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
#766
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
#767
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 1,470
Looking for advice from experts here:
Yesterday I booked a ticket on AV website on a Friday departure A-B-C-D on J. It was ticketed momentarily.
Today I found the availability of the same routing from .bomb on a Saturday departure but no luck to duplicate it on lifemiles.com. What makes me frustrated the most is: when I searched A-B on J, AV returned the flight availability; when I searched B-C-D on J, AV also showed availability, but when I searched it one-way with origin A to destination D, it won't return any results and show "Sold Out".
The routing is definitely doable, given that I had exactly the same routing booked and ticketed on AV website on a different date. I am wondering if anybody has experience on that to share?
P.S. don't want to call agents due to apparent reasons.
Yesterday I booked a ticket on AV website on a Friday departure A-B-C-D on J. It was ticketed momentarily.
Today I found the availability of the same routing from .bomb on a Saturday departure but no luck to duplicate it on lifemiles.com. What makes me frustrated the most is: when I searched A-B on J, AV returned the flight availability; when I searched B-C-D on J, AV also showed availability, but when I searched it one-way with origin A to destination D, it won't return any results and show "Sold Out".
The routing is definitely doable, given that I had exactly the same routing booked and ticketed on AV website on a different date. I am wondering if anybody has experience on that to share?
P.S. don't want to call agents due to apparent reasons.
#768
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: 10^7 mm from Ȱ
Programs: Hyatt D/HHonors D/ SPG P/ Marriott P/ IHG P/ UA 1K/ AA EXP/ DL D
Posts: 1,976
#769
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Valencia, Spain
Programs: Pascal and Python, no C++
Posts: 738
A-B B-C but not A-C
#770
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: New York Metropolitan Area 45 km from JFK
Programs: UA,AA,AS,BA
Posts: 4,607
One would expect a somewhat random distribution of availabilities, though a bit forward sloped curve, sometimes interrupted by some Close-In dates being available because last minute unsold seat are put into system by the relevant carrier(s). I can understand those. Sometimes however as example, there may be No availabilities for say the entire calendar months September and October, but then suddenly there are three days of availability within one week in November, then No availability for entire calendar months of December and January but then suddenly on February 1 there are three, and on February 2 and 3 there are two on each day and then nothing for rest of calendar month of February followed by availabilities almost every day in calendar month of March ( Clustering). Likewise the probability of an longer dated availabilities in the middle of a calendar month should be near equal to availabilities during the first 3 to 4 or last 3 to 4 days of a calendar months. However, if there are availabilities in a given calendar month I see a concentration in the first 3-4 day as well as the last 3-4 days of the calendar month.
Passenger booking patterns always follow a continuous upward sloping curve and while I am taking into account seasonal changes in schedules, there must be some non-automated i.e manual intervention to remove entire sections of periods of time, most of which also seem unrelated to major holidays. A statistician among us should be able to prove non-randomness as well as non-continuity. Does anyone recognize this pattern too and agree or disagree.
Last edited by WingedWorldExplorer; Sep 7, 2014 at 5:58 am
#771
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,265
Availability in F
I have been partially monitoring this thread in the last couple of months (the older one too for that matter).
I have found availability in J/C for a convenient routing (without tricks, altough I could save 5k miles for the return flight) either on LH or on LX for the end of September.
My flight would be RT C2c - C2.5. There is no availability in F at this moment. I just would like to know if by any chance availability in F could still pop up in the next week(s)?
I have read somewhere (in this thread or a German counterpart I'm not sure) that F availability often pops up in 2 weeks prior to the flight.
LH still offers F service on this particular flights, LX also (altough I guess this would mean that I would have to book my award straight from ZRH). TG could also serve a convenient route (at this moment there is only availability in Y).
Would it be worth to still wait, hoping for an F award (at least oneway)? Or is LH and/or LX availability in F something from the past?
I'm not expecting that one of you has a crystal globe, neither do I expect to be (silver) spoonfed. But sharing your experiences with the timing of F availability would be very much appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
I have found availability in J/C for a convenient routing (without tricks, altough I could save 5k miles for the return flight) either on LH or on LX for the end of September.
My flight would be RT C2c - C2.5. There is no availability in F at this moment. I just would like to know if by any chance availability in F could still pop up in the next week(s)?
I have read somewhere (in this thread or a German counterpart I'm not sure) that F availability often pops up in 2 weeks prior to the flight.
LH still offers F service on this particular flights, LX also (altough I guess this would mean that I would have to book my award straight from ZRH). TG could also serve a convenient route (at this moment there is only availability in Y).
Would it be worth to still wait, hoping for an F award (at least oneway)? Or is LH and/or LX availability in F something from the past?
I'm not expecting that one of you has a crystal globe, neither do I expect to be (silver) spoonfed. But sharing your experiences with the timing of F availability would be very much appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
#772
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,265
Do you see any difference between J and F? And is it (still) true that F only comes up in the last 2 weeks before the flight date?
#773
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Valencia, Spain
Programs: Pascal and Python, no C++
Posts: 738
Yes. That's still true for those F that still come up (because they are released manually it seems). But again, no 100% rule.
#774
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,265
And I'm still getting into this and trying to find out the in's and out's, but already understand that with LM nothing will be a 100% rule.
Thank you for sharing!
#775
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: 10^7 mm from Ȱ
Programs: Hyatt D/HHonors D/ SPG P/ Marriott P/ IHG P/ UA 1K/ AA EXP/ DL D
Posts: 1,976
#776
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
LH F will be released at T-14, if seats available... At the moment, the LM site does not show available LH F... Either blocked by LH or LM.
#777
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Valencia, Spain
Programs: Pascal and Python, no C++
Posts: 738
#778
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: IC Royal Ambassador, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 485
I can confirm as well. Some days LH F is available 60 days out. Sometimes 2 seats on several routes.
#779
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
#780
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: IC Royal Ambassador, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 485
There must (edited) work. Some new F product some old F product. But hey at least you get access to the First Class Lounge and the transfer...even if you don't go all the way.
Last edited by stinger101; Sep 9, 2014 at 8:27 am