May 26, 2014, 8:47 am
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
Jul 30, 2015, 4:00 pm
#1908
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 184
I'll wait some days to see if they update my reservation on the SQ website.
Jul 30, 2015, 4:06 pm
#1909
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
There can be a delay with LM issuing SQ tickets, but you shouldn't wait longer than 48-72 hours from time of booking before following this up. After that time, without a ticket number, an airline can auto-cancel a reservation... and you may not get it back if the seats don't go back into award inventory.
Jul 30, 2015, 9:47 pm
#1910
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 184
There can be a delay with LM issuing SQ tickets, but you shouldn't wait longer than 48-72 hours from time of booking before following this up. After that time, without a ticket number, an airline can auto-cancel a reservation... and you may not get it back if the seats don't go back into award inventory.
I'm used to redeem with AA, JJ and US, and AA use to take some time to ticket the awards, but it's way nicer to see a status of a booking, like "Under request" , "Issued". I can see that with LM it's quite different.
Jul 30, 2015, 9:57 pm
#1911
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349
I've never found the AA status of 'On Request' particularly comforting! And with LM, seeing the ticket numbers is equivalent to a status of 'Issued'.
Jul 30, 2015, 10:15 pm
#1912
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
Programs: SQ, LH, BA, IHG Diamond AMB, HH Gold, SLH Indulged, Accor Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,739
It can take from a few hours to a few days for the ticket to get issued. So keep monitoring it and if after 4-5 days still nothing then raise it up to Lifemiles support. Unless your travel is like tomorrow then escalate immediately if no ticket is issued yet.
Jul 30, 2015, 11:59 pm
#1913
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349
I'm not sure an unticketed SQ booking will last 4-5 days.
Jul 31, 2015, 1:02 am
#1914
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
As wheresmybagba points out, the problem is that 4-5 days is generally too long to wait as airlines can (and often do) auto-cancel unpaid tickets at the 72 hour mark (and sometimes even earlier than that).
Jul 31, 2015, 2:22 am
#1915
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Valencia, Spain
Programs: Pascal and Python, no C++
Posts: 738
if you're looking for further out be aware that F award space might only be released T-14
Last edited by WolfvanWeen; Jul 31, 2015 at 8:43 am Reason: Search working again
Aug 10, 2015, 3:17 pm
#1920
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: New York Metropolitan Area 45 km from JFK
Programs: UA,AA,AS,BA
Posts: 4,607