Lufthansa is about to become the first European major airline to ditch its award chart that offers a fixed number of loyalty points for flights in favor of a new model that raises and lowers the point charge based on current retail ticket prices.
That’s a model implemented a few years ago by Delta, and more recently followed in part by United and American. Many frequent flyers and points collectors dislike the plan because it can push prices too high for their taste at times.
But others point out that the award prices do drop when fares are low, sometimes to a point lower than the chart would have provided. And, airlines are generally careful to keep some availability, since loyalty points that can’t buy flights tend to spread disloyalty. And loyalty is important to the airlines; they make billions by selling points to card issuers and others to award to consumers. Sales on award flights when seats are empty is a good way for the airline to move the point values off its debit ledger.
