Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

...although I think 32000 is the minimum miles.

32K might be the minimum number of miles, but when it comes to the top up, the final sweet spot is not the minimum miles, it is just above that at 34K.

At the 34K level you are paying .15c per top up mile. Below that (at the 32/33KK level) you are paying substantially more for the top up miles.

 

[Guvner]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Ahh, Ok. One day I'll get around to modelling the Points + Pay in a spreadsheet so I can just plug in the total points required, and any bonus offers, so it can give me the sweet spot..

 

[brown891]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

In your case, yes point+pay is cheaper. Minimum miles should be 34,000 so buy 17000 mile and get 34000 miles for $561 then get 46000 miles using point+pay for $690

Save $9 compared to buying 40,000 miles

So my understanding..
purchase 17000 for $561
then when actually buying the tickets, go with the 46000 miles option with USD690 attached to it.
This totals USD1387. EDIT: Totals USD1387 once adding on the tax of USD136

However, I only have 34000 miles to use.. not 46000? Where do i get the extra 12000 miles for or am i missing something? haha

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

So my understanding..
purchase 17000 for $561
then when actually buying the tickets, go with the 46000 miles option with USD690 attached to it.
This totals USD1387

However, I only have 34000 miles to use.. not 46000? Where do i get the extra 12000 miles for or am i missing something? haha

Award = 80K

Minimum miles = 32K plus cash top up, but 32K is not the cheapest top up option, you need 34K for that.

So buy 34K now, when it comes to ticketing you need to top up 46K. Those are sold to you on a sliding scale, but at the sweet-spot the total overall average of those top up points will be 1.5c per mile.

The booking page takes your existing 34K and adds the top up of 46K and you have the total 80K needed to buy the award.

 

[Guvner]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

So my understanding..
purchase 17000 for $561
then when actually buying the tickets, go with the 46000 miles option with USD690 attached to it.
This totals USD1387. EDIT: Totals USD1387 once adding on the tax of USD136

However, I only have 34000 miles to use.. not 46000? Where do i get the extra 12000 miles for or am i missing something? haha

You need 80,000. Buy 17000, get 34,000.
Then with points + pay use the 34000 for points that you have in your account, and pay the $ equivalent for the remaining 46000

edit: what M_T said. I'm having a bad day with posting the same thing straight after someone else.

 

[brown891]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Award = 80K

Minimum miles = 32K plus cash top up, but 32K is not the cheapest top up option, you need 34K for that.

So buy 34K now, when it comes to ticketing you need to top up 46K. Those are sold to you on a sliding scale, but at the sweet-spot the total overall average of those top up points will be 1.5c per mile.

The booking page takes your existing 34K and adds the top up of 46K and you have the total 80K needed to buy the award.

Sorry I realise this is probably simple for you to understand but its just currently going way over my head haha.
So, when it comes to ticketing, ill need to top up 46k, I'm understanding this as me purchasing the ticket with point only and not points + pay??
Eg. Have 34k points in balance, need 46k to total 80k which is the amount needed for the journey. So is this not utilising the points + pay option available?
eg. 46000 + USD690??

EDIT: just read Guvner response, i think I'm understanding it a bit more now, I'm gonna go back on to life miles and plug in those points and see if it makes more sense to me. Sorry guys...

 

[brown891]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

I'M WITH IT NOW!!! hahahah was just having a moment sorry!

Next question though..
I don't have credit cards but do have Qantas Cash....
QC converts USD1387 to AUD1929.06 upload.

Would doing this be a good way to pay? will it get me 1929 points?? (1 point per $1 in foreign cash spend?)

EDIT:
Also - how do you guys figure out the 'sweet spot'? do you just fiddle with trial and error or as Guvner said, have it all laid out in a spreadsheet?
Thanks for your help so far!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

I'M WITH IT NOW!!! hahahah was just having a moment sorry!

Next question though..
I don't have credit cards but do have Qantas Cash....
QC converts USD1387 to AUD1929.06 upload.

Would doing this be a good way to pay? will it get me 1929 points?? (1 point per $1 in foreign cash spend?)

EDIT:
Also - how do you guys figure out the 'sweet spot'? do you just fiddle with trial and error or as Guvner said, have it all laid out in a spreadsheet?
Thanks for your help so far!

to determine the sweet spot the easiest way is to just play with the 'more money' button. it's a sliding scale, it starts out very high... something like $33 per thousand miles, then gradually gets smaller and smaller. At one point, the $$ value actually goes nagative (the more miles you buy, the total points plus pay actually decreases).

you keep plugging away and it levels out at $15 per thousand, and this stays static.... until you pass the sweet spot and the price per 1000 miles all of a sudden jumps back up to $33.

in the sweet spot, because some miles were purchased at $33, and some at negative value, the average is $15 per thousand.

the he sweetspot is quite a generous range... and ends just before the minimum miles component. on an 80k business class return to Asia, the sweetspot ends at 34k. for other awards you need to play around.

