Lufthansa HON Circle is the top status in the Miles & More frequent flyer program. This follow-up to my earlier HON Circle posts shares my Lufthansa HON Circle experience in 2026 as someone who flies often and regularly, around 30 trips a year, with the good, the bad and the ugly. 2026 was not an easy year for the Lufthansa Group. It celebrated its 100th anniversary, shut down its regional subsidiary CityLine and cut thousands of short-haul flights, officially because of high fuel prices. At the same time, it launched a new long-haul service concept and rebuilt the HON Circle service. Starlink Wi-Fi is finally on its way, too. Overall, HON Circle is still great value for frequent travelers, even though Lufthansa has not fixed some weaknesses in years.
Why I Travel So Much and Work from Lounges
Before going into details, a short context for new readers. As a Global Field CTO and independent advisor, I meet customers, partners and analysts around the world and speak at conferences. I switch between countries and time zones constantly. Lufthansa First Class lounges are part of my mobile office. Many of my blog posts, slides and customer meetings are prepared there.
I pay some of my upgrades out of my own pocket. If you want to know how to reach the status and what it costs, read my road to Lufthansa HON Circle status. This post focuses on what is new in 2026.
What Changed for HON Circle Members in 2026
Several changes in 2026 affect HON members directly. Some are improvements, some are side effects of a difficult year for the Lufthansa Group:
- New HON Circle Service: The personal HON Circle Relation Manager was merged into the HON Circle Service. The team works from Berlin and Brno, modeled on the SWISS HON service, and handles bookings, rebookings and upgrades. The core of the new concept is one dedicated contact person per member, reachable through the standard HON email address and phone number, with colleagues taking over during vacation or sickness.
- Two guests in the First Class lounges: Since July 2026, HON members can bring two guests into the First Class lounges of Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian. Both guests must be booked on the same flight as the HON member.
- Recognition on United: Since July 2026, HON members get access to Global Reception at United hubs. Global Reception is United’s separate check-in area for its invitation-only Global Services customers, including priority at security. HON members also get a free Economy Plus seat for themselves and a companion. United Global Services members get similar recognition on Lufthansa Group airlines.
- No more Amex Platinum guests: Since October 2026, the American Express Platinum Card no longer grants access to Lufthansa lounges. Centurion cardholders also lost access to the First Class lounges in Frankfurt and Munich. For HONs in the First Class lounges, this changes little, but it is the right step for the premium experience of Lufthansa’s own loyal travelers.
- FOX on long-haul flights: The new Future Onboard Experience started in First Class in March and in all other long-haul cabins in May 2026.
- Starlink Wi-Fi: The first Lufthansa aircraft with Starlink took off in August 2026, and the service is free for Miles & More members. But the rollout to around 850 aircraft across the group runs until 2029. Like Allegris and other modern cabins, Starlink arrives at Lufthansa years after many other airlines.
- CityLine closed: Lufthansa shut down CityLine and cut around 20,000 short-haul flights through October, officially because of high kerosene prices linked to the Iran war.
The Good Parts of HON Circle Life in 2026
Let’s start with the positive side. The following points are details I experienced in 2026. The complete overview of HON Circle benefits, from First Class lounges and the limousine service to upgrade vouchers, is in last year’s post about life as a Lufthansa HON Circle member. Most of these details are small, but they make a big difference when you fly often.
First Class Service Outside the Lufthansa Hubs
The First Class experience is not limited to Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Geneva and Vienna. In Berlin, Lufthansa runs a First Class area. It is not a real First Class lounge, and the food comes from the Senator lounge. Still, it is quiet, and the Lufthansa team supports with rebookings and questions.
The highlight outside the hubs is New York JFK. The First Class area has its own level in the lounge. It is well separated, quiet and clean. The dining feels like a First Class lounge in Frankfurt or Munich, and the food quality is as good. Here are the appetizers from one of my recent visits:
In Seattle, HON members and First Class passengers get access to a separate VIP room inside the lounge. It is nothing special, but much quieter than the crowded US lounges. On arrival, Lufthansa offers HON members an escort service through immigration, and the crew sometimes asks about it already during the flight. In the US, I usually decline, because Global Entry gets me through in a few minutes. In Asia, the escort on arrival is one of the most helpful HON benefits, because it saves a lot of time at immigration.
Office Rooms with a Service Button in the First Class Lounges
One underrated feature for working travelers is the small office rooms in the First Class lounges. They offer privacy for calls and focused work. A button on the desk calls the staff for drinks or food, so I don’t need to leave the room during a busy work session:
HON Recognition in Economy Class on Short-Haul Flights
I sometimes fly Economy on short routes, for example when Business Class fares are unreasonable. On a Lufthansa flight from Geneva to Frankfurt, a pillow, a bottle of water and a handwritten welcome note waited on my Economy seat:
In 2026, even Air Dolomiti served me an espresso from Business Class while I was sitting in Economy, on a short flight without any Economy service. Last year I wrote that this never happens on Air Dolomiti. I am happy to correct that. It still depends on the crew, as the section about Lufthansa’s sister airlines below shows.
