Whether you’re aiming for a status run, collecting those last points for status (re)qualification, or striving for Miles&More status next year, we’ve identified some sweet spots for you. There should be at least one way to earn status, qualifying, or HON Circle points affordably, depending on your needs.
We’ll also take a look at how much it would cost you to achieve status from scratch. In the best-case scenario, you’ll only pay €0.44 per status point. Whether a flight marathon across Colombia is worthwhile just for the points is up to you. So let’s get started, but first, we’ve compiled the most important details about the new status system.
Table of Contents
- How the new points system works
- Extra Points for Compensation
- Examples of cheap status points – from €0.475 per Point
- Avianca Economy Class within Colombia: 80 Points from €38
- Copa Business Class Ecuador – Colombia: 800 Points from €560
- Aegean Economy Class Greece – Tel Aviv: 120 Points from €86
- Lufthansa Group Business Class Athens – Tel Aviv: 480 Qualifying Points from €453
- Egyptair Business Class Saudi Arabia – Addis Ababa: 800 Points from €758
- LOT Economy Class within Poland: 80 Qualifying Points from €79
- Eurowings Business Class Germany – Middle East: 400 Qualifying Points from €500
- Lufthansa Economy Class with Rail Connection: 80 Qualifying Points for €133
- Simple Path to Frequent Flyer Status
How the new points system works
Since January 1, 2024, Miles&More no longer uses status miles. The old system was replaced by “Points,” “Qualifying Points,” and “HON Circle Points.” From our perspective, it doesn’t get much simpler, even though Miles&More sees it differently.
The different currencies are distinguished as follows:
- (Status) Points: Regular status points, earned for all flights with Star Alliance partners and selected other airlines (e.g., Eurowings, Discover Airlines), on all booking classes that also earn award miles. Miles&More only call these points Points; we add Status for better differentiation.
- Qualifying Points: The value is identical to Points but is only earned on selected airlines: Air Dolomiti, Austrian, Brussels, Croatia, Discover, Eurowings, LOT, Lufthansa, Luxair, and Swiss.
- HON Circle Points: Similar to Qualifying Points, but only earned on flights in first & business class.
For a frequent flyer status, the following are needed per calendar year:
- Frequent Traveller: 650 Points, including 325 Qualifying Points
- Senator: 2,000 Points, including 1,000 Qualifying Points
- HON Circle Member: 6,000 HON Circle Points
Important: The status is now valid for only one year, previously it was at least two years.
The points credit is no longer based on distance but only on whether a flight is categorized as “continental” or “intercontinental.” Depending on the flight, you can earn between 20 and 300 Points.
| Travel class | Continental | Intercontinental |
|---|---|---|
| Economy Class | 20 | 60 |
| Premium Economy | 20 | 80 |
| Business Class | 40 | 200 |
| First Class | 40 | 300 |
For the continents, the following map is crucial: Flights within the same zone (= same colour) are considered continental. A flight that touches multiple colours is considered intercontinental. In other words, a flight from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv earns the same Points as a flight from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires.
More on this in the following articles:
Extra Points for Compensation
The first option for collecting additional status points is only indirectly related to particularly inexpensive flights. Since the end of September 2025, it has been possible to offset flights directly during the booking process. As an incentive, Miles&More awards up to 80% more points and qualifying points. The price for this compensation varies depending on the flight distance. Generally, the shorter the flight, the better the points-per-euro ratio. The best rates cost around €0.50 to €1 per status point in the largest package.
At Eurowings, this new type of compensation is called Planet Blue and allows for up to 50% extra points, enabling the collection of up to 300 qualifying points per intercontinental segment. This allows for further earnings of up to 80% extra points for subsequent status run options. Important: The crediting of additional HON Circle points is limited to a maximum of 20% extra!
Because the price for the corresponding compensation always varies, we haven’t included it directly in the examples. However, this makes many options significantly more attractive.
You can read more about compensation here:
Examples of cheap status points – from €0.475 per Point
Now, let’s move on to the promised examples of how you can earn status points as cheaply as possible:
Avianca Economy Class within Colombia: 80 Points from €38
Probably the cheapest way to earn points is with domestic flights in Colombia with Avianca. You can book a round-trip flight with a connection for just €38.
