Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[Bofter]

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

Thanks everyone for the help

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

There is a series of posts of people having problems with Air China and seemingly confirmed reservations. On Travelsky (the Chinese GDS) the words next to HK translated to "confirmed, please ticket" and various other sources seemed to distinguish between HK and OK on the basis of whether a ticket was there. My checking and re-checking was then partly due to language - my uncertainty as to whether I had expressed my question clearly in a way that then got the desired response.

IIRC these were UA mileage tickets that some gang had mananaged to obtain UA account numbers, access those, cancel them, and then release them to travel agents.

While it was a major issue, i don't think it went outside UA transpac redemptions. My USDM tickets were just fine.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

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

Hi,

I'm trying to see if its worthwhile or even possible to get a 2 seats on Sydney-Bangkok through Avianca to travel with Thai sometime in October - dates quite flexible.
Assuming it is possible, how many are needed for a return flight in J and is it possible to purchase the required number of points in a single transaction. If needed, I can set up a separate account for my wife, so that I can purchase the points needed for one return J flight, and she can purchase for another. It would then be a matter of coordinating the bookings somehow.
Do you think this is doable ?
Where do I start ?

Regards,
LP

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

Hi,

I'm trying to see if its worthwhile or even possible to get a 2 seats on Sydney-Bangkok through Avianca to travel with Thai sometime in October - dates quite flexible.
Assuming it is possible, how many are needed for a return flight in J and is it possible to purchase the required number of points in a single transaction. If needed, I can set up a separate account for my wife, so that I can purchase the points needed for one return J flight, and she can purchase for another. It would then be a matter of coordinating the bookings somehow.
Do you think this is doable ?
Where do I start ?

Regards,
LP

You need to start by joining Avianca Lifemiles. Membership is free.

Once you have done that, you are able to search for redemption tickets. This will also tell you the number of miles needed.

You can also google the avianca award chart to give you the number of miles needed.

You will need a minimum of 40% of the miles required for a trip in your account to start with, the rest can be topped up with cash. The cash rate is pretty much the same as buying miles on promotion. Again. access to the booking tool (afeter you are a member) will show you the miles plus cash co-pay.

The important thing is to be a member now, as when promos are announced, you need to be an existing member.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

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

You need to start by joining Avianca Lifemiles. Membership is free.

Once you have done that, you are able to search for redemption tickets. This will also tell you the number of miles needed.

You can also google the avianca award chart to give you the number of miles needed.

You will need a minimum of 40% of the miles required for a trip in your account to start with, the rest can be topped up with cash. The cash rate is pretty much the same as buying miles on promotion. Again. access to the booking tool (afeter you are a member) will show you the miles plus cash co-pay.

The important thing is to be a member now, as when promos are announced, you need to be an existing member.

For that. It seems its 47,500 one way in J per person, which is USD 1425 to purchase the points. Do they usually add taxes or any other fees to the booking ? I saw some availability , so this could be an option.
How often does avianca have promos ? If there is a discount on purchasing the points, that would be awesome.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

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

The important thing is to be a member now, as when promos are announced, you need to be an existing member.

When I go to purchase the miles page, I type in 95,000 which is enough for 1 way for 2 tickets, and there is a field there called "2x1 Special Offer Bonus". I cannot type anything in there, and it doesn't get populated with anything. Is there a bonus offer going on at the moment that this is referencing, or is this field only working when there is a bonus offer around ?

 

[markis10]

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

For that. It seems its 47,500 one way in J per person, which is USD 1425 to purchase the points. Do they usually add taxes or any other fees to the booking ? I saw some availability , so this could be an option.
How often does avianca have promos ? If there is a discount on purchasing the points, that would be awesome.

Signup and do a dummy booking and you will get all the answers, from memory it does not check points balance until after the taxes page.

 

[Alanslegal]

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

there is a field there called "2x1 Special Offer Bonus". I cannot type anything in there, and it doesn't get populated with anything. Is there a bonus offer going on at the moment that this is referencing, or is this field only working when there is a bonus offer around ?

That field/box is always there regardless of a promotion or not. It will get populated automatically if there is a bonus promotion.

 

[JessicaTam]

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

That field/box is always there regardless of a promotion or not. It will get populated automatically if there is a bonus promotion.

... and you are eligible for the promotion.

 

[SingaporeDon]

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

... and you are eligible for the promotion.

