Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[MEL_Traveller]

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

I recently checked in at SYD for a rather epic 4 leg *A trip to KEF. The check-in agent actually suggested to us only checking our bags half-way as 'the more legs I check them, the more chance there is they will go missing' (we had a 3 hour transit in between flight 2 and 3 in IST), and they could only print our first 2 boarding passes anyway.

If you have a 3+ leg itinerary I don't think it would be a ridiculous request to ask them to only check your bags the first 2 legs, for the reason of something like 'UA lost our bags once and we want to minimise the chance of it happening again'.

Where you are changing onto a different airline for the 3rd leg I really don't think your originating check-in agent will care what you do once you leave Australia. The visa issue is far more serious as there may be policies you cannot commence your journey unless you have evidence you can complete it.

If you are dropping legs on a regular basis though, don't be surprised if your account is closed, miles confiscated and possible reservations cancelled. Don't get greedy.

although there are some places where this might not be such a good idea!!

from personal experience I had to exit ICN airport to check-in for an immediate turn around. i wrote 'transit' on my arrival form and had no less than 5 customs officers stop me to search my bags and question, at length, why I wanted to enter the country only to recheck a few minutes later. this was despite showing them my onwards itinerary. they couldn't not understand why I didn't use the transit/transfer facility (I was flying HKG-ICN-HKG-BKK on back to back tickets, so had to recheck).

i suppose there might be other countries that might consider this suspicious as well.

 

[lobo76]

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

I've finally caught up with this thread (totally new to LM) and I'm guessing this is only really worthwhile if you have managed to score 2-for-1 points (which new members apparently can't get?)?

 

[Nizar]

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

I've finally caught up with this thread (totally new to LM) and I'm guessing this is only really worthwhile if you have managed to score 2-for-1 points (which new members apparently can't get?)?

You are eligible for promos if you had opened an account before the promo began.
So if you joined today and promo started 04 Sep I believe you would be good to go.

 

[markis10]

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

You are eligible for promos if you had opened an account before the promo began.
So if you joined today and promo started 04 Sep I believe you would be good to go.

More likely they will do one next month!

 

[GalaxyNexus]

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

I finished scanning LOTFAP locations and there doesn't seem to be any miscoded one other than the one we have on the spreadsheet... It seems that most of the good ones are already found.

 

[Nizar]

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

More likely they will do one next month!

I was just giving an example lol

 

[ozbeachbabe]

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

I don't think it's quite a simple as you make out...if it was there wouldn't be so much discussion about it.

Given that these are award tix it probably should matter less, but the CSA will probably be on the look out for hidden city ticketing when this comes up - revenue management would want to know about that.

Dude you're way too paranoid!

The CSA checking you in wouldn't even know you're on an award ticket unless they retrieved your pnr which they don't need to do to check you in anyway.

The checkin systems used by airport staff are different from res systems used in call centres. Airport staff just want to see a valid eticket for travel so they can check you in - ir's that simple.

They could probably look at your eticket if they wanted to which would display the fare basis code but why would looking at an eticket scream out "hidden city"?

Avianca employees may know slightly more however most of us would be travelling on other *A airlines around Asia/USA/Europe & be checked in by employees of those airlines.

Keep in mind too that not all airport staff are res trained so even if they could access a pnr they may not know what they're looking at. A lot of airlines now use contract ground handlers who know less about the system than airline employees.

I've finally caught up with this thread (totally new to LM) and I'm guessing this is only really worthwhile if you have managed to score 2-for-1 points (which new members apparently can't get?)?

Not necessarily. The USD150.00 I spent for 5K miles (receiving 10K) was excellent value for the award I did however paying USD300.00 is still great value for the 3 sectors in J on UA to BOS.

 

[anat0l]

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

The CSA checking you in wouldn't even know you're on an award ticket unless they retrieved your pnr which they don't need to do to check you in anyway.

The checkin systems used by airport staff are different from res systems used in call centres. Airport staff just want to see a valid eticket for travel so they can check you in - ir's that simple.

They could probably look at your eticket if they wanted to which would display the fare basis code but why would looking at an eticket scream out "hidden city"?

CSAs probably don't look specifically for hidden ticketing (unless, for some odd reason, they have been given airline incentives / commissions if they can flag potential "fraudulent" travel, which I doubt exists), but I'm pretty sure that some of them may question short checking. Also, with ticketing to certain locations, even if a transit without visa is allowed, some may insist on a visa (quite stubbornly) before check-in can be completed.

With throwaway ticketing, it's not the CSA you usually have to fear, it's the airline (i.e. the one who issued you the ticket).

 

[ozbeachbabe]

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

CSAs probably don't look specifically for hidden ticketing (unless, for some odd reason, they have been given airline incentives / commissions if they can flag potential "fraudulent" travel, which I doubt exists), but I'm pretty sure that some of them may question short checking. Also, with ticketing to certain locations, even if a transit without visa is allowed, some may insist on a visa (quite stubbornly) before check-in can be completed.

With throwaway ticketing, it's not the CSA you usually have to fear, it's the airline (i.e. the one who issued you the ticket).

I think we need to qualify exactly what "fraudulent travel" is & what the airlines could be trying to audit?

Travel booked legally to a destination that represents better value than nearby cities is hardly illegal, so pax who take advantage of that are just savvy travellers so there's nothing for the airline to audit IMHO.

I have never ever heard of CSA's being asked to be on the lookout for that kind of thing as I'm quite sure the airline staff in the revenue department or whatever department looks after illegal type things would have access to the checkin system to go through passenger manifests if they wanted to.

If you were going to disembark at a destination on your itinerary that was to be a transit point at the time of ticketing, then just make sure you have a visa if one is required to entry that country. If you fulfil the entry criteria for a country I don't see how the CSA can insist that a visa is required if Timatic says it isn't.

