Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[mushypeas]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

i think ive seen it on FT but would love a local version on AFF

 

[anat0l]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Seeing as it's already been put out (so it seems) and there is no big deal expressed here, the formula is as follows (sorry non-math types):

• The number of miles you need for the award is Total_Miles
• The number of miles you need to purchase (the 'cash' part of the award) is Cash_Miles
• The number of miles for the award coming out of your mileage balance (the 'miles' part of the award) is Award_Miles, which is of course, Total_Miles - Cash_Miles.

For example, North America to Asia one-way in Business is 65,000 miles. If you choose to do 54,000 miles + cash, then Total_Miles is 65,000, Cash_Miles is 11,000 and Award_Miles is 54,000.

Rate_Miles = Award_Miles / Total_Miles​

Rate_Miles ranges between 1 and 0.4 (i.e. 100% to 40% of the required mileage is the minimum to be paid in existing miles).

Calc_PPM = 0.078 * (Rate_Miles ^ 2) - 0.0793 * Rate_Miles + 0.035​

If Calc_PPM is smaller than 0.015, then Calc_PPM = 0.015. Also, if Calc_PPM is larger than 0.03, then Calc_PPM = 0.03. This means that the minimum price of a mile under the cash+miles redemption option will be 1.5 cents, and the maximum price will be 3 cents. These correspond to the prices of bought miles under sale conditions and normal conditions, respectively.

Finally, the cost of the cash component of cash+miles is calculated as:

Cash_Component_Cost = Cash_Miles * Calc_PPM​

As other people have determined and graphed, and as any mathematician will pick up, the optimum value for the cash miles (at 1.5 cents per mile) will occur when you redeem between 47 - 55% of the required mileage. Assuming that you purchased your existing miles during a LM 2-for-1 sale, this will guarantee that all of the miles you use in cash+miles are at their lowest, 1.5 cents per mile. Note that Cash_Miles must always be a multiple of 1,000.

An Excel friendly cell entry to calculate Calc_PPM is given below:

=MIN(MAX(0.078*([B]Rate_Miles[/B]^2)-0.0793*[B]Rate_Miles[/B]+0.035,0.015),0.03)

Note that this post is subject to LM enhancements!

 

[mushypeas]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

jesus... my head is spinning haha, thanks for sharing... ill have a read in greater detail when i get home.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

jesus... my head is spinning haha, thanks for sharing... ill have a read in greater detail when i get home.

dont worry too much! while I appreciate some like a formula... the 'sweet spot' is very easy to find with just a couple of clicks on the 'more money/more miles' slider.

 

[paultiffen]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Hi,

I refunded a ticket as needed to use lifemiles for some internal Europe flights (Singapore passes on the YQ on Lufthansa which makes it unworkable) 14 days ago and have yet to get my miles back - I used 80% of the required miles + cash (wasn't thinking straight at the time). They keep saying to call back while a certain desk is open from 9AM - 5PM Columbian time which makes it... 12AM - 8 AM Sydney time. Each time I ring I keep getting an answer of try again later. Anyone had better experiences or have any tips on how to get them back?

 

[robcuk]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Hi,

I refunded a ticket as needed to use lifemiles for some internal Europe flights (Singapore passes on the YQ on Lufthansa which makes it unworkable) 14 days ago and have yet to get my miles back - I used 80% of the required miles + cash (wasn't thinking straight at the time). They keep saying to call back while a certain desk is open from 9AM - 5PM Columbian time which makes it... 12AM - 8 AM Sydney time. Each time I ring I keep getting an answer of try again later. Anyone had better experiences or have any tips on how to get them back?

I made several phone calls to there US office as well using the livechat on there website - was a little frustrating but the miles were refunded fairly quickly. Why don't you try the livechat option?

 

[paultiffen]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Cheers it seems like they will open again at 5 AM Columbian time which is 8 PM here - will try then

 

[quokka77]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Try the usa call centres. They are open 24 7 I think? Had to call them when I purchased my first miles as I wasn't sure whether the online transaction had processed or not.

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Hi guys,

First of all I'd like to thank all contributors to this thread - you know who you are. I have learnt a great deal and it's much appreciated.

I have just spent the last few days reading this whole thread as well as anything else on this forum about AV LM (as well as the much mentioned FT thread, etc).
Good to see I'm only a year behind on this program lol.

