Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[kpc]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Syd-Kul via Bkk on TG in J class return, using maximum cash, minimum points, and then buying the minimum points under the current promo comes to USD959.04. Hmmmm.....

I think you've got your sums wrong. I make that $540 for the miles (36k) + $847.22 in cash/tax/fee - Total about $1400.

, thanks for pointing that out politely cf to other(s) who do so with some glee! I get $540 for the miles (36k) + $689.04 in cash/tax but I can't get the final pricing as I can't progress to the next screen due to lack of miles

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

The risk with buying miles through Life Miles is that they could increase the redemption levels with little warning. Not sure how good the consumer protection laws are. USA airlines can't do that without giving plenty of notice.

That being said, if you bought now and booked straight away then I don't think you'd need to worry about any award level increase. What would the story be if one of your flights cancelled and you had to rebook however? who knows - they might want the higher price at that stage.

As for the talk about US increasing the redemption levels? Who knows. It could happen, but ATM I'm looking at some simple award flights in the USA, 7 months in advance, and I'm getting quotes for 100k plus taxes for a domestic itinerary! And the availability calendar shows only 100K awards for about two weeks each side of when I want to go. So US is raking in some serious points. I could travel on a partner award, but would then have to pay the fee. So I'm not counting on any major award level increases from US.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

, thanks for pointing that out politely cf to other(s) who do so with some glee! I get $540 for the miles (36k) + $689.04.22 in cash/tax but I can't get the final pricing as I can't progress to the next screen due to lack of miles

you don't need miles to get to the final screen. The $689.04 you quote is not tax, its the cost of the 54,000 miles you are buying to top up. From this page simply hit CONTINUE and then CONTINUE when it informs you there is connecting flights. The next page shows USD25 redemption fee and USD133.18 in tax. I have seen this from an account I am short of miles on so you most definitely should be able to see exactly what I'm seeing. even if you have zero miles. total cost is USD1387.22


As for a risk with buying Lifemiles, there is a risk for having miles in ANY program. I would doubt Lifemiles would make any huge changes without a decent amount of notice. Anyway - up to you whether you risk it or not. For me it's definitely worth it. If I lose value by a few hundred dollars then so be it.

 

[kpc]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

you don't need miles to get to the final screen. The $689.04 you quote is not tax, its the cost of the 54,000 miles you are buying to top up. From this page simply hit CONTINUE and then CONTINUE when it informs you there is connecting flights. The next page shows USD25 redemption fee and USD133.18 in tax. I have seen this from an account I am short of miles on so you most definitely should be able to see exactly what I'm seeing. even if you have zero miles. total cost is USD1387.22


As for a risk with buying Lifemiles, there is a risk for having miles in ANY program. I would doubt Lifemiles would make any huge changes without a decent amount of notice. Anyway - up to you whether you risk it or not. For me it's definitely worth it. If I lose value by a few hundred dollars then so be it.

Thanks, not sure why I couldn't progress to the next screen....anyway it is good to know it can be done without the miles and you can get the exact pricing to make a decision. I probably want to do 4x (or even 5x) - a big ask - J return awards on Oz Syd-Icn-Lax in Dec 13 / Jan 14 for a family trip but that is too far in the future to consider buying miles now!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Thanks, not sure why I couldn't progress to the next screen....anyway it is good to know it can be done without the miles and you can get the exact pricing to make a decision. I probably want to do 4x (or even 5x) - a big ask - J return awards on Oz Syd-Icn-Lax in Dec 13 / Jan 14 for a family trip but that is too far in the future to consider buying miles now!

I'm taking a $2250 gamble on a similar routing now. Figure I can lock it in as 2 J returns on Lifemiles, 2 on AA, 2 x OneWorld 280K awards and we'll all meet up in the LOTFAP somehow

 

[bcworld]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

Well unfortunately I didnt have an email from Avianca or lifemiles this morning so I checked my reservation on the
Thai site and I now have a flight from MAD to BKK confirmed. However, its just a shame its for the 1st of Jan as
my flight for SYD from BKK departs 2 days prior on the 30th!!!

So, after a brief online chat with Avianca I rang Thai in BKK and they confirmed there is no award seating for what I
originally booked online, hence the waitlist, why i was allowed to book it if it was unavailable is anyones guess!?

I then spoke to Avianca & after being cut off several times I was advised that I had to speak to TACA as they issued
the ticket. Ok.... Again, I was cut off on 2 occasions after waiting for 15 minutes & eventually I gave up and decided
to use the TACA online chat. I spoke to Bryan who looked into it & told me I should receive an email from the
reservations dept. within 24 hours regarding the problem. Im not optimistic about receiving it.

Hopefully, if they cant get me on my original flight they will cancel it, ill a receive a $$ refund & the miles placed back
into my account. Im beginning to rate the USDM customer service now

Did you ever get this reservation sorted out robc?

I dug this up because I thought you were booked in F and I just read on airlineroute that, amongst other changes, as of 30 Oct MAD is downgraded to a 772ER, hence no more F class to MAD.

