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Lifemiles Basics

Buying miles:

Lifemiles runs frequent promotions for buying miles, usually for 1.5 cents per mile. Given that Lifemiles has one of the most reasonable Star Alliance award charts, linked here, and doesn't charge fuel surcharges for any partners, buying miles can make a lot of sense.

The promos are usually run in one of two ways.

1. A straight up buy miles promo at 1.5cpm. In all previous buy miles promos, you needed to have an account before the promo starts in order to buy miles. Buying miles though the promo is limited to 75k per year. Be sure to use a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees.

2. A share miles promo. You can share miles from one account to another with a 100% bonus on each transaction. The cost is again 1.5cpm. Although in the past you needed to have a Lifemiles account in order to take advantage of the promo, the current promo (7/3-13) does not require a previously open account to participate. In order to maximize the promo on accounts not previously open, open 2 accounts, buy 1k miles at 3cpm, then share back and forth between both account at 1.5cpm. You can share back and forth between 2 accounts an unlimited amount of times provided you stay under the 75k cap. Doing this will most likely trigger a fraud alert with your CC, so it may be a good idea to call them beforehand and give them a heads up.

Lifemiles will also allow you to buy up to 60% of the miles required for booking a flight. The cost starts at 3cpm but is nonlinear. There are sweet spots that allows you to buy a large quantity of miles for 1.5cpm, usually in the 25-35k range. The 1.5cpm sweetspot varies depending on the amount required for the award. Full CPM spreadsheet linked here. (HT: Some dude on FT.)

Lifemiles is known to devalue without warning so hoarding miles is not advised. Buying miles at booking allows to hedge against sudden devaluations.

There is also a Lifemiles credit card  that occasionally offers a 40k bonus. Linked here.

Redeeming Lifemiles:
You can only redeem flights which are shown online. The Lifemiles call center has a horrible reputation and is usually useless. Emailing them usually yields better results if you can wait a day or two.

Lifemiles does not allow mixed cabin redemptions. If you want to book a first class flight with connections, you will need to book all legs in first class or book separate tickets.

Lifemiles is known to have better access to Miles & More and Singapore premium cabins than the rest of Star Alliance.

Lifemiles does not charge any fuel surcharges.

Lifemiles does not allow stopovers or open jaws on awards.

The max layover time that the booking engine will usually show is 8 hours, although people have had success forcing much longer layover times.

Lifemiles does not issue any lap infant award tickets.

Lifemiles cannot book any Austrian flights operated by Tyrolean Airways.

You can access partner confirmation numbers and eticket numbers with your Lifemiles PNR at checkmytrip.com

Lifemiles will occasionally show boomerang routings, which are routings that go from A-B, via C.  ;)

There are many mispriced cities and quirks in the Lifemiles booking engine, allowing for really cheap international awards.  ;)

Canceling a Lifemiles award: (HT, FT)

Lifemiles charges $150 to change an award and $50 to cancel.

Canceling:

1. This will take 20-30 minutes and costs $50
2. You have to pay the $50 up front and will need to have your credit card handy
3. You will need a PIN number for the call center. You set up the PIN online by changing your "information and preferences". Note that this has 3 pages but you only need to change the "Manage the Basics" page and hit "Save". The progress-bar at the top never seems to reach 100% but it doesn't matter. There are two places to press "Save and continue" when you give the PIN. The top button doesn't work. You have to click on the one on the bottom of the screen
4. Call the USA reservations number preferably during business hours +1 800 284 2622
5. Key 2 for English (or 1 for Spanish), 3 for Lifemiles/Corporate, then 1 for Lifemiles
6. If you have got a noisy phone line, hang up and go back to step 4. It is possible to get a good line even from overseas.
7. With luck, someone coherent will answer. If not, don't waste your time, HUCA
8. Give them the PNR to be cancelled
9. You will be asked "do you have a PIN". say yes. You will be put on hold
10. You will be connected to an automated system to key in your PIN. Don't press # afterwards.
11. You will be asked to pay the $50 via an automated system. You'll be asked for your CC number, then you must repeat it. Don't press # afterwards. Then the expiry month, then year, then the id number. Be ready to rattle through the keys as any hesitation causes the system to think you've finished. So, typically you will need 2-3 attempts. [The operator listens in on the automated process and helps you along if you don’t key in the right numbers]
13. You will be put on hold for 5-10 minutes while the card is checked. It may fail the first time, for no reason. Go back to step 12.
14. Once the CC is confirmed the operator will ask you for the full billing address, then your name as it appears on the card, then the name of the bank which issued the card.
15. You will be put on hold for 5-10 minutes
16. The operator will confirm the cancellation, or rather confirm it will be put in the queue for manual cancellation.
17. After 24 hours or so, you should receive an E Mail receipt for the $50 (could be in Spanish)
18. Miles will be refunded within 2-3 days, as if you had paid using the maximum miles with no cash to refund all the cash and the miles to what you had before making the booking. The miles sometimes reappear immediately. [Most often, the miles are available within 24 hours.]
19. The taxes - fairly modest - will be refunded in full since you already paid the cancellation fee up front. The refund should hit the CC within a week or so. No refund for the $25 booking fee.
20. The refund will be refunded to the original card.



