Last edit by: JDiver
NOTE: This thread has been superseded by the thread entitled LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it) Rebooted v2.0. Please follow the discussion there.
Region definitions
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
Cash & Miles redemptions: buying the max (60%) isn't always the best deal (unless you're purchasing all miles right there). Check here for the best CPM.
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).
Region definitions
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
Cash & Miles redemptions: buying the max (60%) isn't always the best deal (unless you're purchasing all miles right there). Check here for the best CPM.
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).
LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it)
#2071
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: FRA
Programs: A3 *G, HH Diamond
Posts: 99
#2072
Join Date: Jun 2013
Programs: SPG Plat 100, A3*G
Posts: 678
As one of the "offenders" who PMed about the FRA-HND trick that hansboy and imverge mentioned, I would think that sharing the target mileage shouldn't be such a problem.
It's highly likely that you didn't share anything new (as mlqsko nicely noted) so sharing just the mileage (if you're too concerned about anything else) gives an indication if it's something that I already know or gives a clue on how to find the trick.
Besides... I'm still sceptical about the FRA-HND LH F "trick"
So... Share or don't share, just don't stress about it too much
It's highly likely that you didn't share anything new (as mlqsko nicely noted) so sharing just the mileage (if you're too concerned about anything else) gives an indication if it's something that I already know or gives a clue on how to find the trick.
Besides... I'm still sceptical about the FRA-HND LH F "trick"
So... Share or don't share, just don't stress about it too much
#2074
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SYDNEY
Programs: *A Gold, HH dia,Hyatt plat,Sixt PLAT,QF , EY Gold
Posts: 1,890
Are you guys talking about Belford rocks or world wipped explorer ?
#2075
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Valencia, Spain
Programs: Pascal and Python, no C++
Posts: 738
New Trick, or not
All of this talk about discoveries imho is relative. I'm sure there are lots of routes out there nobody has ever thought about, but would you call them new?
For me there are very few distinct tricks, the rest is application. Using miscoded cities is one, boomerang is another one, changing the time is a third one (in combination with #1 and #2), and there are maybe one or two more (the HND story falls into that class).
When someone posts something that is doable with the above, I don't classify it as new, still happy to hear about them because they might save on search time sometime in the future.
When something comes up that's not doable with the above, then I think that's really new. The J for 12.5k miles recently mentioned would be such a thing, alas I believe it doesn't really exist and was just a provocation.
But the really "new" information I'm looking for now is someone to tell me that availability and booking issues are resolved
For me there are very few distinct tricks, the rest is application. Using miscoded cities is one, boomerang is another one, changing the time is a third one (in combination with #1 and #2), and there are maybe one or two more (the HND story falls into that class).
When someone posts something that is doable with the above, I don't classify it as new, still happy to hear about them because they might save on search time sometime in the future.
When something comes up that's not doable with the above, then I think that's really new. The J for 12.5k miles recently mentioned would be such a thing, alas I believe it doesn't really exist and was just a provocation.
But the really "new" information I'm looking for now is someone to tell me that availability and booking issues are resolved
#2076
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: BTS
Posts: 611
All of this talk about discoveries imho is relative. I'm sure there are lots of routes out there nobody has ever thought about, but would you call them new?
For me there are very few distinct tricks, the rest is application. Using miscoded cities is one, boomerang is another one, changing the time is a third one (in combination with #1 and #2), and there are maybe one or two more (the HND story falls into that class).
When someone posts something that is doable with the above, I don't classify it as new, still happy to hear about them because they might save on search time sometime in the future.
When something comes up that's not doable with the above, then I think that's really new. The J for 12.5k miles recently mentioned would be such a thing, alas I believe it doesn't really exist and was just a provocation.
But the really "new" information I'm looking for now is someone to tell me that availability and booking issues are resolved
For me there are very few distinct tricks, the rest is application. Using miscoded cities is one, boomerang is another one, changing the time is a third one (in combination with #1 and #2), and there are maybe one or two more (the HND story falls into that class).
When someone posts something that is doable with the above, I don't classify it as new, still happy to hear about them because they might save on search time sometime in the future.
When something comes up that's not doable with the above, then I think that's really new. The J for 12.5k miles recently mentioned would be such a thing, alas I believe it doesn't really exist and was just a provocation.