THAI W12 Operation Changes as of 04SEP12 | Airline Route – Worldwide Airline Route Updates

Now that the 3 class ex Jet 77W is lined up for BRU I think availability has opened up a bit there so maybe alternatives.

 

[robcuk]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

Did you ever get this reservation sorted out robc?

I dug this up because I thought you were booked in F and I just read on airlineroute that, amongst other changes, as of 30 Oct MAD is downgraded to a 772ER, hence no more F class to MAD.

THAI W12 Operation Changes as of 04SEP12 | Airline Route – Worldwide Airline Route Updates

Now that the 3 class ex Jet 77W is lined up for BRU I think availability has opened up a bit there so maybe alternatives.

Hi BC

yeah all sorted thanks, had a few live chats and phonecalls
which were a little frustrating especially as at one point I had
2 flights showing up on Thai's website on different days! I was
afraid they would cancel both.

On the original booking the aircraft was the older 747's
but I noticed it has changed. We flew from BKK to CMB
back in April on them and although they weren't great
they were ok.

When I booked the flights they were the only seats in
J available dep Europe on that date using Lifemiles.

On a separate subject we recently flew back from CDG
on the leased Jet planes and we thought they were fantastic
And obviously the FC Lounge was superb.

 

[bcworld]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

I had
2 flights showing up on Thai's website on different days! I was
afraid they would cancel both.

I had the same thing happen with one of my USDM bookings when US decided to play with it for no apparent reason...I was very concerned about how it would end up but I finally managed to speak to a decent supervisor who put it all back together.

Glad you got it all sorted!

 

[sr81]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Does anyone know if the member must be part of the booking? Ie. can I book for another person with my miles? Thanks in advance (don't have the points to push this through to the final screen).

 

[bcworld]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Does anyone know if the member must be part of the booking? Ie. can I book for another person with my miles? Thanks in advance (don't have the points to push this through to the final screen).

You can book for anyone you like. Of course it may be like USDM where some people find their accounts in audit if they make too many bookings for different surnames etc.

 

[robcuk]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

I had the same thing happen with one of my USDM bookings when US decided to play with it for no apparent reason...I was very concerned about how it would end up but I finally managed to speak to a decent supervisor who put it all back together.

Glad you got it all sorted!

Thanks - I think the Lifemiles are certainly handy if you just want a direct flight with no hassles in booking them but USDM just gives you a little more flexibility and the chance to Perhaps visit other places at no extra cost.

Im hoping to book a trip to the states via Europe for next summer and even if I pay 120k it's a great deal and unless I rang them I would not be able to use life miles?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

Now that the 3 class ex Jet 77W is lined up for BRU I think availability has opened up a bit there so maybe alternatives.

I thought it was a new deliver 77W going to BRU? Have they changed that and where is the new one going now? (with the full flat staggered configuration... LAX?)

 

[bcworld]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

It's now Jet 77W to BRU - strange decision - F is bookable. You would imagine they would've sent it to LAX...no point trying to second guess TG!

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

It's now Jet 77W to BRU - strange decision - F is bookable. You would imagine they would've sent it to LAX...no point trying to second guess TG!

USA is a leisure route for Thai, F very unlikely for that route, they do prefer to offer F in Europe

 

[tolchok]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

Woot, I have just booked my first first-class tickets; SYD to BKK return on TG for US$1820 plus CC conversion fees for December and January - the bookings are confirmed on the TG website and checkmytrip.com. I had a gander at Dazz's youtube clip on the flight (I've watched quite a few of your youtube clips in the past - so thanks). I am still considering using leftover miles for some inter-Asia flights, as I've been to Thailand a few times now.

I still have to find some cheap and dirty fares from MEL to SYD either side of the trip (I'm not going to bother with J or F for such a short flight, and may have to wait until CC is paid off again).

I am so glad that I discovered this website and FT, so thanks.

 

[travelislife]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

Ok, here is a curly one. I am trying to book the following trip:

MEL-BKK-BOM-JNB
JNB-BKK
BKK-MEL

MEL-BKK-BOM-JNB doesn't show up online but can be seen on all the other star alliance award tools. When I called up it wouldn't come up (I think because the BOM connection is over midnight) so I tried another tatic to spoon feed the flights. Well they can't see the BKK-MEL availability even though both flights that day show as available in business class on the lifemiles engine and on all of the star alliance tools! Also it didn't matter what call centre I called I spoke to the same agent when selecting English so it must reroute there and being 3:00am US time they probably have few agents on hence getting the same person so I couldn't play roulette.

JNB-BKK availability showing in business class online
BKK-MEL availability showing in business class online

HELP! This is so frustrating, I want to buy miles to book the other two segments through the online tool but I don't want to buy miles for business class for the first segment and then only be able to get economy so have left over miles. And with the current promo you are only allowed one transaction which doesn't help.

 

[arraitch]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

Ok, here is a curly one. I am trying to book the following trip:

MEL-BKK-BOM-JNB
JNB-BKK
BKK-MEL

MEL-BKK-BOM-JNB doesn't show up online but can be seen on all the other star alliance award tools. When I called up it wouldn't come up (I think because the BOM connection is over midnight) so I tried another tatic to spoon feed the flights. Well they can't see the BKK-MEL availability even though both flights that day show as available in business class on the lifemiles engine and on all of the star alliance tools! Also it didn't matter what call centre I called I spoke to the same agent when selecting English so it must reroute there and being 3:00am US time they probably have few agents on hence getting the same person so I couldn't play roulette.