Get Home Early Works Well with Trained HON Staff
“Get Home Early” lets HON members switch to an earlier flight home on the same day for free when seats are available. Last year I complained that it often fails on married segments. The benefit itself has not changed, and the complexity comes from the IT systems behind it. Online, the option often shows no flights for HON members or stays greyed out. One tip: in the app, the rebooking option only appears after check-in on the day of departure. What has improved is the support. More people at the HON Circle Service and the HON hotline are now trained on it. When the online option fails, they rebook me manually, even across two legs home to Nuremberg, and it works really well.
First Class Upgrades with Miles or Vouchers Almost Always Work
As a HON, I have the highest upgrade priority in the Lufthansa Group. Upgrades from Business to First Class with miles or upgrade vouchers almost always go through. I use them mostly on the longest flights, like Frankfurt to San Francisco or Los Angeles, where the extra comfort matters most.
HON Support During Strikes and Flight Disruptions
The HON hotline had no waiting time for me, even during the strikes and the disruptions in the Middle East. When flights get cancelled, the HON team proposes rebookings to other airlines like KLM proactively, something Lufthansa usually does only reluctantly for other passengers. Miles & More issues also get fixed much faster as a HON. Missing miles were credited within 24 hours after I opened a ticket by phone or email.
For complex cases, the experts in the First Class lounges help. This includes questions like “how much refund do I get if I cancel this flight?” Sometimes the answer takes 30 minutes of internal phone calls, even for a simple Lufthansa flight. But the lounge staff stay on it until there is a valid answer.
Discover Airlines for Direct Flights to Las Vegas
Discover Airlines, the leisure carrier of the Lufthansa Group, remains my favorite way to Las Vegas. The direct flight from Frankfurt avoids a connection in a crowded US hub airport:
Discover does not offer every Lufthansa service. The key disadvantage for me is the missing First Class cabin, so there is no upgrade with miles or vouchers on the long flight to Las Vegas. There is no Allegris either. Otherwise, the onboard experience in Business Class is as good as on Lufthansa. The tickets are not cheaper, but the time saved is worth it.
Lufthansa moves more and more long-haul routes to Discover. Earlier, Orlando, Philadelphia and Minneapolis moved. From late March 2027, Discover takes over the Seattle flights from Frankfurt and Munich, with an Airbus A330 instead of the Lufthansa A350. New routes like Columbus, Phoenix and Edmonton are announced for 2027. Discover also plans to bring a new cabin to its A330 fleet and to add A350s from 2027. For HON members, this is good news on direct routes.
HON Circle Café, HON Events and Direct Access to Lufthansa Management
The HON Circle Café sessions on Microsoft Teams were a positive surprise. Lufthansa management and customer relations discuss openly with HON members. You get insights you will not find on the web, including negative ones.
The highlight in 2026 was an on-site HON Circle event in Berlin, on board The Pioneer Two on the Spree river. For once, there were zero boarding groups and zero gate changes, and the on-time performance was flawless. Jens Ritter, CEO of Lufthansa Airlines, and Gabor Steingart, founder and publisher of The Pioneer, opened the evening with a panel:
The Q&A was typical for Germany. It was an open complaint session in which management answered wave after wave of criticism, much of it valid, with straight answers and a smile. Jens Ritter and Olivier Krueger, CMO of the Lufthansa Group, stayed the whole evening for long discussions. Direct access to top management is the one HON benefit you will not find in the Miles & More terms and conditions.
How a Lufthansa Crew Rescued My AirPod from the Seat
One last side story has nothing to do with HON status. On a flight with the old seat configuration, the table jammed. I forced it open, and one of my AirPods fell into the seat mechanism. The purser and crew tried many things to get it out. In the end, the mirror used for security checks solved the problem. The crew would probably have done the same for any other passenger, which says a lot about many Lufthansa crews.
The Bad Parts That Still Annoy Me
Now to the things that annoy me. Some of them I already raised last year, and they are still not fixed.
Boarding Groups Are Still Often Not Enforced at Lufthansa
I complained about this in last year’s post. One year later, the problem still exists and occurs often, although not on every flight. It remains one of the most annoying parts of flying Lufthansa as a HON.
