Questions and Answers

Hi, I recently booked for my family Lufthansa Business Class using Lifemiles, I would like to add my baby as a lap infant to the booking, the reason why I have not done so at the time of booking is because the option doesn’t exist on the Lifemiles website, so I figured that I would call up Lifemiles and add her after booking the other three tickets, I have even seen on Flyertalk several threads in which it has been done. I have by now spent 5+ hours on the phone with incompetent agents from Avianca to no avail, I tried calling Lufthansa and even booking a separate ticket and attaching the itineraries but that would exceed a whopping $4,000 for a one way ticket!! Avianca claims it can only be done through Lufthansa and so too does Lufthansa say that it can only be done by the airline in which the ticket was issued thus being Avianca. Some Avianca agents claim that they need available seats in order to issue a ticket while others say it just can’t be done by Avianca period. I tired asking Avianca agents to conference in Lufthansa, or that I will, they were unwilling to do so. I called all hours of the day, every time I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told that none of them speak English nor do they have a translator service.
Does anyone have advice on what I could do to resolve this issue?
Has anyone else had such a terrible experience with Avianca’s call center?
Sorry this was so long, I just wanted to make this as clear as possible.
Thank you so much,

Noah

Ugggh, that is annoying. Avianca is not known for it’s call centers. Do you have a Spanish speaking friend who might be able to help?

Spanish will not help you. It is awful, why bother with their miles?? Back in the day (and they were better then) I had a partner airline changing the aircraft and F award had to be reissued for J for that particular segment. I counted around 50+ calls before giving up and taking a refund (via credit card chargeback for taxes). Made sure I used my remaining miles as fast as I could on some F tickets. Lifemiles never.

They will play tricks on you. An agent hang up on me just as he claimed he was processing the reissue. 90% of agents have no clue whatsoever regardless of language. And there are not so many agents, I got several agents more than once. It is hopeless.

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 52006, member: 79″]Ugggh, that is annoying. Avianca is not known for it’s call centers. Do you have a Spanish speaking friend who might be able to help?[/QUOTE] no unfortunately not, do you have any advice on what to do?

If you need to take a child then by all means book a separate ticket as fast as you could. If 4,000 is too much, book into economy (maybe 1,500-2,000?) and downgrade yourself at check-in to economy as well.

Have you written to [email][email protected][/email]? Maybe it’s worth a shot. I would keep the email short, just referencing that the option for the child’s ticket wasn’t available on the website and ask how to complete the process.

[QUOTE=”Gia, post: 52199, member: 1566″]Have you written to [EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL]? Maybe it’s worth a shot. I would keep the email short, just referencing that the option for the child’s ticket wasn’t available on the website and ask how to complete the process.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, I emailed them several days ago and am awaiting a reply.. to be continued…

[QUOTE=”TexasFlyer, post: 52196, member: 239″]If you need to take a child then by all means book a separate ticket as fast as you could. If 4,000 is too much, book into economy (maybe 1,500-2,000?) and downgrade yourself at check-in to economy as well.[/QUOTE]
$1,500-$2,000 for a one way lap infant is a fortune

Well this was my guess, you need to call Lufthansa and ask for a quote in business and/or economy.

I once received an email from Lifemiles support, in about 3 weeks after sending mine, giving me a case number. It took another 2-3 weeks, someone sent me an email with the name of the person who was going to take care of my case. It is hopeless. My original travel date passed in the meantime. But I did get a final resolution to my simple case in about 3 months after the first contact – some miles were offered as compensation. They have not posted, it is now more than a year. I hope you have better luck though but if you need to travel, and cannot afford Lufthansa normal tickets, cancel Avianca ticket and book something else.

10% of the adult revenue fare is actually pretty standard. But a quick search seems to indicate that LH only charges the taxes and fees for infants. I agree with [USER=239]@TexasFlyer[/USER] that you’ll need to call LH and tell them you need to buy an infant ticket and associate it with your existing ticket.

Good luck!

[QUOTE=”Gia, post: 52199, member: 1566″]Have you written to [EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL]? Maybe it’s worth a shot. I would keep the email short, just referencing that the option for the child’s ticket wasn’t available on the website and ask how to complete the process.[/QUOTE]
UPDATE:
Thank you everyone, I very much appreciate everyones offering of tips and advice how to deal with this issue, I have called back Lifemiles several times, I finally got one agent named “Chris” who was very friendly who called Lufthansa in oorder to conference them in to resolve the issue, unfortunately Lufthansa’s department that he needed was closed at that time. When I called back Lifemiles several more times it was a repeat of their lack of knowledge and incompetence all over again. I as well got an email response from Lifemiles it was [B]ABSOLUTELY[/B] [B]”WONDERFUL”, “VERY HELPFUL”[/B] and [B]”VERY INFORMATIVE[/B]” and also accomplished [B][U]NOTHING:[/U][/B]
Dear ____,
It is my pleasure to greet you.
In regard to your concern, we recommend you to contact the operating airline of your ticket, in this case, you have to contact Lufthansa and validate if you are able to add the infant in the reservation and its conditions, as well to confirm the time to present at the airport and baggage policy.
On the other hand, we will send you the confirmation itinerary and ticket number to the email address linked in the reservation [B]_______[/B]
Below, we will detail the ticket’s conditions:
[LIST]
[*]The reservation will be available for one year since the issuing date of your ticket (February _th 2018); therefore, any change or refund has to be processed before such date.