JNB-BKK availability showing in business class online
BKK-MEL availability showing in business class online

HELP! This is so frustrating, I want to buy miles to book the other two segments through the online tool but I don't want to buy miles for business class for the first segment and then only be able to get economy so have left over miles. And with the current promo you are only allowed one transaction which doesn't help.

Have you tried checking inventory on AV for each of the MEL-BKK-BOM-JNB segments individually? When recently running some dummy bookings on AV, I was able to find inventory for PER-AKL and AKL-RAR, but not PER-AKL-RAR. Like others, I'm still on a learning curve here, but it is suggestive of a need to book more than one redemption with AV where only one redemption would be needed with US. I can only hope that I'm mistaken!

 

[bcworld]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

Have you tried checking inventory on AV for each of the MEL-BKK-BOM-JNB segments individually? When recently running some dummy bookings on AV, I was able to find inventory for PER-AKL and AKL-RAR, but not PER-AKL-RAR. Like others, I'm still on a learning curve here, but it is suggestive of a need to book more than one redemption with AV where only one redemption would be needed with US. I can only hope that I'm mistaken!

Online you are almost certainly correct...it's the call centre we don't have a lot of data points on. From what I've seen it seems like it could be a struggle to get them to single ticket something which the website doesn't offer.

 

[travelislife]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

Ok, so from my above questions I will give you the full story. My sister had got a quote for Melbourne to Johannesburg for a wedding and then back to Melbourne via a week in Bangkok to see the family all in economy for about $5500 for her and her husband. I definitely thought I could give them something better so got investigating that's when the flights above came about from searching using Awardtravelr.com.

MEL-JNB brought up MEL-BKK-BOM-JNB or MEL-SIN-BOM-JNB but neither showing on the Lifemiles booking engine
JNB-BKK
BKK-MEL

First up this morning I called GE Money (I was using a 28degreesmastercard) and they said yes due to the time of the transaction it was barred for fraud protection. Guy I spoke to was very friendly and said if I tried now (about 0930 AEST) it should go through fine. So I thanked him for his time and jumped back on to the lifemiles website.

With my account showing 0 miles I had decided I would go ahead and buy the full hogg, 75000+75000 bonus for 2250USD. Credit card worked and the miles were showing instantly in my account.

I then went ahead and booked both the JNB-BKK and BKK-MEL flights as two separate bookings both on TG using minimum miles/maximum cash through the Lifemiles online engine, all very straight forward. I had been told on one of my calls yesterday that stopovers weren't possible so just went ahead with the separate bookings.

Next up was the challenge after my results yesterday. All these flight were showing in the Lifemiles engine when looked at separately just had to get them as a single ticket. I called up at about 7:30pm New York time and got a friendly agent in Will. This time I changed my tack and straight up just asked for MEL-BKK for 2 in Business Class. This then provided a 12hr break in Bangkok to catch up with the family. Once he had found that I then asked to connect on the flight BKK-BOM giving him the flight number, once that was in I then asked for BOM-JNB. All seats found and the ticket in place I provided the passenger numbers. What happened next was great as well, I asked if he had a PNR so I could check it was all correct, he actually then emailed me the full itinerary for me to read over and check, all was good. I had 66,000 miles left in my account and was going to use the minimum 60,000 but he calculated for the whole lot and I couldn't be bothered trying to change it.

The annoying bit was when it came to payment, make sure you have already set up the PIN in your lifemiles profile. It took about half an hour going back and forth till finally it accepted my pin and the payment could be made. All up about an hour on the phone.

So all up the experience was very good and it appears if you get a competent agent (compared to what I was trying to deal with the night before when they couldn't even find the MEL-BKK) it can work out. It would be interesting what the max segments are before they wouldn't say it is connecting any more but this one flight is over 3 separate days and all was good.

Also of note is that we could have also done it MEL-SIN-BOM-JNB as the SIA flights were available but obviously not showing on the front end of the lifemiles engine but the agent could definitely book them as they were all on 777 aircraft.

No ticket numbers yet but hopefully all works out and will update with total costs etc, any questions let me know.

 

[bcworld]

Re: Avianca Transfer Miles promo (of course you need some miles to start with)

(I was using a 28degreesmastercard) and they said yes due to the time of the transaction it was barred for fraud protection. Guy I spoke to was very friendly and said if I tried now (about 0930 AEST) it should go through fine. So I thanked him for his time and jumped back on to the lifemiles website.

I too used 28 degrees for my recent redemptions. No issue with them going through but about 5 mins after the first redemption I did get a text asking to reply '1' if I had authorised the transactions or '2' for not authorised.

Sounds like you had a positive experience with the call centre though which is great...it's probably time for a 'Successful bookings with LifeMiles thread'...would be great if people could share what they have been able to book online but more importantly what they have been able to book via the call centre.