Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I went to the home page where it says the following - but it must include tax that we don't have to pay...

• Maximum LifeMiles to receive per member per calendar year: LM 150,000 (including bonuses transfer of promotional miles).
• Transfer fee for each block of 1,000 LifeMiles: USD $17.70* including taxes for each country**.

 

[burmans]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I went to the home page where it says the following - but it must include tax that we don't have to pay...

We have had this before, the price they quote is the worst price and includes taxes not payable in Australia.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

We have had this before, the price they quote is the worst price and includes taxes not payable in Australia.

yes, my oversight.

The main issue I have this round is that with the current booking problems I'm only really seeing a handful easily bookable and value for money awards: Air China to China, SQ business from PER, Air india to India, and UA to the states. TG is 'on hold' given their current route restructuring (who knows what they're up to with their F class) and their angled beds aren't competitive.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

We have had this before, the price they quote is the worst price and includes taxes not payable in Australia.

We have these questions every time.

If you actually LOG in and go to transfer miles it says USD15 plus taxes, the same 'plus tax' applies on the buy miles page. This plus tax has ALWAYS existed for people residing in certain s.american countries who have to pay a tax, anyone with an Australian address has NEVER paid a tax on these buy miles/transfer miles purchases.

As for how this is a good deal, its simple.

Pay USD15 to transfer 1000 miles to person B account = person b receives 2000 miles. Therefore for USD15 you have generated 1000 miles. This is cheaper than purchasing miles at the new rate.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

yes, my oversight.

The main issue I have this round is that with the current booking problems I'm only really seeing a handful easily bookable and value for money awards: Air China to China, SQ business from PER, Air india to India, and UA to the states. TG is 'on hold' given their current route restructuring (who knows what they're up to with their F class) and their angled beds aren't competitive.

Yes it's not good news ex-Australia, but intra-asia, and lots of of other routes not involving Australia are still bookable, so if you need one of those routes on your world travels it may still be useful, otherwise it's a waste of time for ex-Australia now.... still ok if you just want a straight booking to bangkok though.

As for angled beds not competitive there are no airline flying to Bangkok direct from BNE/SYD/MEL with anything other than angled lie flats, until QF A330 refurb is complete and you do have a slight chance of a 777-300ER still, so more hope than others of a flat bed at the moment

 

[PlutekPlutek]

Re: Avianca Life Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here

Not with that much trouble. If just a difference of 15k miles, I would say yes. But to cancel that many bookings you will lose a lot more miles and money. (And you don't wanna mess with LM trying to do connections in BKK!)

In my experience, the issue with current J lie flat seats is that they are quite narrow. You usually have to put your feet in a tiny cubby hole. I am a bad sleeper that I always flip around, spread and cross my legs. So I always bump my feet on the walls of the cubby hole, or bump my elbow on the armrests. The best sleep I had on business class was surprisingly on QF skybed MKII. Although it it's 2-2-2 configuration with no direct aisle access to everyone, there is no cubby hole so I had no problem with my legs. I picked the centre aisle seat so I had no aisle access issues.

But that was just me. If your parents are like my wife, who would not move an inch while sleeping, then J is more than adequate.

All that said, check on YouTube and watch the trip reports some others made. See and decide for yourself.

If the F seats become available on the same flight that I currently have J seats for, would I still need to cancel/rebook, or is it possible to somehow upgrade an existing ticket ?

 

[VAG newbie]

Re: Avianca Life Miles - post your SUCCESSFUL award bookings here

If the F seats become available on the same flight that I currently have J seats for, would I still need to cancel/rebook, or is it possible to somehow upgrade an existing ticket ?

It will always be easier to rebook and then cancel so you can be assured that you have seats. If you cancel first, while awaiting for your miles to be reinstated (anything between instantly to 3 months, depending on your agent), the F seats may be taken. This will cost you $50. But you need to have lots of miles in your account. Not much of a problem now tho as there is a share mile promotion going on.

To change is rather complicated as you need to contact LM CSR and the quality of their agents is very inconsistent. I haven't had much luck with changing with them as somehow they can't see the availability I can see online. This happened on no less than 3 HUACA! It will also cost $150 instead of $50.

BTW, we might have to continue this conversation to the LM thread as this is really for us to post our success story, not for LM discussion in general.

