Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Is there a significant difference in the seat/suite of TG new 774 F (the one they fly to LHR) and their 388 ?
If anything the new 774 suites look better from the photos ?

Cheers

google (image search) is probably the easiest and quickest way to see the difference between all the seats in terms of space and privacy.

In terms of the A380 seat I wasn't fussed about it at all, nothing remarkable. I prefer the 747 to the A380 (even old F) - there's very little foot traffic on the 747 and the galley is farther away.

 

[smit0847]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

I disagree. A380 F is nothing like old B747 F, it's much better in every aspect IMO.

Regarding which cabin is better, new B747 or A380, people have different opinions but they are both good products.

I meant they were both quite open not that they were a similar design.

 

[boomy]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

I meant they were both quite open not that they were a similar design.

The A380 doesn't feel open at all.

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Guys does TG have any sort of arrival lounge for F pax ?
I assume the famed royal orchid F lounge with the hour long massages are obviously airside ?

Is the QF lounge there decent ?

I am considering flying TG931 in F then spending the morning/afternoon in BKK before flying JQ "J" back to MEL.
Would be nice if I could have breakfast and a shower in the arrivals lounge before heading into the city.

What are the "must-sees" for a first time visitor to Bangkok ?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Guys does TG have any sort of arrival lounge for F pax ?
I assume the famed royal orchid F lounge with the hour long massages are obviously airside ?

Is the QF lounge there decent ?

I am considering flying TG931 in F then spending the morning/afternoon in BKK before flying JQ "J" back to MEL.
Would be nice if I could have breakfast and a shower in the arrivals lounge before heading into the city.

What are the "must-sees" for a first time visitor to Bangkok ?

There is no arrivals lounge for TG. TG931 is scheduled to arrive around 6am... I'm not actually sure what you'd do in bangkok at that time of the morning!

Standard bangkok for toursits... ummm... temples, floating market (which apparently is a bit of a tourist trap these days... it's very small and a long way out of town), a boat ride on the river, maybe a visit to Healthlands (a huge massage chain with branches throughout Bangkok, popular with high-end locals and they offer some great packages for thai massage and herbal massage - cheap by our standards, trained professionals and highly recommended). And of course shopping malls and the nighlife (but you will have left by then)

It's gonna be hot. It's gonna be humid. I'd probably recommend you get a cheap hotel (ibis for example starts at USD25 on special, or similar) - book it for the night of arrival and the following night. You then have somewhere to go at 6am, a base to store bags, have breakfast and head out sightseeing, come back and have a shower, and maybe a snooze before you jetstar flight.

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Hi all,

How do I put in a stop-over on LM ? Or is there no stopovers allowed ?
Will the ticket reprice if I try to search it as a multi-city ?
I am trying to find seats DXB-KIV on TK in J and there is plenty of availability for the dates I am looking for but it won't let me search it as a multi-city unless I have a third pairing in there. Does anyone know a way around this ?

So I want to search DXB to IST on xx date and then IST to KIV a week later but it won't even search unless I put in a third flight to take me back to DXB. I don't want this as would rather take the much quicker direct flydubai flight back to DXB which I will book separately. So I basically want a one way flight from DXB to KIV with a week layover at IST.

If I book it as two PNRs (two one ways) will this be more expensive compared to on the one PNR ? I could essentially do that without losing anything I suppose and without even "risking" anything as we are not in a situation where we could miss a connection etc.

I haven't booked an LM ticket since the days when SQ J was still bookable in advanced (so we are talking around mid-2013s) so since then I have forgotten all the tricks.

Cheers

 

[anat0l]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

As far as I know,

How do I put in a stop-over on LM ? Or is there no stopovers allowed ?

You can do a multi-city in LM, though it appears that this is only valid for return journeys (i.e. itineraries where you come back to where you started). Each leg will be priced individually, i.e. SYD to LHR via BKK in F costs 115k points one-way with only transits if booked in a single hit; but SYD-BKK and BKK-LHR with a break or done in two bookings manually will be priced as 60k (for Others to South Asia) plus 102k (for South Asia to Europe).

As for "one-way multi-city" with a stopover in between, it appears you can't do much about that.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

As per the terms and conditions of the LM program... no stopovers on single priced awards. And no way, voluntarily, to get around that (usual exceptions apply for involuntary issues where you might end up with a stopover on your ticket).

 

[Nizar]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

As per the terms and conditions of the LM program... no stopovers on single priced awards. And no way, voluntarily, to get around that (usual exceptions apply for involuntary issues where you might end up with a stopover on your ticket).

Ah ok but would you agree that it seems I am not "risking" much or "losing" much by just booking two one way tickets in this situation ?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Ah ok but would you agree that it seems I am not "risking" much or "losing" much by just booking two one way tickets in this situation ?

no issues except as anat0l points it is more expensive pricing each segment.

and there's 2x$25 booking fee (and 2x cancellation if you decide not to go at all).

 

[ozmouse]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Just received my e-tickets overnight for TK reward booked august 6th!

At the time, i TK website, booking was there, did seat selection and thought nothing more of it. e-tickets only arrived now! That seems a bit of a gap between booking and ticketing. If i had remembered etickets not in hand, i 'would' have been worried!

Note to self - check all lifemile paperwork in order before counting chickens (or something like that).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Just received my e-tickets overnight for TK reward booked august 6th!