 

[nikkoap92]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

There are several awards from Sydney to Tokyo Via Bangkok, but none of them are available on Lifemiles website. In this case, i need to use the screenshot method and email for redemption? Or we cant redeem whatever appear on the site only?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

There are several awards from Sydney to Tokyo Via Bangkok, but none of them are available on Lifemiles website. In this case, i need to use the screenshot method and email for redemption? Or we cant redeem whatever appear on the site only?

Correct - screenshot method. Will require screenshots of each individual sector showing availability, and a third screenshot showing SYD-TYO as unavailable.

 

[nikkoap92]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Correct - screenshot method. Will require screenshots of each individual sector showing availability, and a third screenshot showing SYD-TYO as unavailable.

Is it usually successful or really rare? And is there limited time frame? i read somewhere that Lifemiles only releases the flight close to the departure dates, but not sure it is true or not.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Is it usually successful or really rare? And is there limited time frame? i read somewhere that Lifemiles only releases the flight close to the departure dates, but not sure it is true or not.

Different airlines release award seats in different ways, and this is reflected in the Lifemiles system. Lufthansa and Singapore airlines will release seats closer in for Lifemiles. Other airlines you need to book early.

The screenshot method is successful. Their main systems probably show the seats, just it's not reflected on the portal we can see. Ultimately Lifemiles has the final say on what they give you... but as long as your flights are somewhat reasonable you'll be fine.

 

[coolkid101]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

As discussed by myself and a few others earlier this thread regarding the bonus promo currently on, there's now a 140% bonus on purchases 100,000+miles if you register first on a Brazilian ff blog. Same one as last year.
Courtesy of OMAAT.
If in no rush then I'd wait till cyber Monday in Nov when the bonus was 150% last year..

Avianca LifeMiles Increases Their Bonus On Purchased Miles - One Mile at a Time

 

[jgm]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

As discussed by myself and a few others earlier this thread regarding the bonus promo currently on, there's now a 140% bonus on purchases 100,000+miles if you register first on a Brazilian ff blog. Same one as last year.
Courtesy of OMAAT.
If in no rush then I'd wait till cyber Monday in Nov when the bonus was 150% last year..

Avianca LifeMiles Increases Their Bonus On Purchased Miles - One Mile at a Time

You need to register at least 12 hours before you buy. If you only see the normal bonus on your purchase screen, you won't get the extra 10% no matter what you do.

 

[smit0847]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Any suggestions for TG A380 F availability next year (May/June)? Ideally BKK-CDG but very flexible. Usually theres loads of availability but I can hardly see any other than the odd FRA-BKK.

What are the A380 European routes nowadays? CDG, FRA and LHR one daily each?

 

[boomy]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Any suggestions for TG A380 F availability next year (May/June)? Ideally BKK-CDG but very flexible. Usually theres loads of availability but I can hardly see any other than the odd FRA-BKK.

What are the A380 European routes nowadays? CDG, FRA and LHR one daily each?

Yes, only these destinations AFAIK.

Depends on where you want to go but my favourite route is BKK-FRA as you can connect from there to other destinations using LH.
From my limited experience, there is usually more availability to CDG than FRA or LHR.

 

[boomy]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Interesting thing happened with LM. I've sent few screenshots to request a complicated J booking.
Couple of hours later received an email saying some of the flights requested are no longer available and was offered new itinerary flying SQ (ex-SYD).
Couldn't remember seeing any SQ availability so double-checked and indeed none on the LM site.

The timing of the flight offered was not the best for further connections so I've sent another email requesting different SQ flight (also not available on LM). Two hours later got new itinerary with the requested flight and all that was done for two pax!

Conclusion: LM agents have access to SQ J inventory ex-AUS. Now I'm wondering maybe it's possible to simply request an itinerary involving SQ via email without attaching any screenshots.

 

[luxury-lizard]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Interesting thing happened with LM. I've sent few screenshots to request a complicated J booking.
Couple of hours later received an email saying some of the flights requested are no longer available and was offered new itinerary flying SQ (ex-SYD).
Couldn't remember seeing any SQ availability so double-checked and indeed none on the LM site.

The timing of the flight offered was not the best for further connections so I've sent another email requesting different SQ flight (also not available on LM). Two hours later got new itinerary with the requested flight and all that was done for two pax!

Conclusion: LM agents have access to SQ J inventory ex-AUS. Now I'm wondering maybe it's possible to simply request an itinerary involving SQ via email without attaching any screenshots.

Hey this sounds very promising - were the flights close in (i.e. within the next 10 days) as this is when SQ have been known to release awards inventory to *A partners - but as we all sadly know LM seem to block these awards.

 

[Guvner]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Hey this sounds very promising - were the flights close in (i.e. within the next 10 days) as this is when SQ have been known to release awards inventory to *A partners - but as we all sadly know LM seem to block these awards.

They are around:

 

[boomy]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Hey this sounds very promising - were the flights close in (i.e. within the next 10 days) as this is when SQ have been known to release awards inventory to *A partners - but as we all sadly know LM seem to block these awards.

The booking I've requested is for next year. Searched flights on UA which also didn't show availability for SQ.