Avianca Life Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here

[kpc]

Another family booking x4 on OZ J: Kix-Icn-Syd @40K Lifemiles + USD82.44 each
(miles bought at USD0.15 per mile when exchange rate was USD0.93=AUD1)
...so still happy with Avianca Lifemiles (just wished I had bought more when AUD was much stronger against USD)

[cf QF J: Syd-Hnd @72K QF miles + AUD$208.42 each]

 

[PlutekPlutek]

x2 OZ SYD-ICN (J, 40,000 each)
+
x2 OZ ICN-LAX A380 (J, 75,000 each)

With an overnight stop in Seoul. Two separate bookings.

 

[boomy]

x2 OZ SYD-ICN (J, 40,000 each)
+
x2 OZ ICN-LAX A380 (J, 75,000 each)

With an overnight stop in Seoul. Two separate bookings.

It can all be done in one booking, unless you really need that overnight stopover in ICN.
Nice to see OZ still offer good availability.

 

[VAG newbie]

It can all be done in one booking, unless you really need that overnight stopover in ICN.
Nice to see OZ still offer good availability.

Or unless you really want to be on the A380

 

[PlutekPlutek]

Or unless you really want to be on the A380

That was a big part of it
The other planes I think don't have lie-flat beds, whereas the A380 does, and the timings were better for me.

 

[drron]

Another family booking x4 on OZ J: Kix-Icn-Syd @40K Lifemiles + USD82.44 each
(miles bought at USD0.15 per mile when exchange rate was USD0.93=AUD1)
...so still happy with Avianca Lifemiles (just wished I had bought more when AUD was much stronger against USD)

[cf QF J: Syd-Hnd @72K QF miles + AUD$208.42 each]

I agree it is still good value.
I calculate my cost on what I paid.Initially I bought when the $A was at $1.05 so 70 lifemiles per Aussie $.At 90 cents-60 and if 75 cents-50 LM per Aussie$.
So the cost for each of your redemptions would be ~ $650,$770,and $900.So seeing the best return Y fare from SYD-ICN flying direct is $1416 that I could find I would definitely still go with LM J redemptions.

 

[boomy]

Or unless you really want to be on the A380

I could bare the 7 hours connection in one of the best airports in the world to save a decent amount of miles (especially for 2 pax) but I can understand why I may be in the minority on that one

 

[kpc]

I agree it is still good value.
I calculate my cost on what I paid.Initially I bought when the $A was at $1.05 so 70 lifemiles per Aussie $.At 90 cents-60 and if 75 cents-50 LM per Aussie$.
So the cost for each of your redemptions would be ~ $650,$770,and $900.So seeing the best return Y fare from SYD-ICN flying direct is $1416 that I could find I would definitely still go with LM J redemptions.

My (almost exact) cost is AUD$750 per pax in J oneway: KIX-ICN-SYD ...it would have been a lot better in the days when the AUD was at parity or higher against the USD:shock:

 

[PlutekPlutek]

I could bare the 7 hours connection in one of the best airports in the world to save a decent amount of miles (especially for 2 pax) but I can understand why I may be in the minority on that one

You have a good point, however this ticket is for my parents, and after arriving in LAX they have a 4 and a half hour stop before another 5 hr flight to Miami. So this overnight stop will help break up the trip somewhat, and they always say how much they love to stop over in Korea. Its still pretty good value IMO, for the whole trip they are using about $4000 worth of LM points and $400 in taxes, 72000 QF points for J for LAX-MIA and 250k VA points for J FLL-LAX-BNE-NTL. All up if they were to buy these tickets it would have cost 20+k I would think.

 

[VAG newbie]

You have a good point, however this ticket is for my parents, and after arriving in LAX they have a 4 and a half hour stop before another 5 hr flight to Miami. So this overnight stop will help break up the trip somewhat, and they always say how much they love to stop over in Korea. Its still pretty good value IMO, for the whole trip they are using about $4000 worth of LM points and $400 in taxes, 72000 QF points for J for LAX-MIA and 250k VA points for J FLL-LAX-BNE-NTL. All up if they were to buy these tickets it would have cost 20+k I would think.

Did you consider going all the way with F given that it's only extra 15k each? If I had to stop over in Korea anyway, I would fly first ICN-LAX on the A380 suite.

 

[VAG newbie]

SYD-ICN in OZ J class.
NRT-BKK-SYD in TG F class.
Total 36000 miles plus cash.

Haven't decided on which one to fly from Seoul to Tokyo. But most likely NH 77W. Wanna try the Inspiration of Japan!

 

[smit0847]

NRT-BKK-SYD in TG F class.

That's a good booking. 1 pax I assume? NRT is the hardest route to find TG availability on.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

Did you consider going all the way with F given that it's only extra 15k each? If I had to stop over in Korea anyway, I would fly first ICN-LAX on the A380 suite.

I would love to but i coudln't see any availability in F. 2 passengers around 25/26 June (flexible). Can you see anything ?

