Aussie_flyer
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
What about UA in F instead
What about UA in F instead
Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion
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penegal
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Certain groups in Australia refer to this country as being the 51st from time to time (generally whenever military support/cooperation is offered to the USA)
There was meant to me an emoticon there
Although Puerto Rico's population is actually greater than 22 of the "real" states.
Certain groups in Australia refer to this country as being the 51st from time to time (generally whenever military support/cooperation is offered to the USA)
There was meant to me an emoticon there
Although Puerto Rico's population is actually greater than 22 of the "real" states.
Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Is UA F worth the extra points over UA J? Surely you still get a flat bed (although it may be slightly bigger) and the same surly crew, average food, old plane, limited IFE options etc.
Is UA F worth the extra points over UA J? Surely you still get a flat bed (although it may be slightly bigger) and the same surly crew, average food, old plane, limited IFE options etc.
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bcworld
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
The age of the plane is immaterial really...what's in the cabin is all that matters. The crew weren't surly when I flew UA. As for the IFE well it would compare favourably with OZ's 777.
You're probably right though...I doubt I'd trade up to F on UA.
The age of the plane is immaterial really...what's in the cabin is all that matters. The crew weren't surly when I flew UA. As for the IFE well it would compare favourably with OZ's 777.
You're probably right though...I doubt I'd trade up to F on UA.
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Aussie_flyer
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
the extra points on lifemiles for F is not that much! check it out
i found a youtube video about UA F class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgblPwFBY58
it looks not too bad, I know it's not up there amongst the world but I can think of worse ways to get to the USA that's for sure
the extra points on lifemiles for F is not that much! check it out
i found a youtube video about UA F class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgblPwFBY58
it looks not too bad, I know it's not up there amongst the world but I can think of worse ways to get to the USA that's for sure
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bcworld
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
As seen on FT...an actual award chart is now available so no more random searching required to find miles quotes:
https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/inc/starredawards.aspx
Miles quoted are for roundtrips...no mention of stopovers.
Note that Oceania is in the 'Others' zone all on it's own...not sure why they didn't just call it Oceania!
As seen on FT...an actual award chart is now available so no more random searching required to find miles quotes:
https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/inc/starredawards.aspx
Miles quoted are for roundtrips...no mention of stopovers.
Note that Oceania is in the 'Others' zone all on it's own...not sure why they didn't just call it Oceania!
MEL_Traveller
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
didn't someone mention stopover will be constructed on a segment by segment basis (adding them together?)
didn't someone mention stopover will be constructed on a segment by segment basis (adding them together?)
bcworld
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Certainly through the online booking engine they are, but I think some are wondering if that also might hold true for bookings made over the phone.
Certainly through the online booking engine they are, but I think some are wondering if that also might hold true for bookings made over the phone.
juddles
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Good find! Thank you.
Good find! Thank you.
anat0l
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Does it kind of depend on how the routing / ticketing rules affect how the itinerary is divided up into its constituent flight segments / coupons?
Saying that, a standard search engine would most likely not return a coupon with no more than 3 flights on it, and most likely with only one or two airlines.
Does it kind of depend on how the routing / ticketing rules affect how the itinerary is divided up into its constituent flight segments / coupons?
Saying that, a standard search engine would most likely not return a coupon with no more than 3 flights on it, and most likely with only one or two airlines.
bcworld
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Australia to South Asia:
60,000
90,000
120,000
Australia to Central Asia:
60,000
90,000
120,000
So.....do you mean from another zone?
Edit: Yes I see what you mean....shhhhhhhhhh!
Australia to South Asia:
60,000
90,000
120,000
Australia to Central Asia:
60,000
90,000
120,000
So.....do you mean from another zone?
Edit: Yes I see what you mean....shhhhhhhhhh!
Aussie_flyer
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
shh? This makes it useless for singapore-asia redemptions. try singapore-thailand. almost as many miles as australia-thailand.
Australia to South Asia:
60,000
90,000
120,000
Australia to Central Asia:
60,000
90,000
120,000
So.....do you mean from another zone?
