Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[goldenhorn]

Singles' Day Promo:
Get up to 140% BONUS when buying miles.

4 days only from 9th to 12th November.

Just saw this in my FB feed. But when I click on the on offer and try to buy points there is no bonus being added. Anyone else having problems?

 

[EddTerranGe]

Hi everyone, new member to this but I have been following Avianca Lifemile for a while.

Just want to ask a quick question and it would be appreciated if anyone can provide some advice/guidance.

I'm thinking of buying the points for my parents to travel from China (PEK to be specific) to SYD in J class during Jan 2020. I had a look of the availabilities in 2019 (just to get an idea), it seems that early to mid-Jan, they don't have any available seats. Is it because it is too late to book seats for travels in Jan now? If I book the tickets early (early 2019 or something), will I have a higher chance of securing the seats for 2020 Jan travels? Or they generally don't have availabilities in Jan?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Ed

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi everyone, new member to this but I have been following Avianca Lifemile for a while.

Just want to ask a quick question and it would be appreciated if anyone can provide some advice/guidance.

I'm thinking of buying the points for my parents to travel from China (PEK to be specific) to SYD in J class during Jan 2020. I had a look of the availabilities in 2019 (just to get an idea), it seems that early to mid-Jan, they don't have any available seats. Is it because it is too late to book seats for travels in Jan now? If I book the tickets early (early 2019 or something), will I have a higher chance of securing the seats for 2020 Jan travels? Or they generally don't have availabilities in Jan?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Ed

Yes it is a bit late to find availability for Dec/Jan now... but... that aside, no matter whn you look to book there are potentially two issues ... one is the season... people returning home after Christmas break and students coming to Asutralia to start or return to studies. There's plenty of money out there to pay business class. The second is Air China availability itself... Lifemiles doesn't always have Air China available, and sometimes even if they do, you can't actually book it (you get an error at the page to enter passenger details, or to complete payment).

I would not be making a purchase of Lifemiles solely in the hope of travel on Air China.

You could potentially find availability on Thai via BKK, or Asiana via ICN. But those connection might not always show on LM and might require a screenshot booking (you take screenshots of availability on individual legs and send those off to Lifemiles to manually ticket them).

 

[drivatruk]

I am looking at a CDG - SYD F flight but the layover on BKK is greater than 8 Hours. Ive emailed Lifemiles but just wandering what luck people have had booking greater than 8 hour itineraries lately.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I am looking at a CDG - SYD F flight but the layover on BKK is greater than 8 Hours. Ive emailed Lifemiles but just wandering what luck people have had booking greater than 8 hour itineraries lately.

That should be fine. The old 8 hour seems to have been relaxed a bit. You never know, LM might come back with something with less than 8 hours.

It can take a few days for LM to get back these days.

 

[boomy]

I am looking at a CDG - SYD F flight but the layover on BKK is greater than 8 Hours. Ive emailed Lifemiles but just wandering what luck people have had booking greater than 8 hour itineraries lately.

Lifemiles official policy is up to 24hr layover.
Their online system has a bug (one out of many) which only allows 8hr so ATM we need to use screenshots.

 

[EddTerranGe]

Yes it is a bit late to find availability for Dec/Jan now... but... that aside, no matter whn you look to book there are potentially two issues ... one is the season... people returning home after Christmas break and students coming to Asutralia to start or return to studies. There's plenty of money out there to pay business class. The second is Air China availability itself... Lifemiles doesn't always have Air China available, and sometimes even if they do, you can't actually book it (you get an error at the page to enter passenger details, or to complete payment).

I would not be making a purchase of Lifemiles solely in the hope of travel on Air China.

You could potentially find availability on Thai via BKK, or Asiana via ICN. But those connection might not always show on LM and might require a screenshot booking (you take screenshots of availability on individual legs and send those off to Lifemiles to manually ticket them).

Thanks for the advice Mel_Traveller!

It seems that Asiana airline almost always has some available seats. I have already purchased the points, hoping to use it on Asiana. I will keep an eye out for their flights.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

LifeMiles has a new promo with bonus 140% bonus with no minimum spend. Milelion has a bonus of 145% if you sign us through their link

 

[coolkid101]

holding out for one of the blogs to get an extra bonus on top - 5 or 10% to match the all time biggest bonus from black friday a few years ago!

For those waiting for a bigger discount OMAAT also has secured 145%.
Heres the direct link to register LifeMiles

Here's the OMAAT link about making use of this promo Best LifeMiles Promo Of The Year: Buy Miles With A 145% Bonus - One Mile at a Time

 

[StringerBell]

I had to call Avianca for the first time yesterday to organise the re-issue of some Thai e-tickets due to a schedule change.

Based on reading about others experiences with their call centers I had been putting it off, as I was fully prepared for it to be a hellish experience. But it was surprisingly painless, taking less than 15 minutes on the phone with the e-tickets sent to my email moments later. I used the toll free USA number via Skype with no dropouts whatsoever, and the Avianca rep was very pleasant and easy to deal with.

I haven't tried making a redemption via the call center, which could still be a different kettle of fish, but in this instance I can't complain.

