# Dealing with Lufthansa 2-4-1



## blauner (Jul 11, 2007)

My ED pickup is scheduled for May 10th, and I just called Lufthansa to book my flight. I went online first to see which flights they had, and to get an idea on the price range. This is what I came up with. 

Leaving May 9th from Pittsburgh:
Flight LH9178 from PIT to Chicago
Flight LH435 from Chicago to Munich

Leaving May 16th from Frankfurt:
Flight LH418 to Washington, Dulles Int
Flight LH5552 from Washington, Dulles Int to PIT

Price:
Airfare - 443.00
Taxes - 322.91
Total - 765.91

This tells me the price for my "2-4-1" should be about $1088.82, since the second ticket would be tax only.

The Lufthansa girl gave me a price of 1100.91 for one ticket, plus 322.91 in taxes for the second ticket, for a total of 1423.82. 

The taxes came out to be the same for what the internet says, and for what she said, but the first ticket was a lot more on her end. I went ahead and reserved them with my credit card anyways to "lock" in the rate, since she said I had until about April 8th to confirm with her or make changes. So essentially, I have saved about $50 of the price of a ticket for doing the 2-4-1 rather than just buying it straight through the Lufthansa website. Is this common? Doesn't really seem like that good of a deal to me.


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## SJAPoc (Apr 14, 2007)

The 2 for 1 fare offered by Lufthansa is "Q" fare as opposed to the cheaper economy "Y" fare - hence the disparity.


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## blauner (Jul 11, 2007)

Well that makes perfect sense then, thank you.

Are the seats better in "Q" fare as they are in "Y" fare?


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## GOFASTR (Apr 13, 2007)

blauner said:


> Well that makes perfect sense then, thank you.
> 
> Are the seats better in "Q" fare as they are in "Y" fare?


Nope, they're all economy class... not bad on the LH Airbus A340-600 that we did last summer (ORD to MUC).


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## Wingboot (Jan 8, 2002)

Is the Q fare less costly to change dates and such than the Y fare?


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## trojanF1 (Jun 28, 2007)

Just to let you know about my experience with 2-4-1, I reserved the tickets last September for a flight in November. At the time of reservation the 2-4-1 ticket price (including tax) was only slightly more the the cheapest ticket price on the internet. When I had to finalize the reservation and pay for the tickets 4 weeks prior to the departure date, the internet price was lower than what it was at the time of reservation and the LH representative agreed to my request to adjust the original price.

One more thing: You can also check the ticket prices on United.com for the same flights. They may be a little cheaper.


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

Welcome to 2-4-1. Sometimes it's cheaper, sometimes it's not. 

One perk is that you don't pay for the tickets (they are reserved, however) until you get a VIN number, which is about a month before you leave. So, there is a small cash flow advantage to 2-4-1.


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## bikenski (Jun 16, 2002)

Keep in mind that the "free" ticket doesn't earn any miles when using the 2-4-1, so your companion is losing out on just shy of 10,000 miles if you go that route.

Just one more variable to cloud the decision...


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## bigudibmw (Oct 26, 2005)

So far, for my open-jaw ticket, LA to Rome, Munich to LA in May, LUF is the cheapest by about 800.


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## abmwc (Feb 2, 2008)

trojanF1 said:


> Just to let you know about my experience with 2-4-1, I reserved the tickets last September for a flight in November. At the time of reservation the 2-4-1 ticket price (including tax) was only slightly more the the cheapest ticket price on the internet. When I had to finalize the reservation and pay for the tickets 4 weeks prior to the departure date, the internet price was lower than what it was at the time of reservation and the LH representative agreed to my request to adjust the original price.
> 
> One more thing: You can also check the ticket prices on United.com for the same flights. They may be a little cheaper.


I presume that you are under no obligation to buy the tickets until the reservation is finalized? Is that the leverage by which you were able to obtain the price adjustment?

