Where Should You Credit LOT Polish Airlines Flights?

You booked a LOT flight.

At checkout, LOT asks for a frequent-flyer number.

The obvious answer is Miles & More — and for many people, that is the right answer.

But it is not the only possible answer.

LOT is a Star Alliance member, which means an eligible LOT flight may be credited to another participating frequent-flyer programme instead. Depending on the exact programme, route and booking class, the number of miles — and the status progress you receive — can differ substantially.

So before automatically entering your Miles & More number, check one thing:

What is the booking class on your ticket?

That single letter can matter more than the cabin name.

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Quick answer

Credit LOT to Miles & More if:

• you live in Poland and LOT is one of your main airlines;
• you also fly Lufthansa Group carriers regularly;
• you care about Miles & More status;
• you want the simplest ecosystem;
• you already have a useful Miles & More balance.

Compare other Star Alliance programmes if:

• you do not care about Miles & More status;
• you already collect seriously in another Star Alliance programme;
• your exact LOT booking class earns materially better there;
• you have a specific award goal in that programme.

For most occasional LOT travellers in Poland, Miles & More is the sensible default.

For a traveller who optimises miles, it should be a comparison, not an assumption.

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First find your LOT booking class

Do not stop at:

Economy

You need the fare's booking class, usually represented by a letter such as:

Y, B, M, K, Q, V, L, O, U, C, D, Z and so on.

Why?

Because loyalty programmes can treat two Economy tickets very differently.

For example, Miles & More currently credits a LOT-issued cross-border European ticket as follows:

Those are award miles, not status Points.

For LOT-issued tickets with ticket numbers beginning 080, Miles & More states that award miles are calculated by booking class.

So “LOT Economy Warsaw–Paris” is not enough information to know what you earn.

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What Miles & More gives you on LOT

Miles & More is particularly straightforward for status earning on LOT.

Current status earning per eligible LOT segment is:

On LOT, Points and Qualifying Points are generally earned in equal amounts when the flight is eligible.

That matters because Frequent Traveller currently requires:

650 Points + 325 Qualifying Points in one calendar year.

If LOT is your regular airline, crediting elsewhere can mean giving up progress toward Miles & More status.

That may be a poor trade even if another programme awards more redeemable miles for one particular ticket.

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Option 1: Miles & More

Best for

• frequent LOT flyers;
• Poland-based travellers;
• travellers also using Lufthansa, Austrian, SWISS and other Miles & More airlines;
• anyone actively pursuing Miles & More status.

Strength

LOT is not just another remote alliance partner here. It is a co-issuing Miles & More airline partner, and Qualifying Points can be earned on eligible LOT flights.

That makes the programme particularly coherent for someone whose normal travel already centres around LOT.

Weakness

Cheap fare classes can earn surprisingly few award miles.

A cross-border European LOT Economy ticket in L, O, U or W currently earns only 125 Miles & More award miles when calculated under the LOT booking-class table.

That is why “I flew with LOT, so I must have earned lots of Miles & More miles” is not necessarily true.

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Option 2: Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles

Miles&Smiles publishes a specific LOT earning chart.

Current examples:

Miles&Smiles also publishes minimum mileage amounts by fare class.

Current non-earning LOT booking classes in that table are I, N, X and J.

Why this can matter

Suppose you have a longer LOT route in an Economy booking class that earns a percentage of flown distance in Miles&Smiles.

The raw mileage result may be more attractive than a small fixed European award-mile amount elsewhere.

But do not compare only the number displayed after the flight.

Ask what those miles are worth for the redemption you actually want.

10,000 miles in one programme are not automatically better than 8,000 in another.

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Option 3: Aeroplan

Aeroplan lists LOT as an airline partner.

For travel from 1 January 2026, Aeroplan changed how partner-flight earning works:

• Air Canada-issued tickets have their own spend-based rule;
• eligible tickets issued by other airlines and flown on Star Alliance or partner airlines continue to use distance-based partner earning rules.

That makes Aeroplan worth checking for travellers who already have a meaningful Aeroplan ecosystem or a specific Aeroplan redemption plan.

But it is rarely sensible to create a new Aeroplan account for one LOT flight just because an earning calculator produces a slightly larger number.

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What about LifeMiles, KrisFlyer and other Star Alliance programmes?

A LOT flight may be eligible in additional Star Alliance frequent-flyer programmes.