At Lufthansa, Group 1 is reserved for HON Circle members and First Class passengers. This is usually a very small group. On short-haul flights without First Class, I am often the only passenger in Group 1. Still, Group 1 and Group 2 often board together, even at the Frankfurt hub. On a recent flight from Frankfurt to Berlin, I boarded together with around 30 passengers from Group 2 (Business Class, Senators and Star Alliance Gold). Even when the scanner flags the wrong group, staff wave people through. As a result, a crowd of Group 2 passengers gathers in front of the gate before boarding starts and blocks the entrance for Group 1.
The usual explanation is efficiency, because ground staff are under time pressure and boarding has to be fast. I don’t buy it. Boarding Group 1 first takes seconds. US airlines enforce boarding groups strictly, at the gate and in their software, at every airport worldwide. When I fly United, I board with Group 1 right after United’s own top-tier Global Services and Premier 1K members, together with all Star Alliance Gold members, and the gate agents do not let later groups through.
Brussels Airlines and Air Dolomiti Often Recognize HONs Better Than Lufthansa
My first long-haul flight with Brussels Airlines, from New York JFK to Brussels, showed how little it takes. The crew gave me a personal welcome. Instead of the usual pre-departure drinks from the tray, like water, orange juice or sparkling wine, I asked for a Jack Daniel’s, and it arrived before I had settled in. On my seat was a handwritten card from the crew:
None of this costs much. A handwritten card, a drink and two minutes of attention shape how a frequent traveler feels about an airline.
I see the same pattern across the group. Austrian, SWISS, Brussels Airlines and even Air Dolomiti recognize HON members onboard far more consistently than Lufthansa itself. Lufthansa mainline does it on some flights, but rarely. It was so rare that I took a photo of the pillow on my Geneva flight. Most HON members fly Lufthansa far more often than any other group airline, which makes the gap even harder to understand.
Lufthansa FOX After Several Long-Haul Flights
FOX, short for Future Onboard Experience, is Lufthansa’s new long-haul service concept with redesigned menus, drinks and service flow in all cabins. I have flown it several times now. My first FOX flight came right after the launch: on my flight to New York, FOX was not available yet, and one week later, on my flight home from JFK, it was. The food and the service are great. The drinks selection has changed, for example there was no Jack Daniel’s on that first FOX flight.
What still annoys me is the breakfast order. Passengers fill out the breakfast card with a pencil before going to sleep, sometimes already during takeoff. In the evening, I don’t know whether I will be hungry the next morning or what I will want. So I end up guessing. Even a steward on one flight said this makes little sense, and in the morning he was running around with the cards to double-check what each passenger really wanted.
Dated Cabins in SWISS First Class
I recently flew SWISS First Class from Geneva to New York, for the first time in several years. No First Class lounge in the international area of Geneva’s airport for a single long-haul flight is absolutely fine. But the flight reminded me how dated most SWISS long-haul cabins still are, even more than the non-Allegris Lufthansa cabins. The service did not feel like First Class in the 2020s either. In 2026, SWISS First is only worth the money or the miles on long routes of ten hours or more. On a shorter flight like Geneva to New York, a good throne seat in Business Class is the better deal.
The new SWISS Senses First Class is only available on a few A350 routes, and the retrofit of the Boeing 777 fleet is not planned before the end of 2028. Food and drinks were excellent, with many options, including various coffee specialties like my iced espresso latte with a few pralines. I was surprised that caviar was not on the menu at all, which is fine for me, but unusual for a First Class product in 2026:
The Free Seat Next to a HON Is Not Reliable
In Business Class on European flights, the middle seat stays free anyway. In Economy, a free seat next to me makes a big difference on a short flight. I always thought Lufthansa blocks the adjacent Economy seat for HON members when a flight is not full, and that this benefit was later removed. Maybe it was only a rumor. Either way, it is not an official benefit today.
In practice, the seat next to me stayed occupied several times, even on flights that were not full. I said so in the last HON survey. I propose making the free adjacent seat an official HON benefit whenever the flight is not sold out, in Economy and also in Business Class on long-haul aircraft with older seat layouts. On a flight with empty seats, it costs Lufthansa nothing and adds huge value for the HON.
As a HON, I spend a lot of money on Business and First Class flights every year, because only these cabins earn the HON points needed to keep the status. A blocked seat next to me, whether in Economy or Business, would be a cheap way for Lufthansa to reward this loyalty.
A Less Personal Start for the New HON Circle Service
The new HON Circle Service works well operationally. The introduction was poor, though. First came a goodbye email from my personal contact, then an impersonal hello from a generic HON email address. For the most loyal customers of the group, this transition deserved a more personal touch. It also felt like Lufthansa itself did not know yet how well the new setup would work.
