Currensea has just launched a Lufthansa Group Miles & More debit card, a new way to earn Miles & More miles through spending.
Miles & More is the Lufthansa Group loyalty programme, covering Lufthansa, Lufthansa City, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, ITA, Air Dolomiti, and Edelweiss Air. It’s also the loyalty programme of four partners, including Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Luxair.
This is Currensea’s fourth major travel loyalty partnership, joining Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy and United MileagePlus. It’s the first Miles & More card available in the UK since the discontinuation of the Miles & More Global Traveller Card in 2021.
The card comes with an annual fee of £180, though it’s free for HON Circle status holders and free for the first year for Senator status holders. The fee is initially charged and then refunded within 10 working days.
It comes with some fantastic benefits, and there’s a launch offer of 5,000 Miles & More miles for the first 500 successful applicants, awarded after the first eligible transaction starting at just £1, as long as you apply by 2nd October, unless all 500 bonuses are claimed sooner. That’s on top of the sign-up bonus, earn rate and anniversary bonuses.
Here’s everything you need to know!
In this post:
Sign Up and Anniversary Bonus
There’s a sign-up bonus of 10,000 miles when you spend £2,000 in foreign currency during your first 12 months. That’s at least 15,000 miles, not to mention the miles earned on spend and other bonuses.
The anniversary bonus is 5,000 miles upon renewal as long as you’ve spent £15,000 in the previous 12 months.
Earn Rate: How to Earn 35,000+ Miles
The card earns Miles & More miles at a rate of 1 mile per £1 spent, but this will reduce to 0.5 miles on 2nd September 2027, so this is the year to try the card out!
Foreign currency spend earns at 1 mile per £1 while spending with the Lufthansa Group earns 2 miles per £1.
For example, if you spend £15,000 in a year via the card, including at least £2,000 in foreign currency, you would earn 15,000 miles from your spending, plus the 10,000-mile sign-up bonus and 5,000-mile anniversary bonus. If you’re also one of the first 500 applicants and qualify for the 5,000-mile launch bonus, that rises to a very respectable 35,000 miles in your first year. The more you spend with the Lufthansa Group, the better it gets. If you spent £10,000 of your total 15,000 spend, your first-year total would increase to 45,000 miles by the time you renew after your first year.
There are also a range of exclusive benefits that come with the card that really make that yearly fee worth it:
Convert Miles into Status Progress
You can convert up to 25,000 Miles into Points and Qualifying Points once each calendar year. The miles must have been earned from eligible card purchases in the current or previous calendar year (e.g. you can’t use welcome bonus miles).
This effectively gives you another route towards status if you’re short of the required threshold at the end of the year, although you’re sacrificing redeemable miles to do it.
Mileage Exchange is already available with selected Miles & More credit cards in other countries, but the Currensea Miles & More Debit Card is currently the only UK card offering the benefit.
You can convert miles starting at 5,000 (and in increments of 5,000), which would get you 20 Points and 20 Qualifying Points. Converting 25,000 miles would give you 100 Points and 100 Qualifying Points.
As a reminder, Miles & More uses different types of points for status:
- Points – Earned across Lufthansa Group and Star Alliance airlines
- Qualifying Points – Only earned with Lufthansa Group and Miles & More partner airlines. You need both to qualify for Frequent Traveller or Senator status.
- HON Circle Points – Only count towards HON Circle status. You earn them when flying Business or First Class with Lufthansa Group and Miles & More partner airlines.
Requirements are as follows:
| Miles and More Tier | Qualification |
|---|---|
| Frequent Traveller | 650 Points AND 325 Qualifying Points |
| Senator | 2,000 Points AND 1,000 Qualifying Points |
| HON Circle Member | 6,000 HON Circle Points |
A Free Lufthansa Business Class Lounge Voucher
If you’re travelling in Premium Economy or Economy and don’t have access via status, this adds some useful value.