Edit: Yes I see what you mean....shhhhhhhhhh!
shh? This makes it useless for singapore-asia redemptions. try singapore-thailand. almost as many miles as australia-thailand.
bcworld
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Its immaterial anyway...as a major Star hub I doubt SIN will be staying in the wrong zone for very long.
....and offers a saving on Aus-SIN-Europe with a SIN stopover.
Its immaterial anyway...as a major Star hub I doubt SIN will be staying in the wrong zone for very long.
Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Okay, after many, many frustrating emails to the Lifemiles support centre (I don't think English is their first language there) I have managed to find out the following, re stopovers and preferred routings/airlines.
Say I want to travel from Sydney (SYD) to Las Vegas (LAS).
When you book at lifemiles.com:
- you can only select a preferred airline to search for when that airline flies all parts of that routing from origin to destination (i.e., if I wanted to fly OZ on my routing, I can only book as far as LAX or SFO because OZ dont fly all the way to LAS). Where your preferred airline doesn't fly all parts of your route you cannot select an airline and the system will route you the most logical, direct route (on my itinerary, probably UA SYD-LAX-LAS).
- if you want to add a stopover, you have to book as a multi-leg which costs more. In my example, if I wanted a stopover in ICN I would have to book SYD-ICN, then ICN-LAS separately. Given Asia to North America is almost as much as Australia to North America, it is going to cost a lot to add a stopover by doing a multi-city online.
- You cannot book routes with a combination of classes (i.e. SYD-BKK TG F, BKK-HKT TG J). You must either book the entire leg in the same class (i.e. J) or do a multi-city, first leg F, second leg J.
When you book through the Lifemiles call centre:
- you are charged a booking fee (which you are not charged when you book online). The booking fee is based on your route (which seems really, really weird?), so ask before booking if you call up.
- If you want to select a carrier (such as OZ) in my example above but want to travel onto LAS from LAX or SFO on another carrier, unfortunately this will still be charged as a multi-city booking and you are better off booking it online to save the call centre booking fee.
- However, I have been told by Lifemiles that if you book through the call centre you can add one free stopover per leg for no additional cost (i.e. in my example, I could stopover in ICN if I was only flying to LAX or SFO on OZ, or LAX if I was flying UA SYD right through to LAS). I assume the method of doing this is for the operator to find your routing to be correct per the one-way rules above (and not trigger a multi-city additional fee) and then they would simply move the leg(s) after your stopover a few days/weeks later so you can have your stopover.
- I would be very surprised if the call centre could not book you SYD-BKK F and BKK-HKT J in the one-leg as a single F redemption (you would be essentially getting the BKK-HKT J leg for 'free' because it adding it would not change the zone to zone you are booking). However, depending on the booking fee it may be a similar cost just to book this as a multi-city online.
So, in summary, stopovers are only 'free' when booked through the call centre on a valid leg (valid meaning if you can find and book it at lifemiles.com, you can add a stopover by booking it through the call centre). Look at the booking fee as being a 'stopover fee' (because otherwise you would just book it online) Unfortunately you cannot select which airlines you wish to fly with unless you are lucky enough (or your journey is simple enough) that:
a) your preferred airline flies the entire route;
b) your preferred route and airline combinations are available when you search online without selecting a preferred carrier; or
c) you are given multiple options on your route which allows you to pick you preferred airline/route anyway.
YMMV.
Okay, after many, many frustrating emails to the Lifemiles support centre (I don't think English is their first language there) I have managed to find out the following, re stopovers and preferred routings/airlines.
Say I want to travel from Sydney (SYD) to Las Vegas (LAS).
When you book at lifemiles.com:
- you can only select a preferred airline to search for when that airline flies all parts of that routing from origin to destination (i.e., if I wanted to fly OZ on my routing, I can only book as far as LAX or SFO because OZ dont fly all the way to LAS). Where your preferred airline doesn't fly all parts of your route you cannot select an airline and the system will route you the most logical, direct route (on my itinerary, probably UA SYD-LAX-LAS).
