Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air are two major airlines based in Greece. In 2013, Aegean Airlines acquired Olympic Air and became the largest airline in Greece. The two airlines now operate as separate entities under the same parent company, Aegean Airlines Group, but share resources and cooperate in some areas to better serve their customers.
Lufthansa monthly promotes Miles&More mileage bargains. September promotion is offering some nice destinations with up to 50% Miles&More discount.
Booking economy class with Lufthansa Miles&More isn’t feasible economically, due to very high YQ surcharges. For example, a round trip from Frankfurt to Hong Kong in economy class will cost 40 000 miles and $360 surcharges.
More interesting offers are in Lufthansa business class.
A roundtrip to Dallas or Chicago is only 55 000 instead of 105 000 miles + $380 taxes. This route is operated by A380, which makes it a great opportunity to experience Lufthansa business class onboard of A380.
There are also Asian destinations, including Tokyo and Beijing, which are available for 70 000 instead of 135 000 miles + 460 EUR in taxes.
Lufthansa Miles&More Meilenschnäppchen is also country dependent, so try playing with the departure country to find additional offers, for example departures from Austria have additional destinations in USA and Asia.
I previously wrote about very confusing flight reservation with flight codes OS (belonging to Austrian Airlines), but operated by Air Berlin for both Austrian Airlines and Eurowings.
Now the flight is in the past and here is how it works out in reality.
Flights:
OS8868 – Madrid-Vienna on flight
Operated by: Air Berlin for Eurowings
OS307 – Vienna-Copenhagen on flight number
Operated by: Air Berlin for Austrian Airlines.
It is flying from Terminal 1 Madrid Barajas airport. I did not notice any mentioning of OS flight, rather it was only marked as EW flight. With Star Alliance Gold you do not get any benefits. No Fast Track, no lounge access, no priority boarding.
And no points, however check-in girl was insisting to take our EuroBonus numbers and assuring we will get some points for the first leg. Nope, nothing. Simply treat any Star Alliance flight operated by Eurowings as just taking EasyJet.
My overall impressing of the flight can be named with just one word…LEFTOVERS.
Airplane in Eurowings livery, Air Berlin crew, partually NIKI and partually Lufthansa trays and kitchenware. It really felt like the flight was just assembled from whatever was left from 4 different airlines.
It is quite sad feeling, but heads up to the crew, they were quite polite, smiling and professional.
To my surprise, even aircraft’s livery had “operated by Air Berlin” on it. I was thinking it was just a temprorary thing, given Air Berlin condition. Apparently, it is much deeper cooperation.
The flight has proper OS number, airplane and everything else is Austrian with small addition of “operated by Air Berlin”.
The crew, including the captain, are from Air Berlin and in Air Berlin uniform.
Austrian operated by Air Berlin flight gives full Star Alliance benefits, including lounge access, priority boarding and miles (wobbling 150 EuroBonus miles in economy class). There is also tradition onboard service, including sweat or sour snack (crackers or peanuts), water, coffee/tea and even wine.
I was able to check-in my luggage all the from Madrid to Copenhagen, but as the first flight was Eurowing, I did not get the priority tag. And my friend’s luggage didn’t arrive at all, but got delivered the day after.
Lufthansa has reintroduced Surprise concept for spontaneous getaways from Munich and Frankfurt airports.
If you are flexible with your destination, you can choose among nine different travel topics and enjoy a direct Lufthansa flight starting from 69 EUR return including taxes and fees.
Destinations from Frankfurt Airport
[tabs]
[tab title=”Go East”] From 69.00 €
.[/tab]
[tab title=”Sightseeing and Culture”] From 79.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Nature”] From 89.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Sun and Sand”] From 89.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Bromance”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Cities”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Partying”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Romance”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Shopping”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[/tabs]
And the same travel categories, but with slightly different cities are available from Munich Airport
[tabs]
[tab title=”Go East”] From 69.00 €
.[/tab]
[tab title=”Sightseeing and Culture”] From 79.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Nature”] From 89.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Sun and Sand”] From 89.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Bromance”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Cities”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Partying”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Romance”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[tab title=”Shopping”] From 99.00 €
[/tab]
[/tabs]
It is quite simple. Select departing airport, travel theme and dates. In case you completely do not want to visit one of the possible destinations, like Stockholm under Sea and Sand theme, you can exclude it, but it will increase the price of the flight. Minimum 3 cities should be selected, but in some cases it almost doubles the price.
Lufthansa Surprise Booking
And after you complete the booking, the destination city will be revealed by Lufthansa so you can prepare and plan your visit.
Regular prices for some of the destinations on direct flights are at very least twice higher, so it is a really great saving offer, if the end destination is not that important.
It is a cool concept, which I wish was introduced by more airlines, especially SAS. During most public holidays, flights anywhere from Copenhagen airport are ridiculously expensive. I would be more than willing to pay 100 euros to escape Scandinavia for some sun in most of the European destinations operated by SAS.
Would you use Lufthansa Surprise for a random getaway or vacation?
Lufthansa will transfer five Airbus A380 from Frankfurt to Munich airport in 2018.
Destinations that are moved to Munich are Los Angeles, Beijing and Hong Kong. Lufthansa will also reintroduce Munich to Singapore route 5 times a week. At the same time, Lufthansa will offer more additional flights from Munich to Chicago, USA, increasing number of flights from seven times a week to ten times per week.
It is great opportunity to experience Lufthansa’s A380, especially in First and Business classes. Increased number of flights to Chicago shall make award booking a bit easier, especially during the peak seasons. Also, Munich airport has very nice and cozy Lufthansa First Class lounge, which is my favorite.