Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[Aussie_flyer]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I didn't have any problems finding F once I realised it was mistakenly shown as 'Economy' on the list of results. Clicking through to the next step showed First...as far as I can see the availability matches up with ANA (SQ excepted).

Thanks for that tip, I was confused when I saw that !

 

[bcworld]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Thanks for that tip, I was confused when I saw that !

The giveaway was the miles quote which seems to show a premium of 15k per one way over J for almost all routes. I think I may have seen a couple that were a bit less than 15k though.

 

[bcworld]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

UMMMM...here's an interesting one! (This destination is an old trick from other programs I think that normally involves LH)

MEL - BKK - IST in J : 85,000 one way

MEL - BKK - IST (TK) - ALA (That would be Almaty, Kazakhstan) in J: 45,000 one way!! :shock: USD965 inc. tax NON-PROMO! (USD695 with 100% promo)

...same story for TSE, Kazakhstan via IST.

Cheap one-ways to IST? Any issues with not flying the last segment?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

UMMMM...here's an interesting one! (This destination is an old trick from other programs I think that normally involves LH)

MEL - BKK - IST in J : 85,000 one way

MEL - BKK - IST (TK) - ALA (That would be Almaty, Kazakhstan) in J: 45,000 one way!! :shock: USD965 inc. tax NON-PROMO! (USD695 with 100% promo)

...same story for TSE, Kazakhstan via IST.

Cheap one-ways to IST? Any issues with not flying the last segment?

reprice of the award taking the extra miles if you happen to have them in your account? (not like you could report 'sick' after a stopover because they price segment by segment with stopovers right?)

otherwise can't see an issue - short check the bags and notify the last airline you can't make it because something came up...

 

[smit0847]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

UMMMM...here's an interesting one! (This destination is an old trick from other programs I think that normally involves LH)

MEL - BKK - IST in J : 85,000 one way

MEL - BKK - IST (TK) - ALA (That would be Almaty, Kazakhstan) in J: 45,000 one way!! :shock: USD965 inc. tax NON-PROMO! (USD695 with 100% promo)

...same story for TSE, Kazakhstan via IST.

Cheap one-ways to IST? Any issues with not flying the last segment?

Ooohhh this is an interesting idea! I never thought of those cities you need to backtrack to in order to get to.

I assume this would only be applicable where you have to travel via Europe to get somewhere in West Asia so its counted as a AU-Asia redemption even though you could disembark somewhere in eastern Europe before back-tracking to West Asia?

This would only obviously work one-way because if you didn't board the return flight in West Asia you would forfeit the entire leg.

Are there any other magical Asian cities you can only get to by going via other continents?

If you wanted to get over to Europe proper from IST I assume you could have a short stopover and then book a separate leg IST - FRA/LHR/CDG? Surely an EU-EU leg would be much less than the 40,000 miles you are saving?

 

[bcworld]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Are there any other magical Asian cities you can only get to by going via other continents?

There is a chap on FT eluding to the fact that there is a destination which touches Europe but gets the cost even lower than Kazakhstan...I have studied the *A route map and haven't found anything yet.

If you wanted to get over to Europe proper from IST I assume you could have a short stopover and then book a separate leg IST - FRA/LHR/CDG? Surely an EU-EU leg would be much less than the 40,000 miles you are saving?

My concern about doing that would be that you're leaving pretty obvious evidence of your intentions. I'd probably look at paid bookings onwards from IST...we're talking 3 hours ish to most European destinations...depending on the cost.

 

[smit0847]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I've noticed that when Avianca have done their 100% buy promos in the past you can buy up to 75K miles (giving you an additional 75k miles for free so total 150K). Given how few miles you have to use when you select min miles/max pay (40K/52K (J/F) return to Asia, 54K/66K return to North America, 68K/80K return to Europe), there will not be that issue some people have with USDM that they need to top up their miles after a buy promo through gifting etc. If they only have the promo once a year and you buy the full amount, then you will be able to book at least 2 J/F redemptions each year.

