May 26, 2014, 8:47 am
Last edit by: SingaporeDon
Every forum on Flyertalk has a personality. A forum gains a personality through user input over time, and Lifemiles is a very definitive example of how users have developed a unique community.
While Flyertalk boards actively encourage sharing of info, the Lifemiles community has developed and thrived via obscuring of certain data elements. It may not be easy for new participants to break through the codes and gain knowledge of the program's quirks, but the overall board community has adopted this unique approach. And frankly, that is not going to change overnight.
If a FT member wants to participate on this board, then they will need to respect other users. Hence, posts that run counter to this community's standards, will be removed.
While Flyertalk boards actively encourage sharing of info, the Lifemiles community has developed and thrived via obscuring of certain data elements. It may not be easy for new participants to break through the codes and gain knowledge of the program's quirks, but the overall board community has adopted this unique approach. And frankly, that is not going to change overnight.
If a FT member wants to participate on this board, then they will need to respect other users. Hence, posts that run counter to this community's standards, will be removed.
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
LifeMiles' old Star Alliance Award Chart (before Oct 15 2014) // Table of changes
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 easily-seen example is travel on Copa from LAX to SJU (via PTY).
Understand Cabotage: Departing country 1, transiting country 2, returning to country 1 (no stopping) *is* cabotage (example: depart JFK, connect in YYZ to return to ORD, or depart Miami, connect in Bogota, return to San Francisco). On the other hand, departing country 1, going to completely unrelated country 2, and ending up in country 3, is not cabotage. So if you fly JFK-JNB-ZRH, for instance, this is completely not cabotage.
Availability: Seeing availability for *A award seats elsewhere is no guarantee they are accessible on Lifemiles. For instance award space shown on ANA often is not accessible on Lifemiles. Similarly, finding award space on single legs doesn't mean you'll get award space on the combined itinerary. And no, there is no way to overcome that.
Screenshot Method
Send email to [email protected] with attached screenshots on Lifemiles website of each individual leg showing availability. Also, screenshot showing no availability as one booking. Include passenger names, gender and DOB and copy of passenger passport. They will either call you for payment or email the itinerary and give you 3 days to call up and make payment by CC.
NOTE: This previous thread has been closed; it can be read here LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it)
LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it) Rebooted v2.0
Dec 22, 2019, 5:38 am
#2971
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: BTS
Posts: 611
This is not limited to just LM. UA doesn't show SQ (and NZ most of the time) availability. Aeroplan, M&M etc can pretty much never match what shows up on UA etc esp outside of C1 routes. Finding availability has always been hit & miss ...
Dec 22, 2019, 10:48 pm
#2972
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: Velocity
Posts: 70
Nothing new here. SQ traditionally blocked their long haul premium product in both first and biz cabins. You were able to book regional (anything with angled seats, and sometimes the A380 to India).
There now seem to be one or two 'legacy' flights - that were regional but now have the new product. One or two of these operate to Australia. UA is selling those, but LM doesn't match it.
As for the rest of the SQ network, AS has some sort of deal going. I wouldn't expect those seats to be available on LM.
There now seem to be one or two 'legacy' flights - that were regional but now have the new product. One or two of these operate to Australia. UA is selling those, but LM doesn't match it.
As for the rest of the SQ network, AS has some sort of deal going. I wouldn't expect those seats to be available on LM.
Feb 7, 2020, 1:59 am
#2973
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,228
And then LM can just be special. I sent in screenshots for a BR/BR/SQ itinerary recently. Got the phone call a couple of days later, saying that the middle BR sector wasn't available. (It still was showing online and there was an alternate BR TPE-SIN flight too.) The agent instead offered an SQ flight, which did not appear online on my search. Ok, fine by me.
Then he asked "Would you like SQ227 or SQ247?" Never expected that!
Feb 12, 2020, 5:32 pm
#2975
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,838
Flights to/from those cities may appear, so long as they are A350 flights.
And then LM can just be special. I sent in screenshots for a BR/BR/SQ itinerary recently. Got the phone call a couple of days later, saying that the middle BR sector wasn't available. (It still was showing online and there was an alternate BR TPE-SIN flight too.) The agent instead offered an SQ flight, which did not appear online on my search. Ok, fine by me.
Then he asked "Would you like SQ227 or SQ247?" Never expected that!
And then LM can just be special. I sent in screenshots for a BR/BR/SQ itinerary recently. Got the phone call a couple of days later, saying that the middle BR sector wasn't available. (It still was showing online and there was an alternate BR TPE-SIN flight too.) The agent instead offered an SQ flight, which did not appear online on my search. Ok, fine by me.
Then he asked "Would you like SQ227 or SQ247?" Never expected that!
Feb 13, 2020, 9:26 pm
#2978
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,228
You have to email them for screenshot method, but they phone back if there are issues with the itinerary by the time they get around to processing it. (I was overseas at the time and gave them my number there and they phoned it as requested, rather than the number on my profile.)
Feb 13, 2020, 9:43 pm
#2979
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,838
You have to email them for screenshot method, but they phone back if there are issues with the itinerary by the time they get around to processing it. (I was overseas at the time and gave them my number there and they phoned it as requested, rather than the number on my profile.)
I had to phone them to make the payment when they sent the reservation.
Feb 16, 2020, 9:36 pm
#2980
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,942
I take it the SQ redemption was in Economy class. For a minute got all excited thinking SQ iSIN-LHR is now available again on lifemiles!!!
Feb 16, 2020, 9:54 pm
#2981
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: Flying: VA; Buying: AA, AS, AV, BA, UA!
Posts: 2,349
I think they still have access to some of the long haul SQ J that used to appear on the website in the early / glory days. It seems to sometimes be offered when doing screenshot bookings where the requested flights are no longer available.
Feb 16, 2020, 9:57 pm
#2982
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,228
Feb 17, 2020, 12:45 am
#2983
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
Feb 17, 2020, 4:09 pm
#2984
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 7
Online award search is showing availability in business for CPT-IST-LHR-YYZ, but not for JNB-IST-LHR-YYZ. However, JNB-IST is available in a separate search. Segments in question are all operated by Turkish (through LHR, then AC to YYZ), same dates and very similar flight times.
Anyone have luck with a "substitution" like this? The piecing together method won't work because I can't get IST-LHR-YYZ to show up in a search for some reason.
Anyone have luck with a "substitution" like this? The piecing together method won't work because I can't get IST-LHR-YYZ to show up in a search for some reason.
Feb 17, 2020, 5:07 pm
#2985
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,838