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

There is a huge advantage of share mile over 2-4-1 buying miles that many mightn't know. To share mile you can share it with any account, even those that just opened today. To buy mile at 2-4-1 rate, the account must be pre-existing.

So for those that missed out and wanna jump onto LM wagon, now is the chance. Or for those who wants >75000 miles, get your dad, mum, brothers, sisters' DL number and open a virtual account so you can keep transferring and keep getting more miles. Just remember, there is still a maximum of 150k miles (including bonus) you can receive in one account.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

So this could be a nice little miles multiplier.
Do you think this would work ?
Transfer 1000 from A to B, becomes 2000.
Then transfer 2000 from B to C , becomes 4000,
Then transfer 4000 from C to D, becomes 8000 ?

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

So this could be a nice little miles multiplier.
Do you think this would work ?
Transfer 1000 from A to B, becomes 2000.
Then transfer 2000 from B to C , becomes 4000,
Then transfer 4000 from C to D, becomes 8000 ?

Yes, you can. I've read it somewhere. I haven't done it from 1000 miles, but I have done it from 10000 miles and multiplied to maximum allowed. But the math is very complicated. You need to be careful so not to leave 5-6k stuck in 5 different accounts, which will be useless.

And, make sure you notify your credit card company. They will definitely block it after 3 transaction in a row from dodgy El Salvador/Columbia!

 

[Guvner]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

So this could be a nice little miles multiplier.
Do you think this would work ?
Transfer 1000 from A to B, becomes 2000.
Then transfer 2000 from B to C , becomes 4000,
Then transfer 4000 from C to D, becomes 8000 ?

That's a lot of effort for 1000 miles.

 

[legroom]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I had a look at one of the short intra Asia routes on TG.

The fees / taxes / cost of miles added up to more or less the same as a cash ticket. In one case in J, it was more than if I were to purchase a cash ticket.

I'd surmise that the sweet spot is for longer transcontinental route e.g. BKK CDG where cash price would be prohibitive cf to redemption.

Yes it's not good news ex-Australia, but intra-asia, and lots of of other routes not involving Australia are still bookable, so if you need one of those routes on your world travels it may still be useful, otherwise it's a waste of time for ex-Australia now.... still ok if you just want a straight booking to bangkok though.

As for angled beds not competitive there are no airline flying to Bangkok direct from BNE/SYD/MEL with anything other than angled lie flats, until QF A330 refurb is complete and you do have a slight chance of a 777-300ER still, so more hope than others of a flat bed at the moment

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I had a look at one of the short intra Asia routes on TG.

The fees / taxes / cost of miles added up to more or less the same as a cash ticket. In one case in J, it was more than if I were to purchase a cash ticket.

I'd surmise that the sweet spot is for longer transcontinental route e.g. BKK CDG where cash price would be prohibitive cf to redemption.

Also, for a short flight less than 2 hours, I don't mind flying in economy. The "business" product is either same as economy with middle seat blocked (as in Europe), or just simply premium economy seats. If it is included in one award as a connecting flight, then I will take it. But to redeem it on it's own... not worth it. The bottom line is, shop around!

 

[Alanslegal]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Alot of sharing transactions if one starts from 1,000 ...... wait, I can't even start as my balance is 750 points

That said, I know most people are keen to book TG F (which most of TG seems unbookable online except a handful of routes) but there can be so good value redemptions out there. I was looking at New York to Malta with LH, now this is quite specific route, but 30,000 points one way in Y or say AU$600 ($15/1,000 + taxes) .... will save you >40% than an actual cash ticket, where they ask for $1,000. So with all these dramas re: TG, there can be price points where LM is still good.

Glad I am out of the LM game for the time being.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Alot of sharing transactions if one starts from 1,000 ...... wait, I can't even start as my balance is 750 points

That said, I know most people are keen to book TG F (which most of TG seems unbookable online except a handful of routes) but there can be so good value redemptions out there. I was looking at New York to Malta with LH, now this is quite specific route, but 30,000 points one way in Y or say AU$600 ($15/1,000 + taxes) .... will save you >40% than an actual cash ticket, where they ask for $1,000. So with all these dramas re: TG, there can be price points where LM is still good.

Glad I am out of the LM game for the time being.

