Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[JessicaTam]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

I have moved posts 'justifying' flying behaviour to a new thread:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....discussion/how-do-you-explain-your-68061.html

 

[coolkid101]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

got an email from LM this morning about their wins in the Freddie Awards - was hoping for a "and here's an extra 10% off on top of our current promotion" flash sale like the one around christmas but unfortunately no. damn.

 

[diningdecadence]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

got an email from LM this morning about their wins in the Freddie Awards - was hoping for a "and here's an extra 10% off on top of our current promotion" flash sale like the one around christmas but unfortunately no. damn.

just have to take the AUD above 80c and the 10% points promo instead, huh

 

[anna2103]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Just ticketed SQ flights from Bne for next april - will post in successful bookings thread

 

[legroom]

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

Just ticketed SQ flights from Bne for next april - will post in successful bookings thread

Next April ?

I thought SQ is usually open only for 14 days prior to departure.

Anyway, great to hear of your success !

 

[boomy]

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

Next April ?

I thought SQ is usually open only for 14 days prior to departure.

Anyway, great to hear of your success !

There is a way to book BNE/MEL-SIN using screenshots if you can find availability.
Note that it only works for the outbound so need to find a different way to come back.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Next April ?

I thought SQ is usually open only for 14 days prior to departure.

Anyway, great to hear of your success !

indeed! it appears the booking process under the glitch will allow us to book SQ in excess of 14 days.

but you have to find the sq flight somewhere...

as discussed in the earlier posts, availability might only be there on specific days of the week, and usually only in combination with two or three other flights beyond Singapore.

youll need a screenshot of the 2, 3 or 4 flight segments including SQ AU-SIN, supported by another screenshot showing no availability for the AU-SIN sector on its own.

 

[Cynicor]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Sorry, quick one- what address are people emailing for the screenshot method?

 

[boomy]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Sorry, quick one- what address are people emailing for the screenshot method?

[email protected]

 

[Cynicor]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Thanks boomy!

 

[juddles]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Am I the only person here that actually EARNS LifeMiles points by flying their airlines??

 

[hummel]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Am I the only person here that actually EARNS LifeMiles points by flying their airlines??

Might have something to do with your location!

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Might have something to do with your location!

Or you can credit all your Star Alliance (TG/SQ...etc) to LM, nothing is stopping you from doing that. It may sound stupid but the reality is, it mightn't be such a bad choice.

Amongst all star alliance that I would consider are Krisflyer (KF), Mileage Plus (UA) and LM. I won't consider any others as there is no other ways than flying to get enough miles to make it useful. (I was considering crediting to Aegean just to get star gold, but that deal is off now so no Aegean.)

KF is the top of my choice now because I have credit cards that can convert to KF points. It is also the only currency I can use to redeem SQ flights usefully (ie. No T-14 or screenshots on random dates, and access to suites and A380/77W J). But YQ is very high, and for people who do not/cannot have KF earning CC, this mightn't be a good option unless you fly a lot. Also for Star alliance redemption, KF is expensive and useless other than most direct route (which is the same as LM with lower miles and no YQ!)

UA is great for Asia but not anywhere else as the redemption rate is now higher than LM. It's great you can mix cabin and longer layover, but with the extra miles needed, (and more expensive to buy) you might as well do 2 redemption with LM and have a stopover.

So based on the comparison, crediting with LM is not a bad idea.

Any other suggestions?

 

[juddles]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Might have something to do with your location!

Just for general interest, even though all you poor buggers are stuck in Australia, Lifemiles/Avianca are very good here in Colombia for earn/burn.

For work I have to travel a fair bit between Medellin and Bucaramanga, both large cities within Colombia. There are some flights direct MDE-BGA, but most connect via Avianca's main hub in the capital Bogota.

As my work often requires changes, I get flexi Y tickets to do this, which cost me about $250 USD return. I route this via Bogota so this involves 4 segments (return) instead of two. Each flight is only about half hour.

For this I earn 5000 points. (I get bonus points for being Gold)

If I choose the right date (availability more than a week or so out is almost 100% ) I can get a return ticket via points redemption for 6000 points!

ADDITIONALLY, (and this is to stick it to QF), when flying on flexi Y tickets I can get automatic upgrades to J, which are confirmed 48 hours in advance. Avianca use a huge fleet of A318/319/320/321's with three rows of 4 x J, so there are 12 big comfy J seats. My success rate at getting upgrades is running close to 100%.

Their system works flawlessly.

The only thing that has not been great are the lounges, but these are improving in leaps and bounds.

Avianca also have a habit of canning lots of flights for "technical" reasons, but we all suspect they just amalgamate flights between the same city pairs when the pax numbers allow this, to obviously reduce costs. But when this happens between city pairs like MDE-BOG, where there is a flight every half hour, this is not really a biggie.

Anyway, just thought I would share some aviation life in Colombia

 

[anat0l]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Just for general interest, even though all you poor buggers are stuck in Australia, Lifemiles/Avianca are very good here in Colombia for earn/burn.

