AVIANCA - where to put the miles ?
 

I am flying AVianca for the first time, Europe to Bogota business return (next week).
Right now, I have Sky Team (Elite +, GOLD AF) / BA exec Club (blue, but soon to be Silver thanks to BMI transfer) / BMI Star Alliance Silver status ( short of 3,900 miles to become Gold).

What do you recommend I dot with the miles I can earn on such a trip ? which program should I add it to, if possible at all ? I see from FT that it is still not yet in STar ALliance, and on BMI I am short of 3,900 miles to become Gold this year : any suggestion ?

ALso, I tried to find news about the Avianca lounge in Madrid, as I have a long stay over, which one is it and is it a nice lounge ? thanks :-)

I believe Lufthansa, United, and Iberia are the only airlines that you can put TACA flights on. Hopefully, they will join Star Alliance soon, however. Iberia earns a bit less than Lufthansa and United.

My travel agent just called United, who said that Avianca does NOT show up as a partner in their system.

So much contradictory info out there about this.

They have a good program, perhaps you should post to them. Soon they will be in Star, Tacca/Avianca LifeMiles. They have some nice areas, like BMI, points/cash option, high-level awards that earn miles, and one-way awards.

Agree, safest bet is to open an AviancaTaca LifeMiles account. IF AviancaTaca joins Star Alliance (something I do not particularly believe will happen given the delays and other mergers going on), you will have a nice Star Alliance member account. Which you do NOT now - BMI is no longer in Star Alliance, and right now you do NOT have any *A account. There is very limited remaining courtesy earn/burn/lounge access on some *A airlines until May 31; they you have nothing in Star.

If you don't want to use a Latin American-based program, then you have a problem. Until/unless AviancaTaca joins Star Alliance, AVIANCA is not a United Partner. Probably not a Lufthansa partner either. TACA is, but you are not flying on TACA.

Join LifeMiles, and plan for it to be your new *A program. If they ever make it into *A. Otherwise, go to the Avianca website (NOT the TACA website, and not the joint AviancaTaca LIfemiles website), and see if Avianca itself has any airline partners. Not Taca, not LACSA, not any other airline under the AviancaTaca holding company. Just Avianca.

The only program I'm certain you can use is LifeMiles. Note that even if AviancaTaca joins Star Alliance tomorrow, you will not be able to credit to BMI, because BMI is NOT in Star anymore. They are not going to give credit for new *A members who joined after they left.

If you don't want to join LifeMiles and remain with an orphan account, you can open an Iberia account, credit there and transfer 1:1 to BA, where your BMI miles will go soon anyway (transfer is free, but IB account must be at least 3 months old to do this).
If you are flying discount economy, IB gives only 30% miles though. It will not help you with any status either.

Both Avianca and Taca are Miles and More partners:

http://www.miles-and-more.com/online...en&cid=1000340

http://www.miles-and-more.com/online...en&cid=1000340