Using Avianca LifeMiles to redeem upgrades on SQ

[chisquared]

I'm looking to use LifeMiles to redeem upgrades on SQ. Does anyone have any experience with this?

In particular, does anyone know how many seats SQ releases to *A partners for upgrades? Would this be the same as their saver upgrade inventory?

Thanks.

[MAN Flyer]

You can't use LifeMiles to upgrade on SQ, only outright LM awards.

[chisquared]

Does that mean that this page is inaccurate? The LM website states explicitly that you can.

[Dickson]

Does that mean that this page is inaccurate? The LM website states explicitly that you can.

I believe you can. Like you said, by filling up the form included in the link you posted. I believe you'll first need to check that the desired flight still has slots for redemption ticket, before requesting for the upgrade.

I've not tried redeeming an upgrade (using Lifemiles) myself so cannot speak from first hand experience. Because I do not think the number of points needed is worth it, compared to getting a fresh redemption ticket or compared to redeeming an upgrade using SQ Krisflyer miles with 15% discount.

However, I've regularly used Lifemiles to redeem flights (not upgrades) and the system has so far worked very well for me.

[MAN Flyer]

Well I never knew that!. Maybe an opportunity to burn some of the 400K LifeMiles I am sat on and am scared of using as I cannot spend another two hours of my life just to cancel a flight.

I would reiterate advice you have probably heard or read before : only use your LM is you are absolutely certain you will be travelling.

[chisquared]

So, I've investigated a little bit more, and while I can't be certain, here's what I think I know:

Y to J upgrades are going to be very difficult. There are plenty of flights where you just can't redeem them (I think this is going to be every 77W and 388 at least, possibly others), because SQ will never release them to Star Alliance partners. The fare conditions summary near the bottom of the page as you're booking a flight on the SQ website will tell you whether you can use Star Alliance miles to upgrade your flight.

J to F upgrades on the other hand seem to be wide-open. Any J flight can be upgraded to F, subject to availability, of course. And this seems to be the most appealing part of it: J to F upgrades on SQ seem to be very cheap using LifeMiles.

[Dickson]

Thats why I suggest that first, do a dummy booking to check if standalone J or standalone P redemption seats are still availabe on the desired flight. If it is, chances are that the same inventory is available for upgrade redemption as well; in which case, fill up the upgrade redemption form and hope for the best.

But I've a different assessment than chisquare. SQ J is available for Star Alliance redemption for B777 and A380, although SQ typically releases only limited seats. But SQ Suites is never released for Star Alliance redemption and very very limited seats on other aircrafts are released. I know becos I've ever redeemed LHR-SIN J on Lifemiles before. But in all my searches, I've rarely ever seen any F opening on SQ in Lifemiles.

[SQGamespeed]

Perhaps this thread can be merged into this one.

[KeithMEL]

Well I never knew that!. Maybe an opportunity to burn some of the 400K LifeMiles I am sat on and am scared of using as I cannot spend another two hours of my life just to cancel a flight.

I would reiterate advice you have probably heard or read before : only use your LM is you are absolutely certain you will be travelling.

Or that your travel plans won't change.

I experienced the infamous LM cancellation experience a couple of weeks ago. Spent 6 hours over 5 days with multiple people in various 'departments' over the phone and email and they couldn't cancel the ticket. Back in March I had an involuntary schedule change by TG which resulted in the ticket being reissued from Taca (202) to Avianca (134) ticket stock, which in itself was another ordeal and another story for another thread, and apparently this meant the LM call centre couldn't access the ticket to complete the cancellation. And in the meantime inventory on the new flights I wanted to book (to avoid a 14 hour stop in BKK that TG had left me with, amongst other reasons) had disappeared... so I had to rescind my cancellation request and make sure that they DO NOT cancel my existing itinerary. So far they've not touched it and the ticket looks normal, but I'll only be able to relax once I'm able to check in and make it onboard the flipping plane.... It has made me rather wary of using them for anything other than very, very simple point to point itineraries with no connections or flights for imminent travel as I really will not be able to hack spending 3 hours on the phone with them trying to reissue or cancel a ticket.

[MAN Flyer]

Or that your travel plans won't change.

Same thing.

I experienced the infamous LM cancellation experience a couple of weeks ago. Spent 6 hours over 5 days with multiple people

6 hours. Never got anywhere near that, thankfully. That goes past the point of how much your time is worth to what you are trying to retrieve.

They are an total nightmare. A mate just uses the maximum miles and least cash now and says if he needs to cancel or change he'll give it 30 minutes tops trying to cancel and after that he writes it off saying his time is more valuable.

I am going to use up what I have left and then stop using them. I'll try and get through my 2.6 million Avios instead.

LH F, one of main reasons I used it, is getting more difficult now and not that I used them myself but some of the 'trick' routes are slowly disappearing anyway, not helped by that dickhead Canadian student who blogged about it all then tried to claim when stopped on a dodgy route.

[HUGE AL]

Not wanting to jinx anything, but I have yet to have any more stress than we experienced with BD when cancelling tickets.