But the relevant earning tables can change, and codeshare tickets add another complication.

Before crediting, verify:

1. LOT is currently an eligible partner in the programme.
2. Your exact booking class earns miles.
3. Your marketing and operating carrier combination is eligible.
4. The fare is not excluded.
5. The miles will help a balance you can realistically use.

EMBERFARE should eventually automate this comparison.

Until then, never transfer a flight based on a generic “Star Alliance flights earn miles everywhere” assumption.

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A practical example: cheap LOT Economy

Imagine you bought a cheap LOT Economy fare in booking class O.

Under the current Miles & More LOT table, a cross-border European O-class ticket earns 125 award miles per eligible segment.

Miles&Smiles currently credits LOT O-class at 25% of flown miles, with a published minimum of 125 miles.

For a short European route, the difference may be small.

For a longer route, another programme could produce a different result.

But if those 125 Miles & More miles also come with status Points that move you toward a status you use, the simple mileage comparison is incomplete.

This is the central rule:

Redeemable miles and status value must be compared separately.

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A practical example: LOT Business

On an eligible LOT intercontinental Business segment, Miles & More currently awards 200 Points and 200 Qualifying Points.

A return could therefore generate 400 Points and 400 Qualifying Points.

That is already a substantial fraction of the 650 Points required for Frequent Traveller.

If you credit that flight elsewhere solely because another programme gives more redeemable miles, you may be abandoning very valuable status progress.

For a frequent LOT premium traveller, that can outweigh the mileage difference.

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Codeshares can change the answer

This is where beginners get caught.

You can buy a ticket from one airline, see one flight number, and physically fly another airline's aircraft.

Programmes can use:

• marketing carrier;
• operating carrier;
• ticket issuer;
• booking class;
• fare type

in different ways.

Turkish Airlines explicitly warns that on codeshare flights, the booking class displayed on the ticket may differ from the class used by the operating airline for mileage accrual.

So before crediting an expensive codeshare flight, verify the exact earning rule.

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Do not credit a flight just because the programme offers a “better percentage”

A programme showing “100% of flown miles” looks intuitively better than one showing “500 miles”.

That can be misleading.

You also need to consider:

• award prices;
• taxes and surcharges;
• expiry;
• transfer options;
• family pooling;
• availability;
• status value;
• the balance you already own.

A high earn rate into an account you will never use has almost no practical value.

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The best programme depends on your profile

Profile A: Poland-based, 5–10 LOT trips a year

Likely default: Miles & More

Reason: You have natural concentration and may accumulate meaningful Qualifying Points.

Profile B: One LOT flight, but you already use Aeroplan heavily

Compare Aeroplan

Reason: Adding to a usable existing balance may be more valuable than creating orphan Miles & More miles.

Profile C: Frequent Turkish Airlines traveller who occasionally flies LOT

Compare Miles&Smiles

Reason: LOT has a published Miles&Smiles earning table and crediting the LOT flight may strengthen the programme you already use.

Profile D: Mostly Ryanair/Wizz, one LOT city break a year

Do not overthink it

Miles & More is a reasonable default, but the mileage outcome should not influence which airline you buy next time.

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Before entering your frequent-flyer number

Use this checklist:

1. Find the booking class

Not just Economy/Business.

2. Check the operating airline

Especially for codeshares.

3. Check the ticket issuer if the programme uses it

Some programmes calculate differently depending on ticket stock.

4. Compare at least:

• award miles/points;
• status credit;
• expiry;
• existing balance;
• realistic redemption.

5. Then choose one programme

You cannot split one flight's mileage credit across multiple programmes.

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EMBERFARE verdict

For most travellers based in Poland who repeatedly fly LOT, Miles & More is the correct default place to credit LOT flights.

But “default” is not “always best.”

If you already collect in another Star Alliance programme, or if your LOT booking class earns poorly in Miles & More and substantially better elsewhere, compare the exact ticket before crediting.

The key information is not:

“I'm flying LOT Economy.”

It is:

“I'm flying LOT, booking class X, ticket issued by Y, operated by Z, and I want either reward A or status B.”

Once you know that, the decision becomes much less mysterious.

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Last fact-checked

24 August 2026.

Editorial sources checked

Official Miles & More LOT earning page, LOT Miles & More page, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles LOT partner table, and Air Canada Aeroplan partner rules. Programme earning tables can change and should be re-verified before automated publication.