Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[henleybeach]

Today I sent an email requesting Mel - SIN - IST - LIS on SQ/SQ/TK in J. Unfortunately the sq flights are on the regional business class seats it seems.

I flew this year to SIN-IST and it’s operated on the refurbished 777-200 business class, lie flat old a380 business class seats. I was speaking to the FA and he said they use the lie flats on this route all the time and that it’s meant to change to a A350.
Must be a good route for SIA , our flight was fully booked

 

[boomy]

I don't believe it's (generally) possible to book anything other than regional business class on SQ using LifeMiles. I.e. Singapore Airlines doesn't release premium awards to partners for most flights on long-haul configured aircraft. This may be different if booking very close to departure.

Edit: MEL_Traveller beat me to it! Yes, there are exceptions e.g. SQ288 SIN-CBR.

SQ278/9 also available, currently A330 but soon A350-10.

 

[LA10]

I flew this year to SIN-IST and it’s operated on the refurbished 777-200 business class, lie flat old a380 business class seats. I was speaking to the FA and he said they use the lie flats on this route all the time and that it’s meant to change to a A350.
Must be a good route for SIA , our flight was fully booked

Thanks for that insight.

 

[Lemon_Party]

I flew this year to SIN-IST and it’s operated on the refurbished 777-200 business class, lie flat old a380 business class seats. I was speaking to the FA and he said they use the lie flats on this route all the time and that it’s meant to change to a A350.
Must be a good route for SIA , our flight was fully booked

The mother-in-law & grandmother-in-law are on the SIN-IST leg at christmas - both directions are running the refurb 772 so its definitely still premium seating, but the A350 hasn't arrived yet...

 

[JohnK]

Wife has mentioned it would be nice to travel business class everyone now and then.

Can someone with recent experience advise what it would cost to firstly buy miles and then book a one-way business award to BKK? With the continuing devaluation of the AUD I suspect it's now closer to AUD1500.

@boomy.

 

[boomy]

Wife has mentioned it would be nice to travel business class everyone now and then.

Can someone with recent experience advise what it would cost to firstly buy miles and then book a one-way business award to BKK? With the continuing devaluation of the AUD I suspect it's now closer to AUD1500.

@boomy.

If you buy LM with 140% promo at .70 rate and book BKK-AUS in J it’s 40k miles plus taxes, about $900 Aud total.
AUS-BKK will be 50k LM in J so about $200 Aud more.

 

[rock86]

Wife has mentioned it would be nice to travel business class everyone now and then.

Can someone with recent experience advise what it would cost to firstly buy miles and then book a one-way business award to BKK? With the continuing devaluation of the AUD I suspect it's now closer to AUD1500.

@boomy.

You can currently get Lifemiles for AU~2c. SYD-BKK return (per below random travel dates) for 2 pax cost 180,000 in J = $3,600 + $400 booking and 270,000 in F = $5,400 + $400 booking fee.

 

[RooFlyer]

Have those who have reported delays with screenshots now been dealt with? What's the current delay time till ticketing, please?

 

[JohnK]

If you buy LM with 140% promo at .70 rate and book BKK-AUS in J it’s 40k miles plus taxes, about $900 Aud total.
AUS-BKK will be 50k LM in J so about $200 Aud more.

Boy I've been out of touch for a while. Why is it more points going out rather than coming back?

I'll let wife know and decide as there are now 3 airfares to buy. She doesn't like my suggestion of her travelling business and daughter and I in economy.

 

[boomy]

Have those who have reported delays with screenshots now been dealt with? What's the current delay time till ticketing, please?

They are really bad this time. After 7 days waiting I called them and got apologies both on the phone and by email and they promised to deal with my request “in a timely manner”. Meanwhile two more days passed and heard nothing back from them.

Another roblem is that department who deals with manual bookings works only 9am-5pm Colombia time which is middle of the night here in Australia so very hard to communicate with them.

 

[boomy]

Boy I've been out of touch for a while. Why is it more points going out rather than coming back?

I'll let wife know and decide as there are now 3 airfares to buy. She doesn't like my suggestion of her travelling business and daughter and I in economy.

When LM changed their award chart last year they didn’t fully adjust Asia to Australia rates for some reason.

 

[Cynicor]

When LM changed their award chart last year they didn’t fully adjust Asia to Australia rates for some reason.

Yeah, it was completely bizarre tbh.

 

[burmans]

Yeah, it was completely bizarre tbh.

Bizarre but I won't be complaining.

 

[JohnK]

When LM changed their award chart last year they didn’t fully adjust Asia to Australia rates for some reason.

And no one reported the issue?

 

[boomy]

And no one reported the issue?

There are so many bugs in their system that people do report and nothing is done for weeks and months.
LM operates in Colombian time, for good and for bad.

 

[dk4]

When LM changed their award chart last year they didn’t fully adjust Asia to Australia rates for some reason.

I keep finding it is 20K cheaper to fly back from BKK Fclass than fly to BKK Fclass (TG SYD obviously) ~ weird!!?!

JohnK I deliberated with buying more miles in the current promo (used One Mile At A Time promo sign up to get extra++), but taking into account the likely future continued devaluation of the AUD, and my addiction to TG BKK F transfers (once you have done it, via-anywhere else will never seem the same - damn those fabulous Thais). I have done the 7 hour transit to EU, which was bearable and made sure I slept on the second sector, and I have done the ~2hr EU hour transit (due to be discontinued soon) - most recently a few months ago when the TG F lounge rushed me over to the spa for a full body 1hr massage: when I was seriously only hoping for enough time for a shoulder rub down! I have even done the full spa bath experience, simply fabulous.

BEWARE once your partner gets use to TG F via BKK, there is no going back!!!!

 

[JohnK]

BEWARE once your partner gets use to TG F via BKK, there is no going back!!!!

I sat in TG F recently and wife was in business. Wife does not drink alcohol and is a very fussy eater. She would not have liked what was on the menu. She barely touched the business class meal and I usually get to eat the econony class meals.

Our budget does not stretch to premium cabins especially with 3 of us travelling. It'd be nice if there was a way to earn the bulk of these miles with hotel stays or car hire as was the case with BMI Diamond Club. UA Mileage Plus was ok but badly devalued late last year. AAdvantage before them.

 

[RB]

I hadn't checked our May & July 2019 flights for a couple of weeks. Seems like the reduction of Thai flights to/from Syd is not going to just be for the European winter period (I had read about them in early Sept)

 

[bam71]

Just got an email re "Club Lifemiles"...

Am thinkings its not too bad a deal, spread payments out over the month .... thoughts???


https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/ear/t...m=email&utm_source=151123-LM-Noticias/ofertas

 

[bcworld]

Just got an email re "Club Lifemiles"...

Am thinkings its not too bad a deal, spread payments out over the month .... thoughts???

I signed up for this. The money was taken and points posted for the first month on sign up. Second month, they took the payment but posted no miles, it does state it should be immediate. They responded to my support emails but never actually fixed it. Nearly a whole month went by so I terminated the plan & initiated a credit card chargeback. Ultimately, before the CC company took it further, the miles posted AND they refunded my payment, so I ended up with 7000 free miles. I probably won't bother signing up again though.