But the really "new" information I'm looking for now is someone to tell me that availability and booking issues are resolved
#2077
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Valencia, Spain
Programs: Pascal and Python, no C++
Posts: 738
Well, not sure I completely agree with this ... yes, one thing is to know the idea/principle behind the trick from which you can get a vast majority of stuff mentioned here, but for some that doesn't really help unless you can find applicable routes ... a good example is the trick using boomerang without having to force anything, i.e. it completely depends on the route (actually, just a single specific part of the route). Knowing how the trick works doesn't really help you to do C5-C2 for the price of C5-C5
But once you know the principle, it's simple to crack any such special route, routemap gives you ALL the information you need to know. The rest is trial and error. And beating the captcha
Last edited by WolfvanWeen; Apr 25, 2014 at 7:40 am Reason: grammar. pfft
#2078
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 157
#2079
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 157
I would always say that my visa was issued at the Embassy of XYZ and that the visa is waiting for me and is being delivered prior to boarding my final flight to XYZ. Carrying a copy if a completed Visa Application ( which of course was never filed) may offer additional safety.
I flew this recently and requested a short-checkin for my luggage (absolutely no problem, I actually never encountered a problem other than with departures from USA) and had a visa ready, which no body bothered to check.
Invitations are available from http://www.travelrussia.su/en/visa.tourist.php for around 12€. You need a travel insurance (if you are not covered it cost 3€ from the Russian folks at the Embassy/Consulate) and the visa incl. processing takes one week and cost a bit more than 50€.
#2080
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 14
it says "The itinerary you are searching for is not available at this moment. If you chose a specific airline for your search, please try with another one or don’t select any to broaden your flight options."
have you made it work?
have you made it work?
Use Firefox and get the Firebug extension (https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/firebug/) with this you can edit the value of the form before submitting.
#2081
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Valencia, Spain
Programs: Pascal and Python, no C++
Posts: 738
Yeah it's not as easy as some believe
So, you didn't try with HND and FRA, am I right?
Last edited by WolfvanWeen; Apr 25, 2014 at 11:00 am Reason: added something constructive
#2082
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 157
Are you trying to replace NRT/XYZ with HND on a LH search? In that case, yes I have made it work for weeks and now was able to book a flight too.
#2083
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 14
the code is like this: <option selected="selected" value="hnd">Tokyo, Narita International Airport (NRT), Japan</option>
the only change is that the value=''nrt'' is replaced by value=''hnd''.
I guess I didn't do it right...
now I've fixed it, the airport code should be capital...
the only change is that the value=''nrt'' is replaced by value=''hnd''.
I guess I didn't do it right...
now I've fixed it, the airport code should be capital...
Last edited by zlatan_tu; Apr 26, 2014 at 8:21 am
#2084
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 17
Could I ask - If I need to force the time, do I have to put the exact time of the flight that I want, or a time somewhere near it?
#2085
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: West Coast, USA
Programs: Skywards Platinum
Posts: 3,747
I have been following this thread for a few months and while I was able to figure out parts here and there, I am confused and stuck on others. I did PM a few people over the past month, but while some would check if flights were available, none would even share a hint, which is discouraging.
I know there is a lot of talk now about modifying code to allow specific timings to be chosen. Are any of these currently talked about tricks, such as the HND trick, only able to be done by code modification?
If anybody feels so inclined to help me with some subtle hints, I am particularly interested in a C2-C1 J or F fare, as I will be in FRA and need to get home in a few weeks.
I am also curious about FRA-HND in F, somebody posted there is a way, needing a visa, in J, which I am still trying to figure out since I can't find a HND-XXX that requires a visa. But, more interested in the F option using fewer miles. I can theorize a boomerang using NH (although haven't been able to make it work, likely due to minimal NH F inventory), but can't yet figure out how to do it with LH.
I know there is a lot of talk now about modifying code to allow specific timings to be chosen. Are any of these currently talked about tricks, such as the HND trick, only able to be done by code modification?
If anybody feels so inclined to help me with some subtle hints, I am particularly interested in a C2-C1 J or F fare, as I will be in FRA and need to get home in a few weeks.
I am also curious about FRA-HND in F, somebody posted there is a way, needing a visa, in J, which I am still trying to figure out since I can't find a HND-XXX that requires a visa. But, more interested in the F option using fewer miles. I can theorize a boomerang using NH (although haven't been able to make it work, likely due to minimal NH F inventory), but can't yet figure out how to do it with LH.