May 21, 2014, 7:31 pm
Last edit by: Tokyoite
Coronawiki (March 2020)
Does anyone know if Lifemiles will waive cancellation fees for an award ticket due to COVID-19 concerns?
Unfortunately, barring an outright flight cancellation, Lifemiles will not waive cancel fees.
Just pay the $200 as a "self caution fee". (nobody is actually preventing you the passenger from flying as you booked).
In the future, it would be wise to invest in travel insurance.
=====
Transferring Amex MR points will extend expiration of LM. Post #906 confirms this. Expiration date updates overnight, so wait 24 hours after the transferred miles have posted to LM.
LifeMiles' Star Alliance Award Chart
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 example is travel on Avianca from LAX to SJU (via SAL/BOG). For additional information see the WIKI of this thread.
https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/abo/wnb/wnbtercond.aspx
Does anyone know if Lifemiles will waive cancellation fees for an award ticket due to COVID-19 concerns?
Unfortunately, barring an outright flight cancellation, Lifemiles will not waive cancel fees.
Just pay the $200 as a "self caution fee". (nobody is actually preventing you the passenger from flying as you booked).
In the future, it would be wise to invest in travel insurance.
=====
Transferring Amex MR points will extend expiration of LM. Post #906 confirms this. Expiration date updates overnight, so wait 24 hours after the transferred miles have posted to LM.
LifeMiles' Star Alliance Award Chart
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 example is travel on Avianca from LAX to SJU (via SAL/BOG). For additional information see the WIKI of this thread.
https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/abo/wnb/wnbtercond.aspx
Miles Expiration Policy valid from April 15th , 2018.
- Any miles accrual transaction in a member´s account in the Program extends the validity of the miles in the account of such member for a term of twelve (12) months from the date of such accrual of miles. Other transactions that may affect the balance of miles in a member’s account, including redemption transactions, will have no effect on them and will not extend the validity of the miles in such account. This general rule will have the following exceptions that extend the validity of such miles in the account of such member for twenty-four (24) months from the date of such accrual: (i) any accrual of miles in a member´s account with an Elite Status at the time of the accrual; (ii) any accrual of miles derived from a cobranded credit or debit cards under the LifeMiles brand.
- ......the following accrual activities do not extend the validity of the miles in the member´s account: 1) the birthday bonus or any other miles bonus that may be given by the LifeMiles Program and LifeMiles LTD so establishes.; 2) the migration of points or miles from other loyalty programs to the LifeMiles Program made as a consequence of the union of both loyalty programs or the migration of one member from another loyalty program to the LifeMiles Program; and 3) the merger of accounts of the LifeMiles Program, including those derived from a member´s duplicate accounts.
LM Newbie Lounge: Ask your Questions Here (Flame Free)
Sep 20, 2019, 11:39 am
#871
Join Date: Mar 2019
Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Hilton Diamond; Marriott Gold
Posts: 723
Risk of Buying LM
I’ve never made a lifemiles booking before. I am considering purchasing lifemiles in order to book 3 J tix ORD-TPE ~11 months out. The availability is showing on the lifemiles site.
Having read many posts about ticketing issues, I am nervous about purchasing that many miles, not being able to ticket, and then having thousands of dollars worth of orphaned miles. What are my risks here? Given that the availability is showing online, will I likely be able to complete the purchase? If I do complete the reservation and it tickets, is there any risk in having the reservation hang out there for nearly a year?
Thank you in advance.
Having read many posts about ticketing issues, I am nervous about purchasing that many miles, not being able to ticket, and then having thousands of dollars worth of orphaned miles. What are my risks here? Given that the availability is showing online, will I likely be able to complete the purchase? If I do complete the reservation and it tickets, is there any risk in having the reservation hang out there for nearly a year?
Thank you in advance.
Sep 20, 2019, 3:42 pm
#872
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
I’ve never made a lifemiles booking before. I am considering purchasing lifemiles in order to book 3 J tix ORD-TPE ~11 months out. The availability is showing on the lifemiles site.
Having read many posts about ticketing issues, I am nervous about purchasing that many miles, not being able to ticket, and then having thousands of dollars worth of orphaned miles. What are my risks here? Given that the availability is showing online, will I likely be able to complete the purchase? If I do complete the reservation and it tickets, is there any risk in having the reservation hang out there for nearly a year?
Thank you in advance.
Having read many posts about ticketing issues, I am nervous about purchasing that many miles, not being able to ticket, and then having thousands of dollars worth of orphaned miles. What are my risks here? Given that the availability is showing online, will I likely be able to complete the purchase? If I do complete the reservation and it tickets, is there any risk in having the reservation hang out there for nearly a year?
Thank you in advance.
If it fails to ticket on line - either errors out when you try to cost the itinerary or enter passenger details, you'll be able to call the LM call centre and have them make the reservation (the payment department will then call you back).
