To date, the German credit cards for Lufthansa's Miles&More frequent flyer program have been issued by Deutsche Kreditbank AG. The cooperation will not be continued, because from mid-2025 the Mastercards will be issued by the competitor Deutsche Bank AG.

“I look forward to working with strong partners so that we can make our customers even better and more innovative offers. In the Lufthansa Group, we are continuously expanding our premium offering – well beyond the actual flight. Long-term and trusting customer relationships are elementary. Together we will continue to develop Europe's leading loyalty program - for our customers all over the world," said Christina Foerster, member of the Lufthansa Executive Board.

The business with co-branded credit cards was once considered to be extremely lucrative, since frequent flyers who are intent on optimizing their mileage account balance tend to generate higher sales. In addition, the issuer earns money every time the card is used. Of the fees that the retailer has to deduct, 0,3 percent goes to the issuing bank for Visa and Mastercard credit cards. For debit cards it is 0,2 percent. In the past, costs were significantly higher, but have been capped by the European Union. This led to declining income for issuers.

However, the other side of the coin is that many shops that previously only accepted cash or limited themselves to debit cards, in Germany mostly the isolated solution Girocard, are gradually also accepting Visa and Mastercard. This led to significantly increased acceptance and, in the case of Miles&More credit cards, more opportunities to earn miles.

After many years, however, Deutsche Kreditbank AG and the Lufthansa frequent flyer program will go their separate ways. As Miles&More announced, Deutsche Bank AG was able to prevail in a new tender. As a result, existing cardholders will receive new cards from mid-2025. The exact procedure is still completely open, because for data protection reasons it will not be possible for customer data to be passed on from bank to bank. It can therefore be assumed that active action by cardholders will be necessary. It is highly likely that Deutsche Bank AG will also have to carry out a new credit check. This could be annoying for one or the other customer, since the query alone can leave traces and sometimes worsening scores in credit bureaus.

“Miles & More has one of the leading credit card portfolios in Germany and Europe. We are pleased that Lufthansa is relying on Deutsche Bank's payment know-how and reach for this growth product. We have a strong position in the credit card issuing business in Germany. With Miles & More, we will continue to advance our important payment transactions business as part of our growth strategy as a global house bank,” says Christian Sewing, CEO of Deutsche Bank.