Shimon

Any proposals for who should be B?

cmcbugg

but B ends up with nada.

Not quite sure what is being achieved by transferring smaller amounts instead of the full balance each time. Looks like it will just take more goes to reach your target (unless you were specifically aiming for a particular balance). For some reason it looks marginally cheaper (if my maths is right), but still just over $15 per 1000 miles.

ikura

From LifeMiles.com:
You can transfer up to 50,000 LifeMiles per calendar year between LifeMiles accounts.

echino

It's a bit unclear. Is 50,000 incoming, or outgoing limit?

If I transfer 50,000 to my wife, will she get 100,000? Or is the incoming limit 50,000, making it send a maximum of 25,000 to receive 50,000?

TGflyergirl

It is the OUTGOING limit.

The website dynamically tracks how many have previously gone out from your account and if you exceed the 50000 - it'll tell you so even before you get to the page you enter your credit card details. Neat feature i like very much

I've done two full cycles of A:B:A:B ping pong-ing - and that's pretty much how it works.

From the example above re: buying your first thousand.

1)Assuming account A bought the first thousand, after one cycle:
Account A will be left with 29,000 available to transfer (1 + 4 + 16= 21,000 transferred)
Account B will be left with 8,000 available to transfer (2+8+32=42,000 transferred)

At this stage Account A will have a balance of 64,000 B will have 0.

2) Account A can then finally transfer one last shot of 29,000 - leaving the theoretical max balances at this stage: A: 35,000, B: 58,000

3) Account B can then transfer 8,000 back to A , and your FINAL theoretical max balance is like this: A: 27,000, B: 74,000

That's for a two account tango - dynamics are different naturally, with more people joining the dance.....

You can even out the 27/74k ratio to 51/50k without losing out if you do this:

A transfers: 1+4+16
B transfer: 2+8+28

At this stage you have A with 56K, B with 4K balances. Available to transfer A: 29K, B: 12K

A transfers to B: 29K (hitting the 50k limit) - Balance at this stage A: 27K (56K-29K), B: 62K (29K x2 + 4K balance)
B transfers to A: 12K (hitting the 50K limit) - Balance at this stage A: 51K (27K+24K), B: 50K (4K balance+58K - 12K)

There are naturally more permutations that can even out the balances:

essentially though - if you go all the way, it doesn't really matter. Your spend for the 101,000 miles you didn't have yesterday will amount to 30 USD for the first thousand, and 1500 USD for the 100,000 = 1530 USD.

tusflyer

Very impressive analysis.

Thank you!

burmans

It is but of course if you have 4 accounts they each can transfer 50k!!

YorkieFlyer

An interesting discussion with some experiences in another place..

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...-40866-15.html

kyunbit

Does anybody else find their website buggy? I cant enter many of the airports I want..Also I havent been able to input airport codes in a multi-city itinerary.

phat-dave

i dont like how multicity itineraries always default as a return leg... ..... me

fflyer1

try choosing "star alliance" instead of "avianca" for preferred airlines...
if avianca is chosen, it wont accept any airports which avianca doenst serve

alexanderrr

I tried to book a TATL flight with an overnight stop in ZRH (<24H), but the system does not understand it. Other alternative is too leave at 5am and have 2 very tight connections, so I would rather leave the night before. ANA usually shows this as a normal connection. I tried multi-city, but Avianca tries to charge me separately. Any idea how to avoid calling them?

pogonation

Why do you want to avoid calling them? There is no way to do what you are wanting with the online booking system so you will have to call them

alexanderrr

I think from many previous posts it is pretty clear that their call center is not yet ready to deal with English-speaking clients, who want to redeem for * awards. Besides, extra fee is charged. Again, many other award booking engines, incl. ANA, can easly do that and in fact such routing is usually offered first. So any useful advice will still be highly appreciated.

tylergupku

Yesterday I bought 1000 miles as the seed to accumulate some miles but it hasn't posted to my account yet. How long does it typically take? Thanks for sharing.