 

[anat0l]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

The things that scare me about throw-away ticketing are:

• Short checking bags. If you are HLO that's not a problem, but trying to convince agents with a good story at the point of check-in that you want to short check has got to be a challenge. I know some people here are saying, "so, fly HLO - not rocket science," but unfortunately I'm not often in a position to do that as such. (Which would rule me out of this kind of cheat routing).
• As someone mentioned, you can only do this on one way tickets; try to do this with still sectors on your ticket and you will forfeit the rest (as per convention on most airlines). Saying that, seems that LM will allow you to book one ways as 0.5 x return so there is little consequential cost in this regard.
• Why can't LM simply deduct the extra miles from your account afterwards in order to account for the then proper ticket that you did fly? Saying that, I suppose there are no provisions in the rules for them to do so (but programs always reserve a "get out of jail free" clause for them to do what they like); your reason for throwing away the last sector needn't be true per se. Then again, people regularly buy cash one-way tickets or return tickets and throw away the very last sector, and apart from a few isolated interesting incidents, I haven't heard of anyone being sent a bill for the difference resulting from the real flown sectors.
• If you make a habit of throwaway ticketing, the airline might get onto you..... which again might mean nothing...

I think when BD DC was in full swing, people used to route to KTM for similar reasoning w.r.t. zones etc. (or either that or the availability seemed to open up somewhat). Either way, I think I remember hearing that BD got wind of the idea, and started telling their ICC staff basically to stop routing people with obviously silly routes to KTM and enforce more direct routing, and further to that also increasing the routing restrictions on redemptions (i.e. insisting on particular routing surcharges).

 

[smit0847]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

UMMMM...here's an interesting one! (This destination is an old trick from other programs I think that normally involves LH)

MEL - BKK - IST in J : 85,000 one way

MEL - BKK - IST (TK) - ALA (That would be Almaty, Kazakhstan) in J: 45,000 one way!! :shock: USD965 inc. tax NON-PROMO! (USD695 with 100% promo)

...same story for TSE, Kazakhstan via IST.

Cheap one-ways to IST? Any issues with not flying the last segment?

If you were to try this, TSE would probably be a better option than ALA because you can only get there by going via IST or FRA, and LH have twice as many flights to TSE as TK (if you can book it) which I would imagine means you are more likely to be routed through FRA than IST. This has the double benefit of flying TG/LH to FRA (and not having to fly TK), and being further 'west' in Europe when you drop your last leg.

 

[smit0847]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

The things that scare me about throw-away ticketing are:

• Short checking bags. If you are HLO that's not a problem, but trying to convince agents with a good story at the point of check-in that you want to short check has got to be a challenge. I know some people here are saying, "so, fly HLO - not rocket science," but unfortunately I'm not often in a position to do that as such. (Which would rule me out of this kind of cheat routing).
• As someone mentioned, you can only do this on one way tickets; try to do this with still sectors on your ticket and you will forfeit the rest (as per convention on most airlines). Saying that, seems that LM will allow you to book one ways as 0.5 x return so there is little consequential cost in this regard.
• Why can't LM simply deduct the extra miles from your account afterwards in order to account for the then proper ticket that you did fly? Saying that, I suppose there are no provisions in the rules for them to do so (but programs always reserve a "get out of jail free" clause for them to do what they like); your reason for throwing away the last sector needn't be true per se. Then again, people regularly buy cash one-way tickets or return tickets and throw away the very last sector, and apart from a few isolated interesting incidents, I haven't heard of anyone being sent a bill for the difference resulting from the real flown sectors.
• If you make a habit of throwaway ticketing, the airline might get onto you..... which again might mean nothing...

I think when BD DC was in full swing, people used to route to KTM for similar reasoning w.r.t. zones etc. (or either that or the availability seemed to open up somewhat). Either way, I think I remember hearing that BD got wind of the idea, and started telling their ICC staff basically to stop routing people with obviously silly routes to KTM and enforce more direct routing, and further to that also increasing the routing restrictions on redemptions (i.e. insisting on particular routing surcharges).

Say you legitimately wanted to go to ALA via BKK and IST. You land in IST and have a few hours before your next flight IST-ALA. During this time you become very ill. You inform the gate staff that you cannot travel on the IST-ALA flight. As its a redemption I doubt the TK ground staff could care less about how you would eventually get to ALA and would off-load your bags, tell you to call LM to sort it out and probably point to the direction of the nearest hospital. I doubt they TK would change your flight even if you begged them to. LM may care if you don't board your final leg but once TK offload your bags, they're not going to.

I think given how new the LM is with *A, unless they remove it from being bookable online Avianca wouldn't realise what people are doing!