Priority check-in at Lufthansa Business Class Desk
You’ll have access to Priority Check-in at Heathrow. If you don’t have status or a Business Class ticket and regularly fly with Lufthansa, this could add real value.
Your Miles Won’t Expire
This benefit is usually reserved for Frequent Traveller status holders and above. It removes the need to track expiry and gives you more time to find a good redemption option or save your miles.
WorldShop Discount and eSIMs
There are a couple of smaller extras too. Cardholders receive a one-time 15% discount at WorldShop, plus six 1GB eSIMs each year.
FX Fees
Overseas card spending carries a 0.99% FX fee on top of Currensea’s real-time rate. ATM withdrawals incur the same rate and FX fee, with a 2.5% fee applying once you exceed the £250 ATM allowance. You’ll need to factor this in to work out whether the miles you’re earning are worth it.
If you’re looking for a card with a lower FX fee, the Marriott Currensea cards and the Hilton Plus card come with a lower fee of 0.5%.
How Does the Card Work?
This card, along with the Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy and United MileagePlus options, runs on the Mastercard network and links directly to your existing UK current account.
You can do this with a range of banks including:
When you make a purchase, Currensea collects the payment from your linked account, usually by Direct Debit.
You can use the card anywhere Mastercard Debit is accepted, and add it to Apple Pay and Google Pay. You can also easily track spending and transactions through the Currensea app.
Currensea cards are becoming an increasingly popular option for collecting points and miles. What started as cards to reduce the cost of spending abroad has quickly expanded into a range of airline and hotel partnerships. This gives you another way to earn points or miles alongside a rewards credit card, or as an alternative if you prefer to spend with a debit card.
Does This Make the Miles & More Loyalty Programme More Tempting?
The Miles & More loyalty programme is one of the top options in the Star Alliance to switch to, and this card makes it even more tempting if you’re planning a move over to Star Alliance, or looking to earn status with a second airline alliance.
You can also use Miles & More miles to redeem with Star Alliance airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Air Canada and Turkish Airlines, plus a range of partners.
The card also removes some of the drawbacks of the Miles & More loyalty programme we’ve previously identified. It removes miles expiry and gives you more options to earn through your spending. Miles & More is not an AMEX transfer partner, which previously gave few options.
However, keep in mind that you can earn Qualifying Points and HON Circle Points only on Lufthansa Group and Miles & More co-issuing airline partners, unless you opt to convert up to 25,000 miles each year to Points and Qualifying Points. You need to fly with Lufthansa regularly to make the switch worth it.
Miles & More is a good loyalty programme option, and with its multiple European airline bases, it’s particularly good for multi-city itineraries and gives plenty of choice. Status also comes with valuable benefits such as 50% off eligible Companion Award Flights for Senator and HON Circle members, as well as additional award availability.
Read our guide to the Miles & More loyalty programme for more details, and make sure you also read part 2 on earning and spending Miles & More miles.
Final Words
This card is exciting news considering the limited number of airline loyalty cards currently available in the UK.
That said, I wouldn’t switch programmes purely because this card now exists. But if you regularly fly with Lufthansa Group or Miles & More co-issuing partners to make use of the benefits and opportunities, the card is well-worth considering.
Likewise, if Miles & More is already your loyalty programme of choice, the Miles & More Currensea card gives you a valuable new way to earn miles from spending, while also protecting your miles from expiry and letting you put some of them towards status progress.
If you already hold Senator or HON Circle status, the card is a no-brainer thanks to its first-year free offer and free refunds. If not, extra benefits such as Priority Check-in at Heathrow, one Business lounge pass, and more can offset the annual fee. The value ultimately depends on how you use the benefits and how many miles you earn from your spending.
Make sure you also compare the card with the Marriott, Hilton and United options to make sure you’re getting the right card for you.
We also understand that Currensea has more loyalty partnerships to come. We’ll keep you in the loop.