Since then, the service itself has been excellent. The HON Circle Service booked itineraries the Lufthansa website could not show me, checked exactly how much money and miles I would get back before I cancelled a booking, sent me the complete winter timetable of my feeder flights, fixed a seat that a partner airline had removed, and found a better routing after a schedule change by another group airline. I expect exactly this level of service at the top of a loyalty program.
Wrong Orders in the Frankfurt First Class Terminal
I visited the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt twice with family. Both times, two dishes were wrong. Part of the problem is that the staff do not write down the orders, even for a table of four. With drinks, food and extra wishes like a salad without tomatoes, something gets forgotten. A notepad would solve this. Mistakes like these should not happen at the premium flagship of the group.
The Ugly Side of a Complex Airline Group
The ugly parts have a common root cause: the complexity of the Lufthansa Group, its IT and its many subsidiaries.
Many Airlines and Even More IT Systems in the Lufthansa Group
The Lufthansa Group is a collection of airlines built through acquisitions and new companies, some of them founded for labor cost reasons:
- Network airlines: Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and ITA Airways. Lufthansa is increasing its ITA stake from 41% to 90%, with closing expected in the first quarter of 2027.
- Point-to-point and leisure: Eurowings, Discover Airlines and Edelweiss.
- Regional and feeder: Lufthansa City Airlines and Air Dolomiti. CityLine was shut down in 2026.
- Next in line: In October 2026, Portugal selected Lufthansa to buy 44.9% of TAP Air Portugal and take over its management. The deal still needs EU approval.
- Other stakes: Minority stakes in airBaltic and SunExpress.
For passengers, this complexity shows up as married segments, slow manual rebookings and features that work on one airline but not on another. Coordinating processes across so many airlines and IT systems is exactly the kind of integration problem I deal with in my day job.
The Skiplagging Case Against a HON Circle Member
One case made headlines in December 2025. A flight attendant reported a HON Circle member to Lufthansa’s revenue integrity department for skipping a flight segment. Lufthansa demanded a fare difference of €414. The case went all the way to the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH), and Lufthansa lost. The court ruled that skipping a segment after a change of plans does not justify an extra charge, and Lufthansa changed its conditions of carriage. Intentional skiplagging is still not allowed. This was not my case. But a crew reporting its most loyal customers damages trust, and it should not happen.
Short-Haul Pricing Pushes HONs into Economy
Some short-haul routes have ridiculous Business Class prices. For me, these trips usually start in Nuremberg and connect via Frankfurt to Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich, Geneva or Basel. Economy costs 200 to 300 euros for the return trip with four legs in total, while Business Class costs 800 to 1,200 euros. The gap stays the same even when the flights are empty, so it has nothing to do with booking classes or demand. As a result, I see even top managers with HON status flying Economy. I don’t understand the business case. Amsterdam and Paris are especially odd examples, because KLM and Air France fly there directly from Nuremberg, so I would expect competitive prices.
Cash upgrades would be one workaround, because they are typically much cheaper than a direct Business Class booking on these routes. But they are not possible on some flights for IT reasons, for example those operated by Air Dolomiti, which I often take to London City. Also, many employers only pay for Economy, so a working cash upgrade matters.
Feeder Flights from Nuremberg and the Lufthansa Bus to Munich
Lufthansa flies only to Frankfurt from Nuremberg. SWISS to Zurich and Austrian to Vienna are still not back, unfortunately. For travelers in the Nuremberg region, the feeder to Frankfurt is the only flight option within the group.
The Lufthansa bus from Nuremberg to Munich is still a joke. Yes, it works. But I prefer driving to Munich myself, because the bus wastes too much time. And I always see confused travelers from Asia and the US who booked a Lufthansa flight number and only learn at the bus stop that their flight comes with wheels instead of wings. The Deutsche Bahn train to Frankfurt is no alternative either for someone who travels every second week. For tourists flying twice a year it is okay, but even they probably prefer the much cheaper daily flights from Nuremberg to Amsterdam, Paris and Istanbul instead.
In the winter schedule 2026/27, there are only three flights from Nuremberg to Frankfurt on Tuesdays to Fridays. This feeder is the biggest risk for keeping my HON status. With too few or no flights between Nuremberg and Frankfurt, I would end up on exactly these competitors.
Is Lufthansa HON Circle Still Worth It in 2026?
For me, HON Circle remains worth it after another year, despite all the problems. I have no official numbers, but most HON members probably spend more than 40,000 to 50,000 euros a year on Lufthansa Group flights to reach and keep the status. For that money, the ground experience, the support in irregular situations and the many small gestures make frequent travel much less exhausting.
2027 will bring more changes: the ITA integration, more routes on Discover, Starlink on more aircraft and the further rollout of Allegris. LOT Polish Airlines will also introduce a new Business Class on its Boeing 787 fleet, so I will give LOT another try.
