Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

yes ok - you picked an oldie and a goodie! I agree it's an extreme example of not understanding something, but that can happen. It's a two way street between the pilot and ATC to make sure instructions are clear, and understood, and they got there in the end. My friend in ATC says (less extreme) examples happen on a daily basis ... not restricted to any one airline, or airlines from particular countries.

From my discussions I'm not sure if there was any real danger.

To me, it's not the ethnicity that matters, but how the pilots were trained and what kind of company culture an airline had that matters.

Take an example, both China Airlines and EVA are from Taiwan, so same ethnicity. EVA is regarded as one of the safest airlines in the world whereas China Airlines is one of the worst. The difference lies with that China Airlines, being a state owned airline, used to recruit ex-Air Force pilots, and the military culture heavily affected CRM in China Airlines which accounted for a lot of accidents in the late 90's. EVA on the other hand, being privately owned, they train their pilots from the beginning. But I know China airlines has worked hard on its safety and has not had anymore fatal accident since 2002.

I know Air China is not China airlines. But I wasn't sure how they recruit and train their pilot, but it is certainly reassuring to know that they recruit Aussie/Kiwi pilots. After all, we train the best pilots in the world and many major airlines recruit our pilots.

And yes, I know the chances of us die in a car crash on the way to the airport is higher than die in a plane crash, I would still steer away from bad airlines. Fortunately, Air China isn't one of them. I did some more research after today, and I was surprised to discover that according to JACDEC data published in 2014, Air China's ranking is higher than US airways, JAL, Alaska, Asiana and SAS in terms of safety!

 

[N860CR]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Have a think about just how many Air China flights operate everyday. They have an enormous domestic network supporting an enormous country to add to their extensive international network. That's a huge number of safe daily operations.

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

It's officially published in Airline Route re: Asiana equipment/schedule changes:

ASIANA AIRLINES NS15 Sydney / Paris Aircraft Changes | Airline Route

Good to see that we are getting Quadra Smartium, but we lost 2 flights per week, which makes those that are bit tight with time (ie. me) less choice.

Anyone flying OZ 601/602 between 28 May - 25 Jun? Did anyone manage to snatched the first class seat at business price/miles? What are the equipment consistency with OZ? Are we likely to get "OZed"?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Anyone flying OZ 601/602 between 28 May - 25 Jun? Did anyone manage to snatched the first class seat at business price/miles? What are the equipment consistency with OZ? Are we likely to get "OZed"?

When OZ flew three-class sold as two-class ICN-ORD, they levied a surcharge to sit in the F seats. Not sure if they'll do the same to/from SYD.

 

[smit0847]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

When OZ flew three-class sold as two-class ICN-ORD, they levied a surcharge to sit in the F seats. Not sure if they'll do the same to/from SYD.

That actually seems very fair rather than just giving it out for free

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

That actually seems very fair rather than just giving it out for free

Looks like they haven't decide on what to do with these first class suites. But if its only a couple of hundred dollars more, I think it is worth paying for it, especially for the returning red eye flight from ICN.

Asiana business class goes fully-flat on Sydney-Seoul flights - Australian Business Traveller

 

[boomy]

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

Looks like LM website has some issues again. Can't find any flights to/from China for July/August in any class.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Looks like LM website has some issues again. Can't find any flights to/from China for July/August in any class.

It's working ok for me.

I just did a couple minutes checking and there are selected dates (for example 11 July, 20 July) for MEL-PVG in business class. Other dates for MEL-PEK in business class. And more dates for economy to both those places. That's for non-stops, for the connections with TG the 'glitch' that's been around since last year is still in effect - you have to do the screen shot method.

I used the UA tool to find the flights (month at a glance) then plugged in the specific date with LM, the two matched up.

 

[boomy]

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

Thanks MEL_Traveller. I don't know what happened when I did the search. I put some random dates to see what's available on that week (tried a few different dates) and every time got zero availability in all classes to/from PVG/PEK, very strange.

 

[drron]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Already reported here-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/travel-news/thai-airlines-face-bans-67003.html

 

[bcworld]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Already reported here-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/travel-news/thai-airlines-face-bans-67003.html

Thanks. Happy for my post with new info to be moved to that thread.

 

[JessicaTam]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Thanks. Happy for my post with new info to be moved to that thread.

Done.
.....

 

[seritonin]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Just booked MEL-SIN J SQ218 (777-300ER) in July through Lifemiles email and agent calling to confirm and pay. Albeit the anxiety from waiting for agent to call and confirm, pretty seamless process.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Just booked MEL-SIN J SQ218 (777-300ER) in July through Lifemiles email and agent calling to confirm and pay. Albeit the anxiety from waiting for agent to call and confirm, pretty seamless process.

that's pretty good considering it's not supposed to be available to us even without the glitch. I wonder if that means they'll offer F as well?

 

[anna2103]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

that's pretty good considering it's not supposed to be available to us even without the glitch. I wonder if that means they'll offer F as well?

Any ideas which website is best to check *A availaibilty. May as well try to fly Singapore Airlines option from Singapore rather than Thai

 

[Guvner]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Just booked MEL-SIN J SQ218 (777-300ER) in July through Lifemiles email and agent calling to confirm and pay. Albeit the anxiety from waiting for agent to call and confirm, pretty seamless process.

Was this a screen shot method or just an email requesting availability on the off chance?

 

[sergeyvzn]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Any ideas which website is best to check *A availaibilty. May as well try to fly Singapore Airlines option from Singapore rather than Thai

United, it shows almost all Star Alliance airlines. Also Aeroplane, I think it shows more airlines than United

ANA shows them all but after a recent "upgrade" their search for business/first seats is almost unusable now.

 

[anna2103]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

United, it shows almost all Star Alliance airlines. Also Aeroplane, I think it shows more airlines than United

ANA shows them all but after a recent "upgrade" their search for business/first seats is almost unusable now.

Thanks for the speedy reply

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Any ideas which website is best to check *A availaibilty. May as well try to fly Singapore Airlines option from Singapore rather than Thai

United is good, but it doesn't show Singapore Airlines flights for any class, worldwide.

 

[anna2103]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

United is good, but it doesn't show Singapore Airlines flights for any class, worldwide.

Any ideas on the Singapore website - if i join Krismiles for example, will it then show availabilty? thanks