Avianca LifeMiles – Bookings and Discussion

[support]

This thread is for both general discussion on LifeMiles bookings and the posting of successful bookings, spanning the year 2020 and beyond.

If deemed appropriate, some posts may be separated into their own threads from time to time if they warrant it.

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

Successful booking via the screen shot method. Only took a couple of days
ICN via PEK to Mel for 2 via Bus class on Air China.
purchased 45,000 points at $675 USD used 35,000 points already in my account
Bought the tix in early Nov
I have heard that they aren't the greatest airline but i could not find any other options, wanted to use Thai but could not find any seats at the time of the booking

 

[Mattg]

I have heard that they aren't the greatest airline but i could not find any other options, wanted to use Thai but could not find any seats at the time of the booking

I've taken 4 long-haul J flights on Air China over the past few weeks, and they were quite acceptable. Not SQ, but still very good for the price/availability.

 

[kpc]

2x J Cpt-Add-Kgl on ET for 66K miles + USD116.50 for both tickets

 

[henleybeach]

Successful booking via the screen shot method. Only took a couple of days
ICN via PEK to Mel for 2 via Bus class on Air China.
purchased 45,000 points at $675 USD used 35,000 points already in my account
Bought the tix in early Nov
I have heard that they aren't the greatest airline but i could not find any other options, wanted to use Thai but could not find any seats at the time of the booking

I did that exact flight in may this year on the way to Tashkent, I found air China was a lot better then I expected and the food was quite nice. The a330 seats while not private are nice for sleeping as they are long and no restrictions. They don’t have the polish in service like SQ but you leave Melbourne at 2000hrs , so it’s basically dinner , movie and bed so there isn’t the need to interact with crew and vice versa

 

[N860CR]

2x J Cpt-Add-Kgl on ET for 66K miles + USD116.50 for both tickets

Did you have to screenshot or did it work online?

 

[kpc]

Did you have to screenshot or did it work online?

online

 

[tallboy]

Given all the LM issues you may also want to think about using all of your miles to get rid of them.

Yes, understood. I can't imagine that Avianca are selling too many new miles with their recent promos. I am finding the newer version of the website much more difficult to use and of course availability from AUS to / from anywhere in Asia is scarce these days

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

I've taken 4 long-haul J flights on Air China over the past few weeks, and they were quite acceptable. Not SQ, but still very good for the price/availability.

I will be flying SQ there and Air China on the way back so looking forward to both carriers, at least i will get a gold class service there

 

[Mattg]

Avianca has started offering a new service where you can "lock in" an award booking for a small fee (from USD8) and pay later, which could be useful for example if you were planning to buy or transfer miles.

Sadly, only applies to awards on flights operated by Avianca that are available on their website.

LifeMiles

www.lifemiles.com

 

[JessicaTam]

Avianca has started offering a new service where you can "lock in" an award booking for a small fee (from USD8) and pay later, which could be useful for example if you were planning to buy or transfer miles.

Sadly, only applies to awards on flights operated by Avianca that are available on their website.

LifeMiles

www.lifemiles.com

So nothing useful then?

 

[boomy]

Just when you think Lifemiles are not what they used to be comes cheeky little redemption that restores some faith

HKG-SIN SQ B773 First
SIN-BKK TG A359 Business
BKK-SYD TG B744 First

Total 48,620 miles plus $US88 taxes.

Booking was done via screenshots 4 weeks in advance.

Note that currently SQ 890/891 is wide open (often up to 4 seats) until the end of February. Seat map shows two rows in F so can be either new or old version.
Selecting outbound departure offers ideal flight timing (12:30pm departure) plus dinner at TPR on arrival

This itinerary requires overnight stopover either in SIN or BKK, I chose the former.

 

[pmdg7444]

has anyone succeeded in booking NRT/HND- JFK on new ANA F Suites for 90K ? The website errors out.

Though if you attempt HND-ORD on the old ANA F class for the same 90K, it goes through....

 

[luxury-lizard]

Yippee - just booked YVR-HND-SYD on Feb 2 in business (seats just popped up today) - can fly home on same flights as MR LL (He took the single award seat 11 months ago). I was booked on AC/OZ via ICN - cancellation via phone went smoothly.

First tried the booking online using Safari and after the first 'proceed' it gave the dreaded error message - I almost gave up but decided to try Google Chrome and the booking went through. Now if I can just wind down all remaining LM points - it's just too hard.

 

[k_sheep]

Okay possibly daft question ahead.

I'm looking at a oneway BOG-SJU in July. 2 hour flight, costs $814 in economy so thought this might be a good chance to use miles instead. Available for 48,000 miles + 300,000 cop.

I have a lifemiles account, but to buy 50,000 miles costs 5,574,410 cop (aud $2470!)

What am I doing wrong? *cries* I guess there's 2 things - for some reason, the miles cost is way high in July (it is down to 12000 next month say) and no buy promo on currently?

 

[luxury-lizard]

This seemed kind of funny so I took a look myself - and yes paid Y is $815 and miles cost between 41,000-48,000 in July depending on the day. However it is clearly not worth buying points without a promo (or, for that matter, even with a promo) - since your flight is not until July why not wait a while - perhaps the cost of the flight (in $ or points) will go down and/or LM may have a promo which makes it sensible to buy points.

 

[k_sheep]

Yeah I'm pretty sure Mr k_sheep will divorce me if I take the paid BOG-EWR-SJU option again ....

And yes I've got time on my side, and hopefully a lot of specials will come thanks to virus hysteria so I will hold off for now.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Agree with luxury lizard... even with a points promo, it is cheaper to buy the flight rather than use miles. Just about the cheapest you’re gonna be able to buy miles will be around 1.34c each (vary rarely they have a super super special, but it’s only fractions of a cent cheaper).

 

[dzinh]

Just when you think Lifemiles are not what they used to be comes cheeky little redemption that restores some faith

HKG-SIN SQ B773 First
SIN-BKK TG A359 Business
BKK-SYD TG B744 First

Total 48,620 miles plus $US88 taxes.

Booking was done via screenshots 4 weeks in advance.

Note that currently SQ 890/891 is wide open (often up to 4 seats) until the end of February. Seat map shows two rows in F so can be either new or old version.
Selecting outbound departure offers ideal flight timing (12:30pm departure) plus dinner at TPR on arrival

This itinerary requires overnight stopover either in SIN or BKK, I chose the former.

can you have a layover in each port like a few days or does it have to be the minimum layover 24hr or less sort of thing?

 

[boomy]

can you have a layover in each port like a few days or does it have to be the minimum layover 24hr or less sort of thing?

Dry rules say < 24hr.

I did, on few occasions, manage to get > 24hr when booking using screenshots but it’s not something I would rely on.