The Complete Guide to Lufthansa First Class

Lufthansa First Class is among the world’s leading premium cabin experiences, with a peculiar set of rules and guidelines on how you can book through your preferred loyalty program.

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about booking Lufthansa First Class using points, including the routes, availability, points required, and booking logistics.

Let’s begin with a closer look of the prize on offer…

The Lufthansa First Class Experience

In Lufthansa’s First Class cabin, you’ll get your own suite with a considerable degree of privacy, a 17” in-flight entertainment monitor, a dazzling selection of expensive wines and spirits, a consistently excellent onboard gastronomic experience including caviar, and one of the most comfortable beds in the sky.

In addition, if you are departing or connecting in Frankfurt Airport, you have the opportunity to make use of the standalone Lufthansa First Class Terminal, where you can enjoy a relaxing bath with champagne on ice, a restaurant-quality dine-on-demand menu, and a well-stocked bar.

Furthermore, you’ll be personally driven to your departing flight in either a Porsche or a Mercedes-Benz, casting aside the usual grievances associated with air travel.

The First Class Terminal is part-and-parcel of the overall Lufthansa First Class experience, arguably surpassing even the onboard experience in terms of its sheer opulence. Be sure to leave at least a few hours’ time to enjoy it fully. 

If your journey begins or passes through Zurich, Switzerland on the same day as your flight, you can also visit the world-class Swiss First Lounge, where you’ll get to nap in your very own in-lounge hotel room before digging into world-class food and drink.

Which Routes Offer Lufthansa First Class?

The first step to booking any sort of aspirational travel is to figure out your routing.

Lufthansa First Class is currently offered on four aircraft types across two hubs. However, it’s critical to note that the new Allegris cabin on the A350-900 features only three First Class suites and is not bookable through partner award programs like Aeroplan — only the legacy 747-8, A380, and A340-600 routes release partner award space.

Frankfurt – Boeing 747-8

The Boeing 747-8 remains the primary aircraft for partner-bookable Lufthansa First Class, operating out of Frankfurt to the following destinations:

• North America: Newark, Washington Dulles, Chicago, Miami, Houston (seasonal), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico City
• South America: São Paulo and Buenos Aires
• Africa: Johannesburg
• Asia: Tokyo Haneda

The Airbus A340-600 also operates a handful of First Class routes from Frankfurt, including New York JFK and Boston. However, the A340-600 is retiring in October 2026, after which these routes will transition to other aircraft.

Munich – Airbus A380 & A350 Allegris

Munich has expanded significantly as a Lufthansa First Class hub, with two aircraft types:

Airbus A380 (8 First Class seats, bookable with Aeroplan): Bangkok, Delhi, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Summer 2026 additions include Boston, Denver, Mumbai, and Washington Dulles.

Airbus A350-900 Allegris (3 First Class suites, not bookable with partner programs): Bangalore, Cape Town, Chicago, Miami, New York JFK, Newark, Shanghai, and Tokyo Haneda.

The trend going forward is that more routes will shift to the Allegris A350, meaning the window for booking Lufthansa First Class with partner award programs is gradually narrowing. If you’re interested in the experience, we’d recommend booking sooner rather than later on the 747-8 or A380.

How Many Points Does Lufthansa First Class Cost?

How many points are required to fly Lufthansa First Class? The answer of course depends on which loyalty program you’re redeeming with.

Aeroplan

For most Canadians, the program of choice will be Aeroplan, in which case a one-way North America to Europe redemption costs between 90,000–100,000 Aeroplan points.

Recall that Aeroplan rewards are subject to zone-based pricing on the Flight Reward Chart. The below chart shows the points required to fly between the North America and Atlantic zones.

The sole Lufthansa First Class route that falls within the first distance band is between New York and Frankfurt. An Aeroplan redemption from Newark or New York JFK costs 90,000 Aeroplan points. 

All other North American destinations fall within the second distance band, meaning a Lufthansa First Class ticket on Aeroplan costs 100,000 Aeroplan points.

Departing from São Paulo, 11 hours and 30 minutes of First Class bliss will set you back 100,000 Aeroplan points.

Meanwhile, flying out of Buenos Aires will cost 130,000 Aeroplan points.

Munich routes to closer destinations like Delhi and Bangkok also fall within the 0–4,000-mile band at 90,000 Aeroplan points — the minimum for partner First Class. Remember that only the A380 routes from Munich (not Allegris A350) are bookable with Aeroplan.

Luckily, earning enough Aeroplan points for one of these flights isn’t terribly difficult to do. The quickest way to achieve this is by earning signup bonuses on credit cards that earn Aeroplan points directly or that transfer into the program. In some cases, a single welcome bonus will afford you enough points to fly Lufthansa First Class!

Avianca LifeMiles

Outside of Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles offers a competitive redemption rate for Lufthansa First Class. For 120,000 LifeMiles, you can fly between North America and Europe (or vice versa). The cost is the same to depart from San Francisco as it is from New York.

