Some award alerts are worth planning your life around and this is one of them. This is definitely one of the latter. Business class seats on Lufthansa flights from various East Coast destinations to Germany are currently available for 60,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points and $58 in taxes and fees and the window of availability runs from May 2026 through early 2027.

Whether Germany is on your wish list or you just need a reason to come back, the lie-flat seats, reasonable price in points and the large availability window mean this is one not to miss.

The Full Picture on This Award

Before we start strategizing, let's discuss some details. This is a trip to Lufthansa business thanks to Air Canada Aeroplan one of the best ways to secure Star Alliance partner awards at reasonable prices. Aeroplan and Lufthansa are both part of the Star Alliance network, so this is an ordinary partner booking and not a special case.

The deal is this:

• Program: Air Canada Aeroplan
• Airline: Lufthansa
• Cabin: Business class
• Origin: Boston (BOS), New York JFK, Newark (EWR) and Philadelphia (PHL)
• Destinations: Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC)
• Validity: May 2026 to March 2027
• Price: 60,000 Aeroplan points plus $58 (apx) taxes and fees per passenger

The number of seats on some dates is up to nine business class seats, which is quite unusual for an award alert like this one. Most often we can find one or two business class award seats on transatlantic flights. Nine seats allows the possibility for families, couples or small groups to travel in business class with each other without having to split bookings or dates.

Aeroplan is the Right Program for This Award

Air Canada Aeroplan has emerged as a highly versatile and connected frequent flyer program for awarding transatlantic bookings and the Lufthansa deal is no exception. Lufthansa is a Star Alliance member and therefore its inventory is bookable through various alliance programs, but the combination of Aeroplan's partner pricing, low Lufthansa surcharges and the fact that Aeroplan has many transferable currency partners means that it's frequently one of the best ways to book Lufthansa business class.

The 60,000-point price is a good value when you consider the benefits of Lufthansa business class on a transatlantic flight: lie-flat seat, gourmet multi-course dining, premium beverage service and the chance to arrive in Germany more rested than economy seat passengers. Lufthansa's business class product doesn't always make it to the summit of the global luxury airline heap, but it's a solid, comfortable product that is more than suitable for the length of the flight.

The reason that cash cost is so low is the $58 in taxes and fees, which is a low figure due to Aeroplans favourable tax treatment of airline surcharges on partner redemptions. Other programs have fees that reduce the redemption's value by a great deal. This isn't one of those cases.

How to Find the Award Space

The tedious part of this was trying to find the dates and flights with seats available. This is now easy to do with award search tools, of which two stand out Seats.aero and Roame.Travel show you the availability for the entire date range, rather than having to click through a calendar on Aeroplan's website.

The process is simple: enter your desired dates and origin cities into one of them to see which city and dates have open business class seats, and then book the tickets on Air Canada's website with your Aeroplan profile. The search-focused tool and Aeroplan online booking site combination makes this as close to a "one-stop" award booking experience as is probably available with a partner redemption.

The availability stretches out to March 2017 meaning that you have more options when it comes to booking a travel date. You're not fighting for a just few dates (two or three) you have weeks or even months of options with multiple departure cities and both Frankfurt and Munich as destinations.

Building an Aeroplan Balance to Book This

For those who don't already have a healthy stash of Aeroplan points, the best news is that the program offers one of the easiest to navigate transfer partner programs in the points world. Transferable points that move at a 1:1 ratio to Aeroplan include American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One miles and Bilt Rewards. You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points, albeit at a lower ratio.

That breadth matters. If your points are spread across programs some Chase, some Amex, some Capital One Aeroplan is one of the few programs that can pool it all, meaning you can pool towards a particular trip without being committed to earning points in one ecosystem.

For a 60,000-point business class round trip, the transfer points are within reach. The welcome bonus of one Chase Sapphire Preferred, Amex Gold, or Capital One Venture X card can take you well down the path to a single seat or pair of seats. For a family or a couple, 120,000 points in a joint account with Aeroplan or two transfer partners will get you two seats.

How to Organise Your Trip to Germany with this Ticket

Frankfurt and Munich are two distinct gateways to Germany, and the destination you choose will be determined by your plans. Frankfurt is the main international air hub for Germany, and a perfect entry point to the Rhine Valley, the historic heartland of Germany and excellent rail links to all other parts of the country. Munich is the jumping-off point for the south of Bavaria, the Alps, Neuschwanstein, and Austria and Switzerland for those who want to extend their holiday outside of Germany.

Lufthansa operates these routes with wide-body aircraft to both airports, so the type of plane you're on and the product you get is identical regardless of your destination. The customer experience check-in at the departure airport, lounge, the transatlantic journey, and arrival in the U.S. is the same.

If you have more time to explore Europe and not limited to Germany, both airports connect seamlessly to Lufthansa's European hubs, meaning it's easy to travel onwards from either destination.

The Bottom Line

You can book Lufthansa business class from Boston, New York, Newark, or Philadelphia to Frankfurt or Munich for 60,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus 58 USD in taxes and fees, with dates open from May 2016 to March 2017. There are multiple seats on some dates, making this a good option for group travel in a way transatlantic business class is not. The ability to transfer from many different points systems (Amex, Chase, Capital One, Bilt) via Aeroplan means that this is bookable from nearly any points currency. Use Seats.aero or Roame.Search and book with Aeroplan online. If you're headed to Germany, this is how to get there in much more comfort than you otherwise might.