Incredible Business Class Fares from Dubai to Zurich (Travel Hack)

A couple of days ago, I had written about the bonus offer on purchasing LifeMiles. This is a link to the post – Purchase LifeMiles with up to 125% Bonus. If you want a one-line summary, you can buy LifeMiles for as low as 1.47 cents till June 5, 2019.

LifeMiles website has been redesigned since I last used them in December 2018. I was checking out the new interface when I noticed something incredible.

Keep reading to find out more.

Background – LifeMiles Redemption

It is no secret that I am a fan of LifeMiles frequent flyer program. Although, I have never flown of Avianca (yet).

LifeMiles has become my default loyalty program for crediting Star Alliance flights. It is one of the very few frequent flyer program by a Star Alliance member that gives you online access to inventory.

In December 2018, I had purchased LifeMiles and booked a business-class trip on Swiss (Dubai – Zurich). The price was a steal – only marginally more than economy tickets and 70% lower than business class fares. If you want to know more, please read my earlier post – Luxury Trip to Swiss Alps at Economy Prices.

There was one challenge with this. Swiss inventory did not show up on LifeMiles till about 10 days before the trip. Many other airlines including Lufthansa and Egypt Air also do not have their full available inventory to redeem via LifeMiles. In December 2018, Turkish Airlines was the only Star Alliance partner whose inventory showed up consistently.

However, things have changed.

Redemption on Swiss Using LifeMiles

It appears that now Swiss is releasing far more business class inventory to LifeMiles. This is certainly true for the Dubai-Zurich-Dubai route. Here are some examples:

In June 2019

In July 2019 (peak season considering school holidays)

Even during Christmas and New Year Period

On most of these dates, I could book up to 4 business class seats. So travelling with family is possible as well. Note that one-way redemption are possible too.

Calculations

Each round-trip redemption costs LM 84,000 + $68.32 in taxes. If you purchase LifeMiles at 1.47 cents a piece, it amounts to $1,302.

For comparison’s sake, let us check the business-class round-trip fares on Emirates and Swiss. These are the only non-stop options between Dubai and Zurich.

As you can see, Swiss and Emirates are $3,147 and $5,077 respectively.

If you book tickets using LifeMiles, you are effectively getting a discount of 60% over Swiss and 75% over Emirates cash fares. This is why, I am calling it a Travel hack.

In fact, these fares are only $300 higher than Emirates’ economy fares. Imagine!

Final Thoughts

I am not sure how long Swiss inventory will last. So, if you want to make a booking, do it now.