Last edit by: SingaporeDon
Every forum on Flyertalk has a personality. A forum gains a personality through user input over time, and Lifemiles is a very definitive example of how users have developed a unique community.
While Flyertalk boards actively encourage sharing of info, the Lifemiles community has developed and thrived via obscuring of certain data elements. It may not be easy for new participants to break through the codes and gain knowledge of the program's quirks, but the overall board community has adopted this unique approach. And frankly, that is not going to change overnight.
If a FT member wants to participate on this board, then they will need to respect other users. Hence, posts that run counter to this community's standards, will be removed.
While Flyertalk boards actively encourage sharing of info, the Lifemiles community has developed and thrived via obscuring of certain data elements. It may not be easy for new participants to break through the codes and gain knowledge of the program's quirks, but the overall board community has adopted this unique approach. And frankly, that is not going to change overnight.
If a FT member wants to participate on this board, then they will need to respect other users. Hence, posts that run counter to this community's standards, will be removed.
C1 North America
C1.5 Caribbean, Bermuda
C2 Europe
C2.5 Middle East
C3 Asia
C4 South America
C5 Africa
C6 Oceania
2X, 3X: in the context of this LifeMiles thread, 2X and 3X refer to any 2nd and 3rd legs of a one-way award ticket.
LifeMiles' Star Alliance Award Chart
LifeMiles' old Star Alliance Award Chart (before Oct 15 2014) // Table of changes
Cash & Miles redemptions: the price per mile purchased during award booking varies significantly depending on how many miles are purchased. The "sweet spots" are between 38% and 58% of the total mileage required, where miles are purchased for 1.5 cents. See here for some examples.
Beware of Cabotage: LifeMiles has been known to issue tickets that constitute Cabotage, and at least one instance of denied boarding has been reported, stranding the passenger. An easily-seen example is travel on Copa from LAX to SJU (via PTY).
Understand Cabotage: Departing country 1, transiting country 2, returning to country 1 (no stopping) *is* cabotage (example: depart JFK, connect in YYZ to return to ORD, or depart Miami, connect in Bogota, return to San Francisco). On the other hand, departing country 1, going to completely unrelated country 2, and ending up in country 3, is not cabotage. So if you fly JFK-JNB-ZRH, for instance, this is completely not cabotage.
Availability: Seeing availability for *A award seats elsewhere is no guarantee they are accessible on Lifemiles. For instance award space shown on ANA often is not accessible on Lifemiles. Similarly, finding award space on single legs doesn't mean you'll get award space on the combined itinerary. And no, there is no way to overcome that.
Screenshot Method
Send email to [email protected] with attached screenshots on Lifemiles website of each individual leg showing availability. Also, screenshot showing no availability as one booking. Include passenger names, gender and DOB and copy of passenger passport. They will either call you for payment or email the itinerary and give you 3 days to call up and make payment by CC.
NOTE: This previous thread has been closed; it can be read here LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it)
LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it) Rebooted v2.0
#18
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,835
#19
No cabotage in this case. Only if you do CountryA-xxx-xxx-xxx-CountryA and do not stop anywhere on route (so for instance, JFK-YYZ-ORD or something like that). C1-C3-C2 doesn't fall into cabotage at all. Cabotage doesn't mean "depart country 1, go through an unrelated country 2 to get to country 3" - it means "depart country 1, go through some unrelated country/ies, and end up back in country 1".
#20
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,835
No cabotage in this case. Only if you do CountryA-xxx-xxx-xxx-CountryA and do not stop anywhere on route (so for instance, JFK-YYZ-ORD or something like that). C1-C3-C2 doesn't fall into cabotage at all. Cabotage doesn't mean "depart country 1, go through an unrelated country 2 to get to country 3" - it means "depart country 1, go through some unrelated country/ies, and end up back in country 1".
#22
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,835
Yeah. Maybe add the countries it applies to as they are not all, afaik? US for sure and there was a report about Australia?
"One notable exception is the European Union, whose members all grant cabotage rights to each other"
"One notable exception is the European Union, whose members all grant cabotage rights to each other"
#23
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: TK Elite Plus, SAS EBG, QR Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,297
No cabotage in this case. Only if you do CountryA-xxx-xxx-xxx-CountryA and do not stop anywhere on route (so for instance, JFK-YYZ-ORD or something like that). C1-C3-C2 doesn't fall into cabotage at all. Cabotage doesn't mean "depart country 1, go through an unrelated country 2 to get to country 3" - it means "depart country 1, go through some unrelated country/ies, and end up back in country 1".
#24
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVPG 75K
Posts: 2,574
A list of exceptions is much shorter than a list of all countries that restrict cabotage @:-)
#26
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,896
#28
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
Anyway, there's still a good amount available despite the recent attention, such as the ursa and the footrest (and yes I am attempting to further the coding in this thread starting now). It is interesting to me what remains available as well. I have a few things to check on when I return home that are difficult to do from just a phone, but hopefully they are still available as well.
#29
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: TLV
Posts: 521
"ursa" translates directly into a current term that's used here extensively, so does not make better coding either.
Sorry... thumbs down to both...
#30
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SXE
Programs: QF LTG, VA Gold, BA Gold, HH, SFSC
Posts: 501
I am slowly getting the hang of the coding. Is there a primer somewhere?
To answer the question regarding purchasing LMs or not: I keep some in my account incase a share offer comes up, and usually purchase a few when on sale as I normally would be able to make use of them in the next few months anyway.
To answer the question regarding purchasing LMs or not: I keep some in my account incase a share offer comes up, and usually purchase a few when on sale as I normally would be able to make use of them in the next few months anyway.