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Lufthansa Miles and More World Elite Mastercard Review

Lufthansa Miles & More: The Lufthansa Miles & More World Elite MasterCard is an airline credit card which is  issued through Barclays. Although Lufthansa is a European airline, the card is the airline’s U.S.-branded product.

Lufthansa Miles and More World Elite Mastercard key features

This card offers loads of  generous reward-earning opportunities and other interesting features. This Lufthansa credit card is especially exciting for the United states travelers who travel to Europe often.

Key Features

Sign-Up Bonus

Miles & More World Elite Mastercard has a two-part sign-up bonus. First, you get 20,000 bonus reward miles when you open your account, pay the annual fee for the first year, and make your first purchase.

next, if you spend at least $5,000 on qualifying net retail purchases within three months of opening your account, you will receive an additional $30,000 bonus miles.

In total, the potential sign-up bonus is worth 50,000 award miles. That’s enough for you  to redeem at least one round-trip economy flight anywhere in Europe on Lufthansa and participating Miles & More partners.

It’s also sufficient for a one-way flight between the U.S. and Europe on Lufthansa and Miles & More partners.

Companion Ticket

Every year that your account is valid and in a good standing, you get a complimentary companion airfare voucher that you can redeem for a free companion fare (less taxes and fees) with a paid fare on any Lufthansa-coded flight between the United States and Europe, Asia (including even the Far East), Africa, or the Middle East.

Depending the method of redemption, this benefit can be worth $500 or more per year.

Travel Benefits

Lufthansa Miles and More World Elite travel benefits

Miles & More World Elite Mastercard’s additional travel benefits include:

  • 15% Discount on your Hotel and Car Rental Redemptions: When you redeem your Miles & More award miles for your hotel stays or car rentals at Lufthansa’s travel partners, you will get a 15% discount on the redemption. For instance, a hotel redemption which normally requires 20,000 miles requires just 17,000 miles.
  • Convert Award Miles to Status Miles: If you fly to lufthansa often, you can convert your Miles & More award miles into status miles at a 5-to-1 ratio example, 10,000 award miles translate to 2,000 status miles.  Status miles are normally earned on every completed Lufthansa flight segment, subject to the terms of the Miles & More program.
  • Complimentary Lounge Vouchers: Every year your account remains open and in good standing, you get two complimentary Lufthansa Business Lounge vouchers. They’re good for free access to more than 100 Lufthansa Business Lounge locations around the world.
  • Mastercard Travel Assistance: As a cardholder, you stand to enjoy 24/7/365 access to Mastercard Travel Assistance.
  • Trip Cancellation and Interruption Coverage: This coverage provides financial protection when your trip is canceled or interrupted due to certain insured reasons, but subject to exclusions and limitations.
  • Baggage Delay Insurance: When checked baggage on a common carrier is delayed for certain insured reasons, you are entitled to reimbursement up to the policy’s coverage limits and it is  subject to certain restrictions.

Introductory APR

This card waives interest (0% APR) on balance transfers for the first 15 months of usage. To qualify, transfers must be made within 45 days of opening account. There is actually no comparable 0% APR promotion for purchases.

Important Fees

The annual fee is usually $89. It is waived for Senator and HON Circle members, Miles & More’s two highest status tiers, for as long as they maintain their own status.

There is no foreign transaction charges. Balance transfers may cost the greater of $5 or 3%. Cash advances will cost the greater of $10 or 5%. Late and returned payments also cost up to $37.

Credit Required

Miles & More World Elite Mastercard requires an excellent credit.

Advantages

  1. A potentially Valuable Companion Fare. Miles & More World Elite Mastercard’s annual companion fare benefit promises to offset the cost of one international economy flight every year. this is dependent on the underlying dollar cost of the flight for which you redeem your companion certificate, you could save $1,000 or more on the cost of your flight abroad.
  2. Solid Sign-Up Bonus. This card’s 50,000-mile sign-up bonus is just enough to cover the cost of a round-trip economy flight anywhere in Europe, with enough balance for a one-way economy flight within the region. To earn the entire bonus, you will have to spend $5,000 within 3 months.
  3. Long 0% APR Promotion for Balance Transfers. For a travel rewards credit card, Miles & More World Elite Mastercard has a  long 0% APR balance transfer promotion: 15 months for all transfers made within 45 days of opening account.
  4. Flexible Redemption Options. You can redeem accumulated award miles for a lot more than Lufthansa airfare. If you do not need or want to redeem for flights right away, you can choose from hotels, car rentals, and non-travel items as well.
  5. 15% Discount on Hotel and Rental Car Redemptions. As a cardholder, you’re entitled to a 15% discount on award stays and rentals at  hotel and car rental companies participating.
  6. Complimentary Business Lounge Vouchers. The inclusion of two complimentary Lufthansa Business Lounge vouchers each year is a nice token of appreciation – and a great way of improving a slog through the airport.
  7. Miles Don’t Expire. As long as your account is open, in good standing, and nominally active, your miles never expire. Rank-and-file Miles & More members do not have this privilege: Without the credit card, miles expire 36 months after they are earned.
  8. No Foreign Transaction Fee. Miles & More World Elite Mastercard has no foreign transaction charges. If you travel overseas regularly, as a lot of frequent Lufthansa flyers do, this could reduce your travel costs substantially.
  9. No Penalty APR. This card does not charge penalty interest. If you often miss your statements due dates because of some unpredictable cash flow or unexpected expenses, this is a huge help.

Disadvantages

  1. Annual fee of $89. World Elite Mastercard Miles & More has an annual fee of $89 that is not forgiven in the first year. While many travel cards cost more, this is still a high hill to climb for frugal, occasional travelers who can’t earn rewards quickly enough to offset it (or use value-added benefits like the complimentary companion fare).
  2. low Earning Rate of Baseline. The baseline earnings rate of this card–just 1 mile per $1 spent on most transactions–is very small.
  3. Poor Conversion Rate to Status Miles. Low level of conversion to Rank Miles. It’s nice to be able to convert your award miles to status miles and accelerate your progress to higher Miles & More status levels, but the conversion rate from 5 to 1 is less than ideal. Unless you’re going to

Lufthansa Miles and More World Elite

Bottom Line

The Lufthansa Miles & More World Elite Mastercard has some benefits as well as some disadvantages. It has a really normal reward earning structure, it is good if you usually travel to Europe often, and it does have some travel bonuses.

It is often better used as a companion card and as  primary travel rewards card, rather than being the main card someone uses to accumulate miles or rewards.

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