22
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Best Ways To Book
LifeMiles: Great One-Way Option, No Surcharges
LifeMiles is a great option at 63,000 miles one-way if you have Amex, Capital One, or Citi points. While Turkish Miles&Smiles requires fewer miles for a one-way business class award, LifeMiles won't pass on the steep surcharges.
Aeroplan: Best East Coast/Midwest Option With Chase
If you have Chase points, Aeroplan has the advantage at 70,000 points one-way. If your total flight distance exceeds 6,000 flight miles because of connections, you'll need 90,000 points one-way. At this point, you might want to look to United if you have Chase points.
You can use GCmap to calculate your total flight distance and double-check Aeroplan's zone-based chart. You can include a stopover for 5,000 additional miles on a one-way award.
United MileagePlus: Best West Coast Option With Chase
If your total flight distance exceeds 6,000 miles, United's rate of 77,000 miles one-way will be a better option than 90,000 Aeroplan points if you are going to transfer Bilt or Chase points.
If you book a round-trip award ticket, you can use United's Excursionist Perk (a free one-way flight within a single region) to see another city in Europe. Practically speaking, this is United's stopover program.
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How To Book
Unfortunately, United has removed the once useful flexible search option that allowed you to see a snapshot of award space for two months. However, you can still see a calendar of 30 days (even if it's not always accurate).
- From United's homepage, select Advanced search
- Choose to show price in miles
- Enter the origin & destination
- Select your dates or choose Flexible dates
- Select nonstop
- Select the number of passengers
- Select Business
- Show flights from "Star Alliance airlines"
- Run the search
- Transfer points (if necessary)
- Log into your account
- Run the search again
- Complete the booking
Once you know the exact dates you want, you can run the search with the program you'll be using to book. As always, I recommend confirming the program you're using sees the award space before you transfer points.
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Final Thoughts
If you need multiple seats to Europe, this is an easy option to lock in a bunch of business class award seats on the same flight. This is a particularly good option to lock in flights for Oktoberfest or even the Christmas markets in Europe.
Happy Booking!
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