A quick first class trip round-the-world with a stop in Frankfurt, Germany

Award Trip Taken by silverm0623

Initially, I had been saving my United miles for a first class ticket this summer for a round-the-world trip I was planning with a friend after our college graduation in May. However, United’s decision to devalue their miles on Star Alliance award flights made me rethink my use of them. So I decided to burn my miles for a first class product I have always dreamed of—Lufthansa’s.

Actual planning for this started at the beginning of this month since I knew Lufthansa did not release any award seats until 14 days out. Initially, I was hoping on doing a first class ticket on a route like: TYO-BKK-SIN-DEL-FRA-ORD but after talking with a United rep, they consistently priced me at about 135,000 miles compared to the 70,000 miles I was hoping for. So I knew that wasn’t a go. Eventually ANA’s website showed me first class tickets on Lufthansa leaving from Tokyo and eventually arriving in Newark with an overnight in Frankfurt leaving on the 20th and 21st. This actually worked out for two reasons: I really wanted to go to the Christmas Markets in Frankfurt and try out Frankfurt’s first class terminal and also my friend was throwing a party near Philly so this itinerary worked out in the end.

After hours of scouring different routes and US Airways agents telling me they couldn’t book certain routes because of the merger, I was finally able to come up with the following itinerary. It wasn’t the most ideal, but it was better than letting my miles go to waste.

12/18: DEN-ORD(Y+) UA 1708 (purchased months ago)

12/18: ORD-FRA (C) LH 711 410PM-730AM+1

12/19: FRA-VIE (C) OS 122 1045AM-1210PM (tight connection!)

12/19: VIE-TYO (C) OS 051 105PM-815AM+1

12/20: TYO-FRA (F) LH 711 1025AM-210PM

Overnight at the Hilton Frankfurt Airport

12/21: FRA-EWR (F) LH 402 135PM-410PM

12/22: EWR-YYZ (C) UA 3550 320PM-458PM

12/22: YYZ-ORD (C) AC 7407 9PM-946PM

FFP miles spent:

70,000 United MileagePlus miles

Hotel points spent:

None

Approximate fees:

$291.47

Airline(s) / Routing:

DEN-ORD-FRA-VIE-TYO-FRA-EWR-YYZ-ORD

How booked:

Over the phone

Type of award(s):

First class

Hotel(s):

Hilton Frankfurt Airport

Month/year of trip:

December 2013