Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion

[bcworld]

I love LM when it works for you, but you need SO much time and it's very stressful if you don't know what you're doing. The booking process is kinda heart attack material at times!

Not just booking, but the constant babysitting of bookings & the sh!tfight that ensues when there are schedule changes etc. that with cash bookings would just get dealt with!

 

[goldenhorn]

Not just booking, but the constant babysitting of bookings & the sh!tfight that ensues when there are schedule changes etc. that with cash bookings would just get dealt with!

Gawd - thankfully I haven't had to deal with that yet. But now you mention it, I really hope that doesn't happen to me. Another good reason to just purchase a revenue J ticket!

 

[grego99]

Thanks for your comments. I looked up Eva pricing for June next year. Over $12000 Aud syd - europe for 2 pax. Not any cheaper than others unfortunately. In fact from memory i was getting quotes around $11200 upwards from some of the others like Thai etc. i'm thinking I might just fly singapore premium econ over and business home. I can get that for a bit over $$10k aud. I figure singapore prem econ would be pretty good. And nice way to finish the holiday

 

[goldenhorn]

Thanks for your comments. I looked up Eva pricing for June next year. Over $12000 Aud syd - europe for 2 pax. Not any cheaper than others unfortunately. In fact from memory i was getting quotes around $11200 upwards from some of the others like Thai etc. i'm thinking I might just fly singapore premium econ over and business home. I can get that for a bit over $$10k aud. I figure singapore prem econ would be pretty good. And nice way to finish the holiday

Check out Hainan and Vietnam J class that others have mentioned previously in this thread. They have some amazing J specials to Europe. You can set up fare alerts on Google Flights so you know when the price drops.

Another option is to relocate to Asia in Y then pick up a great J fare ex Asia.

 

[burmans]

LOL, not according to the experts.

"Avianca is another one we like because that's a member of Star Alliance and once again you can purchase miles and redeem them very cheaply on any Star Alliance flight."

How to earn 3 million frequent flyer points in three years

And enjoy experiences straight from the Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous playbook.

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[bwhouse]

Not just booking, but the constant babysitting of bookings & the sh!tfight that ensues when there are schedule changes etc. that with cash bookings would just get dealt with!

Yup, when you have a smooth booking LM is a breeze and can be amazing value. But if anything changes I agree its a PIA!

Gawd - thankfully I haven't had to deal with that yet. But now you mention it, I really hope that doesn't happen to me. Another good reason to just purchase a revenue J ticket!

haha yes, be very thankful! I had a booking I made for my parents on OZ that had a flight change that no longer worked, so moved it to a UA flight that had availability, then that flight got cancelled and had to move to another UA flight. None of these changes were communicated or handled automatically. Each time I had to call and get it sorted. Trying to explain to my parents who were stressing out about not having flights that this was 'normal' really didn't work.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This is great advice. If you're a newbie, it's definitely worth booking a fully paid airfare on those airlines. I would totally do that.

I'm not sure I'd be booking paid fares on those airlines I mentioned (EK/KLM/EVA etc). As mentioned above - some are wanting close to $8-10K return, business class. That's an unnecessary use of money IMO.

The bargains are out there with Vietnam, Hainan, China Airlines etc, for between $3500 and $4500. Is a sliding door around your seat worth an extra $6500?

 

[goldenhorn]

I'm not sure I'd be booking paid fares on those airlines I mentioned (EK/KLM/EVA etc). As mentioned above - some are wanting close to $8-10K return, business class. That's an unnecessary use of money IMO.

The bargains are out there with Vietnam, Hainan, China Airlines etc, for between $3500 and $4500. Is a sliding door around your seat worth an extra $6500?

Sorry - typo. I was meaning your suggestion of booking full fare on Hainan (or Vietnam) was great advice.

 

[grego99]

I don't want to offend anyone please dont take my post the wrong way.

Hainan ? 3 star? 4star? Just not keen flying some of the lesser known asian airlines and how do they stack up against the others? Like anything you get what you pay for (i'm guessing). Flew chinese once. Not keen to do it again?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don't want to offend anyone please dont take my post the wrong way.

Hainan ? 3 star? 4star? Just not keen flying some of the lesser known asian airlines and how do they stack up against the others? Like anything you get what you pay for (i'm guessing). Flew chinese once. Not keen to do it again?

Here's a review by an Aussie based site of Hainan: Hainan Airlines Review – A330 Business Class They did fly as a guest of Hainan, so factor that in. 'Lesser known' to whom? To us Aussies that only get a handful of airlines? Or to those that live in Asia? Or the rest of the world?

