Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[diningdecadence]

That’s why my flight was 100% full in F... Got used to fly on almost empty cabins with LH.

The new Panamera fleet is beautiful. Got driven twice in FRA upon landing and departure, then once in MUC from the lounge. My chauffeur in MUC was actually the supervisor and after he found out the boarding was slightly delayed he offered to take me for 20 minutes scenic drive around the airport. That was an incredible experience, especially since he was also an avgeek and knew a lot about planes.

is 2 hours long enough in the FCT in FRA? looking at some flights, arrival 1350 next flight 1615 (from USA to intra Europe), otherwise there's an 8pm departure

 

[MEL_Traveller]

is 2 hours long enough in the FCT in FRA? looking at some flights, arrival 1350 next flight 1615 (from USA to intra Europe), otherwise there's an 8pm departure

You can easily pass 2 hours or 6 hours in the FCT. There’s lots to do... rent a porsche, take a spa bath, dine at the restaurant, coughtails at the bar, enjoy the cigar lounge.

2 hours you’d pick one or two of those things, 6 hours you can try them all.

It’s about a 5 minute walk from the exit of the airport to the FCT. For a 2 hours connection i’d probably stay at one of the lounge in the main terminal. The lounges are the same.

 

[boomy]

is 2 hours long enough in the FCT in FRA? looking at some flights, arrival 1350 next flight 1615 (from USA to intra Europe), otherwise there's an 8pm departure

If it’s your first visit then 2hr is not enough IMO.
If you want to hire the Porsche allow at least 6-7hr. Excluding the Porsche 3-4hr is the minimum to take advantage of the facilities: long meal at the restaurant, spirit tasting at the bar, Cuban in the cigar room (can be purchased at the inhouse DT), relaxing shower/bath, back for dessert at restaurant... So much to so little time

 

[juddles]

Novice question:

I want to do my first attempt at the screenshot method. But before I start wanted any advice regarding the possibility of having my routing approved.

It is BNE-PEK in J on Air China
+ PEK-FRA in F on LH
+ FRA-EZE in F on LH

I can find each segment available, and each "stopover" is less than 24hrs.

Am I on the right track?

 

[boomy]

Novice question:

I want to do my first attempt at the screenshot method. But before I start wanted any advice regarding the possibility of having my routing approved.

It is BNE-PEK in J on Air China
+ PEK-FRA in F on LH
+ FRA-EZE in F on LH

I can find each segment available, and each "stopover" is less than 24hrs.

Am I on the right track?

With LM routings there is no right or wrong option because screenshots are handled by human employees who often don’t master geography. My suggestion is to email screenshots with your preferred route and see what happens.
Btw, while < 24hr stopover is the rule I got approved > 24hr before so if you can only find availability where one of the sectors is slightly > 24hr don’t hasitate to try, you have nothing to lose.

 

[bcworld]

Novice question:

I want to do my first attempt at the screenshot method. But before I start wanted any advice regarding the possibility of having my routing approved.

It is BNE-PEK in J on Air China
+ PEK-FRA in F on LH
+ FRA-EZE in F on LH

I can find each segment available, and each "stopover" is less than 24hrs.

Am I on the right track?

What boomy said is correct with regard to the human factor.

Your itinerary would almost certainly exceed maximum permitted mileage (MPM) for BNE-EZE though.

 

[juddles]

What boomy said is correct with regard to the human factor.

Your itinerary would almost certainly exceed maximum permitted mileage (MPM) for BNE-EZE though.

Am unfamiliar with the permitted mileage restrictions. But even if I could get the PEK-FRA-EZE in LH F I would be very happy with that!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Am unfamiliar with the permitted mileage restrictions. But even if I could get the PEK-FRA-EZE in LH F I would be very happy with that!

For certain tickets and routings airlines will impose a maximum number of miles you can fly to achieve that route. If say the distance between A and B is 5000 miles, they may allow a combination of flights up to that 5000 miles, plus a leeway on top of that (usually 25%). So you could fly 6250 miles in this example. The 5000 miles is measured by the direct routing (great circle mapper is a good way to start this).

BNE-EZE comes in at 6870 base miles, so a rough and ready calculation of MPM might be ~8500 miles. (But this isn't always precise, the MPM will be calculated in the system). BNE-PEK-FRA-EZE comes in at 17000 miles, well in excess of the 6870.

