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Lifemiles serious booking problems - Beware (old legacy thread)

Old Aug 17, 2013, 12:43 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Tokyoite
Please do your homework before buying Lifemiles. It is what it is... for some that's useful, for others it's not.

Biggest complaints are about
- mixed class bookings are available but now many of the suitable connections dont show
- not being able to book anything that isn't available online (there are work-arounds, see screenshot method below)
- the quality of the call center (English speaking agents are scarce, you might get thrown in a loop with call transfers within their call center)
- no stopovers (>24H) or open jaws, but you can book one way awards
- no reservations on Certain subsidiaries of Star Alliance carriers (Lufthansa Cityline, Germanwings)

Problems with ticketing / lack of confirmation screen or email
- write down the confirmation number shown on the screen after confirming your purchase.
check here: http://serviciosenlinea.avianca.com/...doReserva.aspx

Sometimes, even if you cannot see the PNR, the record may have been created, so better to call them and give them flight details you were trying to book. They can find the PNR from those details.
- ticketing usually takes place within 10-15 min of booking
- but it may also take up to 2 days
- if miles have been deducted from your account and a temporary authorization has been placed on your CC, you're probably fine even if you did not see a confirmation screen
- if no e-ticket number is visible on checkmytrip.com after two days, you should contact LifeMiles. You can expedite the ticketing by emailing with your booking reference to: [email protected] after you have booked, especially if you have booked last minute flights, and need ticketing straight away

Screenshot method.
So, on a date you are looking for in the future, there is availability for LAX-NRT and NRT-BKK. But not LAX-NRT-BKK.
It may be a case of the LM system not offering the through connection.

Take three screen shots - two 'available' screen shots for LAX-NRT and NRT-BKK and the 'not available' screen for LAX-BKK.
Send them all off with a scan of your passport page (PDF) and LM will make the booking manually for you.

Send to these two email addresses, and CC yourself (just for your records)
[email protected]
[email protected]

Sample email:
====
Email topic: Urgent request for booking Lifemiles Award
====
Dear Sirs,

I have tried several times, over several days, but the following itinerary does not show on the website.
Please see the three attached screenshots I took just now.
Please do the manual booking First Class/Business class for xx,000 miles. (*Know how many miles the whole award should cost-here, to avoid surprises once ticketed)

The availability is only 1 seat for this date, so please process this request urgently before it is gone.

Los Angeles (LAX) - Bangkok (BKK)
Saturday August 11th 2018
NH 175 connecting to NH 807
(*Provide the specific flight numbers you want, to avoid surprises once ticketed)

My passport copy (Number xxxx, expiry 20xx/xx/xx, Nationality xxx) is attached in this email.

LifeMiles Number: xxx
First Name: xxx
Last name: xxx
Date of Birth: Month, date, year
Gender: Male/Female
Email: xxxx
Phone Number: +1-xxxx

Regards,
XXX
=========
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Lifemiles serious booking problems - Beware (old legacy thread)

Old Dec 5, 2012, 4:54 pm
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Posts: 3
Lifemiles serious booking problems - Beware (old legacy thread)

2x miles or any miles purchase program is a scam! Lifemiles lures people with lucrative miles purchase promotion but the system fails when actually trying to purchase tickets. I tried to buy CCU->SJC route via BKK/NRT on Thai and ANA multiple times with no luck. The system shows error after entering passenger details. I even called and tried to book through an agent and even he wasn't successful (calls keep dropping is another horror story). After investigating he found that ANA will not confirm the tickets, even after calling ANA directly (holding for about an hour). The agent even tried other dates and got the same error. I know this route is available from United MileagePlus and Aeroplan. In general, lifemiles system shows available route but does not allow to complete the ticket purchase. They have problem with other star alliance also like Lufthansa and Singapore. So now I am stuck with my purchased miles as they are useless.
Translance likes this.

Last edited by Moderator2; Jan 17, 2022 at 5:39 pm Reason: additional note
rishis is offline  
Old Dec 6, 2012, 11:09 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: GOT, LAX, CDG, NRT, ICN
Programs: M&M, FB, DL, BA, UA...
Posts: 790
Originally Posted by rishis
2x miles or any miles purchase program is a scam! Lifemiles lures people with lucrative miles purchase promotion but the system fails when actually trying to purchase tickets. I tried to buy CCU->SJC route via BKK/NRT on Thai and ANA multiple times with no luck. The system shows error after entering passenger details. I even called and tried to book through an agent and even he wasn't successful (calls keep dropping is another horror story). After investigating he found that ANA will not confirm the tickets, even after calling ANA directly (holding for about an hour). The agent even tried other dates and got the same error. I know this route is available from United MileagePlus and Aeroplan. In general, lifemiles system shows available route but does not allow to complete the ticket purchase. They have problem with other star alliance also like Lufthansa and Singapore. So now I am stuck with my purchased miles as they are useless.
Welcome to Flyertalk! Sorry to hear about your problems booking with Lifemiles, but to call the whole program a scam is going overboard. Have made serveral simple bookings online without any problems. All frequent flyer programs have their bugs, so it seems you unfortunately came upon a route or ticket that wasn't possible using LM. If there are more reports of problems booking award tickets it would be good to share and hope that AV works the kinks out of the system. If there are more reports of unsuccessful redemptions than succesful ones than you might be onto something... If you want to get rid of your useful miles, I'd be more than happy to redeem them for you
cardesigner2000 is offline  
Old Dec 7, 2012, 1:27 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: zurich
Programs: Miles&Smiles Gold
Posts: 509
Originally Posted by rishis
2x miles or any miles purchase program is a scam! Lifemiles lures people with lucrative miles purchase promotion but the system fails when actually trying to purchase tickets. I tried to buy CCU->SJC route via BKK/NRT on Thai and ANA multiple times with no luck. The system shows error after entering passenger details. I even called and tried to book through an agent and even he wasn't successful (calls keep dropping is another horror story). After investigating he found that ANA will not confirm the tickets, even after calling ANA directly (holding for about an hour). The agent even tried other dates and got the same error. I know this route is available from United MileagePlus and Aeroplan. In general, lifemiles system shows available route but does not allow to complete the ticket purchase. They have problem with other star alliance also like Lufthansa and Singapore. So now I am stuck with my purchased miles as they are useless.
I booked awards with Lifemiles more than once without problems (including Lufthansa). So relax.
northernstar84 is offline  
Old Dec 7, 2012, 6:50 am
  #4  
wcj
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 784
deleted