[*]Change of date for $150.00 USD plus local taxes per passenger (subject to availability on the same class of service).

[*]You can refund your ticket paying $200.00 USD plus local taxes per passenger (to request this process the ticket should be unused).

[*]It cannot be transfered to other person.

[*]It does not accrue miles.
[/LIST]
We remain at your disposal.

Best regards,

[IMG]https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/UuuLwgOgV3vBvLFGQIF1CO6pMATYgcssb8doftbGYBOAtpEG91AIuVZaLnQYd_DvicjAi0G1gaancPCHfz3V_ApZMay3u9T3qAtmJD3SyZixLmT2X69RPjW5df_F_osEqni3jZh-=s0-d-e1-ft#https://res.cloudinary.com/dqg1icn8p/image/upload/v1449152249/firmaLM_jkrver.jpg[/IMG] [B]Graciela Valle[/B]
Support Center Representative
[B]LifeMiles Support [/B]
[I][EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL]

[/I]
That just says it all, Any advice from anyone now?
I forwarded this email to Lufthansa customer support out of desperation.
I feel like I have high blood pressure 🙂 , but I’m still patient and will still be persistent.

Perhaps I should make a hit video Lifemiles hates infants video
A parody of United Breaks Guitars check it out here [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2009/07/07/united-breaks-guitars/[/URL]
🙂 lol

Well this happens if you hope to score a “cheap” premium ticket with these miles. In fairness, the only problem as of now is that you cannot take a child, as you seem to be unwilling to pay rack rates, adult ticket/s is/are still fine. But be prepared if these need to be reissued due to schedule change for instance…

[U][B]UPDATE[/B][/U]: A travel agent was able to add the lap infant for about $400, the agent made a second booking with a “ghost” passenger holding the infant and than only ticketed the baby, I called Lufthansa which took literally 5 minutes and got an excellent rep. who merged the two bookings and deleted the ghost. The rep openly said he liked what the agent did.
anyone wants the travel agent contact info please feel free to pm message
in other news Avianca finally responded to my DOT complaint here it is:

Dear Mr. _________,

We have received your complaint presented at the DOT office about the inconveniences you are experiencing to book an infant ticket as part of a miles redemption. Your case has been duly escalated and we will contact you as soon as we receive further information.

Kind regards,

[IMG]https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=a07e3e31e5&view=fimg&th=16240440508113a8&attid=0.1&disp=emb&attbid=ANGjdJ8N_oFOhvHw09Vi8CiX5REGFUJ0NkO7oIoqWFn82sJ9f1VlLdy8pbo8gKe_PI3L7f5JAUqnplCXFyqA309wv49qlsu_uhFQiQ5GQ6htxTI3xn4mOisKpD3TOWE&sz=w356-h198&ats=1521558609039&rm=16240440508113a8&zw&atsh=1[/IMG]

[B]Marielos López[/B]

Analista Gestión de Asuntos Jurídicos.

Avenida El Espino, Entre El Boulevard Sur y Calle El Almendro, Urbanización Madre Selva, Edificio Avianca. El Salvador

503 2247 1032

[I][EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL][/I]

Thanks everyone,

We’re looking forward to our flight in a couple of weeks

Hi Noah,

I apologize as i tried to find a way to private message you but could not figure it out as this is the first time on the forum. I am running into the same issue as above and would love the name of the travel agent who helped remedy the situation for a “reasonable” fee.

Thanks so much

[QUOTE=”Noah, post: 53470, member: 4174″][U][B]UPDATE[/B][/U]: A travel agent was able to add the lap infant for about $400, the agent made a second booking with a “ghost” passenger holding the infant and than only ticketed the baby, I called Lufthansa which took literally 5 minutes and got an excellent rep. who merged the two bookings and deleted the ghost. The rep openly said he liked what the agent did.
anyone wants the travel agent contact info please feel free to pm message
in other news Avianca finally responded to my DOT complaint here it is:

Dear Mr. _________,

We have received your complaint presented at the DOT office about the inconveniences you are experiencing to book an infant ticket as part of a miles redemption. Your case has been duly escalated and we will contact you as soon as we receive further information.

Kind regards,

[IMG]https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=a07e3e31e5&view=fimg&th=16240440508113a8&attid=0.1&disp=emb&attbid=ANGjdJ8N_oFOhvHw09Vi8CiX5REGFUJ0NkO7oIoqWFn82sJ9f1VlLdy8pbo8gKe_PI3L7f5JAUqnplCXFyqA309wv49qlsu_uhFQiQ5GQ6htxTI3xn4mOisKpD3TOWE&sz=w356-h198&ats=1521558609039&rm=16240440508113a8&zw&atsh=1[/IMG]

[B]Marielos López[/B]

Analista Gestión de Asuntos Jurídicos.

Avenida El Espino, Entre El Boulevard Sur y Calle El Almendro, Urbanización Madre Selva, Edificio Avianca. El Salvador

503 2247 1032

[I][EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL][/I]

Thanks everyone,

We’re looking forward to our flight in a couple of weeks[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=”Drew Dawkins, post: 59824, member: 4514″]Hi Noah,

I apologize as i tried to find a way to private message you but could not figure it out as this is the first time on the forum. I am running into the same issue as above and would love the name of the travel agent who helped remedy the situation for a “reasonable” fee.

Thanks so much[/QUOTE]

Ditto!!!!!!!