gimmedub

So with the 2x1 bonus I thought I'd treat my mom to a trip to Dallas from Toronto... Bought the miles and can't make the booking online even though it shows up in the search... Tried calling and they have no availability... Asked for the refund on the miles purchase and was denied. I'm wondering if avianca is getting the boot from Star Alliance?

SK AAR

Yeah, it has been reported from time to time that some Star Alliance carriers restrict availability to AV, but it might just be a rumor. It may be a IT glitch so give a few days.
I seriously doubt AV is going to allow you to get a refund for the purchased miles. That transaction is done/can't be reversed

view-with-a-room

Phantom availability isn't a new thing.. Avianca / LifeMiles doesn't have a monopoly on a broken award ticketing system. The "safest" method to purchase an airline ticket is directly from the airline, not award travel. Do not hesitate to read the terms and conditions prior to purchases; albeit airline miles or otherwise. Star Alliance survived US Airways and will survive Avianca / LifeMiles.

navatwal

Awful with availability, cant find any options apart from coach with one carrier. Have a lot of miles which look like are going to to go to waste.

Has anybody been successful recently booking F/ J from West Coast to Europe or to Asia?

HerpaYvr

It has been well published that finding award miles this summer is a challenge due to the fact the whole world seems to be traveling and buying revenue seats. Flights are full on all airlines and award seats are a challenge to find. They do exist and if you have the status it's much easier. I am flying on an Award Ticket on Avianca during the long weekend IAD-SJO-IAD in business class. you have to be flexible with your dates and class.

Don't give up, keep trying

Beetles

Sure did. In February I booked an ANA J class redemption using the screen shot method for SE Asia in January 2023 (needed to get the United Y class segment XXX-ORD included on the ticket). I took a gamble in booking a non-vaccinated travel lane flight expecting 2023 to return to normal. My gamble paid off. Seats were available when demand was nill. At the time, even EVA had availability for J class awards, but that was too much of a gamble for me to take.

Demand is insane now and I don’t fault airlines one bit for pulling premium class award inventory.

PointsPanda

While what you are saying is most certainly true, there is more at play with AV. Whether its flights in the US, intra-latam, or even in Asia, it seems like 99% of star alliance availability has just disappeared on AV that is showing up on United, ANA, heck even Aeroplan.

Example, virtually 100% of Copa availability has totally disappeared from all routes. For example united shows wide open saver availability on Copa EZE to MEX via PTY on dozens of different dates, so does air france which isn't in star alliance but pulls up copa flights.

Avianca Lifemiles doesn't even show one availabile copa seat for any date in 2022.

It seems like basically they blocked off 97% of seats except on their own metal. Possible other airlines are blocking their availability to Lifemiles, but I think more likely after doing sale after sale in 2021 of their miles, now they are doing the ol' bait and switch and making it impossible to redeem unless you fly their own metal on their fake not-business-class J.

HerpaYvr

I did not know this, interesting. Due to canceled flights out of YUL, I was unable to enjoy AV from IAD to SJO. Flew UA from EWR to SJO on an old, crappy UA 737-800 with poor service. I am looking forwar to my AV flight from SJO to IAD in J.

I will see if I can find seats available in J on AV as I like to visit a couple more AV served cities

Thanks for the info

PointsPanda

United, delta, american, are lightyears ahead of AV.

"Enjoy" and "AV" shoudln't be used in the same sentence lol. You must have not taken avianca in a long long time. Trust me you got much better service on UA, at least you got a recliner seat, some hot food, wifi, possibly an IFE system, and you got to bored first. In AV business class boards very very last, no alcohol, no hot food, no even guarantee of a recliner seat, they are rapidly pulling them out of planes, no wifi, no IFE system. No nothing really. Only J benefit is guarantee of middle seat blocked, priority check in, and 2 bags, thats it.

Even pre-covid AV "business class" was a joke, they really started going downhill around 2017, I remember even late 2018 I took 5 hour flight GRU to LIM, was a recliner seat that didn't even recline and just one cold sandwhich no drink offering.

Late last year I took their 787-9 from BOG to MEX, seat was reverse herringbone top notch, but there was no drink service other then 'water" and "diet coke" and a snack box with an inedible cold ham and cheese sandwhich. I heard since then they pulled those seats out and replaced them with economy.

If you took that flight best case you would have gotten a recliner seat with basic economy service, no alcohol, no food other then maybe a cold sandwhich, (think SPIRIT big front seat but worse), worst case you'd have the middle seat blocked off. At least frontier and spirit admit what they are. Avianca now giving Ryanair service and legacy carrier prices, and selling a so called "business class" that includes nothing. I'm being 100% serious, other ppl can attest. Don't waste your miles flying AV J you will be sorely dissapointed, as they are phasing it out, but sitll selling so called "J" tickets anyways in the mean time.

The only routes that still have real J service are Bogota to a few destinations in Europe.

Thats why you can't book any other carriers with lifemiles, they are trying to force people who got duped into buying or transferring miles to book their so called "business class" that nobody wants.

HerpaYvr

So I experienced business class with Aviance and it was just crap! I flew business class on August 1st SJO-IAD and there were three of us in business class.

We received one meal service and it was the same as in economy, a sandwich wrapped in plastic, a small chocolate bar, and a bag of chips! Coffee was served in a styrofoam cup!

No, follow-up service.

No, blankets,, pillows, no service

Even when we were coming in for landing in IAD, we had to pull up quickly and aborded landing and did a fly around, no communications

As a Star Alliance Gold member who flies business class, this was a very poor experience and I am not encouraged to fly with Aviance ever again, at least not in business class!

I need to find their contact info to file a complaint and request compensation, as I could have purchased an economy ticket and received the exact same service.

ermis177

I love your sense of humour

malagajohn

I cant understand the surprise at the poor service in Avianca business class. It has been mentioned on several threads here over the last 12 months.

Tomasz Pa

No true I spend 400k miles this year flying Lufthansa from west coast to europe. Just booked a flight to Europe few hours ago.

Yes most of my booking were for fligbts 1-5 days from booking date. You just need to be flexible.

I usually book paid tickets and when there is an avalability I cancel and book with lifemiles.

HerpaYvr

That is my fault, I did not spend the time on this thread reading this. It was an award ticket so you do not get much of a choice. Heading South there was a trip delay so I was moved from AV to UA, so I only had one miserable flight. I flew AV twice before between BOG & CTG but in Y and it was only an hour flight so no big deal. Now I know better than to not fly on AV on long hauls or in Business and I can share that with others. When I go back to CTG I do have choices between BOG and CTG and will avoid AV. Airlines who struggle should not rely on government bailouts but rather look at themselves for reasons why they struggle.

If AV does respond to my complaint, it will be interesting to what they may say or what they may offer if anything.

italdesign

As someone who flies to Asia and avoids US airlines as much as possible, I didn't think I'd ever find such a statement but I appreciate the reality check.