Aug 17, 2013, 12:43 am
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
=========
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
=========
Lifemiles serious booking problems - Beware (old legacy thread)
Jan 27, 2016, 2:17 am
#496
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: KYE
Posts: 4,156
I called LM and was told someone from payment department will contact me within 24 hours. He also asked which of the booking I wanted to keep (since I tried twice in futile).
In the past I have been able to redeem quite easily, except once about 3 years ago when AMEX suspended the transaction from their side. This is the first time that it fails from LM side.
Jan 27, 2016, 3:07 am
#497
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
someone should edit the wiki above....
Jan 28, 2016, 3:16 am
#498
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: KYE
Posts: 4,156
Never received a call as promised. I ended up trying to book the same flight online and the payment got accepted - took almost a minute waiting for it to go through.
LM still hit and miss
LM still hit and miss
Jan 28, 2016, 3:43 am
#499
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,837
In most cases it is the card/issuer causing all the trouble. Overseas transactions are very likely to be frowned upon (declined) by the issuing bank/institution.
After dozens and dozens of bookings, I never had a single problem with the payment.
After dozens and dozens of bookings, I never had a single problem with the payment.
Feb 2, 2016, 8:35 pm
#500
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 263
Yes, had cards when booking LifeMile awards that didn't go through due to fraud alert protection (El Salvador and Colombia are very high red flagged countries by some card/bank issuers; much, much crime coming out of central and Latin America, ditto Africa (Nigeria in particular) and Eastern Europe (Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus) and south and central Asia countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka) are also notorious for credit card criminal activity.
Feb 2, 2016, 11:12 pm
#501
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,837
Yes, had cards when booking LifeMile awards that didn't go through due to fraud alert protection (El Salvador and Colombia are very high red flagged countries by some card/bank issuers; much, much crime coming out of central and Latin America, ditto Africa (Nigeria in particular) and Eastern Europe (Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus) and south and central Asia countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka) are also notorious for credit card criminal activity.
Feb 2, 2016, 11:24 pm
#502
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: YYZ
Posts: 1,666
AMEX has always been good with approving my LifeMiles transactions without failure.
I've tried three different Visa/Mastercard cards in succession before, and they all end up being blocked at some point when making a LifeMiles transaction unless I call them and tell them to release the security hold. Apparently it's because they sometimes do a $1 USD charge and then the actual charge afterwards, added to the fact that it comes from a high-risk country to ends up flagging the system.
I've tried three different Visa/Mastercard cards in succession before, and they all end up being blocked at some point when making a LifeMiles transaction unless I call them and tell them to release the security hold. Apparently it's because they sometimes do a $1 USD charge and then the actual charge afterwards, added to the fact that it comes from a high-risk country to ends up flagging the system.
Feb 3, 2016, 9:03 am
#503
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: TLV
Posts: 522
My AMEX and Barclay AA MasterCard always process LM charges without issue. Chase always reject my LM charges even when I call beforehand to pre-authorize - which is very annoying when I have a minimum spend to meet.
Mar 3, 2016, 9:17 am
#505
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,132
How do you see that chase rejected the charge? I bought 1000 miles for 33$ and then booked an award which didn't ticket. Miles posted instantly, chase shows two authorized amounts for the 33$ and 662$ (for the ticket) on chase.com. The receipts section shows three lines with 202 numbers for the one 33$ for 1000, and two for 566 and 25$.
Email already sent to support@lm, but just want to mentally clarify what happened.
Email already sent to support@lm, but just want to mentally clarify what happened.
Mar 3, 2016, 12:42 pm
#506
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,132
90 minutes after emailing support the ticket was issued. Great hint in the wiki!^
Mar 4, 2016, 6:00 am
#507
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: YYZ
Posts: 1,666
These days I use AMEX despite the high FX fees because it's the only card that will consistently go through without a hitch.
Mar 28, 2017, 8:11 pm
#508
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,875
AMEX has always been good with approving my LifeMiles transactions without failure.
I've tried three different Visa/Mastercard cards in succession before, and they all end up being blocked at some point when making a LifeMiles transaction unless I call them and tell them to release the security hold. Apparently it's because they sometimes do a $1 USD charge and then the actual charge afterwards, added to the fact that it comes from a high-risk country to ends up flagging the system.
I've tried three different Visa/Mastercard cards in succession before, and they all end up being blocked at some point when making a LifeMiles transaction unless I call them and tell them to release the security hold. Apparently it's because they sometimes do a $1 USD charge and then the actual charge afterwards, added to the fact that it comes from a high-risk country to ends up flagging the system.
Mar 29, 2017, 8:34 am
#509
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: YYZ
Programs: A3&O6 Gold,IC AMB & HH Diamond
Posts: 14,132