Yeah, I wouldn't bother with a starting balance of 1000 points.
However if you currently have a balance of 10,000 points, you could get it to 150,000 in 4 transactions, (start with 9375, and multiply 4 times to get to exactly 150,000). This would leave 625 points stuck in the original account. Not sure if they would allow transfers in < 1000 point increments though. If not, after the 4 transactions there would be 5000 miles stuck in the third account. Would be good value if the exchange rate was better.

EDIT: T&C state increments of 1000 points. So that means a loss of 5000 points if one would want to get to 150,000.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I had a look at one of the short intra Asia routes on TG.

The fees / taxes / cost of miles added up to more or less the same as a cash ticket. In one case in J, it was more than if I were to purchase a cash ticket.

I'd surmise that the sweet spot is for longer transcontinental route e.g. BKK CDG where cash price would be prohibitive cf to redemption.

Intra-asia to/from Japan is a good example for Asia redemptions. Japan is traditionally high in terms of business and economy fares (Shanghai-Tokyo would regularly be in the USD700 region for economy on JAL/ANA, and business in the ~$2000 range for a two hour flight).

BKK-CDG - it would be touch and go for an award v revenue ticket. UL/AI would be way cheaper than an award, QR/AY would be coming right on or close to the price of an award. (plus of course for revenue you get points and status and whatever else).

 

[hummel]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

yes, my oversight.

The main issue I have this round is that with the current booking problems I'm only really seeing a handful easily bookable and value for money awards: Air China to China, SQ business from PER, Air india to India, and UA to the states. TG is 'on hold' given their current route restructuring (who knows what they're up to with their F class) and their angled beds aren't competitive.

Whats J like on Air China? Could be a way to get MEL-CAN...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Whats J like on Air China? Could be a way to get MEL-CAN...

not without a connection!

They fly MEL/SYD to PVG/PEK.

Their A332s are excellent. The bed is as good as CX's (although different because of the layout 2-2-2 instead of 1-2-1). Their food is ok but their service is actually pretty good and attentive. Little touches like before spraying the cabin prior to arrival in Australia they immediately offer hot towels to those who want them to cover their nose and mouth. Their IFE is not in the same league as QF or CX, but there's enough to put something together for three or four hours each way. Their new lounge at PVG is good, better than QF's business class offerings in MEL/SYD.

Apparently their 777 business class is good, but there's a smallish foot-well which some find troublesome.

 

[legroom]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Agree !

The lesson is you should work out the cash price over the routes you are thinking of, as 'automatic' redemption may not be the panacea for all routes.

Just a caution in general !

Intra-asia to/from Japan is a good example for Asia redemptions. Japan is traditionally high in terms of business and economy fares (Shanghai-Tokyo would regularly be in the USD700 region for economy on JAL/ANA, and business in the ~$2000 range for a two hour flight).

BKK-CDG - it would be touch and go for an award v revenue ticket. UL/AI would be way cheaper than an award, QR/AY would be coming right on or close to the price of an award. (plus of course for revenue you get points and status and whatever else).

 

[Guvner]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Yeah, I wouldn't bother with a starting balance of 1000 points.
However if you currently have a balance of 10,000 points, you could get it to 150,000 in 4 transactions, (start with 9375, and multiply 4 times to get to exactly 150,000). This would leave 625 points stuck in the original account. Not sure if they would allow transfers in < 1000 point increments though. If not, after the 4 transactions there would be 5000 miles stuck in the third account. Would be good value if the exchange rate was better.

You only need to multiply 3 times.

Start with Account A having at least 20,000 miles.
x2 = 40,000 in Account B
x2 = 80,000 in Account C - max transfer out from 1 acct is 75,000
x2 = 150,000 (max you can receive in 1 acct) in Account D

if you transferred in 1000 mile blocks and assuming you started with 20,000 miles in Acct A and 0 miles in the other (new?) accounts
then at the end your balances would be:
Acct A =0 miles
Acct B = 0 miles
Acct C = 5000 miles
Acct D = 150,000 miles

Cost would be $2025 (at $15 per 1000) representing about 60% off the outright purchase of 150,000 points the "normal" way ($4950).

20 x $15
40 x $15
75 x $15
= $2025 (+ the cost of the original 20,000 points depending on when you purchased them, currently $660)

If you paid full price for your original 20,000 miles then you are saving less than 50%, so no better than a standard "2 for 1" offer with 3 times the number of LM transactions and potential bank charges on your CC.