Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[MEL_Traveller]

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

Good luck MelT.

Here was the response I received:

It is my pleasure to greet you.
We apologize for the delay on our response. We have verified the attached images and it is not possible to book this reservation since Air China is not releasing the flight CA 175 for ticket redemption on none of the dates selected (July 30th or August 1st, 2015), which is the reason of the encountered error message.
Keep in mind that Air China reserves the right to change the routes and/or flights available for ticket redemption without prior notice. In this case, we suggest you to try the redemption process on alternate flights, route or dates.
We appreciate your comprehension with this matter.

​

As you say the AI hard product looks ok and she can sleep standing up so its not a problem - if anything it's a more direct route for us.

that totally sucks. Funny Air China isn't releasing award space to Lifemiles but is releasing it to everyone else.

with Air India... suggest you take a pair of hotel slippers to wear around the plane... they don't provide them (easier for WC breaks than having to put shoes on). PJs are also available on request, and are actually ok quality. but I wouldn't necessarily trust them to be available, so perhaps carry something to wear for sleeping.

 

[robcuk]

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

that totally sucks. Funny Air China isn't releasing award space to Lifemiles but is releasing it to everyone else.

with Air India... suggest you take a pair of hotel slippers to wear around the plane... they don't provide them (easier for WC breaks than having to put shoes on). PJs are also available on request, and are actually ok quality. but I wouldn't necessarily trust them to be available, so perhaps carry something to wear for sleeping.

Yeah I replied suggesting they take the availability down if it's not bookable!

Thanks for the advice.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

Yeah I replied suggesting they take the availability down if it's not bookable!

Thanks for the advice.

hmmm... I've just checked a range of other routes with Air China... seems LM is actively blocking them (I can't see why CA would).

 

[Beta4Me]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

3 flights on an angled-flat bed to get to the US? No thanks.

Try AC or CA.

Is it actually angled flat? I did LAX-ICN on TG late last year and I could've sworn it was straight out flat (or close to).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Is it actually angled flat? I did LAX-ICN on TG late last year and I could've sworn it was straight out flat (or close to).

they swapped planes! They were flat beds for a while (77W) and then changed back to a 'normal' 772 or something.

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

they swapped planes! They were flat beds for a while (77W) and then changed back to a 'normal' 772 or something.

TG swapped planes ?!
What a surprise lol

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

TG swapped planes ?!
What a surprise lol

cause it makes total sense to have your longest flight with the worst seats

 

[anna2103]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

cause it makes total sense to have your longest flight with the worst seats

In Thailand at the moment and the local press is not kind to Thai and their restructurung plan

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

With all the problems that we've seen recently with LM, eg:
1. IT glitch requiring screenshot
2. TG changing schedule resulting misconnection, or swapping plane to a worse product
3. CA/SQ flights bring blocked(?) by LM

Plus the fact that AUD is falling like crazy, it makes me wonder if it's still worth buying LM.

Consider a trip to Europe/US, LM would charge 85k/80k respectively oneway in J. So a round trip would cost $2550/$2400 USD respectively. Assuming $100 tax, at today's exchange rate it would be $3476/$3280 AUD respectively. That is assuming you can find connecting flights in both directions. To US, only LAX with OZ had flights on outbound sector. All other cities require 2 redemptions which add the above cost by ~$1000 AUD.

By looking at revenue tickets, EVA is only charging ~$5300 to US and Europe which is not too far off. It has a much better J product than TG with reverse herringbone config (yeah, I know we don't get it ex-BNE, but TG and OZ are both sliders ex-AUS), you get a pajama and Rimowa kit, and they started serving Krug on selected routes. (And for hello kitty fan, they will use it to fly to Houston soon) Plus you get all your miles, status. There is no worry about availability and if there is a change in schedule, you are covered!

I don't know how much AI charges, but I heard it's also one of the cheapest. So if people started to use LM to redeem AI, perhaps it's worth consider revenue ticket.

I personally from now on would use it to redeem first class as much as possible (as they are still darn expensive to buy as revenue) or just use it for Asia. If I'm heading USA/Europe, either I'll use VA/KF, or might as well buy revenue.

 

[gizzard]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Consider a trip to Europe/US, LM would charge 85k/80k respectively oneway in J. So a round trip would cost $2550/$2400 USD respectively. Assuming $100 tax, at today's exchange rate it would be $3476/$3280 AUD respectively.

True, but I think most people purchase poiints when there are bonuses on offer of 100% or more.

 

[anna2103]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Its certainly getting harder to justify, just burned all my LM and will not be buying any more until BOTH LM becomes more settled in terms of the issues you highlighted and AUD becomes better. In other words not for a long time

With all the problems that we've seen recently with LM, eg:
1. IT glitch requiring screenshot
2. TG changing schedule resulting misconnection, or swapping plane to a worse product
3. CA/SQ flights bring blocked(?) by LM

Plus the fact that AUD is falling like crazy, it makes me wonder if it's still worth buying LM.

Consider a trip to Europe/US, LM would charge 85k/80k respectively oneway in J. So a round trip would cost $2550/$2400 USD respectively. Assuming $100 tax, at today's exchange rate it would be $3476/$3280 AUD respectively. That is assuming you can find connecting flights in both directions. To US, only LAX with OZ had flights on outbound sector. All other cities require 2 redemptions which add the above cost by ~$1000 AUD.

