Barclay is offering a 50,000 miles signup bonus for their Lufthansa Miles & More credit card until June 30, 2013. You will need to spend $5,000 for the other 30,000 points with as you get 20,000 points for the first purchase. There is annual fee of $79 and you can apply here.

(At the time, I do not receive affiliate credit for any applications through the following link. Thanks for checking my post out!)

That is a lot of higher than their usual 20,000 mile signup bonus and I think the last time I saw this bonus was back in April 2011 (from View from the Wing). I would think that Miles and More are worth a lot more compared to when the last time there was the offer simply because Lufthansa First Class is now only available at most 14 days out if not less, and Swiss doesn’t release F space in advance any more.

So basically these are the only miles that will have access to LH and LX First Space in advance, even if you’re paying BA/Flying Blue level surcharges.

The two awards that are doable is basically 62,500 miles for something like FRA/ZRH-DXB, and 85,000 miles for FRA-LAX on the 747-8 or ZRH-MIA on the A330 with new F. SPG transfer to Miles & More at 1:1 with 5k bonus with every 20k transferred, so it’s not that hard to get the remainder of the points, of course depending on how much you value your SPG.

The other option that potentially could work would be the mileage bargains that are 55k in J RT. You can access them at this site and they are like the Flying Blue Promo Awards, with no changes and refunds possible. But since you earn 55k with the minimum spend, that essentially means that you can get a TATL J (albeit angled-flat wedgie seats) from select gateways, in this case DFW.

Of course, the YQ one way (on a paid ticket which I assume should be similar to an award ticket – I’ve never redeemed a M&M more before) is ~$400 which means taxes and fees of up to $1000 on a RT.

EDIT: You can get lie-flat seats on the A330 YUL-MUC which is also discounted and as well the LOT 787 flights to ORD and JFK which should be back in service early June (as seen on Airline Route).

I am also very curious about the LOT YQ, because on a revenue ticket it is quite low, so that could be a very good deal as well compared to the LH YQ. Does anyone know whether the level of YQ on a LOT M&M award ticket would be and is it anywhere near what a paid fare is charging?

In any case, there are two ways to take advantage of these miles which both are quite good.  Coming up with a value is harder though, which is One Mile at a Time’s threshold for applying for a card. If you look it that way, even at a 1cpm valuation of M&M, that means roughly $440 in a signup bonus which means it should go in your churn.

An LH F ticket 14 days out using Avianca miles is 62.5k, so that means a cash and points redemption is roughly $950 with airport fees and the ticketing fee. You need to transfer 25k SPG miles which turns into 30k M&M miles, so valuing SPG between 1.8-2.6 cents (because you can buy SPG for 2.625 cents during 25% sales), that’s anywhere between $450-$650. You also need to throw in the value of getting LH/LX F in advance which could be anywhere between $50-$400, so that means the maximum value of 55,000 miles for this particular redemption, and thus the value of the award is between $1000 – $1400. Your SPG transferred over and the annual fee is between $530-$730, so that means you could get anywhere between $270 all the way up to $770 on this specific award depending on how much you value SPG and space availability in advance.

When I look at this offer you can also think of what you’re paying for a specific redemption. So with the mileage bargains, the signup bonus and spend will cover the entire ticket. You’re paying around $650 with an Flying Blue promo award so taxes and fees with a Miles & More award is a slightly bit higher, but that essentially means you’re paying just around ~$400 (including the $79 annual fee) and a Barclay credit pull for a business class ticket to Europe.

Definitely a card to consider in your churn in my opinion.

Okay, now I’m feel very weird because I just wrote a post on a credit card I will within the next 6 months not be able to get. Definitely a first world problem. 😉 I hope you found this useful though so please check out my twitter if you haven’t already done so.