The main issues for LM booking are when you can't see availability.
The other option of course is to go for the 'points plus pay' option. This way you just need 42% of the base miles and top the rest up with cash at the time of booking. This will cost you slightly more - 1.5c per mile rather than 1.345c per mile under the 145% bonus currently on. But it means you are only carrying risk for 42% of miles rather than 100%.
But if you can see it you are in pretty good shape.
Sep 21, 2019, 5:58 am
#873
Join Date: Mar 2019
Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Hilton Diamond; Marriott Gold
Posts: 723
If you can see the availability you will be able to get the seats on way or another. It will either be ultra simple in that it books right on line and you're done in about 5 minutes flat.
If it fails to ticket on line - either errors out when you try to cost the itinerary or enter passenger details, you'll be able to call the LM call centre and have them make the reservation (the payment department will then call you back).
The main issues for LM booking are when you can't see availability.
The other option of course is to go for the 'points plus pay' option. This way you just need 42% of the base miles and top the rest up with cash at the time of booking. This will cost you slightly more - 1.5c per mile rather than 1.345c per mile under the 145% bonus currently on. But it means you are only carrying risk for 42% of miles rather than 100%.
But if you can see it you are in pretty good shape.
If it fails to ticket on line - either errors out when you try to cost the itinerary or enter passenger details, you'll be able to call the LM call centre and have them make the reservation (the payment department will then call you back).
The main issues for LM booking are when you can't see availability.
The other option of course is to go for the 'points plus pay' option. This way you just need 42% of the base miles and top the rest up with cash at the time of booking. This will cost you slightly more - 1.5c per mile rather than 1.345c per mile under the 145% bonus currently on. But it means you are only carrying risk for 42% of miles rather than 100%.
But if you can see it you are in pretty good shape.
Sep 23, 2019, 12:07 pm
#874
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: FRA
Programs: SPG Gold, UA/AA Commoner
Posts: 274
Partner Award Booking Changed Destination
I really have no idea where to post this, but I did book with Life Miles, so I will start here.
I booked a one-way trip to Malawi in January 2019 for Sept 30/Oct 1 2019. The route was FRA-VIE-ADD-BLZ. I checked yesterday to confirm all of my plans were in order and see that my itinerary has changed to FRA-VIE-ADD-LLW. LLW is a four hour drive from BLZ (or a 40-minute flight). I spent six hours on the phone with both Life Miles and Ethiopian airlines (the carrier) attempting to address the change as it did not route me to my final destination. Practiced hang-up and call-back many times. Initially, Ethiopian told me they had no requirement to get me to my final destination, then they said I had to pay for the final flight, then they said I could add the final flight to my itinerary, but there was only one seat left, then they told me I could add two seats, but I could only fly on 2 October, as opposed to 1 October. There is a daily flight from LLW-BLZ at 1500, which easily fits with the current flight times (arriving flight arrives at 1250). In the end I was forced to basically keep the following itinerary FRA-VIE-ADD-LLW-BLZ with a 26 hour layover in LLW. (I was tired of being on the phone and the Life Miles rep, who was awesome, advised me to do this to avoid issues, because Ethiopian had added this last segment on their end and a disparity between the Life Miles booking and the Ethiopian booking could cause an issue). This whole trip was booked because of a safari starting on 2 October at 1000, so obviously I need to be available for that. Despite Ethiopian not putting me on the 1 October flight from LLW-BLZ, there are multiple seats available in both economy and business class. I purchased two seats on that very flight, on a separate PNR. I am planning to take my original itinerary to LLW and then jump on to my newly-purchased tickets to get me to my destination in a timely manner.
Original route
FRA-VIE-ADD-BLZ arriving on 1 October at 1450
Carrier-initiated change
FRA-VIE-ADD-LLW-BLZ arriving on 2 October at 1540
My question(s):
1 - Will I encounter any issues when taking my flights? If necessary I will exit and re-check in LLW if required to avoid any issues. It would be ideal to push my bags all the way through to my final destination, but I think added a random second PNR in the middle of this PNR might cause an issue.
2 - Do I have any recourse with Ethiopian? I'm thinking specifically with EU rules and getting me to my destination. Since their change is getting me there 26 hours later.
Thanks in advance to any comments/advice.
