Update: Thanks to Flyertalk user who goes by the moniker “View-With-A-Room” for suggesting to do a search via FireFox browser. It worked! I first tried doing it on my iPhone, but no dice. I then downloaded FireFox on my desktop and voila. I was debating on whether to hold out for an award flight from JFK to Geneva, which won’t be bookable for the next five weeks or so (if ever). In the end, I’ve decided to go for the “bird in the hand” and get my award flights now, though to another city in Europe. I’ll have more details in a separate post, so stay tuned. Good riddance, Lifemiles. Well, I technically have a small balance left, but if I lose it, it’s not the end of the world. Goodness, it shouldn’t be this hard to use miles.
This will be a short post that will hopefully spread awareness in the miles community. For the last week or so, Lifemiles website has not been showing award seats once you select a specific date. There are many reports of members encountering issues, including this thread on Flyertalk.
Once you select a date, it gets stuck on this page and won’t move past it:
One member has mentioned that he has emailed Lifemiles, and that they are working on solving this problem. That said, when I reached out to Lifemiles via Twitter yesterday, they suggested that it might be an issue with my iPhone (it’s not):
So, it’s clear that the proverbial right hand at Lifemiles does not know what the left hand is doing. What makes this issue worse is that calling the phone center doesn’t seem to help, as the agents are not able to book the flights either. I’m actually looking to use Lifemiles for flights to Europe in the upcoming days, but it remains to be seen whether they will fix the issue anytime soon. But you better believe they will keep on selling their miles and offer transfer bonuses to lure unsuspecting buyers.
I’ve said it many times before and will say it again: do your homework and think twice before dropping your hard-earned cash on Lifemiles. This is an off-brand program that can be extremely lucrative when it works. I would never call it useless, I know better than that. Still, these miles are cheap for a reason. Buyer beware.
I recommend you reach out to Lifemiles via Twitter and email, perhaps we can nudge Lifemiles folks into fixing their shoddy IT system. As for me, once I burn these miles, I’m done with this program.
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
Is the site now working for others? I haven’t been able to use it for weeks. No dice with Firefox. I see a lot of online chatter a few weeks back, but none recently so I’m not sure what’s going on. Pretty frustrated.
@Audrey Hmm, it is working for me. Have you tried Firefox on a desktop? If it fails, you will probably have to call and try to book over the phone. Avianca being Avianca…
Sorry to hear about the issues I know how frustrating that can be. 2 months ago I drained my account for 4 business class seats from LAX-PTY on Copa Airlines was happy to get rid of my Lifemiles and move on. Hopefully, they fix the issue soon. Good luck
@Rich That’s great that you could put your miles to excellent use!
I’m sure I’ll drain my Lifemiles balance somehow. I’m determined to use it towards Europe tickets, and am flexible on destinations. It’s not the end of the world, but Lifemiles program can sure be a pain.
Did you try turning your phone off then back on again?
How about unplugging it and plugging it back in again?
@Chris Yes.
P.S. I do miss “IT crowd” show.
I’ve been having the same issue! I switched browsers, cleared cookies, you name it. No luck.
Nancy, I really wish I had a time machine, so I could go back to 2019 and stop myself from buying these miles. 🙂
But it seemed like a good idea at the time, and who could have predicted Covid pandemic.