Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[luxury-lizard]

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

Hey guys, I'm really liking this LM deal, Aug 31 - Sept 20 the wife and I are going to Europe from perth. We would like to visit the following cities, Paris, Munich, Venice, Istanbul and Dubai. At the moment I have found either Thai Airways - Per-Bkk-Cdg in business which is great! Lots of availability within Europe (~12,500 points each), then back home through Istanbul, dubai and back to Perth somehow.

Should I book the flights within europe using LM or cash? They are equating to approx the same with the $0.015 conversion. Another route will be Per-Sin (bookable at T-14) then Sin-CDG bookable now in business class. Thoughts on this?

Open to any suggestions.

Cheers

Here's what I would do - if you don't want a stop-over on the way to CDG then book PER-BKK-CDG on TG - it's the fewest miles. If on the other hand you would like a stopover on the way to Europe then book SIN-CDG now then wait for T-14 to book PER-SIN all on SQ (all in all a better product IMO) - you may need a stopover in SIN no matter depending on what dates are available on PER-SIN.

On the return - I guess your final "leg" would be DXB-xx_-PER where xx_ would be BKK or SIN - better availability via BKK I would think. For your internal flights within Europe - if there is availability (and you have the miles) I would book in business class at 22,500 per leg - pretty good value keeping in mind that IST-DXB is Europe-Middle East so more miles. Even though intra-Europe business class is nothing special - it gives you the extra baggage allowance, priority check-in, lounge access which is all nice to have.

Note - in all of this I am recommending standard routes - i.e. none of the "tricked" routes which may save some miles but something I personally stay away from for all sorts of reasons.

 

[bcworld]

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

Here's what I would do - if you don't want a stop-over on the way to CDG then book PER-BKK-CDG on TG - it's the fewest miles. If on the other hand you would like a stopover on the way to Europe then book SIN-CDG now then wait for T-14 to book PER-SIN all on SQ (all in all a better product IMO) - you may need a stopover in SIN no matter depending on what dates are available on PER-SIN.

Is it even possible to book PER-BKK-CDG? The connection time at the moment is 9 hours...generally that's too long for LM.

 

[luxury-lizard]

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

Is it even possible to book PER-BKK-CDG? The connection time at the moment is 9 hours...generally that's too long for LM.

Ah bcworld - you are of course correct - my mistake - I checked T-14 with no airline specified and got PER-SIN-CDG (all on SQ as a single award) as well as PER-SIN-FRA-CDG (on SQ to FRA then LH) and PER-SIN-BKK-CDG (on SQ and TG) - but OP may not wish to wait until T-14 to book the whole outward bound trip. So I guess to be sure he should book as 2 awards either via BKK or SIN.

I was very surprised by the result of my T-14 search - looks like originating in PER gives some straight through to Europe as a single award on SQ - almost never see this from SYD - may be worth a positioning flight to PER.

 

[wchiri]

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

Just checked, jetstar has Per-Sin for $138 one way!! Worth booking that commercially then booking business class straight to Paris?

Otherwise wait for T-14 and book direct? But then possibly risk losing the direct SIN-CDG flight? This is all too confusing haha! Can't find any business flights back to Perth (with reasonable time and not a lot of stops) around Sept 20. Anyone else have luck?

 

[hummel]

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

Anyone having trouble buying miles today? Just tried 3 different card, 2 accounts and when I click continue it just takes me to the same screen and says to re-enter CC info.

 

[TheEmu]

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

Anyone having trouble buying miles today? Just tried 3 different card, 2 accounts and when I click continue it just takes me to the same screen and says to re-enter CC info.

I bought some earlier today without any drama - confirmation email came through immediately and the Miles were posted by the time I clicked back into LifeMiles from Mail and refreshed. You will have missed it if you haven't got them by now.

 

[flin898]

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

There are seveal posts in FT who sucessfully got conneciton for 8 hours +. However YMMV.

 

[LuisT]

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

Anyone see any problems/reasons why LM wouldn't show this itin? Looking at booking for 8 June.

Can't get the engine to show it, though Aeroplan does...

 

[bcworld]

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

Anyone see any problems/reasons why LM wouldn't show this itin? Looking at booking for 8 June.

Can't get the engine to show it, though Aeroplan does...

There's no obvious reason, however the booking engine does what it does.

About the only thing you could maybe try is pop open your Firebug and tinker with the departure time field on the search.

 

[Gogo65]

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

Anyone having trouble buying miles today? Just tried 3 different card, 2 accounts and when I click continue it just takes me to the same screen and says to re-enter CC info.

I'm trying to buy now, just had bankwest call me to say they had life miles put through a test transaction for $1.08, but the transaction for the full amount has not gone through. They said it was nothing there end. I also tried my Amex and had the same issue.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

I'm trying to buy now, just had bankwest call me to say they had life miles put through a test transaction for $1.08, but the transaction for the full amount has not gone through. They said it was nothing there end. I also tried my Amex and had the same issue.

the deal ended 30 May (although, edited to add, you might not have been buying for the 2-4-1 deal...)

 

[markis10]

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

the deal ended 30 May (although, edited to add, you might not have been buying for the 2-4-1 deal...)

The deal was meant to end 30 May, it hasn't

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

The deal was meant to end 30 May, it hasn't

have the terms and conditions been changed?

I know it still advertises the 2-4-1, but it is outside the promo period. Are the bonus miles still posting?

 

[Gogo65]

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

have the terms and conditions been changed?

I know it still advertises the 2-4-1, but it is outside the promo period. Are the bonus miles still posting?

It was still adding the bonus miles when I was trying to buy, however I gave up, after trying 3 credit cards, 2-3 times. Unfortunately I have been away and missed the email, hence me trying to buy last minute.

 

[Bofter]

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

I purchased successfully at 2pm Melb time on the 31st. 2x miles posted immediately. I used a 28 degrees MasterCard that I have used before for Avianca and had no approval problems.

 

[LuisT]

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

There's no obvious reason, however the booking engine does what it does.

About the only thing you could maybe try is pop open your Firebug and tinker with the departure time field on the search.

This is the thing that gets a bit annoying about LM. Can see the individual flights, but it won't let me put them together!

 

[bcworld]

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

This is the thing that gets a bit annoying about LM. Can see the individual flights, but it won't let me put them together!

Well I tried manually changing the departure time to 2110 and it did give me different options, I think including the one you listed on some days but not Jun 8. It did offer various options though that weren't shown without specifying the exact departure time.

 

[LuisT]

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

Well I tried manually changing the departure time to 2110 and it did give me different options, I think including the one you listed on some days but not Jun 8. It did offer various options though that weren't shown without specifying the exact departure time.

So were you able to get anything on June 8? I haven't been able to pull anything up for that date. I'm not too fussed about the routing...

 

[JessicaTam]

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

I have had trouble getting LM to accept my CC details this week. And each time I have to wait for the inventory to return. I have finally made a booking with my backup CC, but not quite the routing/carrier I was after. It still has the desired (cheap) effect though.

Now, has anyone flown MS?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

I have had trouble getting LM to accept my CC details this week. And each time I have to wait for the inventory to return. I have finally made a booking with my backup CC, but not quite the routing/carrier I was after. It still has the desired (cheap) effect though.

Now, has anyone flown MS?

MS is ok! full flat beds on the 777, angled flats on a330s, and either QF style domestic business class seats or standard European business seats for regional flights (European = middle seat blocked).

food is ok, service varies from great to surely (so basically think QF ). no alcohol.