 

[jase05]

Just got the email and it’s a pretty decent offer. Awards have definitely dropped off but have located some on TG for around the time I’m after

 

[Penny]

I have a question about Lifemiles expiry.
In early 2017 I purchased a bunch of miles and I haven’t used them all yet. In September 2017 I earned some more miles through Booking.com which ac rued to my Lifemiles account in December 2017.
I know that Lifemiles changed their account inactivity and points expiry rules in April 2018 but I don’t really understand how account inactivity and expiry works.
My account currently says that my points will expire in January 2020. I assume this is some kind of grandfather scheme from April’s changes. Is that correct?
Or do I need to accrue more points in December 2018 as “activity”?
I have made a hotel booking but the stay is not until January 2019.
Any clues?
Thanks

 

[futaris]

You need to be aware that under their new ‘enhanced?’ rules your miles will expire 12 months from date of purchase.

Miles now expire 12 months after purchase.

 

[chauncy]

Hi all

I’m looking to pull the trigger on my first Lifemiles purchase with the current offer but just wanted to confirm the process.

I want to book 2 tickets in J MEL-BKK-FRA-LHR in April 2019 and have found availability for the individual legs on TH and LH do I will need to email Lifemiles with the screenshots showing availability for each leg.

Am I right that these will cost 85,000 miles plus approx $100 USD in taxes per person? And do I need to purchase the miles before I send my email to Lifemiles?

Thanks in advance

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have a question about Lifemiles expiry.
In early 2017 I purchased a bunch of miles and I haven’t used them all yet. In September 2017 I earned some more miles through Booking.com which ac rued to my Lifemiles account in December 2017.
I know that Lifemiles changed their account inactivity and points expiry rules in April 2018 but I don’t really understand how account inactivity and expiry works.
My account currently says that my points will expire in January 2020. I assume this is some kind of grandfather scheme from April’s changes. Is that correct?
Or do I need to accrue more points in December 2018 as “activity”?
I have made a hotel booking but the stay is not until January 2019.
Any clues?
Thanks

Correct - there was a grandfather clause for miles that were in your account before April 2018. ̶H̶o̶w̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶-̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶r̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶d̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶a̶f̶f̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶m̶i̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶o̶u̶n̶t̶,̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶A̶p̶r̶i̶l̶.̶ (see Happy Trails post below)

LM is pretty accurate with their expiry dates - so if it says Jan 2020 you can rely on that (but take a screenhot just in case )

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi all

I’m looking to pull the trigger on my first Lifemiles purchase with the current offer but just wanted to confirm the process.

I want to book 2 tickets in J MEL-BKK-FRA-LHR in April 2019 and have found availability for the individual legs on TH and LH do I will need to email Lifemiles with the screenshots showing availability for each leg.

Am I right that these will cost 85,000 miles plus approx $100 USD in taxes per person? And do I need to purchase the miles before I send my email to Lifemiles?

Thanks in advance

Screenshots should be fine to do that. I have never tried to set up a booking without miles in the account so I can't help you on that one. You could always give it a go - but there's a fairly limited window to 'pay' once they set up the booking. The couple of problems are that (a) some people experience problems buying miles - either the system doesn't respond or your credit card gets 'declined' and (b) lifemiles can take several days now to confirm the booking, so you could miss out on buying.

You do have the option to buy just 40% of the miles now and top up with $ when they make the actual booking. (In fact you want to use about 42% miles to hit the 'sweet-spot' and top up the remainder). The difference in cost for such a small number of miles is fairly negligible, but it will give you protection in case the seats you want aren't there.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I had to call Avianca for the first time yesterday to organise the re-issue of some Thai e-tickets due to a schedule change.

Based on reading about others experiences with their call centers I had been putting it off, as I was fully prepared for it to be a hellish experience. But it was surprisingly painless, taking less than 15 minutes on the phone with the e-tickets sent to my email moments later. I used the toll free USA number via Skype with no dropouts whatsoever, and the Avianca rep was very pleasant and easy to deal with.

I haven't tried making a redemption via the call center, which could still be a different kettle of fish, but in this instance I can't complain.

The call centre is generally pretty good - in fact all LM staff are good. The 'problem' is usually the poor call quality when getting through to Columbia to take payment for screenshot bookings.

 

[Happy Trails]

However - any accrual that happened after that date will affect all miles in the account, including those before April.

Are you sure?
Perhaps I'm misreading you, but I read quite the opposite in the T&Cs, that the new miles inherit the validity of the old:

"When an accrual transaction is made in a member´s account, the entire miles in the account of such member will receive the greater validity between the validity of the existing miles in the account before the accrual transaction or twelve (12) months... "

In my case expiry is April 30th 2020 with the latest accrual being Sept 2018.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Are you sure?
Perhaps I'm misreading you, but I read quite the opposite in the T&Cs, that the new miles inherit the validity of the old:

"When an accrual transaction is made in a member´s account, the entire miles in the account of such member will receive the greater validity between the validity of the existing miles in the account before the accrual transaction or twelve (12) months... "

In my case expiry is April 30th 2020 with the latest accrual being Sept 2018.

You are probably correct! Perhaps in my case I just ran out of 'old' miles?

 

[somebol]

It looks like points + pay redemptions also extend the validity of miles