lufthansa does add fuel surcharges hidden as fees on award tickets. this is prohibited for us based carriers. a transatlantic award flight (regardless which airline is actually flown) with miles and more can cost up to 500 eur in additional taxes and fees whereas the same itinerary booked with the us based star alliance partner (united) and their miles would cost less than 100 eur in fees and taxes (even if the itinerary involves lufthansa aircraft). so miles and more may have a much lower value than us based miles.