At the time, i TK website, booking was there, did seat selection and thought nothing more of it. e-tickets only arrived now! That seems a bit of a gap between booking and ticketing. If i had remembered etickets not in hand, i 'would' have been worried!

Note to self - check all lifemile paperwork in order before counting chickens (or something like that).

If you haven't already done so, I would check TK has your ticket number and the ticket is valid for travel. It's possible, with such a gap, that TK may have cancelled your seats (even though the booking may still show under 'manage booking'). Preferably I'd call (a TK call centre) - but at a stretch if you can see the ticket number via a 'manage booking' function that might suffice.

 

[boomy]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Just received my e-tickets overnight for TK reward booked august 6th!

At the time, i TK website, booking was there, did seat selection and thought nothing more of it. e-tickets only arrived now! That seems a bit of a gap between booking and ticketing. If i had remembered etickets not in hand, i 'would' have been worried!

Note to self - check all lifemile paperwork in order before counting chickens (or something like that).

It's not uncommon with LM. I'm still waiting on e-tickets for booking made for my parents in June. Their flight is just a few weeks away, outbound e-tickets sent two weeks after booking was finalised but inbound tickets hadn't been sent yet.
Looks like I have no choice and must call LM.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

It's not uncommon with LM. I'm still waiting on e-tickets for booking made for my parents in June. Their flight is just a few weeks away, outbound e-tickets sent two weeks after booking was finalised but inbound tickets hadn't been sent yet.
Looks like I have no choice and must call LM.

Same advice as to ozmouse - without a ticket number, airlines are free to cancel bookings in their system as they haven't been paid for. Most airlines will 'guarantee' to hold seats for three days (sometimes longer), but after that, you could end up without any seat at all.

Even if you can access your booking on line, choose seats, book the cook (or whatever) - without a ticket number the underlying reservation could be cancelled.

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

It's not uncommon with LM. I'm still waiting on e-tickets for booking made for my parents in June. Their flight is just a few weeks away, outbound e-tickets sent two weeks after booking was finalised but inbound tickets hadn't been sent yet.
Looks like I have no choice and must call LM.

The easiest way is to go to checkmytrip and see if ticket number is there under passenger detail. Lifemile actually issue ticket very quickly (within a few hours) but they may or may not send an email with your e-ticket. I usually check with checkmytrip first, if it's already ticketed I usually don't worry about it. I would wait for a few more days, if I don't get an email then I'd write to them. No need to call. (Seriously, avoid their call center at all cost! It took them 30 min just to get me to the right department to synchronize the ticket for an involuntary change made by TG).

You can also check with airline website to check e-ticket number as MEL-traveler says, but not all airline allow you to "manage booking" unless you booked with them. I know Asiana and SAA won't allow you to access your booking when booked through LM. All management of your booking (seat selection...etc) must be done over the phone.

 

[hummel]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

Did a screenshot booking yesterday. MEL-BKK-MNL

Email sent Saturday, called made yesterday flying out Thursday.

 

[ozmouse]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

thanks guys/girls... straight onto it.....

when i go onto TK website manage booking, using amedeus book ref, booking comes up confirmed , and shows both e-tickets numbers as dispatched overnight. Flight details as expected.

Checked checkmytrip, and etickets listed under pax name. I should note it does say there, "ticket status eticket processed 24aug15". so it would appear it is not a email delay, but only processed then.

Are you saying that is insufficient followup, and i should still call service centre? if it is insufficient .... wow... lifemiles (with TK) is getting very dodgy...

in other news.... aircraft type = 777-300 HAH ...I LAUGH!

 

[VAG newbie]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

thanks guys/girls... straight onto it.....

when i go onto TK website manage booking, using amedeus book ref, booking comes up confirmed , and shows both e-tickets numbers as dispatched overnight. Flight details as expected.

Are you saying that is insufficient followup, and i should still call service centre? if it is insufficient .... wow... lifemiles (with TK) is getting very dodgy...

in other news.... aircraft type = 777-300 HAH ...I LAUGH!

That's enough in my book. I think MEL is very careful as I believe he had a bad experience once. One can never be too careful. Nothing to lose!

I myself am going to take his advise, even though I already contacted Asiana and SAA to book my seat, I'm going to call to reconfirm my flights 2days before taking off.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

That's enough in my book. I think MEL is very careful as I believe he had a bad experience once. One can never be too careful. Nothing to lose!

I myself am going to take his advise, even though I already contacted Asiana and SAA to book my seat, I'm going to call to reconfirm my flights 2days before taking off.

While it is relatively rare, there are enough instances of tickets failing to be pushed through (from the ticket issuer to partner airlines) to warrant checking the booking has a ticket number. So many times people have assumed all is well because they can access their booking, reserve seats, select meals... but all the time the booking was not good for travel.

In the case of partner awards, a good rule is 72 hours for the max time for a ticket number to be generated and received by the operating airline.

Some airlines are more generous - they can sit on a booking for a long time without a ticket number and not care. But it only takes one case where the flight is full, or a top tier wants to clear a wait-list... and a review of the flight could mean your seat goes out the window.

For certain airlines calling may be time consuming... but it's a lot less troublesome than arriving at the airport to find you can't fly and having to sort it out there and then.

 

[boomy]

re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

A bit OT but something interesting I found last night, apparently it's cheaper to change bookings on SAA by calling the PER number then calling directly to JNB, for flights booked online. No idea why but I got two different quotes from both call centres for the same change I wanted to make (Dom flights in SA).