Last edited by wcj; Jun 29, 2014 at 3:12 pm Reason: dead
wcj is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2012, 11:08 am
  #5  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Posts: 3
Originally Posted by wcj
I have bought LMs and booked tickets online twice on Lufthansa, no issues. Signing into my accounts is always glitchy and I do not appear to get confirmations immediately upon completion. However, they seem to show up in a couple of days.

I would take a deep breath and start over. Were the LMs deducted from your account? How long has it been since you made the reservation?
Lifemiles link with ANA is broken. I even tried a simple booking on ANA from NRT-SFO and it does not work. I will be glad to know if anyone had a success booking on ANA.
rishis is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2012, 11:14 am
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Posts: 3
Originally Posted by wcj
I have bought LMs and booked tickets online twice on Lufthansa, no issues. Signing into my accounts is always glitchy and I do not appear to get confirmations immediately upon completion. However, they seem to show up in a couple of days.

I would take a deep breath and start over. Were the LMs deducted from your account? How long has it been since you made the reservation?
Miles were not deducted...I am trying everyday and it still does not work. Try any booking with ANA and you will get an error after entering the passenger details. Calling is useless...horrible phone support, they are clueless.
rishis is offline  
Old Dec 11, 2012, 1:36 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: A3 *G, AA exePlat, AS MVP 75k Gold, JL sapphire, UA silver
Posts: 4,024
Originally Posted by rishis
Lifemiles link with ANA is broken. I even tried a simple booking on ANA from NRT-SFO and it does not work. I will be glad to know if anyone had a success booking on ANA.
i tried to book a ticket involving NH, and it didnt work too.
so. i concur that it is NH related.

i did book another ticket involving AC/UA and it worked and i received an confirmation.
pbd456 is offline  
Old Dec 11, 2012, 5:56 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: MUC, NAG
Programs: M&M FTL, A3 Gold, IHG Plat, Accor Plat
Posts: 222
Lifemiles has some problems to issue very complex tickets like HKT-BKK-NRT-SFO-EWR for example. But you can check that easily before buying. Simply make a test booking, if at some points it shows you an error(not the message that you dont have enough miles) - forget it and look for another routing.
Valley_MUC is offline  
Old Dec 12, 2012, 7:26 am
  #9  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Melbourne/Bangkok
Programs: A3*G, QF PLATINUM, BA GOLD, VA GOLD, HH DIAMOND
Posts: 2,245
Anyone else got problems booking simple flights? Im getting an error when trying to book a simple TG flight from one point to another, no connections or anything.
Aussie_flyer is offline  
Old Dec 12, 2012, 10:19 am
  #10  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,464
I am getting this:

Sorry, There was problem while processing your transaction.
Please try again.If the problem persists or you need additional information please contact LifeMiles Support.
echino is offline  
Old Dec 12, 2012, 3:00 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Valkenswaard, The Netherlands
Programs: A-Club PLT, HHonors Gold, Carlson Gold
Posts: 129
And it' back online... Grrrr now asking 2500 more miles then this morning and my preferred flights are gone.....
RonaldJ is offline  
Old Dec 12, 2012, 5:07 pm
  #12  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Alabama
Programs: Not care as much as before...
Posts: 329
Originally Posted by echino
I am getting this:

Sorry, There was problem while processing your transaction.
Please try again.If the problem persists or you need additional information please contact LifeMiles Support.
exactly same error.
no matter what time, routing, origin/destination, accounts.. all the error messages
ssoonngg123 is offline  
Old Dec 12, 2012, 11:09 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SYDNEY
Programs: *A Gold, HH dia,Hyatt plat,Sixt PLAT,QF , EY Gold
Posts: 1,890
This exact same thing happened to me. It's been two weeks now I got it once and then keep getting the same error message. After I select the flights and it says error at the next page. I have tried calling into the life miles centre and was told their system is down to call back in a hour which I did.

The agent then told me to call back in a few hours . I have the outbound flights and can't get back home.
Shanye2233 is offline  
Old Dec 12, 2012, 11:20 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,384
Originally Posted by rishis
Lifemiles link with ANA is broken. I even tried a simple booking on ANA from NRT-SFO and it does not work. I will be glad to know if anyone had a success booking on ANA.
Great. More booking crap.
yerffej201 is offline  
Old Dec 13, 2012, 1:59 am
  #15  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Melbourne/Bangkok
Programs: A3*G, QF PLATINUM, BA GOLD, VA GOLD, HH DIAMOND
Posts: 2,245
working for me again now
Aussie_flyer is offline  

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