Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Cheers, you probably saved me purchasing a new laptop from the building frustration haha,

Well, it's a good excuse to buy a new lap top! Tell your minister of finance, "the lap top is dead! I need a new one!"

 

[diningdecadence]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

anyone got any links to seriousness of TG being banned by Japan? on which side of the media beat up vs be aware of the situation fence are most people sitting?

(120k points for SYD-BKK F rtn)

 

[smit0847]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

anyone got any links to seriousness of TG being banned by Japan? on which side of the media beat up vs be aware of the situation fence are most people sitting?

(120k points for SYD-BKK F rtn)

Its only 100k return and it you can find availability its the same price to go SYD-BKK-HKG/KIX/NRT/HND F return ; P

 

[diningdecadence]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Its only 100k return and it you can find availability its the same price to go SYD-BKK-HKG/KIX/NRT/HND F return ; P

ahhhh folks you may want to hold off buying... i did a dummy SYD-BKK for May. it's definitely showing 120k, no co-payment.

 

[bcworld]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

anyone got any links to seriousness of TG being banned by Japan? on which side of the media beat up vs be aware of the situation fence are most people sitting?

There was talk that TG (along with all other Thai airlines) may be banned from starting NEW routes / frequencies into Japan...I don't think it has been suggested that they be banned altogether. From the Thai government point of view I think there was a proposal from them to not sell tickets past May 31 for fear of disruption to customers, but this would almost certainly not be applied to TG and be aimed at charter airlines I bet.

 

[bcworld]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

ahhhh folks you may want to hold off buying... i did a dummy SYD-BKK for May. it's definitely showing 120k, no co-payment.

Yes correct. SYD-BKK is 60k. But the routes smit mentioned which connect through BKK are only 50k.

 

[diningdecadence]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Yes correct. SYD-BKK is 60k. But the routes smit mentioned which connect through BKK are only 50k.

very good. I remember you and Smit being the TG experts from reading up last year so was worried they had changed the redemption chart!

 

[smit0847]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Yes correct. SYD-BKK is 60k. But the routes smit mentioned which connect through BKK are only 50k.

HKG availability should be easy to get

 

[Alanslegal]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I might miss today's LM wave and not buy any LM points today. Now that AA is also having back to back sales including the new discounted cost promo, I am waiting for UA to get on board - throw us a 50% off or even a 40% and I will bypass AA and LM and go straight to UA this round. I am happy with the UA's F 40K asia-australia one ways where I can book online and not need to attempt the screenshot method as LM requires one to do. I have this years RTW all booked and my trip to Europe in 2016 will be sorted with AA miles so its about filling in the gaps and getting to/from Asia relatively comfortable and booking ease, I am there.

 

[smit0847]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I might miss today's LM wave and not buy any LM points today. Now that AA is also having back to back sales including the new discounted cost promo, I am waiting for UA to get on board - throw us a 50% off or even a 40% and I will bypass AA and LM and go straight to UA this round. I am happy with the UA's F 40K asia-australia one ways where I can book online and not need to attempt the screenshot method as LM requires one to do. I have this years RTW all booked and my trip to Europe in 2016 will be sorted with AA miles so its about filling in the gaps and getting to/from Asia relatively comfortable and booking ease, I am there.

Yeah Im kind of in the same boat. Im tempted by the low price of LMs but there are so many variables and unknowns with the absurd website. It doesnt even work at all right now! UA on the other hand is a cheap cheaper but has a very functional, logical website that makes it easy. Yes its a bit more expensive but at least you have a lot more options.

How much does UA usually discount miles and how often do they do it?

 

[hummel]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Yeah Im kind of in the same boat. Im tempted by the low price of LMs but there are so many variables and unknowns with the absurd website. It doesnt even work at all right now! UA on the other hand is a cheap cheaper but has a very functional, logical website that makes it easy. Yes its a bit more expensive but at least you have a lot more options.

How much does UA usually discount miles and how often do they do it?

Slightly OT but what's the deal with UA miles purchases? I don't actually have a UA account but am interested for the cheap aus>asia routes. Do I need to have been a member for a while? Purchased in the past etc?

 

[Finale]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I might miss today's LM wave and not buy any LM points today. Now that AA is also having back to back sales including the new discounted cost promo, I am waiting for UA to get on board - throw us a 50% off or even a 40% and I will bypass AA and LM and go straight to UA this round. I am happy with the UA's F 40K asia-australia one ways where I can book online and not need to attempt the screenshot method as LM requires one to do. I have this years RTW all booked and my trip to Europe in 2016 will be sorted with AA miles so its about filling in the gaps and getting to/from Asia relatively comfortable and booking ease, I am there.

I'm also waiting for UA promo. Another good thing about UA is I can have 1 stopover with a roundtrip ticket. It quite handy as I visit my family a couple of times a year in BKK and can do a side trip to other countries in South East Asia or Hong Kong for free. HKG is good value as TG fly F there Unfortunately north Asia F is 60k but 40k in J is a good deal especially when doing roundtrip with stopover. Wish lifemiles allowed free stopover & mixed class like UA.

 

[aaronjames000]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

What's all this about TG canning BNE?? Is it going to happen?

 

[anna2103]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

What's all this about TG canning BNE?? Is it going to happen?