That works out to an unbeatable €0.475 per status point. Availability is surprisingly good, depending on the route. Flights at this price are most consistently available between Medellin and Cali.
- 80 Status Points
- 0 Qualifying Points
- 0 HON Circle Points
- 1,000 Award Miles
Show map and mileage calculator
Copa Business Class Ecuador – Colombia: 800 Points from €560
If you look for the Star Alliance hubs in Central America, you will quickly come across Copa. The Panama hub falls into the North America zone according to Miles&More, but the neighboring country Colombia is already considered South America. Flying the South America – Panama – South America route earns you 800 status points for a roundtrip.
As an example, we have selected the route Guayaquil – Panama – Medellin and back. This costs approximately €560 and earns you a whopping 800 status points.
The price per status point is excellent at just €0.70. Unfortunately, you get no Qualifying Points for this, meaning you can’t reach Senator or FTL status with this alone:
- 800 Status Points
- 0 Qualifying Points
- 0 HON Circle Points
- 3,832 Award Miles
Show map and mileage calculator
Aegean Economy Class Greece – Tel Aviv: 120 Points from €86
According to our research, the best price per point is offered by an economy ticket from Greece to Israel. Currently, travel to Israel is not recommended, but this sweet spot will likely be relevant again in the future.
Availability for under €100 is relatively scarce, but for around €130, you can find quite a few options on the Athens – Tel Aviv and Thessaloniki – Tel Aviv routes.
In the best case, you pay only €0.72 per status point here. Unfortunately, you get no Qualifying Points for this:
- 120 Status Points
- 0 Qualifying Points
- 0 HON Circle Points
- 742 Award Miles
Show map and mileage calculator
Lufthansa Group Business Class Athens – Tel Aviv: 480 Qualifying Points from €453
Even if you want to collect Qualifying Points, the Middle East region stands out. A bit of a detour, but with Brussels, Lufthansa & Swiss, you can fly from Greece to Tel Aviv for around €450 or to Beirut for around €500.
The price here is €0.94 per status point. And unlike Copa or Aegean, you also get Qualifying Points and HON Circle Points:
- 480 Status Points
- 480 Qualifying Points
- 480 HON Circle Points
- 1,160 Award Miles
Show map and mileage calculator
Egyptair Business Class Saudi Arabia – Addis Ababa: 800 Points from €758
The new Miles&More program should have started in 2021, as mentioned above. At that time, North Africa was still considered part of Africa and was particularly attractive for point accumulation. Miles&More has since corrected this and included North Africa in Europe. Ultimately, the zone border has simply shifted a bit further south.
This can be advantageous because the route Saudi Arabia – Cairo – Ethiopia now forms its own intercontinental triangle and earns 800 status points at prices starting from €758. Due to the visa requirements for Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, this is, however, a rather theoretical sweet spot.
The price here is €0.95 per status point. Unfortunately, you get no Qualifying Points:
- 800 Status Points
- 0 Qualifying Points
- 0 HON Circle Points
- 7,616 Award Miles
Also, 800 status points could be obtained with the route Amman – Nairobi and back for around €1,162.
Show map and mileage calculator
LOT Economy Class within Poland: 80 Qualifying Points from €79
In the past, LOT flights within Poland were ideal for a segment run: Only 30 segments were needed under the Silver Promotion for Frequent Traveller status.
And even after the switch to the points system, it remains very attractive. For FTL, you now need 33 segments, for Senator 100. Few people will do that, but the good thing is that missing points can be earned easily and inexpensively without having to travel around the world.
To give you a random example, a roundtrip Rzeszów – Warsaw – Gdansk earns 80 points and costs a budget-friendly €79. This amounts to €0.99 per status point.
There are numerous examples in Poland that yield similar prices per point. And for those needing only 40 points: Non-stop roundtrips from Warsaw, to e.g. Zielona Góra, Katowice or Lublin are available for just €48.
The mileage credit for the above example:
- 80 Status Points
- 80 Qualifying Points
- 0 HON Circle Points
- 500 Award Miles
Show map and mileage calculator
Eurowings Business Class Germany – Middle East: 400 Qualifying Points from €500
Eurowings Business Class flights from various German airports to Beirut, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Erbil, Jeddah, or Tel Aviv are quite attractive. Depending on the route, you can book these flights from €500 and they take between four and seven hours each way. While the comfort level isn’t particularly noteworthy due to the European Business Class seating, this is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to earn qualifying and HON Circle points.
