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Known for its annual Oktoberfest celebration, Munich has tons to offer. Munich is the perfect location to easily explore the Bavaria region of Germany. While rail is perfect for intra-Europe travel if coming from the United States, there are plenty of flights to get you to Munich.
Ways to book:
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air France/KLM Flying Blue
All Nippon Airways Mileage Club
American Airlines AAdvantage
Avianca Lifemiles
United MileagePlus
Best Use of Points and Miles to Munich, Germany
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air Canada uses a distanced based award chart. Pricing will depend on if the flights are on Air Canada or their partners.
| Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| Air Canada Flights | 40,000 to 70,000 | 60,000 to 90,000 | 70,000 to 180,000 | 100,000 to 200,000 |
| Partner Flights | 40,000 | N/A | 70,000 | 100,000 |
One-Way Pricing with Air Canada AeroplanYou’ll notice the price range for Air Canada flights. That’s because there is an element of dynamic pricing when any leg is operated by Air Canada. Air Canada is one of my favorite programs to redeem points and miles with. With nearly fifty airlines to redeem with, you can get anywhere in Europe. They partner with amazing airlines like SWISS and Lufthansa.
Lufthansa flies non-stop to Munich from:
| Boston (BOS) | Charlotte (CLT) | Chicago (ORD) |
| Denver (DEN) | Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) | Los Angeles (LAX) |
| Miami (MIA) | New-York (EWR) | New-York (JFK) |
| San Diego (SAN) | San Francisco (SFO) | Washington, DC (IAD) |
If you are looking to fly Lufthansa First Class, you’ll need to wait until fourteen days prior to departure to book. That’s when Lufthansa releases first class seats to their partners. Plus, you can pair this with a stopover for just 5,000 additional points.
Air France/KLM Flying Blue
Flying Blue is the combined loyalty program of Air France and KLM. Like Air Canada, there are tons of ways to redeem Flying Blue miles.
Air France and KLM offer an easy one-stop connection from either Paris or Amsterdam from most major cities in the United States.
| Atlanta (ATL) | Boston (BOS) | Chicago (ORD) | Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) |
| Denver (DEN) | Detroit (DTW) | Houston (IAH) | Los Angeles (LAX) |
| Miami (MIA) | Minneapolis (MSP) | New York (EWR) | New York (JFK) |
| San Francisco (SFO) | Seattle (SEA) | Washington, DC (IAD) | |
Air France Destinations| Atlanta (ATL) | Austin (AUS) | Boston (BOS) | Chicago (ORD) |
| Houston (IAH) | Las Vegas (LAS) | Los Angeles (LAX) | Miami (MIA) |
| Minneapolis (MSP) | New York (JFK) | San Francisco (SFO) | Salt Lake City (SLC) |
| Washington, DC (IAD) | | | |
KLM DestinationsLike revenue flights, Flying Blue has different pricing for their award tickets. This is called dynamic pricing. Luckily, Flying Blue has an award calculator to help you know if the pricing is worth redeeming for.
| Economy | Premium Economy | Business |
|---|
| 15,000 | 30,000 | 55,000 |
One-Way Pricing with Flying BlueThose economy and business class prices can get better. Each month Flying Blue releases Promo Rewards. This gives between twenty to fifty percent off economy and business class short and long-haul award tickets. The cities on the Promo Rewards change each month. For those with family, this can be a great way to save some points. Plus you can save 25% on award tickets for children under 12.
Flying Blue recently launched a free stopover program when redeeming miles. You’ll need to call in to book your free stopover.
If you were looking to redeem miles for Air France’s La Premiere, you are out of luck. Air France reserve those seats for their top elite status members.
Air France Business Class
All Nippon Airways Mileage Club
Booking through ANA might not make sense initially. After all, they don’t fly to Europe from the United States. But as a member of the Star Alliance, their partners United, Air Canada, Swiss, Austrian and Lufthansa do.
| Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| 55,000 | 88,000 | 165,000 |
Round Trip Pricing with ANAThe better redemption with ANA is for business class. This is the cheapest way to redeem on this list. There are cheaper first class and economy redemptions for Star Alliance flights. There are a couple of quirks with ANA redemptions. You cannot book one-ways. Round trips are a requirement, but you can book a multi-city award ticket.