 

[VAG newbie]

That's a good booking. 1 pax I assume? NRT is the hardest route to find TG availability on.

Actually I was looking to book HND-BKK initially. Availability was always good on that one. But they recently announced the changes in aircraft to 777, so no more F to HND. Even for the NRT one, the flight I got will be downgraded to a 747 from A380. (still better than any J, and I get the spa treatment) So perhaps the availability to NRT will be better now.

 

[anna2103]

Hong Kong- BKK - SYD for 50,000 miles. Ref point: 18 hours to respond to email with screenshots etc, another 36 hours for this to ring me to ticket, they range at 6am Brisbane time.

Also, when they rang to collect taxes was also able to get them to revalidate a ticket with a schedule change over the phone. Email I send about the same issue went unanswered.

So its worked out this time - but last LM experience for me ( unless the AUS goes up dramatically which isn't for a while yet)!!!

 

[TKK]

Finally.

2 x HKG-BKK-SYD F on TG for: 45,000 miles + USD825 (effectively 1.5c per mile) co-payment + USD76 tax + USD50 booking fee ($25 per ticket)

All up took 24 days from first email to resolution (no response the first 3 days, had to follow up).
Payment call came through 1:05pm Sydney time and took 43 minutes including putting the agents (yep two of them – one translates the other) on hold for 5 minutes while I spoke to Amex to clear the transaction that was declined on first try, flagged as suspicious transaction.

Happy that things worked out in the end but boy what an experience.

My tips:
• Get an earbud or bluetooth headset handy when you expect to receive the call.
• Allow plenty of time, push back any meeting you have in the next 30 minutes just in case.
• If possible, call your bank beforehand letting them know you're expecting a charge from Avianca Lifemiles.
• If doing co-payment, a lot easier if you know exactly how much miles you want to use. It takes a few minutes for the agent to provide you with a quote. In my case the agent thought I want to use 45k miles for each ticket and had to redo the quote.

Thanks to everyone who shared their experience I'm very well aware of what to expect and yes, I'll stick to simple online booking next time. Fingers crossed they fix the glitch on their website.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

SYD-ICN in OZ J class.
NRT-BKK-SYD in TG F class.
Total 36000 miles plus cash.

Haven't decided on which one to fly from Seoul to Tokyo. But most likely NH 77W. Wanna try the Inspiration of Japan!

Whats the cash component ? One way SYD-ICN is 40k alone. Two bookings or a combined booking ?

 

[VAG newbie]

Whats the cash component ? One way SYD-ICN is 40k alone. Two bookings or a combined booking ?

SYD-ICN was 16K miles plus $402.66 + $66.10 (tax).
NRT-BKK-SYD was 20K miles plus $472.08 + $69.55(tax).
All in USD. Unfortunately with the poor exchange rate, the cash component was about $1100-1200 AUD. The mileage was purchased at better exchange rate, so overall cost would be roughly $1700-1800 AUD? That's about how much economy is gonna cost.

 

[kevinyhli]

Managed to make my first LM booking today SYD-BKK-HKG on TG F (all possible now thanks to the weird timing of TG472 which allowed F connections to HKG, although it is in the middle of the night with 4 hours in BKK...).

Booking done via e-mail and screen shots to LM and took 3 days in total (could have been done in 2 days but they initially booked me on the wrong day so it took another 24 hours to sort it out). Sent initial request on Tuesday noon and LM rang on Thursday morning 11am Sydney time to collect the tax - call only took 15 minutes which was fantastic - although it was extremely hard to hear what the agent was speaking.

All up SYD-BKK-HKG F was 25k miles + US$545.35 (which I believe is incorrect, from what I calculated it should be $375 co-payment + $25 booking fee + $65.10 tax = $465.10). Will be fun and games to liaise with LM to understand what was the additional $80 fee.

All up the experience is not as traumatic as I have expected but I could have been lucky

 

[smit0847]

Managed to make my first LM booking today SYD-BKK-HKG on TG F (all possible now thanks to the weird timing of TG472 which allowed F connections to HKG, although it is in the middle of the night with 4 hours in BKK...).

Booking done via e-mail and screen shots to LM and took 3 days in total (could have been done in 2 days but they initially booked me on the wrong day so it took another 24 hours to sort it out). Sent initial request on Tuesday noon and LM rang on Thursday morning 11am Sydney time to collect the tax - call only took 15 minutes which was fantastic - although it was extremely hard to hear what the agent was speaking.

All up SYD-BKK-HKG F was 25k miles + US$545.35 (which I believe is incorrect, from what I calculated it should be $375 co-payment + $25 booking fee + $65.10 tax = $465.10). Will be fun and games to liaise with LM to understand what was the additional $80 fee.

All up the experience is not as traumatic as I have expected but I could have been lucky

Keep an eye on the 472 timings. I would expect this to either go back to it's original schedule arriving into BKK in the evening or this flight to be permanently cancelled!