To be sort of honest, I guess this is what we would half expect.

Also, AV must have had this programme going for a while before they joined *A anyway. They had to add the international booking modules and what not after signing up; that's no trivial feat, and to be honest it seems many are willing to trade the small shortcomings of the process for what is otherwise fairly unfettered access to decent premium seating.

I wonder how the value proposition of international travel in premium classes (using miles, etc.) holds in Colombia.

ADDITIONALLY, (and this is to stick it to QF), when flying on flexi Y tickets I can get automatic upgrades to J, which are confirmed 48 hours in advance. Avianca use a huge fleet of A318/319/320/321's with three rows of 4 x J, so there are 12 big comfy J seats. My success rate at getting upgrades is running close to 100%.

That must mean there can't be a whole lot of elites on your flights, on in the programme overall. The concentration on the monorail / golden triangle in Australia is pretty dense. That said, I don't know how people still manage to finagle upgrades anyway, even the day before departure.

Automatic upgrades are (or sound) quite similar to how they are in the USA and unlike most other programmes around the world.

Their system works flawlessly.

Which systems? Is life a lot easier with AV if you speak Spanish, or can someone get by very comfortably (even when things go belly up) in English?

Avianca also have a habit of canning lots of flights for "technical" reasons, but we all suspect they just amalgamate flights between the same city pairs when the pax numbers allow this, to obviously reduce costs. But when this happens between city pairs like MDE-BOG, where there is a flight every half hour, this is not really a biggie.

I'm sure the same is sort of happening in Australia to a lesser degree; if someone managed to leak this was the real reason for cancelling some flights, there would be some executives who would be skinned alive with a rusty knife. People might not be bothered by another flight in 30 minutes, but they will assuredly be annoyed.

 

[juddles]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

....That must mean there can't be a whole lot of elites on your flights, on in the programme overall. The concentration on the monorail / golden triangle in Australia is pretty dense. That said, I don't know how people still manage to finagle upgrades anyway, even the day before departure......

Actually there appear to be quite a lot of elites. As I mentioned, a downside to Avianca is the size and quality of their lounges - they are often overcrowded. But quite often the J seats are only about half occupied. The upgrades only apply to the upper two of four different Y class fares. If you buy the specials or super specials there is no upgrade. So a lot of people must manage to get status (and lounge access) by doing a lot of the cheaper tickets.

As for the "system working flawlessly" comment I made, that was about Avianca and their upgrades (and booking system ) which are TOTALLY different to LifeMiles.

 

[juddles]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

... Is life a lot easier with AV if you speak Spanish, or can someone get by very comfortably (even when things go belly up) in English?.....

I speak pretty good Spanish and have given up on their "English" speaking staff - the heavy latin accent is just impossible.

Having said that, the last two calls I made to Qantas (night time Australia time) were answered by Indian-sounding people who I really struggled to understand. I really hate that :/

 

[anat0l]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Actually there appear to be quite a lot of elites. As I mentioned, a downside to Avianca is the size and quality of their lounges - they are often overcrowded. But quite often the J seats are only about half occupied. The upgrades only apply to the upper two of four different Y class fares. If you buy the specials or super specials there is no upgrade. So a lot of people must manage to get status (and lounge access) by doing a lot of the cheaper tickets.

As for the "system working flawlessly" comment I made, that was about Avianca and their upgrades (and booking system ) which are TOTALLY different to LifeMiles.

Don't mock - the sizes of the lounges in the Australian domestic system aren't necessarily coping with the current demand. Maybe it would be coping alright if you take a 10% confidence interval... but I'm not living in the thick of it at the moment, so I'll leave that to the experience.

I guess that's the thing - there are no free upgrades in Australia (the VA Platinum benefit is not a "free" upgrade in the sense that you still need to action it to make it happen). Kind of good in a small way; I don't think filling up 5 rows of domestic J with free upgrades is necessarily a good thing.

I speak pretty good Spanish and have given up on their "English" speaking staff - the heavy latin accent is just impossible.

Having said that, the last two calls I made to Qantas (night time Australia time) were answered by Indian-sounding people who I really struggled to understand. I really hate that :/

Which locale did you call? Australia (i.e. international direct dial with country code Australia)? Seems odd, unless QF have switched to an Indian call centre and/or the employees you seemed to have got in the call centre are of Indian descent.


Anyway this is all kind of OT for this thread. To bring it back, AV LM is funny like the old BD DC, i.e. the majority of points and redemptions across the partner system lies mostly with people who are not of the host country (countries). I think that statement wouldn't be too inaccurate.

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Did anyone received the targeted email to purchase LM with 125% bonus? I suspect it's limited in US only.....

 

[coolkid101]

re: Avianca "Life Miles" - Questions and Discussion

Did anyone received the targeted email to purchase LM with 125% bonus? I suspect it's limited in US only.....

saw Lucky's blog about how he got the targeted email.
my partner and i didn't get the email.
just as we were talking about how we "finally" get a promo the americans don't with the initial 120%.....