 

[bcworld]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

If you were to try this, TSE would probably be a better option than ALA because you can only get there by going via IST or FRA, and LH have twice as many flights to TSE as TK (if you can book it) which I would imagine means you are more likely to be routed through FRA than IST. This has the double benefit of flying TG/LH to FRA (and not having to fly TK), and being further 'west' in Europe when you drop your last leg.

Id rather fly TK than LH in J!

I checked and checked and checked and was never offered a via FRA routing ( it was what I was originally expecting )...IST every time.

 

[smit0847]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Id rather fly TK than LH in J!

Really? Why? Is TK good or LH bad?

 

[anat0l]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Really? Why? Is TK good or LH bad?

Well LH J has lie-flat seats only (unless you fly the new 748); I believe TK is fully flat.

Given that TK has just rolled back F off all aircraft, their J offering has to be a good try.

 

[Flashback]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Well LH J has lie-flat seats only (unless you fly the new 748); I believe TK is fully flat.

Given that TK has just rolled back F off all aircraft, their J offering has to be a good try.

Yep and that's why we're about to book TK to Japan via IST (for a 4 day stopover) for our 1 year wedding anniversary rather than LH via FRA. Might do OZ J via ICN coming home though. How does that compare in J?

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I don't know what A/C LH offer longer routes (i.e., FRA-IST), but here is Intra Europe last week, LH J.

J is exactly the same as Y.
Sorry about the pictures, not the best.
l'll try to grab some better ones tomorrow.

 

[anat0l]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Yep and that's why we're about to book TK to Japan via IST (for a 4 day stopover) for our 1 year wedding anniversary rather than LH via FRA. Might do OZ J via ICN coming home though. How does that compare in J?

OZ J is also lie-flat. Food might be better than LH, though that is a guess. Don't expect much for amenity kit in J from OZ (though the same applies to LH). TG J is also lie-flat.

Another option, though very difficult to obtain, is NZ via HKG to LHR (no APD payable for inbound arrivals to the UK). It won't be the new 77Ws (likely not), so old amenity pouches, but both of you are fit so you won't mind the VS-style herringbone seats.

My favourite would be LX J - fully flat (all aircraft now installed with product) and really like the LX service (not sure about J but in F they are a treat). Lounges in ZRH are quite nice (and ZRH makes a nice stopover if that could tickle your fancy - arrivals lounges available). LX flies out of NRT, too.

Finally, though the hen might grow teeth before you can do so, SQ J is a possible option, and you've definitely had that experience before (wide fully flat seats and almost no amenity kit).

I don't know what A/C LH offer longer routes (i.e., FRA-IST), but here is Intra Europe last week, LH J.

...

J is exactly the same as Y.
Sorry about the pictures, not the best.
l'll try to grab some better ones tomorrow.

Pretty much all of Euro J is a Y-with-middle-block. I'm struggling to think of a Euro airline that is an exception; saying that, the exceptions would almost certainly not have lie-flat product in J (not that one should be needed for intra-Euro travel).

I don't think FRA-IST would be long enough for a longhaul aircraft. You might get a better meal than a J snack, but that is it.

 

[smit0847]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

Yep and that's why we're about to book TK to Japan via IST (for a 4 day stopover) for our 1 year wedding anniversary rather than LH via FRA. Might do OZ J via ICN coming home though. How does that compare in J?

They let you book IST as the stopover and NRT as the destination?!? Surely not - its so indrect?

What did they charge you for it?

 

[Flashback]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

They let you book IST as the stopover and NRT as the destination?!? Surely not - its so indrect?

What did they charge you for it?

Not really as when you put in LGW-NRT/KIX it offers via IST as an option.

80k each in J return.

Not sure also how this looks out of the way: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=LGW-IST-NRT

 

[alieninperth]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

redacted.....

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

I don't know what A/C LH offer longer routes (i.e., FRA-IST), but here is Intra Europe last week, LH J.

J is exactly the same as Y.
Sorry about the pictures, not the best.
l'll try to grab some better ones tomorrow.

this is completely normal!! but you do get the seat free in the middle, better meal and beverage service, newspapers, and of course, lounge access. And the first 10 or so rows also have increased pitch - 34' compared to 31' at the back of the plane.

The only exceptions I know about are TK on their 737s - that's fixed (wide) 2+2 seating, and I thing some British Midland planes also feature fixed seating - but those are generally assigned to longer flights that happen to be doing a european rotation.

LH introduced some A300 services for intra-europe with fixed 2+2+2 seating - I think they've all gone now??