By looking at revenue tickets, EVA is only charging ~$5300 to US and Europe which is not too far off. It has a much better J product than TG with reverse herringbone config (yeah, I know we don't get it ex-BNE, but TG and OZ are both sliders ex-AUS), you get a pajama and Rimowa kit, and they started serving Krug on selected routes. (And for hello kitty fan, they will use it to fly to Houston soon) Plus you get all your miles, status. There is no worry about availability and if there is a change in schedule, you are covered!

I don't know how much AI charges, but I heard it's also one of the cheapest. So if people started to use LM to redeem AI, perhaps it's worth consider revenue ticket.

I personally from now on would use it to redeem first class as much as possible (as they are still darn expensive to buy as revenue) or just use it for Asia. If I'm heading USA/Europe, either I'll use VA/KF, or might as well buy revenue.

 

[smit0847]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

LM becomes more settled in terms of the issues you highlighted... In other words not for a long time

I cant see that happening. I doubt providing Australians with the maximum value for their points redemptions is a priority for a Colombian airline.

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

True, but I think most people purchase poiints when there are bonuses on offer of 100% or more.

The figure I quoted was based on 1.5 cents/mile, ie. 120% promotion. Anything less than that, the figure goes up and the gap gets smaller.

 

[prozac]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

The figure I quoted was based on 1.5 cents/mile, ie. 120% promotion. Anything less than that, the figure goes up and the gap gets smaller.

When Finnair advertise Europe J from $4,345 it is a tough argument.

 

[seritonin]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

With all the problems that we've seen recently with LM, eg:
1. IT glitch requiring screenshot
2. TG changing schedule resulting misconnection, or swapping plane to a worse product
3. CA/SQ flights bring blocked(?) by LM

Plus the fact that AUD is falling like crazy, it makes me wonder if it's still worth buying LM.

Consider a trip to Europe/US, LM would charge 85k/80k respectively oneway in J. So a round trip would cost $2550/$2400 USD respectively. Assuming $100 tax, at today's exchange rate it would be $3476/$3280 AUD respectively. That is assuming you can find connecting flights in both directions. To US, only LAX with OZ had flights on outbound sector. All other cities require 2 redemptions which add the above cost by ~$1000 AUD.

By looking at revenue tickets, EVA is only charging ~$5300 to US and Europe which is not too far off. It has a much better J product than TG with reverse herringbone config (yeah, I know we don't get it ex-BNE, but TG and OZ are both sliders ex-AUS), you get a pajama and Rimowa kit, and they started serving Krug on selected routes. (And for hello kitty fan, they will use it to fly to Houston soon) Plus you get all your miles, status. There is no worry about availability and if there is a change in schedule, you are covered!

I don't know how much AI charges, but I heard it's also one of the cheapest. So if people started to use LM to redeem AI, perhaps it's worth consider revenue ticket.

I personally from now on would use it to redeem first class as much as possible (as they are still darn expensive to buy as revenue) or just use it for Asia. If I'm heading USA/Europe, either I'll use VA/KF, or might as well buy revenue.

I wouldn't use LM to book return ticket to Europe or the Americas. There is no free stopover and open jaw benefits like Mileage Plus to justify a return ticket. IMO, LM is a supplementary program at best and it is mainly design for single point to point redemption. I will continue buying minimum amount of LM just enough for point plus pay redemption for AUS-South East Asia on TG/occasional SQ & CA, occasional direct UA to the US, North Americas- South Americas/Central Americas, off-peak South Americas, just to name a few.
Buying cheap revenue ticket is always the better option in many cases but there is not much fun in that. I enjoy the the whole process of hunting and booking award and putting together an itinerary more

 

[juddles]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I know no one will really care, as the delight here is in cheap points buying, but just for the record (and because it has been a goal of mine for years), yesterday I attained the stratospheric level of Elite Diamond with Lifemiles.

A sort of poor man's P1

 

[hossein_au]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I know no one will really care, as the delight here is in cheap points buying, but just for the record (and because it has been a goal of mine for years), yesterday I attained the stratospheric level of Elite Diamond with Lifemiles.

A sort of poor man's P1

Of course we care mate. Congrats!

Buying miles on the cheap is just part of the reason I am in "this" company. I enjoy many aspects of conversations around this joint...

 

[JessicaTam]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I know no one will really care, as the delight here is in cheap points buying, but just for the record (and because it has been a goal of mine for years), yesterday I attained the stratospheric level of Elite Diamond with Lifemiles.

A sort of poor man's P1

Well done! Any special benefits you are now eligible for?

 

[juddles]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Well done! Any special benefits you are now eligible for?

1.- four upgrade certificates (basically any international economy fare bucket can be upgraded to business at time of purchase!
2.- Access to Diamond lounges in Bogota (better than their other lounges, but no Flounge)
3.- ability to put some excess qualifying miles towards the next year's earning needs (something I wish QF would do)
4.- zero redemption fees for Lifemiles awards
5.- top of the list for Avianca's superb auto-upgrade facility, where for most fare buckets you get an automated (if space available) upgrade to business two days before the flight (and for a person travelling with you)
6.- top of the list for at-gate op-up if any seat available in business

 

[hummel]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

1.- four upgrade certificates (basically any international economy fare bucket can be upgraded to business at time of purchase!
2.- Access to Diamond lounges in Bogota (better than their other lounges, but no Flounge)
3.- ability to put some excess qualifying miles towards the next year's earning needs (something I wish QF would do)
4.- zero redemption fees for Lifemiles awards
5.- top of the list for Avianca's superb auto-upgrade facility, where for most fare buckets you get an automated (if space available) upgrade to business two days before the flight (and for a person travelling with you)
6.- top of the list for at-gate op-up if any seat available in business

You know that actually sounds pretty good! Better than P1!