In Canada, LifeMiles aren’t as easy to come by as are Aeroplan points. Earning LifeMiles is best accomplished by:

• Dabbling in the US credit card market, where LifeMiles are a transfer partner of Citi, Capital One, and American Express
• Transferring from Marriott Bonvoy at the ideal ratio of 60,000:25,000
• Buying LifeMiles during one of their numerous promotions

Asiana Club

Asiana Airlines also has a mileage program, which requires only 50,000 miles to fly one-way between North America and Europe. To book Lufthansa First Class from or to North America, you must call the Asiana Airlines reservation centre.

Since Asiana Club is a transfer partner of Marriott Bonvoy, that means it only takes 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points to book Lufthansa First Class, taking into account the 5,000-mile bonus when transferring in chunks of 60,000.

Important: The Korean Air–Asiana merger is now complete, and Asiana is exiting Star Alliance. Award bookings through Asiana Club for Lufthansa First Class are only available for travel before December 1, 2026. After that date, this option will no longer exist.

Lufthansa First Class Award Availability: 15 Days Before Departure

Airlines know that many people would love to fly First Class, and even more people would relish the opportunity to do so at little cost by redeeming their points. Therefore, they typically implement policies to make it very challenging to actually book First Class seats.

Lufthansa’s well-documented policy involves suppressing First Class partner availability until about 15 days before the day of departure. For any of their routes, you’ll only see award space (if any) if your flight is departing within the next 15 days.

Not all availability gets released exactly at T-15 either – it could be released at any point within the 15-day window. The best thing to do is to get yourself a flight alert service, like ExpertFlyer, so that you’ll be notified as soon as the award space drops.

Which routes have the best availability trends? Generally speaking, the more “coveted” a route is, the harder it is to find availability, although most routes will still have at least one or two seats trickle through over a given period.

So, finding multiple seats on a flight from the West Coast to Frankfurt may be more difficult to find than a flight from, say, Mexico City.

Among the US routes, availability seems to be better to destinations in the eastern half of the United States than to the West Coast hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

(Depending on the route and the existing passenger load in the eight-seat cabin, it’s indeed possible to see more than two – sometimes, up to five, six, or even all eight – First Class seats showing up as awards.)

Remember, flexibility is key. While availability may be tough to come by, if you can pick between flying on different dates and/or different airports, that vastly increases your chance of successfully locating an open award seat (or multiple seats) and putting your name on it.

Logistics of Booking Lufthansa First Class

Let’s wrap up by talking about a few of the finer logistics when it comes to securing your Lufthansa First Class booking.

Booking trips at the T-15 marker may be challenging for many travellers. That’s why a common workaround is to make an alternative booking first, and then change your flight to Lufthansa First Class once you locate the space.

For example, say you need a flight from Montreal to Istanbul, and you’d like to experience Lufthansa First Class. It might be worth the peace of mind to book an award on the direct Turkish Airlines flight first, to ensure that you have a ticket to get you to Istanbul no matter what.

Then, when the two-week booking window for Lufthansa First Class opens, you can search for flights departing from any of the airports on the US eastern seaboard, and change your itinerary once you find the space.

Under the current Aeroplan change policy, making a last-minute itinerary change costs $100 per direction, per ticket (unless you’re an Aeroplan Super Elite member, in which case changes are waived) — a small price to pay for the privilege of flying Lufthansa First Class.

Meanwhile, if you’re trying to do a more advanced redemption – say, by transferring Marriott Bonvoy points to Asiana Club to book the flight for 50,000 Asiana Club miles – you have to be careful and take note of how long it takes for Bonvoy points to transfer to other programs.

With Asiana Club, it seems like the transfer process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, so it’s up to you to decide whether you’re comfortable with the risks.

There’s the risk that your transfer takes too long and the availability gets picked up by someone else, as well as the risk that you transfer your points (which is irreversible), but you never manage to find availability.

Lastly, if you’d like to optimize your Lufthansa First Class itinerary, I’d recommend booking a westbound transatlantic flight rather than an eastbound one (i.e., from Europe to North America, rather than from North America to Europe).

That’s because eastbound flights tend to be overnight, which can limit your enjoyment of the overall experience. Even if you’re intent on staying up throughout the whole flight, the fully dark cabin may make that challenging.

On the other hand, westbound flights take place during the daytime, allowing you to easily indulge through the meal services, sip on champagne over the clouds, and get some light rest while maximizing your enjoyment. 

Plus, be sure to leave yourself enough time to experience the Lufthansa First Class Terminal, which opens at 6am. This means that you might opt for a route with as late of a departure time as possible, so that you have ample time to indulge in the First Class Terminal before your flight. 

Conclusion

When I first made the effort to fly Lufthansa First Class, I spent a good chunk of time studying everything about it prior to booking my flight. I can say with certainty that it was 100% worth the effort.

The German flag carrier blocks off their First Class award space until 15 days before departure, and often releases more seats even closer to departure.

This can make it challenging to plan a proper trip on Lufthansa First Class – but with a backup booking in place and a keen eye for award space during the T-15 window, you too can experience the glory of Lufthansa First Class and the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt for yourself.