I booked a one-way trip to Malawi in January 2019 for Sept 30/Oct 1 2019. The route was FRA-VIE-ADD-BLZ. I checked yesterday to confirm all of my plans were in order and see that my itinerary has changed to FRA-VIE-ADD-LLW. LLW is a four hour drive from BLZ (or a 40-minute flight). I spent six hours on the phone with both Life Miles and Ethiopian airlines (the carrier) attempting to address the change as it did not route me to my final destination. Practiced hang-up and call-back many times. Initially, Ethiopian told me they had no requirement to get me to my final destination, then they said I had to pay for the final flight, then they said I could add the final flight to my itinerary, but there was only one seat left, then they told me I could add two seats, but I could only fly on 2 October, as opposed to 1 October. There is a daily flight from LLW-BLZ at 1500, which easily fits with the current flight times (arriving flight arrives at 1250). In the end I was forced to basically keep the following itinerary FRA-VIE-ADD-LLW-BLZ with a 26 hour layover in LLW. (I was tired of being on the phone and the Life Miles rep, who was awesome, advised me to do this to avoid issues, because Ethiopian had added this last segment on their end and a disparity between the Life Miles booking and the Ethiopian booking could cause an issue). This whole trip was booked because of a safari starting on 2 October at 1000, so obviously I need to be available for that. Despite Ethiopian not putting me on the 1 October flight from LLW-BLZ, there are multiple seats available in both economy and business class. I purchased two seats on that very flight, on a separate PNR. I am planning to take my original itinerary to LLW and then jump on to my newly-purchased tickets to get me to my destination in a timely manner.
Original route
FRA-VIE-ADD-BLZ arriving on 1 October at 1450
Carrier-initiated change
FRA-VIE-ADD-LLW-BLZ arriving on 2 October at 1540
My question(s):
1 - Will I encounter any issues when taking my flights? If necessary I will exit and re-check in LLW if required to avoid any issues. It would be ideal to push my bags all the way through to my final destination, but I think added a random second PNR in the middle of this PNR might cause an issue.
2 - Do I have any recourse with Ethiopian? I'm thinking specifically with EU rules and getting me to my destination. Since their change is getting me there 26 hours later.
Thanks in advance to any comments/advice.
Last edited by joeyvegaz; Sep 23, 2019 at 12:20 pm
Oct 11, 2019, 8:33 am
#875
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: LAX_AMS_MNL
Programs: AS MVP, AA EXP - 1MM, BAEC BRZ, BVY GLD, Hilton DIA, Hyatt GLB
Posts: 749
Guys, just need some tips and or step by step on how to change award flights already booked and ticketed.
Currently have booked and confirmed BR MNL-TPE-LAX. A better BR scheduled flight popped up and would like to change to that. How do I do it and how much?
If, say an F class miraculously, shows up either via OZ or NH, How do I make the change for that and what is the cost?
Thanks guys
Currently have booked and confirmed BR MNL-TPE-LAX. A better BR scheduled flight popped up and would like to change to that. How do I do it and how much?
If, say an F class miraculously, shows up either via OZ or NH, How do I make the change for that and what is the cost?
Thanks guys
Oct 11, 2019, 10:43 am
#876
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
Guys, just need some tips and or step by step on how to change award flights already booked and ticketed.
Currently have booked and confirmed BR MNL-TPE-LAX. A better BR scheduled flight popped up and would like to change to that. How do I do it and how much?
If, say an F class miraculously, shows up either via OZ or NH, How do I make the change for that and what is the cost?
Thanks guys
Currently have booked and confirmed BR MNL-TPE-LAX. A better BR scheduled flight popped up and would like to change to that. How do I do it and how much?
If, say an F class miraculously, shows up either via OZ or NH, How do I make the change for that and what is the cost?
Thanks guys
If OZ or NH open up, it will be a cancellation and new ticket entirely. Cost USD200, and you’ll lose the USD25 booking fee already paid. You’ll need to pay the USD25 again. OZ has no first class anymore, and honestly, I’d probably stick with BR J over NH F.
Oct 14, 2019, 10:08 pm
#877
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 12
For bookings with Lifemiles, do you guys use lifemiles.com? Because I have read plenty of complaints about bookings not going through, but I have not read many complains about the site itself.. which is super surprising. The site is super slow and terrible to use. Even if I patiently wait for the results, I am never able to find the flights I need. I even tried the android app. I understand that Lifemiles can be super valuable, but I have been struggling to use them at all because I feel like there is no website from where I can book flights using the miles! However, I do see people giving rave reviews about Lifemiles and actually using them.. What am I doing wrong? how do you guys actually use the miles?
Oct 21, 2019, 10:18 am
#878
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: USA
Programs: DL PM - IC RA - HHonors Gold - Hertz Gold - AA - US - CO - Choice Privileges
Posts: 1,663
For bookings with Lifemiles, do you guys use lifemiles.com? Because I have read plenty of complaints about bookings not going through, but I have not read many complains about the site itself.. which is super surprising. The site is super slow and terrible to use. Even if I patiently wait for the results, I am never able to find the flights I need. I even tried the android app. I understand that Lifemiles can be super valuable, but I have been struggling to use them at all because I feel like there is no website from where I can book flights using the miles! However, I do see people giving rave reviews about Lifemiles and actually using them.. What am I doing wrong? how do you guys actually use the miles?