Most of my would-be questions have been already asked and answered however I do have a few more questions please:

*Has SQ recently opened up any award J availability on its 300ERs at least ?
*Is the only European route that runs the refurbed still only IST ? Does anyone know of other routes that fly the refurbed J ?

Also seems that the average price for bought miles as part of a redemption (upto 60%) comes down to 0.01576 per mile as an average if you use cash at the maximum amount. It goes as low as $8/1000 mile block then goes back up again after that "sweet spot".

Thanks

 

[bcworld]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Yes some SQ 77W in J is available...very frequently on MEL-SIN for example.

IST has never been the only European refurb 772ER route because AMS was first...I believe CPH is soon refurbed too.

 

[robd]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Hi guys,

First of all I'd like to thank all contributors to this thread - you know who you are. I have learnt a great deal and it's much appreciated.

I have just spent the last few days reading this whole thread as well as anything else on this forum about AV LM (as well as the much mentioned FT thread, etc).
Good to see I'm only a year behind on this program lol.

Most of my would-be questions have been already asked and answered however I do have a few more questions please:

*Has SQ recently opened up any award J availability on its 300ERs at least ?
*Is the only European route that runs the refurbed still only IST ? Does anyone know of other routes that fly the refurbed J ?

Also seems that the average price for bought miles as part of a redemption (upto 60%) comes down to 0.01576 per mile as an average if you use cash at the maximum amount. It goes as low as $8/1000 mile block then goes back up again after that "sweet spot".

Thanks

Gold star for doing your homework

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Yes some SQ 77W in J is available...very frequently on MEL-SIN for example.

IST has never been the only European refurb 772ER route because AMS was first...I believe CPH is soon refurbed too.

I see. Thanks.
Do you know if there is any F availability on SQ (on the older planes) ? Which routes ?

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Gold star for doing your homework

Haha cheers :mrgreen:

 

[anat0l]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

I see. Thanks.
Do you know if there is any F availability on SQ (on the older planes) ? Which routes ?

It's been said that SQ old F is available for redemption across the alliance, but I haven't tried.

Most of those routes are intra-Asia routes, which is only operated as such once per day. For example, CGK/SIN, MNL/SIN.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

It's been said that SQ old F is available for redemption across the alliance, but I haven't tried.

Most of those routes are intra-Asia routes, which is only operated as such once per day. For example, CGK/SIN, MNL/SIN.

MNL no longer has F.

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Guys after some hours of searching I have established that if you want to fly F to anywhere it seems TG to FRA is the way to go and that as suggested above, there is indeed plenty of availability in SQ's 77W in J from MEL-SIN and onwards to CGK, etc.

What I would like to know is, are there any other Oz-Europe or Asia-Europe routes where there is some availability in F ? I am looking 11 months out.
And what airline has decent availability in J to get from Middle East or Europe to South America or the US (I am even flexible as to which continent lol) ?

I've tried MS CAI-JFK, LH FRA-GIG/GRU, LX ZRH-GIG, TK IST-JFK, and alot of other combinations. And not finding much availability in J anytime during June 2014. Maybe unusually busy that time because of the World Cup ?

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Actually I have found some availability now in BS LHR-JFK.
Seems like their A330s are now fully flat.
SeatGuru Seat Map Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-300 (333)
SeatGuru Seat Map Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-200 (332)

Anybody flown them ?

 

[Bofter]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Anybody flown them ?

Yes, but into Templehof airport, which you might struggle to do now. Selected them partly in order to fly into Templehof, which was interesting to do but not particularly on topic.

 

[RB]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

What I would like to know is, are there any other Oz-Europe or Asia-Europe routes where there is some availability in F ? I am looking 11 months out.
And what airline has decent availability in J to get from Middle East or Europe to South America or the US (I am even flexible as to which continent lol) ?

Not sure about next year but we had no problems getting TG Syd-Mxp via BKK. While maybe not the best planes, load numbers were low so service, loo access etc was excellent

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - New FF program in *A

Not sure about next year but we had no problems getting TG Syd-Mxp via BKK. While maybe not the best planes, load numbers were low so service, loo access etc was excellent

Cheers.
Do the 747s from SYD have the new F ?