Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[annielee]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Starting on the 4/4/17 1015 and arriving 7/4/17 0830
I actually got about 20hours in ICN and 18hours in HND, other connections average 2-4hours..

Gday

Just curious as to what your total trip duration is?

Pele.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Guys...

Just wondering what is the maximum connection we can 'create' via screenshot method ??
I managed to get 2 different connection from KUL-SYD and not sure which one is better

KUL-xSIN-xCGK-xICN-xPEK-xHND-SYD (SQ,SQ,OZ,OZ,NH,NH).. no more than 3 hours for each connection..

KUL-xSIN-xTPE-xICN-SYD (SQ,BR,BR,OZ).. got to spend about 20hours at ICN

Any inputs ?? Haven't try NH, OZ and BR business class before..

Why not try it and see? I can see a number of reasons why LM might reject the itinerary, but you won't know for certain till you ask.

 

[annielee]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

already booked i kinda merged both itinerary..
KUL-xSIN-xTPE-xICN-xPVG-xHND-SYD (SQ, BR, BR, OZ, NH, NH) and the call centre guy really patient with me, all he needs is the flight no to create the booking as i asked for it to be merged (add extra connections) when he called me payment...

Why not try it and see? I can see a number of reasons why LM might reject the itinerary, but you won't know for certain till you ask.

 

[travelislife]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

already booked i kinda merged both itinerary..
KUL-xSIN-xTPE-xICN-xPVG-xHND-SYD (SQ, BR, BR, OZ, NH, NH) and the call centre guy really patient with me, all he needs is the flight no to create the booking as i asked for it to be merged (add extra connections) when he called me payment...

Wait...you managed to book and form the itinerary over the phone?

 

[annielee]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

yup initial booking via screenshot (email) KUL-xSIN-xTPE-xICN-SYD (SQ, BR, BR, OZ).. but when they call me for payment i modified the last connection to KUL-xSIN-xTPE-xICN-xPVG-xHND-SYD (SQ, BR, BR, OZ, NH, NH)

actually i did asked how many connections i can make, but i cant understand him, so i just told him to add 2 more connections and he did ;-)

Wait...you managed tobook and form the itinerary over the phone?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

I think this type of booking pushes the boundaries of what is fair or reasonable. My concern is that it may lead to restriction for the rest of us trying to make genuine bookings in the future... particularly where extra segments are just added with no relation to (genuine) need.

 

[hillsdweller_2]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

used them for years - most recent was ANA 1st class HND to LAX

takes a bit of hunting to find what you want but always achieved a result.

yep got that too

View attachment 78551

people's thoughts? i've never bought any lifemiles

 

[annielee]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

apology if this affects future booking..

I think this type of booking pushes the boundaries of what is fair or reasonable. My concern is that it may lead to restriction for the rest of us trying to make genuine bookings in the future... particularly where extra segments are just added with no relation to (genuine) need.

 

[Flashback]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

I think this type of booking pushes the boundaries of what is fair or reasonable. My concern is that it may lead to restriction for the rest of us trying to make genuine bookings in the future... particularly where extra segments are just added with no relation to (genuine) need.

That being said - why would you want to add in extra connections just for the sake of it if not earning any SC? To try new products? O....k! I guess we all have different vocations in life and mine is to get there in the most direct route possible when not earning any SC.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

This looks like their best ever offer (except for the AUD of course). For newbies to LM just be award of the pros and cons of the program before you jump in.

So a silly question from me ... almost run out of time to buy for the bonus and I have no idea what the pros and cons of the scheme are and I've also not yet obtained a 4X free CC, so am I better off foregoing this offer, doing a lot of reading of this site and buying next time (when I can have the CC organised and more knowledge), or jump in and buy regardless? We do have plenty of miles in other schemes but we're also looking to start increasing our int. travel in a year or so?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

So a silly question from me ... almost run out of time to buy for the bonus and I have no idea what the pros and cons of the scheme are and I've also not yet obtained a 4X free CC, so am I better off foregoing this offer, doing a lot of reading of this site and buying next time (when I can have the CC organised and more knowledge), or jump in and buy regardless? We do have plenty of miles in other schemes but we're also looking to start increasing our int. travel in a year or so?

For me, the main component of this offer is the 100% bonus. The extra bonus reduces the cost from 1.5c per mile to 1.43c per mile (based on the calculations in post #6704 of this thread). That's hardly worth investing thousands of dollars for a tiny saving.

If you really want to buy miles in this promo, just buy the 40% base miles you need for an award and top up the rest at the time of purchase. You still get the top up points at 1.5c (at the sweet spot).

There'll be another bonus offer later. For me LM is a case of 'if in doubt, don't'.

There are too many problems and restrictions with the LM program to make a heavy investment worthwhile IMO.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

For me LM is a case of 'if in doubt, don't'.

