A bit of worrying news for those of you who like Swiss International Airlines First Class product when it comes to redemption – and according to Statusfactory on FaceBook and this Flyertalk thread, the airline will be restricting First Class redemptions from 1st January 2014.
The text on the Miles and More website goes a bit like this:
As a Miles & More member (holder of a blue Miles & More service card) or Frequent Traveller you can redeem your miles for an airline ticket with SWISS in Economy or Business Class as usual. However, from 1 January 2014 it will no longer be possible for you to redeem your miles for a SWISS airline ticket in First Class.
Nevertheless, the mileage upgrade award will still be available to you and with this you can book an upgrade from Business to First Class. In taking this action SWISS is reacting to the prevailing market situation.
From 1 January 2014 you will only be able to book flight awards for First Class by calling the Service Centre.
Getting First Class seats on Lufthansa family airlines isn’t what I’d call an easy task ever. This makes it extra hard for those who aren’t Senators or HON Circle members.
Currently, there is no indication if F awards are being pulled for other Star Alliance members, but I’d be weary in case Swiss pulls this.
I’d also be worried about those Lufthansa First Class award bookings too. If you have Miles and More Miles in the bank, and you’re thinking about spending them on First class seats – I’d be doing so a lot quicker in case these rewards become even more restrictive…
Currently, there is no indication if F awards are being pulled for other Star Alliance members, but I’d be weary in case Swiss pulls this.
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LX F awards have been unavailable to *A partners for months now
@Mike, I believe he means other *A members will restrict their F seats to their own program / top customers, like SQ used to do. The wording of the post did make me interpret it like you at first.