Thanks,
abmwc


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## chaz58 (Sep 11, 2007)

abmwc said:


> I presume that you are under no obligation to buy the tickets until the reservation is finalized? Is that the leverage by which you were able to obtain the price adjustment?
> 
> Thanks,
> abmwc


Yeah, you have to buy the tickets a month before you pick up the car.

Longer lead than that, they will hold by credit card


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## chaz58 (Sep 11, 2007)

My experience:

Winter, and to some degree spring/fall you can often get two tickets on the open market for cheaper than Lufthasa.

In the summer, prices to Europe double or triple compared to winter (for me its from $450 to $1400).

Luft 2-4-1 is going to make sense for a lot more people in the summer travel season, but not in winter.

Lufthansa***8217;s high season is from May 15th ***8211; Sept 7th. I buy before or after that, I will save $500.

Like I said above, they will hold the tickets with a credit card number (not charged) until a month before your pickup, so you have that much time to shop around and find another deal before you need to commit.

***8220;Q***8221; fare is not Lufthansa***8217;s lowest fare. Its probably $400 more than their lowest fare. So you can see how in the winter (with a less expensive carrier) it would be possible to buy two tickets on the open market cheaper than 2-4-1

With summer rates well over $1000, the Q fare expense minus the 2-4-1 discount often comes out ahead.


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## Fithian (Oct 20, 2006)

The last time we did the LH 2 for 1 in Nov 2006, they charged my card on the departure date. They also do not charge extra for arriving one place, leaving from another. We flew into Munich and flew back to the US from Nice. Dates can be changed at no charge. They had free wifi on those flights. No mileage for the wife. All flights were on LH planes, no USAir or other crap airlines.


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## Arizona Z4 (May 18, 2010)

I booked my flights this week. The 2 for 1 flights were several hundred dollars more than the internet price. Since I am flying from Phoenix, Arizona, I still will be saving about $500.
As a side note to TrojanF1-Fight on!(USC BS'83, wife also USC grad and former song girl).


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## mason (Jun 8, 2006)

blauner said:


> Well that makes perfect sense then, thank you.
> 
> Are the seats better in "Q" fare as they are in "Y" fare?


Fare code doesn't dictate choice of seats in a sense. Someone next to you can easily pay a few hundred more or less than you. It depends on the time of purchase, day or night and how many days in advance. Your frequent flyer status would for sure dictate that.


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## Fithian (Oct 20, 2006)

*Sept ED through 2-4-1 LH*

We are scheduled to pick up an F10 535i in early Sept. With the LH 2-4-1 package we can fly from EWR to MUN non-stop, pick up car, drive around for two weeks, and then fly MUN to LIS for five days, then LIS to FRA and on to PHL.

This fare allows that with no extra charge.

Tried to get PHL-FRA-MUN and then MUN-LIS-FRA-PHL but that was too many stops, hence EWR-MUN on out flight. Not a problem.

Lots of flexibility, but all flights must be on Lufthansa, none of the partners.

You could fly direct to MUN from wherever LH flies, and then fly from MUN to just about anywhere in Europe, returning to FRA and then to your home city.

The cost of the airfare was about half of normal LH fares for the same stops.

Updated:

We arrived in Munich from Newark with no problems. Seats were somewhat comfortable for economy. TV on 340-600 had more than 40 movies plus other stuff. Food was edible, and drinks included. If you take a 747 there is no seatback tv. Caught the S3 into central Munich 19 EURO for 2 as a day pass.


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## bimmer_fam (Apr 16, 2007)

Fithian said:


> Lots of flexibility, but *all flights must be on Lufthansa, none of the partners.*


Perhaps things have change with LH 2-4-1, but did it in 2007 and had SwissAir flying us from Geneva to MUC on one of the legs...


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## Crimson (Apr 22, 2010)

One other restriction of the LH 2-for-1 deal is that if your companion doesn't accompany you on the flight for whatever reason (something comes up, gets sick, etc.), you can't fly either. I confirmed this with a Lufthansa agent at the 2-for-1 number last week.


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