Nov 25, 2019, 4:45 pm
#882
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: PDX
Programs: Don't think it matters...
Posts: 5,240
Booking *A from US 3 to Europe 2 or Central Asia to Europe2
Hello,
Exploring best use of Citi TYP points and seeing if transfering to Life Miles to take advantage of the 25% ongoing bonus makes sense.
I am looking to redeem for Y tickets on the US3 to Eur 2 sectors or the Central Asia to Eur2 sector. Am flexible with dates and looking for spring, so there is time. Mileage requirements seem pretty reasonable. I just opened a LM account but am curious as to how the booking engine works.
For e.g. - Did a test search for CCU - DEL which as *A (AI ) having direct flights (2 hr duration). This search shows going all the way to Bangkok (on TG) and then back to Delhi (TG). No other option is shown.
Similarly did a search for DEL - AMS for various dates and shows no availability.
Similarly did PDX - AMS and it showed very funny routings and not many more options which UA (and other *A carriers) have on this route.
What am I missing? How do I search appropriately?
Want to be sure that I can redeem miles before I transfer points here.
Thx, Abhi
Exploring best use of Citi TYP points and seeing if transfering to Life Miles to take advantage of the 25% ongoing bonus makes sense.
I am looking to redeem for Y tickets on the US3 to Eur 2 sectors or the Central Asia to Eur2 sector. Am flexible with dates and looking for spring, so there is time. Mileage requirements seem pretty reasonable. I just opened a LM account but am curious as to how the booking engine works.
For e.g. - Did a test search for CCU - DEL which as *A (AI ) having direct flights (2 hr duration). This search shows going all the way to Bangkok (on TG) and then back to Delhi (TG). No other option is shown.
Similarly did a search for DEL - AMS for various dates and shows no availability.
Similarly did PDX - AMS and it showed very funny routings and not many more options which UA (and other *A carriers) have on this route.
What am I missing? How do I search appropriately?
Want to be sure that I can redeem miles before I transfer points here.
Thx, Abhi
Nov 26, 2019, 7:47 am
#883
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: USA
Programs: DL PM - IC RA - HHonors Gold - Hertz Gold - AA - US - CO - Choice Privileges
Posts: 1,663
Hello,
Exploring best use of Citi TYP points and seeing if transfering to Life Miles to take advantage of the 25% ongoing bonus makes sense.
I am looking to redeem for Y tickets on the US3 to Eur 2 sectors or the Central Asia to Eur2 sector. Am flexible with dates and looking for spring, so there is time. Mileage requirements seem pretty reasonable. I just opened a LM account but am curious as to how the booking engine works.
For e.g. - Did a test search for CCU - DEL which as *A (AI ) having direct flights (2 hr duration). This search shows going all the way to Bangkok (on TG) and then back to Delhi (TG). No other option is shown.
Similarly did a search for DEL - AMS for various dates and shows no availability.
Similarly did PDX - AMS and it showed very funny routings and not many more options which UA (and other *A carriers) have on this route.
What am I missing? How do I search appropriately?
Want to be sure that I can redeem miles before I transfer points here.
Thx, Abhi
Exploring best use of Citi TYP points and seeing if transfering to Life Miles to take advantage of the 25% ongoing bonus makes sense.
I am looking to redeem for Y tickets on the US3 to Eur 2 sectors or the Central Asia to Eur2 sector. Am flexible with dates and looking for spring, so there is time. Mileage requirements seem pretty reasonable. I just opened a LM account but am curious as to how the booking engine works.
For e.g. - Did a test search for CCU - DEL which as *A (AI ) having direct flights (2 hr duration). This search shows going all the way to Bangkok (on TG) and then back to Delhi (TG). No other option is shown.
Similarly did a search for DEL - AMS for various dates and shows no availability.
Similarly did PDX - AMS and it showed very funny routings and not many more options which UA (and other *A carriers) have on this route.
What am I missing? How do I search appropriately?
Want to be sure that I can redeem miles before I transfer points here.
Thx, Abhi
Nov 26, 2019, 2:46 pm
#884
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: PDX
Programs: Don't think it matters...
Posts: 5,240
Citi or Chase points are more valuable elsewhere. You get a gold star for creating an account and concluding the award engine isn't great and availability isn't great. Lifemiles can be acquired at around 1.135 cents per mile so determine the value of the points elsewhere prior to transferring. Also, the number of points is an import data point. Transferring 50,000 points to Lifemiles to determine the value of Lifemile sis one thing; but transferring 500,000 points to Lifemiles is something else...
As I am looking for easy ways of redeeming for Y tickets (not C or F), this may not be the ideal method for me or atleast it seems so.
Dec 3, 2019, 7:05 am
#885
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
no last minute availability on this popular and business heavy route!