Recently, Avianca LifeMiles has been adding significant fuel surcharges to various award tickets. These are additional fees that, up ’til now, Avianca hasn’t passed on to its customers. We’ve had numerous messages today from folks that noticed this, wondering if it was an unannounced change with how LifeMiles was pricing award ticket fees.
It’s not. At least, we don’t think it is.
LifeMiles is telling us that it’s a known error and that their IT Department (who knew there was one!) is trying to fix it.
Quick Thoughts
LifeMiles as a program has some terrific advantages, including that it’s often among the cheapest options for Star Alliance awards AND it doesn’t pass on the vast majority of the surcharges that many Star Alliance partners charge.
However, there is one, major problem with LifeMiles: Avianca’s website stinks. That can be a big problem at times, as both Nick and I found during our recent “Flying by the Seat of our Points” Challenge.
LifeMiles doesn’t add additional hidden fees or surcharges (apart from their $25 partner booking fee) outside of departure taxes that are paid by every single passenger who flies a given route. However, the website is currently charging much higher fees than expected on certain awards (I’ve noticed it primarily on European routes). I saw one flight to Germany that was adding more than $1,000 in fees.
The good news is that this doesn’t seem to be an intentional change on LifeMiles part, rather it’s just technical issue. Several readers have reported reaching out to LifeMiles and being told that it’s a known error and that the LifeMiles IT department is working to fix it. I contacted LifeMiles myself and was told the same.
So, the sky doesn’t appear to be falling on LifeMiles…but it might behoove you to wait a bit before booking that European award.
The post No, Avianca LifeMiles isn’t adding new fuel surcharges to its awards appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.