ANA does have some fuel surcharges that can be high. Generally, they are lower on Turkish, LOT Polish, SAS and United.
American Airlines AAdvantage
For Oneworld flyers, American Airlines is the best way to redeem points to get to Munich.
| Economy Off-Peak | Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| 45,000 | 60,000 | 115,000 | 170,000 |
Round Trip Pricing with American AirlinesAmerican Airlines only flies to Munich from Charlotte (CLT). But their partners British Airways and Iberia fly to Munich.
British Airways flies to most major US cities to London-Heathrow (LHR) before you connect on to Munich.
| Atlanta (ATL) | Austin (AUS) | Baltimore (BWI) | Boston (BOS) | Chicago (ORD) |
| Cincinnati (CVG) | Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) | Denver (DEN) | Houston (IAH) | Las Vegas (LAS) |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | Miami (MIA) | Nashville (BNA) | New Orleans (MSY) | New York (EWR) |
| New York (JFK) | Orlando (MCO) | Philadelphia (PHL) | Phoenix (PHX) | Pittsburgh (PIT) |
| Portland (PDX) | San Francisco (SFO) | Seattle (SEA) | Tampa (TPA) | Washington, DC (IAD) |
British Airways DestinationsAmerican Airlines does pass on the high fuel surcharges that British Airways and Iberia charges for their own redemptions. This can easily add up to nearly $1,000 each way.
British Airways 787 Club Europe Seat
Related: British Airways 777-300 World Traveller London-Heathrow to New York-JFK: Review
Avianca Lifemiles
Avianca is the cheapest way to redeem points for business and first-class flights on Star Alliance flights.
| Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| 30,000 | 63,000 | 87,000 |
One-Way Pricing with AviancaOne benefit of Avianca redemptions is that it doesn’t levy fuel surcharges. Avianca doesn’t have the greatest customer service. Keep that in mind if you need to make any changes to a ticket after booking.
United MileagePlus
United has different pricing for their own flights and their partners.
| Economy | Business | Partner Business |
|---|
| 60,000 | 120,000 | 154,00 |
Round Trip Pricing with UnitedFor United operated flights, you might experience dynamic pricing. United charges a bit more for partner operated flights.
Connections are easy within Europe. You can catch United flights to plenty of cities in Europe.
United Polaris on a Boeing 777
Related: Chase Transfer Partners
How to Earn These Points and Miles
Aeroplan points are easy to earn. They partner with three major flexible currencies. These are American Express, Capital One and Chase. This means cards earning Membership Rewards like the American Express Gold Card, cards earning Venture miles like the Capital One Venture X, and Ultimate Rewards earning cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve can all be transferred to Air Canada Aeroplan. Chase and Air Canada also partner for a cobranded personal credit card.
ANA only partners with one flexible points currency in for United States. American Express is your go to for points transfers to ANA. One of the best business cards to rack up points is the American Express Business Gold. This card earns 4X on two of your top earning categories like advertising and shipping each month. One of my favorite cards to earn tons of Membership Rewards is The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express. It earns a flat 2X on the first $50,000 each year.
American Airlines is the most difficult program to earn miles for from this sweet spot list. They don’t currently partner with a transferrable points currency. But there are many cobranded credit cards with Citi and Barclays. One option is the Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard with 50,000 AA miles.
Flying Blue is a transfer partner of all major transferrable points currencies. You can transfer from Chase, American Express, Capital One and Citi. Any card that earns the transferrable points from those four banks are great additions to your wallet. Great cards from these banks include the Chase Sapphire Preferred, The Platinum Card from American Express, Citi Premier and the Capital One Venture X.
Like Flying Blue, Avianca LifeMiles are easy to earn. They partner with American Express, Citi and Capital One.
United only partners with Chase. You can transfer points to United from Chase or earn miles from several personal or business credit cards.
Best Use of Points and Miles to Munich, Germany Bottom Line
You notice that most of the redemptions on this list are with Star Alliance airlines. Munich is the home of Lufthansa. A vast majority of flights into Munich will be with Star Alliance airlines. That doesn’t mean you should write off Flying Blue or American Airlines! Start your award search with Star Alliance options.
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These opinions in this article are the author’s not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.