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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?

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  • Are there any other Star Alliance airlines that you fly regularly, or expect to fly going forward? Thai, Singapore, etc?
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Dec 29, 2022 at 21:26
  • Generally speaking it is not possible to transfer miles between programs, so option 3 is not possible.
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Dec 29, 2022 at 21:27
  • I don't expect to fly with other Star Alliance airlines and yes, I also noticed that I transferring miles is not an option, I misread it somewhere.
    – user46504
    Commented Dec 29, 2022 at 22:12
  • I used to prefer Aeroplan (from Air Canada) because they were either generous with miles or with redeeming to gift cards, I remember I could get enough miles for a $50 gift card with a transatlantic flight. Miles&more seems to now have a similar miles-to-gift card ratio.
    – Vince
    Commented Dec 29, 2022 at 22:20

2 Answers 2

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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.

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  • Also see: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/62322/…
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Dec 30, 2022 at 13:46
  • Even if you fly a lot and consistently, with Y-tickets there's almost no benefit in *A. With *A, you better be flying your butt-in-seat in C. No wonder people are grumpy flying routes like the OP's in Y.
    – ikaerom
    Commented Feb 4, 2023 at 8:09
  • @ikaerom: I think about it exactly the other way around. With paid C I don't need *Gold since I get all benefits anyway. When flying Y, I get lounge access, priority check in, security, boarding etc. that without *G I wouldn't be getting. Ironically, with *G I get into the LH Senator lounge even with a el-cheapo Eurowings ticket. LH paid C only gets you into the regular LH Business lounge
    – Hilmar
    Commented Feb 5, 2023 at 12:36
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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.

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  • I would seriously consider changing your accepted answer to your own. You did the work and figured out the actual benefits to either and decided which was best for you, obviously the most useful to your own circumstances. Sure, Hilmar's answer has generic advice for the casual reader, but your own answer answers YOUR question better, IMHO. Just so you know, it is OK for your to accept your own answer, regardless of the vote count of any others.
    – CGCampbell
    Commented Dec 30, 2022 at 16:47
  • @CGCampbell it isn't entirely clear what the OP regarded as "value" in the question. Given his answer, "value" to him probably meant the cumulative amount of award miles.
    – ikaerom
    Commented Feb 4, 2023 at 8:13

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