« Last edited by username on March 11, 2019, 02:37:39 PM »

Author Topic: Lifemiles Master Thread  (Read 130262 times)

Offline jaywhy

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #40 on: September 19, 2014, 08:16:46 AM »
Don't think LH F works anymore.
For the most part, it is blocked. It still shows up in some tricked routings.
No PM's, I don't know how.

Offline jaywhy

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #41 on: September 19, 2014, 08:18:36 AM »
How many LifeMiles is it worth buying at the transfer .5cpp rate just to have? 
I do plan to do traveling in the next couple years, but for the most part it is to Eretz Yisroel for now.


I don't know enough about miles yet to know how the 10/15/14 13% devaluation affects the worthwhileness of LifeMiles.
The rate is 1.5 cpm. I wouldn't stock speculatively.

Offline jaywhy

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #42 on: October 15, 2014, 02:34:32 PM »
It's a sad sad day for Lifemiles.  :(

Offline ilherman

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #43 on: October 15, 2014, 02:49:11 PM »
Whats going on?
You can say what you think when you think what you say.

Offline jaywhy

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #44 on: October 15, 2014, 02:51:40 PM »
Whats going on?
Well besides for the deval, most of the holes were plugged.

Offline Dan

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #45 on: October 15, 2014, 03:14:54 PM »
CJJ, BQN, and SAW are dead.

Some boomerangs still are alive though.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline EJB

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #46 on: October 15, 2014, 03:59:12 PM »

CJJ, BQN, and SAW are dead.

Some boomerangs still are alive though.

New this would happen :). Which is why I didn't stack up a few weeks ago for a few trips I want to make.

Online bznt

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #47 on: October 15, 2014, 04:02:13 PM »
מען קען ערגעץ ליינען וואס די קאדס מיינען? .

Offline Myccrabbi

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #48 on: October 15, 2014, 04:52:47 PM »
מען קען ערגעץ ליינען וואס די קאדס מיינען? .
Ya, Google is dein beste chaver.
If u work for a living, why kill urself working?

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #49 on: October 15, 2014, 05:03:15 PM »
פארוואס קען מען נישט רעדן דערפון זאל נאך א איד הנאה האבן. פארוואס זאל איך מיך מוטשענען ווען איינער האט שוין א אויסגעטראטענע וועג ?

א גוט קוויטל און א זיס לעכטיגן יאהר פאר אלע

Offline AharonInIsrael

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #50 on: October 17, 2014, 10:15:45 AM »
If I understand the email I just got correctly, in addition to the regular "Into the Night" IHG promo, you can also get 10k LifeMiles for completing the challenge (too bad there's no Holiday Inns in Israel :) )

EDIT : never mind, I didn't read it correctly - it says "or"
« Last Edit: October 17, 2014, 10:21:17 AM by AharonInIsrael »

Offline AJK

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #51 on: October 19, 2014, 02:32:26 AM »
Surprised how long it lasted...

German boomerang was one of my fav redemptions :)
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline Drago

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #52 on: October 19, 2014, 10:27:08 AM »
Surprised how long it lasted...

German boomerang was one of my fav redemptions :)
Some boomerangs still alive from what I've read.
How many times did you take it?

FYI, they're still pricing out the cash portion for C&P at the old rate.

Offline oiseli48

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #53 on: August 12, 2016, 05:53:08 AM »
Just thought I'd share, my life miles were expiring this month from 2 accounts, so I transferred 1000 miles from one to the other for $15, and extended both accounts for another 2 years.

Offline MosheP

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #54 on: June 29, 2017, 08:11:10 PM »
What's the deal with Lifemiles?
I haven't been able to complete a booking online for the past few months.
I keep getting an error message


Offline damaxer91

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #55 on: June 30, 2017, 10:22:01 AM »
What's the deal with Lifemiles?
I haven't been able to complete a booking online for the past few months.
I keep getting an error message



I've found that AMEX never works but Visa generally does

Offline MosheP

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #56 on: June 30, 2017, 11:29:34 AM »
I've found that AMEX never works but Visa generally does
I've tired amex, visa and mastercard across all browser and haven't had any luck at all.

Is there a workaround?


Offline moish

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #57 on: July 05, 2017, 12:20:13 PM »
I booked last week with no issues. Used CSR

Offline ilherman

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #58 on: January 23, 2018, 04:37:03 PM »
Can I change a lifemiles booking online?
You can say what you think when you think what you say.

Offline arihut

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Re: Lifemiles Master Thread
« Reply #59 on: January 27, 2018, 11:37:43 PM »
Now that Krisflyer has devalued, is Lifemiles a good star alliance replacement for Citi TYP? (ditto for turkish miles and smiles)