Sounds like good advice to me. I also noticed they had a 2 for 1 with a 40% bonus in Dec last year, so it seems the offers do come in fairly frequently.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Sounds like good advice to me. I also noticed they had a 2 for 1 with a 40% bonus in Dec last year, so it seems the offers do come in fairly frequently.

Just too many glitches with online booking via LM. I'd only buy miles with a flight in the near future, or just buy 40% of the miles as advised before as you can buy the extra ones at just $15 per 1000 which is like get a 2 for 1 offer with 10% bonus. This is prob the best feature of LM in that you can always buy miles on "promo"

 

[kpc]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

In your Lifemiles account, there is a tab under "Your Lifemiles" where you can "print receipts"...it shows you how many Lifemiles you have ever bought:shock: Between mine and +1's account, we have bought 4.1 million LMs in the last 4 years:shock: - on average we paid around USD$0.015 per mile (in reality a bit less), and it adds up to a quite a bit of AUD$$$....no wonder Avianca keep on selling miles!!:shock:

 

[Pele]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Gday

If anyone has flown the ANA 787 in J recently can you please tell me which seats are the so called throne seats? The ANA seatmap doesnt show any as being likely candidates but a website i saw said 4F..... but the flight i am on doesnt have a 4F. It is NH879 from HND- SYD.

Thanks.

Pele.

 

[smit0847]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Just completed by first LMs ‘screenshot’ method experience.

Wanted to fly JNB-LHR in January in J and there was no availability showing online. I could piece together availability through UA.com and also wanted to try some new airlines, as well as potentially visit a new city.

So I emailed in a request for the following:
JNB-ADD ET J
(22.5 hour stop in ADD)
ADD-CAI-LHR MS J

I was very impressed with the LMs email communication – they quickly and professionally emailed me back asking for some additional information (passport scan etc). They then sent through the formal itinerary I had requested, asking me to call them. I also had a missed call from them last night while I was at dinner (it was from a US number so I didn’t realise it was them).

I called them back this morning – first time I had called Lifemiles. As everyone has said – the quality of the line is awful. They couldn’t understand me and I couldn’t understand them. I don’t know how they manage to operate a call centre where the staff can’t hear the callers?! I painfully read out the PNR which literally took 5 minutes – I had to say ‘the number 3’ about 20 times. I called around 6am Colombia time. They said the LMs team wasn’t in until 8am so call back then. Just before 8am Colombia time I received another missed call from them. I called back then, got through to the right person, and they were finally able to understand what I wanted. I said I wanted to pay min miles max pay which made them send me through to another department so a supervisor could calculate. He took a good 5 minutes to do this, despite the fact I did it on the back of an envelope in about 15 seconds. He eventually came back with the correct P+P calculation and then asked for the CC details. He couldn’t understand the numbers I was reading out despite his English being fine. It was the quality of the line, not the quality of his English that was the problem. I was expecting it to be difficult to understand him, but not difficult for him to understand me. Thankfully the transaction wasn’t blocked being a Colombian transaction and was confirmed, with the confirmed itinerary being sent through shortly after.

Every person I spoke to tried to sell me miles with a bonus before I could hang up.

Overall, it was just as frustrating as sitting on hold for 20 minutes while USDM checked with the dreaded ‘rates desk’. Im really impressed with the improved flexibility of Lifemiles, both the mixed class bookings, the ability to seemingly request by email any itinerary you want by email, as well as their excellent email correspondence. Its somewhat annoying you cant have stopovers, but I guess allowing one-ways is a fair compromise. If their phone quality was better it really would be an ideal program.

My tips if you are doing this:

1. Keep your phone on loud and try and answer their call when they ring. It saves a lot of time having to call them back.
2. Avoid using points plus pay unless absolutely necessary. It takes longer.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Gday

If anyone has flown the ANA 787 in J recently can you please tell me which seats are the so called throne seats? The ANA seatmap doesnt show any as being likely candidates but a website i saw said 4F..... but the flight i am on doesnt have a 4F. It is NH879 from HND- SYD.

Thanks.

Pele.

ANA operates both the 788 and the 789. They have different seating configurations (at least one configuration for the 787-900 shows no throne seats).

 

[nikkoap92]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

I just successfully booked 2 J Ticket for ANA, they sent a very confirmation email with 6 letter reservation ID. So is it confirmed?

Also, can I be able to choose the seat anyway?

Thanks so much!!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

I just successfully booked 2 J Ticket for ANA, they sent a very confirmation email with 6 letter reservation ID. So is it confirmed?

Also, can I be able to choose the seat anyway?

Thanks so much!!

Can you see a ticket number? That means you're good to go. A confirmation reference without a ticket number doesn't guarantee travel.

 

[nikkoap92]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Can you see a ticket number? That means you're good to go. A confirmation reference without a ticket number doesn't guarantee travel.

I have this, but they havent sent the itinerary. Do they usually send the itinerary after redeeming or it could take couple hours?

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