Remember, cost of buying miles goes up in October, and there might not be a 2:1 promtion till October now

Also, there has been a general increase in miles required for redemption, which will apply from October too. However, some of the awards from Australia/NZ have actually gone down, and it will cost less to travel from Australia/NZ to North Asia then to South Asia!!

 

[Nizar]

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

Does anyone know what the go is with United ? I am trying to find a flight from LAX-MEL for next year April, and for several dates (pretty much the last two weeks of the month) I cannot find any award seats on LM in any class (yes even in Y) ?

Is there a block of some sort ?

Thanks

 

[anat0l]

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

Does anyone know what the go is with United ? I am trying to find a flight from LAX-MEL for next year April, and for several dates (pretty much the last two weeks of the month) I cannot find any award seats on LM in any class (yes even in Y) ?

Is there a block of some sort ?

Thanks

Sounds like Trans-Pacific availability as usual to me. The season which you're searching in is likely not helping.

That said, even though it is a new route with new equipment, I didn't think it would all disappear that fast, unless the sales have totally decimated available seats.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

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

Does anyone know what the go is with United ? I am trying to find a flight from LAX-MEL for next year April, and for several dates (pretty much the last two weeks of the month) I cannot find any award seats on LM in any class (yes even in Y) ?

Is there a block of some sort ?

Thanks

Are they supposed to offer award seats year round?

 

[JessicaTam]

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

Are they supposed to offer award seats year round?

I depends on the airline. SQ only offer J seats on LM at T-14 days. Some airlines may issue more seats if the allocation sells early, but others won't. YMMV

 

[Aussie_flyer]

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

I depends on the airline. SQ only offer J seats on LM at T-14 days. Some airlines may issue more seats if the allocation sells early, but others won't. YMMV

my response was sarcastic.

 

[luxury-lizard]

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

Since UA changed to 777s on the SYD<->LAX/SFO routes award availability even at 330 days out has been pretty much zilch in C/J and F (I never check Y). I assume MEL is the same. Sometimes at very close in (like a few days) you see a couple of seats. To cross the Pacific on *A you pretty much need to go via ICN (which will take 2 awards on LM given you need an overnight connection on the outbound - one award on the return) or try AC via YVR - availability is not great but is better than UA - you can book 354 days out and you can pretty much guarantee 1 J seat at exactly 354 to YVR with onward connections on AC (can't connect on UA at 354 as their booking calendar only opens at 334). You can also try CA via PEK or PVG - also bookable at about 357 days.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

my response was sarcastic.

It was a valid question - sent me checking for award blackout dates.

 

[Stephen65]

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

I depends on the airline. SQ only offer J seats on LM at T-14 days. Some airlines may issue more seats if the allocation sells early, but others won't. YMMV

Thai is particularly generous in this regard which I appreciate because there are four of us travelling together. They usually offer 2 award seats in J and 2 in F (if applicable) but my recent experience has been if you take the 2 business class seats then 2 more J award seats will appear almost instantly. So I've managed to get all four of us on the same aircraft flying MEL-BKK-MUC-BKK-MEL in J next year.

 

[travelislife]

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

When I go to purchase the miles page, I type in 95,000 which is enough for 1 way for 2 tickets, and there is a field there called "2x1 Special Offer Bonus". I cannot type anything in there, and it doesn't get populated with anything. Is there a bonus offer going on at the moment that this is referencing, or is this field only working when there is a bonus offer around ?

A couple of points to think about:
1. Do not buy points when there is not a promo on it is not worth it.
2. Do not buy 100% of the miles, it is not required.
3. You only need to buy 40% of the required miles.
4. SYD-BKK-SYD is 95,000 miles per person, so you need to buy 38,000 miles, or 76,000 miles for 2 people.
5. The current cost of 76,000 miles on promo sale is approximately $1,140 USD.
6. When there is a promo on this means you could get a return J class ticket SYD-BKK-SYD for one person for approximately $1800 AUD ($1700 USD).
7. When there is no promo on it would be approximately $2600 AUD per person.

 

[Nizar]

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

Guys this may be something which is already well known but does LH block their J class from LM ? I do realise that there is a block for F with the exception of T-14 but now even that seems to be have disappeared, but I thought J was all good. Or is it only certain routes/aircraft which are blocked ?

Thanks