 

[Shanye2233]

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

For those who won't be travelling to the original (low points) destination, you could always tell the checkin agent at the first city "I've had a last minute change of plans so could you just check me as far as NRT (eg if your final destination was GUM).

Being booked on a flight & not checking in is considered a 'no-show' ie you won't be paged in the terminal, however being checked in & not travelling is a 'fail to board' as you have checked in for that flight & appear to have every intention of travelling & your name would be paged.

All the checkin agent would do if you said you were only travelling to NRT is check that you had the correct documentation for Japan & check you in. Just make doubly sure if you do have checked luggage that agent puts a bag tag where the final destination is NRT - not GUM. Sometimes it's easy to forget to do the steps to short tag a bag or not check you in on all the flights booked so you need to be vigilant.

Doing the above saves the need to be checked in all the way & being a fail to board pax or having to tell the airline once you arrive at the port where you will now clear customs that you had a change of plans & no longer need to travel to xx_. I'm quite sure the CSA is not going to care if you don't intend travelling all the way to GUM.

Not a good idea. You need visas for gum and if you turn up at the airport without them in hope of spilling this story and it doesn't fly then what do you do. I arrived and spend a hour trying this story when my destination was abj. What I ended up doing at the airport on the ipad was book a refundable ticket out if abj back to bru and therefore didnt require any visas because I was only transiting for 3 hours in abj . Then in the air NZ lounge I cancelled the flights . I also had a 7 hour connection in Brussels so I had to take my checked bags off anyway.

Something to think about if you get really stuck .

 

[GalaxyNexus]

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

Some people do have ESTA/waiver/visa for GUM (part of USA).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

Not a good idea. You need visas for gum and if you turn up at the airport without them in hope of spilling this story and it doesn't fly then what do you do. I arrived and spend a hour trying this story when my destination was abj. What I ended up doing at the airport on the ipad was book a refundable ticket out if abj back to bru and therefore didnt require any visas because I was only transiting for 3 hours in abj . Then in the air NZ lounge I cancelled the flights . I also had a 7 hour connection in Brussels so I had to take my checked bags off anyway.

Something to think about if you get really stuck .

there is no visa requirement for Guam. it has the same visa waiver program as the United States. a valid ESTA is all that is required (unless your individual circumstances mean you are ineligible for the visa waiver program). most of us would have valid ESTAs.

as for booking a return ticket to BRU. Any ticket out of ABJ would have sufficed. a short haul destination would have been a much cheaper hit on the credit card

 

[Shanye2233]

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

there is no visa requirement for Guam. it has the same visa waiver program as the United States. a valid ESTA is all that is required (unless your individual circumstances mean you are ineligible for the visa waiver program). most of us would have valid ESTAs.

as for booking a return ticket to BRU. Any ticket out of ABJ would have sufficed. a short haul destination would have been a much cheaper hit on the credit card

Well to be honest i booked a UA flight with points and then cancelled it . And with my 1k status , well you know the cancellation fees .

 

[smit0847]

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

a valid ESTA is all that is required (unless your individual circumstances mean you are ineligible for the visa waiver program). most of us would have valid ESTAs.

And if you don't they're cheap and easy to get.

 

[burmans]

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

Not a good idea.

Had to laugh at this, youve done this twice now, a bit of the "do as I say, not as I do" treatment.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

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

Well done to everyone openly discussing the hidden city ticketing destination of choice so openly. Hope it gets shut down, you lot deserve it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

Well done to everyone openly discussing the hidden city ticketing destination of choice so openly. Hope it gets shut down, you lot deserve it.

this is being made out to be far more serious than it is. it's a bit of fun.

if it gets closed then we revert to the usual cheap price it is to fly around anyway.

right now 100 people could get in on it if they want to. keep it secret and maybe one or two people could get half a dozen tickets before it's eventually closed anyway. what's better? 100 tickets or 6? 100 people happy or 2?

secondly, GUM and ABJ were widely publicised by a member several months ago because after they booked them, they were unsure about visas and a range of other logistics. so they went onto various threads asking for advice, and in doing so made it public. the horse had already bolted well and truly.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

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

this is being made out to be far more serious than it is. it's a bit of fun.

if it gets closed then we revert to the usual cheap price it is to fly around anyway.

right now 100 people could get in on it if they want to. keep it secret and maybe one or two people could get half a dozen tickets before it's eventually closed anyway. what's better? 100 tickets or 6? 100 people happy or 2?

secondly, GUM and ABJ were widely publicised by a member several months ago because after they booked them, they were unsure about visas and a range of other logistics. so they went onto various threads asking for advice, and in doing so made it public. the horse had already bolted well and truly.

It's not being made out to be 'more serious than it is'. It's just pointing out how bloody stupid it is to discuss things like this on open forums. But by all means go ahead.

Why does the 'secret closed access spreadsheet' exist... ? Let's just go ahead and publish the wrongly coded cities too, better still let's email lifemiles and tell them to fix them.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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

It's not being made out to be 'more serious than it is'. It's just pointing out how bloody stupid it is to discuss things like this on open forums. But by all means go ahead.

Why does the 'secret closed access spreadsheet' exist... ? Let's just go ahead and publish the wrongly coded cities too, better still let's email lifemiles and tell them to fix them.

but those two destinations were already published and are freely available.

as for other destinations, the spreadsheet exists to maximise the benefit for AFF members. and more specifically, to stop bloggers getting hold of it for a) commercial gain and b) use by people who have no long term commitment to returning anything to the FF community.

 

[adam15]

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

Can't see anything special about ABJ at all. Perhaps it is time to shut the gate?