China has a dozen or more airlines. While many of them have the same genesis in the old CAAC, Hainan is a privately owned carrier. It has the top '7 star' rating on the Aussie based safety ratings website: Hainan Airlines - Airline Ratings

Getting this back on to topic, alternatives are a real option these days when considering Lifemiles because (a) Thai airways no longer releases premium space in advance (only 14 days at the moment, we'll need to see what happens after their mileage devaluation in November) and (b) the weak Aussie dollar. About the minimum you'll get away with these days on Lifemiles to Europe from AU is $3600 including taxes (that's based on the 145% bonus promos, it will be more than this on the regular 2-4-1 or points plus pay). But availability on whom? You can fly Air China, maybe, and maybe, possibly ANA. And you have to find dates. And Air China has some pretty terrible connections on the way home.

Hainan is cheaper than the above, and other carrier such as Vietnam or China Airlines are around $400 more. But come with full flexibility for the dates your want, the number of seats you want, the destinations you want, and you earn points.

 

[Flashback]

If starting in Perth, I assume the best use of Vietnam Airlines is to get to somewhere in Asia e.g. KUL/SIN and then buy a J fare from there? Or are they decent ex-SYD/MEL?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If starting in Perth, I assume the best use of Vietnam Airlines is to get to somewhere in Asia e.g. KUL/SIN and then buy a J fare from there? Or are they decent ex-SYD/MEL?

If starting in Perth you'd probably head for SIN and look for specials out of there - at times Qatar has $2200 (approx) return to Europe. Vietnam out of SYD/MEL is going to set you back ~$4K, plus fares and time to do the transcon (you might as well be in Singapore in the same time it takes you to get to SYD)

 

[burmans]

I don't want to offend anyone please dont take my post the wrong way.

Hainan ? 3 star? 4star? Just not keen flying some of the lesser known asian airlines and how do they stack up against the others? Like anything you get what you pay for (i'm guessing). Flew chinese once. Not keen to do it again?

Not offended at all but if you can get past your prejudices you might find the Asian airlines are some of the best. Or you might not, and leave them to us better educated travellers, either way is fine by me.

 

[Buzzard]

Agree about LM being difficult.
I want to fly FRA - HND and sometimes the LH flight I want only becomes available on the day of departure. Finding a flight from Tokyo to SYD might also be fun.

 

[grego99]

Not sure where you are getting these $3500 to $4000 prices on Hainan. Their website quoted me $15486 for two returns melb paris june/jul 2020.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Not sure where you are getting these $3500 to $4000 prices on Hainan. Their website quoted me $15486 for two returns melb paris june/jul 2020.

yeah - the prices can vary wildly. It may be too early to find the surper specials. Or you can also look out of BNE. BNE/BRU is a regular for the ~3K fares

 

[robd]

Air Canada flights not showing up on LM for me. Booked outgoing SYD-xYVR-ORD a couple of weeks ago, but nothing showing for return flights (even 6 weeks before the date). Might have to wing it via HND on ANA.

Did I miss something regarding AC?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Air Canada flights not showing up on LM for me. Booked outgoing SYD-xYVR-ORD a couple of weeks ago, but nothing showing for return flights (even 6 weeks before the date). Might have to wing it via HND on ANA.

Did I miss something regarding AC?

Are they showing on UA? And i’m guessing you’ve tried the options like specifying Air Canada only, searching segment by segment, and further refining by flight time etc to try and force them to show.

If none of that works, might have to look for alternatives.

 

[robd]

Are they showing on UA? And i’m guessing you’ve tried the options like specifying Air Canada only, searching segment by segment, and further refining by flight time etc to try and force them to show.

If none of that works, might have to look for alternatives.

The only flights I can find with AC are into BNE via Toronto AND Vancouver. Computer says no when trying to search Air Canada only, which it did also with the outbound flights. Only Smart Search working for me. Oh well, looks like I'll take ANA F ORD-HND & then J from there back to SYD. Not so bad

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The only flights I can find with AC are into BNE via Toronto AND Vancouver. Computer says no when trying to search Air Canada only, which it did also with the outbound flights. Only Smart Search working for me. Oh well, looks like I'll take ANA F ORD-HND & then J from there back to SYD. Not so bad

For sure NH beats AC hands down. If you are transfering NH-NH at HND they should allow you to use the Suites lounge as in inbound F pax.