Miles & More is a Finalist for Best Frequent-Flier Programme at the
2026 Travelling for Business Awards, and it competes as continental Europe's loyalty heavyweight: the Lufthansa Group scheme whose membership, measured in the tens of millions, makes it the region's largest frequent-flier programme. For the German-speaking business world it is simply infrastructure — as assumed as the autobahn — and its reach now spans the group's full airline family, from Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian to Brussels Airlines and the expanding southern flank, giving members one account across Europe's densest premium network.
The programme's tiers carry real-world weight. Frequent Traveller and Senator status unlock the group's vast lounge estate — including Frankfurt and Munich's dedicated terminals and first-class enclaves that remain benchmarks — while HON Circle, the invitation-grade summit, is arguably European aviation's most coveted card: limousine transfers between aircraft, dedicated terminals and the sort of handling that makes a Tuesday connection feel like statecraft. Star Alliance membership multiplies every benefit across the world's largest airline grouping. Group-wide recognition means a SWISS flight counts the same as a Lufthansa one towards the ladder — one status, many aircraft.
Financial partnerships keep the engine current. The programme's
flagship credit card transitioned to Deutsche Bank with enhanced benefits for business travellers, refreshing everyday earning for its heartland members, while hotel, retail and mobility partners maintain the between-flights relationship. Mileage bargains, published award charts for partners and companion mechanics preserve pockets of old-school value that sharp-eyed members mine happily. The programme has also broadened who it serves: dedicated offers for SMEs and the group's corporate schemes let company travel feed personal balances without administrative wrestling, while status-match windows periodically open the door to switchers.
Travelling for Business tracks the European loyalty landscape closely, and few schemes anchor it as firmly.
For UK-based travellers working the continent, the logic is straightforward: no programme better covers the Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna corridors where European business concentrates, and none carries more weight when operations wobble mid-connection. The nomination recognises scale with substance — the scheme that made loyalty a fixture of European corporate life and keeps it running with Germanic dependability. Its critics call it conservative; its members call it certain — and in loyalty, certainty compounds.
Winners will be announced at the 2026 Travelling for Business Awards, and Miles & More will log the result punctually.