The price here is €1.25 per status point in the best of cases. And unlike Copa or Aegean, you also get Qualifying Points and HON Circle Points:
- 400 Status Points
- 400 Qualifying Points
- 400 HON Circle Points
- 1,160 Award Miles
Show map and mileage calculator
Lufthansa Economy Class with Rail Connection: 80 Qualifying Points for €133
It was unclear for a long time whether there would be status points for bus and train journeys. Miles&More has now answered this question on their website. Train journeys are treated like flights, but there are no points for bus rides. However, there is an upper limit on the points you can collect on the train:
Yes, you can earn Points, Qualifying Points and HON Circle Points on journeys with Austrian AIRail, Lufthansa Express Rail or the SWISS Airtrain service in the same way as you would on flights operated by Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa or SWISS. […]
The maximum thresholds are: 160 Qualifying Points for Frequent Traveller status, 500 Qualifying Points for Senator status and 1,000 HON Circle Points for HON Circle Member status.
An economy-class flight within Europe can be quite interesting. For €133, you can get, e.g. a roundtrip Munich – Frankfurt – Riga, with the domestic German leg by train:
At €1.66 per status point, the price is at least acceptable. But more importantly, at similar prices, there are flights to numerous destinations in Europe that you might want to visit anyway. Another advantage of choosing the train connection: If you decide not to take the train, nobody will know.
The calculation looks like this:
- 80 Status Points
- 80 Qualifying Points
- 0 HON Circle Points
- 244 Award Miles
Note the above limit: For FTL, a maximum of 160 Qualifying Points can be collected on the train, meaning it’s over after 8 train journeys. For the Senator, at least 500 points = 25 journeys are possible.
Simple Path to Frequent Flyer Status
Based on these examples, you can now calculate the best possible price for each frequent flyer status. We tried to keep it as simple as possible, primarily based on the Greece – Tel Aviv example. Due to the example in South America, a Senator might be slightly more affordable in theory, but you still have to get there first.
FTL from approximately €635
With the following combination, we reach a total of 660 points (including 660 Qualifying Points) for a price of €635:
- 1x Business ATH-TLV roundtrip = 480 QP for €453
- 2x Economy RZE-WAW-GDN roundtrip = 160 QP for €158
- 1x Economy WAW-IEG one-way = 20 QP for €24
If you want to avoid the Middle East, you can also earn FTL solely with Polish domestic flights starting from €656.
In theory, you can reach the status even cheaper, as compensating the CO2 of the flights will earn you further status points. But as the prices vary, we decided not to include that option in our calculations.
Senator from approximately €1,483
2,000 points (including 2,000 Qualifying Points) can be achieved with the following combination for a total price of €1,873:
- 2x Business BER-JED r/t = 800 QP for €1,000
- 3x Economy RZE-WAW-GDN r/t = 240 QP for €237
- 1x Business GYE-PTY-MDE r/t = 800 SP for €560
- 2x Economy CLO-BOG-MDE r/t = 160 SP for €76
Similarly theoretical: One could fly 12 roundtrips within Colombia and 13 roundtrips within Poland for €1,483.
In practice, it will look different, of course: To make the status worthwhile, you will likely undertake several long-haul flights per year anyway. The missing points can then be filled in either with one or two status runs to the Middle East or with several flights within Europe. If you’re already in South America, it’s a bit cheaper there.
HON Circle Member from approximately €5,888
You probably already suspect where this is going: If you undertake 13 roundtrips from Greece via BRU/FRA/ZRH to Israel, you would pay around €5,888 and have 6,240 HON Circle Miles in your pocket.
However, trying this is strongly discouraged: Aside from the travel warning, there are strict security interrogations for travel to and from Israel. The justification of “Mileage Run” is likely not well-received there, at least not on the fifth entry within a few weeks.
Editor’s Note: You’d be an absolute madman if you tried to reach your status only with these crazy flights. But if you know that you’ll probably end up being a bit short of reaching the status this year, and are travelling to/within one of the mentioned regions anyway, it’s something to consider.