PEK-EZE is 11900 miles, and via FRA is going to be withing the MPM. As would going the other way, via LAX for example.

PEK-FRA-EZE should be doable via the screenshot method. I know LM allows routings from at least as far as Chicago to Asia via Europe (although it's not offered on line).

You can always try the screenshot method from Australia, but it's likely they'd come back with an alternative in business class with AU-USA in business (if they can find it). In the meantime you might lose your F class on the PEK-FRA-EZE flights.

Just note that some of the LH F seating might not actually be bookable. If there are 2 (or more) seats showing for the LH flights you should be ok. If there's only one seat showing it might (in some cases) not actually be available to LM.

 

[diningdecadence]

any recent experiences adding infants, particularly on LH? Looks like it's going to be 10%, hoping it may have been just taxes. would it matter if ticketed through Avianca or LH?

Cheers

 

[MEL_Traveller]

any recent experiences adding infants, particularly on LH? Looks like it's going to be 10%, hoping it may have been just taxes. would it matter if ticketed through Avianca or LH?

Cheers

It looks like the process may not necessarily be so straight forward, but there are several options: Lifemiles headache for infant booking

If it's 10% of the fare it could be a very expensive addition (especially in F). Looks like shopping around might be in order (airline, travel agent etc)

 

[futaris]

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• Buy 1,000-50,000 Lifemiles: 115% bonus (1.535 US cents per mile)
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[burmans]

Exclusive offer for Milelion readers: Buy Lifemiles with a 140% bonus - The MileLion

• Buy 1,000-50,000 Lifemiles: 115% bonus (1.535 US cents per mile)
• Buy 51,000-100,000 Lifemiles: 130% bonus (1.43 US cents per mile)
• Buy 101,000-200,000 Lifemiles: 140% bonus (1.375 US cents per mile)

Just tried and got message that this offer is no longer available!

 

[kpc]

Just tried and got message that this offer is no longer available!

You registered too early ....need to wait for another 1 hr 24 mins
Registration for this offer is required, and can be done here. Registration is open from 15-29 May (or rather, 2pm SGT on 15 May to 2pm SGT on 30 May if you want to be specific). If you try registering before the opening time you’ll get an error message.

 

[kpc]

Just tried and got message that this offer is no longer available!

You registered too early ....need to wait for another 1 hr 24 mins
Registration for this offer is required, and can be done here. Registration is open from 15-29 May (or rather, 2pm SGT on 15 May to 2pm SGT on 30 May if you want to be specific). If you try registering before the opening time you’ll get an error message.

It works now!

 

[burmans]

Works for me now too. Timely, just spent 160K flying 4 of us back from Seoul in J (in itself a great use of Lifemiles points).

 

[futaris]

Special LifeMiles Promo For OMAAT Readers - Buy Miles For 1.375 Cents Each! - One Mile at a Time

 

[burmans]

Special LifeMiles Promo For OMAAT Readers - Buy Miles For 1.375 Cents Each! - One Mile at a Time

There's a surprise!

 

[jayel]

I noticed availability for TG F SYD-BKK is currently only available until around 6th of December. As mentioned earlier in the thread, has anyone seen a pattern to suggest this is a new release timeframe for TG F? The discussion on whether they were swapping to A350s seems to be settled for now continuing with the 747.

I have also noticed there seems to be decent availability on SQ248 on the older 772 on the new stopover from wellington (TG a350 would obviously be a better option for hard product). I'm not sure if this is a new thing as I hadn't looked at SQ availability ex melbourne for a long time assuming it was never available.

 

[luxury-lizard]

I've also noticed that SQ288 (SYD-CBR-SIN) is readily available in J - it's 777-ER so a great option but awful timing. the return flight (SIN-SYD) was also available when the SYD-CBR-SIN-SYD was first introduced but I no longer see it on LM.

 

[jayel]

Yeah I understand you would get the more limited sleeper service menu on the overnight flights.

Still, when flying to north asia/Japan you either have a night in a hotel for 24 hours or have one overnight leg. As the flight is shorter BKK/SIN > Japan It might be better to have the overnight leg first so you have a good amount of time to sleep.

As an alternative to TG, SG > ANA now seems like a good alternative if you are happy with the redeye. However as the return journey is only 10k miles more in TG first (around +$138USD with the current 140% bonus), I think thats easily the best way home.