- if you want to add a stopover, you have to book as a multi-leg which costs more. In my example, if I wanted a stopover in ICN I would have to book SYD-ICN, then ICN-LAS separately. Given Asia to North America is almost as much as Australia to North America, it is going to cost a lot to add a stopover by doing a multi-city online.
- You cannot book routes with a combination of classes (i.e. SYD-BKK TG F, BKK-HKT TG J). You must either book the entire leg in the same class (i.e. J) or do a multi-city, first leg F, second leg J.
When you book through the Lifemiles call centre:
- you are charged a booking fee (which you are not charged when you book online). The booking fee is based on your route (which seems really, really weird?), so ask before booking if you call up.
- If you want to select a carrier (such as OZ) in my example above but want to travel onto LAS from LAX or SFO on another carrier, unfortunately this will still be charged as a multi-city booking and you are better off booking it online to save the call centre booking fee.
- However, I have been told by Lifemiles that if you book through the call centre you can add one free stopover per leg for no additional cost (i.e. in my example, I could stopover in ICN if I was only flying to LAX or SFO on OZ, or LAX if I was flying UA SYD right through to LAS). I assume the method of doing this is for the operator to find your routing to be correct per the one-way rules above (and not trigger a multi-city additional fee) and then they would simply move the leg(s) after your stopover a few days/weeks later so you can have your stopover.
- I would be very surprised if the call centre could not book you SYD-BKK F and BKK-HKT J in the one-leg as a single F redemption (you would be essentially getting the BKK-HKT J leg for 'free' because it adding it would not change the zone to zone you are booking). However, depending on the booking fee it may be a similar cost just to book this as a multi-city online.
So, in summary, stopovers are only 'free' when booked through the call centre on a valid leg (valid meaning if you can find and book it at lifemiles.com, you can add a stopover by booking it through the call centre). Look at the booking fee as being a 'stopover fee' (because otherwise you would just book it online) Unfortunately you cannot select which airlines you wish to fly with unless you are lucky enough (or your journey is simple enough) that:
a) your preferred airline flies the entire route;
b) your preferred route and airline combinations are available when you search online without selecting a preferred carrier; or
c) you are given multiple options on your route which allows you to pick you preferred airline/route anyway.
YMMV.
Last edited:
bcworld
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Me thinks that's going to be a fun phone call!
Me thinks that's going to be a fun phone call!
Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
They have ticketing offices all over North and South America. Assuming each ticketing office can book a LM redemption I would recommend calling the NYC office and hopefully you'll get through to a native English speaker.
Me thinks that's going to be a fun phone call!
They have ticketing offices all over North and South America. Assuming each ticketing office can book a LM redemption I would recommend calling the NYC office and hopefully you'll get through to a native English speaker.
penegal
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
I have been to the NYC office in person (long story). The agents were not native English speakers, but their English was better than many Australians... And more importantly, they gave me excellent service, even though my request had to be sent to one of the offices in Bogotá / Medellín for approval / endorsement. They translated everything into Spanish and gave me photocopies of all the paperwork. A few weeks later my "issue" was resolved.
It is worth noting that most of the US offices are very small. NYC has a counter with a couple of customer facing agents and then a couple of cubicals out the back. There wouldn't be more than half a dozen staff there. I suspect that if you call the listed numbers they may route you directly to the same call centre. However if you get to speak to someone in that office I have found them very friendly and helpful (A little bit of American service).
I have been to the NYC office in person (long story). The agents were not native English speakers, but their English was better than many Australians... And more importantly, they gave me excellent service, even though my request had to be sent to one of the offices in Bogotá / Medellín for approval / endorsement. They translated everything into Spanish and gave me photocopies of all the paperwork. A few weeks later my "issue" was resolved.
It is worth noting that most of the US offices are very small. NYC has a counter with a couple of customer facing agents and then a couple of cubicals out the back. There wouldn't be more than half a dozen staff there. I suspect that if you call the listed numbers they may route you directly to the same call centre. However if you get to speak to someone in that office I have found them very friendly and helpful (A little bit of American service).
casanovawa
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Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
What a very confusing award redemption chart!!!
What a very confusing award redemption chart!!!
Re: US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards
Are we sure of this though and something hasn't been miscoded as Oceania?
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