United and Star Alliance partners have San Francisco to Mumbai priced from around $770 to $800 round trip for departures beginning October 4 through March 15, excluding most of December and early January dates. These are K class fares ticketed through United for earning regular Mileage Plus miles at 5x base fare. Ticketing through Lufthansa earns 25% miles with Mileas & More, however Lufthansa economy K class is not a miles earning fare for United Mileage Plus.
For such a long flight, my preference would be to fly Lufthansa on a United Airlines issued ticket and break it up with an overnight in Germany.
United Airlines ticket San Francisco SFO – Munich MUC (LH) – Mumbai BOM (LH) – Newark EWR (UA) – SFO (UA)
$784.89 Tuesday November 10 – Tuesday November 17
Flight Miles: 20,176 miles; UA Base fare $663.00.
This is close to the lowest fare I see in my records for United tickets on this route. The UA fare was $766 August 30.
The reason I favor an overnight is to avoid a 21 hour flight itinerary like the one shown below with little time to stretch between flights. And the return flight has a 10-hour layover from 5:45am to 3:50pm leaving you with a long layover and little time for sleep in a hotel room. Of course, if you have airport lounge access, then the daytime layover might afford an opportunity to eat, drink and sleep in an airport lounge in Munich.
United Airlines ticket San Francisco SFO – – Newark EWR (UA) – Mumbai BOM (UA) – Munich MUC (LH) – SFO (LH)
$782.09 Wednesday February 10 – Wednesday February 24
Flight Miles: 20,176 miles; UA Base fare $663.00.
Loyalty Traveler curated September Airfare Deals and Google Flights tutorials.