They are reviewing BNE route in third quarter this year. Its a wait and see.

 

[LittleFokker]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I had a browse on the LM site after receiving the 2.2 offer today. I've been ambivalent since the problems with booking SYD -> Europe and having to take screen shots,email etc.
However I've probably missed something upthread but I can get Y SYD->LHR on one booking with UA. Availability from next week all the way out. Naturally not that interested in Y but it might be a good sign?

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I'm also waiting for UA promo. Another good thing about UA is I can have 1 stopover with a roundtrip ticket. It quite handy as I visit my family a couple of times a year in BKK and can do a side trip to other countries in South East Asia or Hong Kong for free. HKG is good value as TG fly F there Unfortunately north Asia F is 60k but 40k in J is a good deal especially when doing roundtrip with stopover. Wish lifemiles allowed free stopover & mixed class like UA.

Let's not forget UA miles are a lot more expensive than LM. It retails at 3.5 cents each. Most promotions are at 25% off. The best I've seen is 40% off and sometimes 50% off but only targeted. At 40% off, it's still 2.1 cents each, so for 40000 mile redemptions, it's really $840, that will buy you equivalent of 56000 LM.

Other than Asia, most other UA redemption is really expensive. Take my recent redemption for example, LAX-NRT-SIN in F costed only 990k LM, or $1485. UA would cost 130k UA miles, or $2730 at 2.1cents each.

So I won't speculatively buy any UA miles unless it's at least 50% off, and I have yet to see promotion at that rate that is open to the public.

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I had a browse on the LM site after receiving the 2.2 offer today. I've been ambivalent since the problems with booking SYD -> Europe and having to take screen shots,email etc.
However I've probably missed something upthread but I can get Y SYD->LHR on one booking with UA. Availability from next week all the way out. Naturally not that interested in Y but it might be a good sign?

I think redemption in Y is not hard. Lots of SQ availability using LM. But seriously, why buy the miles to redeem Y? It's much better value to buy revenue ticket.

 

[luxury-lizard]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

With both LM and AA both having buy miles promos at the moment, I've done a spread sheet to compare the cost of various redemptions (I've only calculated the cost of the miles in AUD at current exchange rates and not included taxes and booking fees).

Generally from SYD-North America in J, AA and LM are about the same at around $AUD3000 pp in J assuming you can find availability on valid routings (i.e. transpac only for AA and no connections > 4 hours on LM). I would say that LM 'wins' on this one as UA and AC do have at least some availability whereas QF has pretty much none (at 330 days) and I do not consider FJ or HA a good use of miles. Now if you need to break your routing into 2 awards then LM is better at $AUD 3705 in J for OZ (with a stop in one direction) and AA becomes $AUD4320 going via PEK, SIN or HKG in J (but this gives you a stop in each direction).

Getting from SYD to Europe has many more possible combinations - but the cheapest is AA at $AUD2880 in J (QF, CX, JL) while the cheapest LM route is $AUD3230 (OZ, TK, TG, CA) in J. Other combinations with stopover(s) and/or F run as high as $AUD6156 (F on TG with a stopover in each direction - not something one would do unless absolutely necessary).

Of course - you really need points in both programs as availability is so scarce - this becomes the deciding factor when making a booking. If it gets any more expensive (e.g. AA or LM "enhance" their programs or the AUD declines further) it may make more sense to just buy tickets - particularly to Europe where there are often good deals going.

 

[Alanslegal]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Let's not forget UA miles are a lot more expensive than LM. It retails at 3.5 cents each. Most promotions are at 25% off. The best I've seen is 40% off and sometimes 50% off but only targeted. At 40% off, it's still 2.1 cents each, so for 40000 mile redemptions, it's really $840, that will buy you equivalent of 56000 LM.

Other than Asia, most other UA redemption is really expensive. Take my recent redemption for example, LAX-NRT-SIN in F costed only 990k LM, or $1485. UA would cost 130k UA miles, or $2730 at 2.1cents each.

So I won't speculatively buy any UA miles unless it's at least 50% off, and I have yet to see promotion at that rate that is open to the public.

I only use UA miles for flights to/from Sydney - Bangkok/Hong Kong/S.E Asia, which is where I think the sweet spot is. (there could be better out-there awards to look for). 40,000 UA miles, even at 40% off is $840 or 56,000 LM miles which is comparable to LM. At 50% off, UA miles comes out in front ($700) for a one way F award. LM F award to Bangkok is 60K points or $900, whilst to other ports when it's 50K or $750.00. With all the hassles of screenshot'ting now and the callback at weird hours of the day for payment, I would prefer to do it all online such as on UA and pay a little more when it's less than 50% off.

 

[Alanslegal]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

How much does UA usually discount miles and how often do they do it?

Slightly OT but what's the deal with UA miles purchases? I don't actually have a UA account but am interested for the cheap aus>asia routes. Do I need to have been a member for a while? Purchased in the past etc?

The April 2015 UA promotion was 30% off and open to the public, whilst the March 2015 was promotion was targeted and up to 50% off. I would register for an account anyway so if one day a good promotion pops up like 50% you have options. Also being able to book online, including mixed classes, makes it simple to get to/from Australia/Asia.