Jan 1, 2014, 5:17 pm
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NOTE: This thread has been superseded by the thread entitled LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it) Rebooted v2.0.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)
Apr 4, 2014, 10:26 pm
#1816
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,385
I'm just wondering if any of you have booked j on a certain airline to the gummy bear with a super tight 45 min connection in an asian airport. Has anyone flown this yet? flightaware shows around half those flights are delayed which might cause me to misconnect:
any thoughts?
any thoughts?
Apr 4, 2014, 10:32 pm
#1817
Join Date: May 2000
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 883
. For me, to shell out 27.5k for a convoluted route, I would rather shell out another 10k for a direct (or one connection) flight back home using regular redemption. Hence my quest for other possible trick.
Apr 4, 2014, 10:46 pm
#1818
Join Date: May 2000
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 883
Early yesterday morning, I can find LH J from LM while UA show zero availability (in Nov no less). Now LH J availability are significant less from LM compare to UA (UA phantom?).
Looking at couple samples, individual flights are available (connection < 8 hrs) but the whole trip won't work for gummy bear or chainsaw...Hopefully this is temporary glitch...
Looking at couple samples, individual flights are available (connection < 8 hrs) but the whole trip won't work for gummy bear or chainsaw...Hopefully this is temporary glitch...
Apr 5, 2014, 1:46 am
#1819
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349
Early yesterday morning, I can find LH J from LM while UA show zero availability (in Nov no less). Now LH J availability are significant less from LM compare to UA (UA phantom?).
Looking at couple samples, individual flights are available (connection < 8 hrs) but the whole trip won't work for gummy bear or chainsaw...Hopefully this is temporary glitch...
Looking at couple samples, individual flights are available (connection < 8 hrs) but the whole trip won't work for gummy bear or chainsaw...Hopefully this is temporary glitch...
Apr 5, 2014, 11:23 am
#1820
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: JFK
Programs: UA,AA,AS,AV
Posts: 12
C1-C2 trick it for any month, any cabin
Anyone else not seeing anything given usual throwaways?
I don't think it's an availability problem because if you search for local segments, they are there...
Was hoping for a J to C2 this summer
Anyone else not seeing anything given usual throwaways?
I don't think it's an availability problem because if you search for local segments, they are there...
Was hoping for a J to C2 this summer
Apr 5, 2014, 12:00 pm
#1821
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 640
Have you ever tried to book NZ C or SQ F on any other program? Good luck.
I'm really surprised that *A is not giving clear instructions to all their member of how much % of their seats they need to release to the other members, its a typical prisoner dilemma and they are just shooting at each other.
Apr 5, 2014, 5:10 pm
#1822
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: Avis Chm, LM Boomielatinum
Posts: 131
c1-c2
I've also seen less availability recently but it looks like a mere availability issue, not a fix.
in a side note: while searching out of C2, I saw this C2-C3-C1 for 30k without any tricks involved! just pure LM attitude
in a side note: while searching out of C2, I saw this C2-C3-C1 for 30k without any tricks involved! just pure LM attitude
Apr 6, 2014, 2:20 am
#1823
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 157
Flying to Hawaii?
Apr 6, 2014, 2:32 am
#1824
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: EWR, SLC, SGN
Posts: 1,113
I´ll give an indication of how this might work because I recently had a changed UA ticket. I booked two legs and casually checking I noticed that UA had cancelled the flight for the first leg and the second connection was leaving an hour before the first.
I called UA and they were very nice, offered me some options and I picked one. Then had to wait about another 30 mins on the phone whilst they "authorised" it. Then they let me choose seats but told me I have to call Avianca to re-ticket it.
Avianca was initially clueless and said "Sorry no award seats on the other flights you want" I had to explain to them that I was happy with the original itinerary but UA changed it which made it unfeasible, and they have now worked through options with me and authorised one of those options. AV just needs to reissue the ticket.
I got put through to a very useful guy that knew exactly what to do, took 5 minutes, UA online itinerary married back up to my ticket number again and had no alerts.
Just mentioned this as an example. UA in this instance could and did change my itinerary, first presumably automatically and then voluntarily when I called them. But that had to be reissued by AV with a phone call to them.
I called UA and they were very nice, offered me some options and I picked one. Then had to wait about another 30 mins on the phone whilst they "authorised" it. Then they let me choose seats but told me I have to call Avianca to re-ticket it.
Avianca was initially clueless and said "Sorry no award seats on the other flights you want" I had to explain to them that I was happy with the original itinerary but UA changed it which made it unfeasible, and they have now worked through options with me and authorised one of those options. AV just needs to reissue the ticket.
I got put through to a very useful guy that knew exactly what to do, took 5 minutes, UA online itinerary married back up to my ticket number again and had no alerts.
Just mentioned this as an example. UA in this instance could and did change my itinerary, first presumably automatically and then voluntarily when I called them. But that had to be reissued by AV with a phone call to them.
Apr 6, 2014, 3:47 am
#1825
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ZRH
Programs: SEN
Posts: 137
It was a regular booking but I really had no nerves to call them. I preferred just to wait and checked again after 48hrs (nothing) and after 72hrs when the seats reappeared.
Apr 6, 2014, 7:55 am
#1826
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: Avis Chm, LM Boomielatinum
Posts: 131
C2-C1 Dead ?
Trying ex-c2-c1 with different dates routes, browsers and while availabilty shows, still it errors out when attempting to book... is it dead ?
ETA: the more i check the more that seems dead. hope its just a temporary glitch
ETA: the more i check the more that seems dead. hope its just a temporary glitch
Last edited by creditor; Apr 6, 2014 at 8:06 am
Apr 6, 2014, 8:17 am
#1828
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: YYZ
Posts: 1,666
I dunno what's happening with chainsaw...
There's one date I've been watching where LM brought up two particular segments and today, it no longer shows that combo. Yet, both of the exact same segments are still available individually on NH/AC search engines. There used to be decent chainsaw availability from this particular city through the year, but I can't find a single date in whY or J this year anymore.
And no, it isn't because of availability on the airline where you can have frankfurters as a snack.
There's one date I've been watching where LM brought up two particular segments and today, it no longer shows that combo. Yet, both of the exact same segments are still available individually on NH/AC search engines. There used to be decent chainsaw availability from this particular city through the year, but I can't find a single date in whY or J this year anymore.
And no, it isn't because of availability on the airline where you can have frankfurters as a snack.
Apr 6, 2014, 10:27 am
#1829
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: BTS
Posts: 611
The TATL availability in Y/J is atrocious right now ... no way of knowing whether they're fixing something or it has something to do with the business class war between *A and ST right now or something else ...
Apr 6, 2014, 10:31 am
#1830
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: Avis Chm, LM Boomielatinum
Posts: 131
Originally Posted by scibuff:22658331
The TATL availability in Y/J is atrocious right now ... no way of knowing whether they're fixing something or it has something to do with the business class war between *A and ST right now or something else ...