Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

question... friend of mine has just called LM to change a flight to singapore airlines (all the way AU-Europe - from TG, no brainer!). The new booking has been successfully made, but the agent said they were having difficulty with processing the credit card and that their finance department would call my friend back.

Friend has called their bank - there was no fraud restriction. The only charge is to be the $150 change fee.

Any experience or advice on this? My friend is concerned they're going to lose the SQ booking. The booking shows up on the SQ site as 'not ticketed'.

As an aside - the change from TG->SQ is under the new mileage, but they weren't offered a refund of miles.

 

[ozmouse]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Yes i retried at 30,000 and got the bonus 37500 for $990.

So looks like sometimes when you key in the points it tells you you are over your annual limit and does not offer the bonus points on front screen. Other times, bonus point are offered and sends you to second screen to purchase the bonus points! good one.

AND... retried another purchase.... multiple points values ... all returned i have gone over my annual limit of first screen.

BUT tried 10,000.... and got bonus of 12.5 for $330!!!

third time... not so lucky! 10,000 does not offer bonus points, all other numbers tried, return i am over annual limit.

What fun!!! who needs pokies when you have lifemiles website! and needless to say much better return from lifemiles!

as an aside, in the past i have always used my american express card for these purchases. pretty straight forward, just requires sms validation of purchase, and retry. Today with visa initial attempt was declined. Then I had a nice call from bank fraud dept asking about my purchase that they declined. I asked if they could approve this vendor going forward, and they said they could not leave an opened ended approval for a vendor, only an approved period. Going forward, if i call the 24hr fraud number provided, in advance of purchase, they will let it thru first go.

 

[thehound]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

I bought 44000 in May (22k + bonus), 38000 in October (19k + bonus) and just got 101250 (45k + 51250 bonus). So I've gone over the 150k without issue.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

I bought 44000 in May (22k + bonus), 38000 in October (19k + bonus) and just got 101250 (45k + 51250 bonus). So I've gone over the 150k without issue.

seems the limit has been upped to 217500.

Maybe for those purchasing the 150K limit this round it would allow a second purchase of another 30K plus bonus?

 

[Gold Member]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

66,000 base + 82,500 bonus (total 148,500) purchased for $2,178 USD. I have no plans to use my new balance of 400K but I just couldn't pass up a 125% bonus offer!

 

[appaz]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

why is searching for awards so painfully slow and clunky? i've tried chrome and safari and they are both horrible.

any tips?

at this snail pace it could take me a week to find the flights i want >_<

 

[MEL_Traveller]

why is searching for awards so painfully slow and clunky? i've tried chrome and safari and they are both horrible.

any tips?

at this snail pace it could take me a week to find the flights i want >_<

save for singapore airlines, using United's tools is quick and simple, and will give you month-at-a-glance.

once you have found something that matches LM's requirements (for example no long stopovers etc) you can cross-reference with LM.

 

[prozac]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Why has the thread title changed?
I don't understand what it means nor how it relates to LF?- "Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou" :-|

 

[appaz]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

save for singapore airlines, using United's tools is quick and simple, and will give you month-at-a-glance.

once you have found something that matches LM's requirements (for example no long stopovers etc) you can cross-reference with LM.

thanks, makes sense

I've never bought any LM's but I'm thinking of stocking up and saving them for any last minute trips (SQ -14 days) to Asia

 

[PlutekPlutek]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

why is searching for awards so painfully slow and clunky? i've tried chrome and safari and they are both horrible.

any tips?

at this snail pace it could take me a week to find the flights i want >_<

Their website is slow in general. A lot of people must be buying these points, because it took ages for my CC information to process.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Why has the thread title changed?
I don't understand what it means nor how it relates to LF?- "Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou" :-|

it happens when quoting posts. I admit I rarely check to see if any title comes across.

 

[appaz]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

Their website is slow in general. A lot of people must be buying these points, because it took ages for my CC information to process.

yea i think its worse then last time i played around with it and it was bad before!

 

[drron]

Re: Rumour:[Denied by RR] Qantas to ban JQ SYD-MEL pax from F lounges & send to J lou

My experience this morning was that it was pretty quick.have taken a lot longer in the past.

 

[Sparra]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Topped up with 15000 + bonus 18750, max allowed to get bonus. US$495 and went through quickly.

 

[bean]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Is it normal for this many people to purchase this many points-what are the4 downrside risks of devaluation and or not being able to redeem? Id imagine there are millions of points being sold?

 

[PlutekPlutek]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Is it normal for this many people to purchase this many points-what are the4 downrside risks of devaluation and or not being able to redeem? Id imagine there are millions of points being sold?

I think they recently devalued their points, so the likelihood of it happening again soon, IMHO are low, so it could be a risk worth taking - for me anyway.

 

[bcworld]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Is it normal for this many people to purchase this many points-what are the4 downrside risks of devaluation and or not being able to redeem? Id imagine there are millions of points being sold?

Travel between Australia and Asia is now the real sweet spot of this program...which is great for us! It's also likely not the route that the vast majority of people buying miles today are looking to redeem. So if you're happy to spend your miles between Aus and Asia...or Aus and the EU I wouldn't be worried too much about availability. The vast majority of buyers will be chasing transatlantic and transpacific seats.

 

[legroom]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

66,000 + bonus = 148,500

Visa declined on 1st attempt.

2nd attempt 15min later went through.

In between, I spoke to Citibank who could see a nominal charge of $1.19 from Avianca !!!!

Citibank did not block, nor unblock anything in response to my call.

So do they test charge a nominal amount to see if the card is real ?

What would happen if I had not proceeded with the 2nd attempt ? Auto-reversal ?

 

[diningdecadence]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

umm'ing and ahhh'ing with an hour to go. haven't bought any this year and also seeing the 66k + bonus figure.

what F is available on LM besides TG? please PM me if looking to keep the freeriders out!

 

[stoneman]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

66,000 + bonus = 148,500

Visa declined on 1st attempt.

2nd attempt 15min later went through.

In between, I spoke to Citibank who could see a nominal charge of $1.19 from Avianca !!!!

Citibank did not block, nor unblock anything in response to my call.

So do they test charge a nominal amount to see if the card is real ?

Pretty sure they do, mine always has that small charge, although I always use the same card ...