Just Made My First LAN Bookings!

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Related:

Get An Incredible Value Out Of Starpoints With LAN’s New OneWorld Award Chart!!!

Get 1,000 LANPASS kilometers for signing up for a LAN account.

Starwood AMEX Linky


It’s been over 2 years since I transferred Starpoints into LAN kilometers but I finally got a chance to redeem them.

20,000 Starpoints transfer into 50,000 LAN kilometers. At the time I used the often overlooked Starwood Night and Flights option by redeeming 60,000 Starpoints for 5 nights at the former Sheraton Jerusalem and 100,000 LAN kilometers.

Originally I had planned to use them to go to Brazil for just 48,000 kilometers, but I haven’t (yet) been able to coerce myself back into the country where I launched this site ever since I was nearly killed there in a riot in 2007…

I was looking for tickets for people to go from NYC and Chicago to Montreal and was in shock at the $400 prices. I was able to redeem 16,000 kilometers for a round-trip NYC-Montreal ticket, 18,000 kilometers for an open-jaw NYC-Montreal-Chicago ticket, and 20,000 kilometers for a round-trip Chicago-Montreal ticket. All of those flights were on AA.

LAN does make you jump through some hoops to redeem award tickets when the account holder isn’t traveling. I had to fax them a copy of my drivers license and an authorization form in order to redeem my kilometers. Some of the agents working there are extremely helpful and patient while others are unintelligible or just downright nasty.

The taxes on the tickets were just under $40, which is slightly less than what AA charges! Plus LAN has no expedite fees and has free date changes.

Redeeming 16,000 kilometers for a NYC-Montreal ticket that would’ve cost $400 is a great deal. At a 2:5 ratio it cost me only 6,400 Starpoints for the round trip ticket. Even when you account for backing out the $40 in taxes, the value per Starpoint is still over 5.5 cents, which clears my threshold for redeeming Starpoints!

All in all there are some very good redemption options on the LAN OneWorld chart, but (as I explained in the related article linked to above) they are primarily only good for short nonstop flights.

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17 Comments On "Just Made My First LAN Bookings!"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Mo

When doing the nights and flights, you don’t need to book a flight and hotel at that time??!
If you can break it down, how did/does Spg work it.
I would assume that Jerusalem was a cat 3 then, meaning 4+l night would normally have been then 28,000 points, so in essence you got the 28,000 spg points for the hotel, plus the 100,000 Lan miles for 60,000 spg points, instead of 68,000 points?
If I am right that by doing the nights and points you saved 8,000 points, how do I know that you got the hotels for 20,000 points,instead of 28,000; maybe it is calculated for the full 28,000 points, and instead you got the 100,000 Lan miles for 32,000 points instead of 40,000?
So to sum it up, 1)when you gain 8,000 points, where are you getting the discount, is it at the hotel, or the flight?
2) How can you do nights and flights, and just redeem the hotel part, and then 2 years later go to utilize the miles?
Thanks

Dan/Ctownbochur

It was indeed a category 3 at the time of redemption. So 60,000 Starpoints got what would normally cost 40,000 Starpoints for the 100K LAN and what would normally cost 28,000 Starpoints for 5 nights in a category 3 hotel at 7,000 points per night with the 5th night free award. I have no idea if the 8,000 point discount is applied to the hotel or miles portion…does it matter?

For Nights and Flights you do not need to use the miles when you book the hotel, you only need to transfer the miles into an airline program when you book the hotel with the nights and flights award. You can use the miles whenever you feel like it.

Dovid

LAN charges a fee of 50 usd for a date change on AA flights

E

Impressive, this is Dan at his best

Dan/Ctownbochur

@Dovid:
Are you sure, the agent I spoke to said that there would be no fee for a date change.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately if you have the patience to keep retrying) it seems that with LAN that if you speak with 5 agents you’ll get at least 5 different answers…

@E:
Why thank you 🙂

CholentFresser

which riots?? what happened??

Dan/Ctownbochur

@CholentFresser:
Definitely the scariest and most surreal moment of my life…at the time I wrote a short post on it here:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/2133

It definitely helped that I was able to speak some Portuguese to the taxi driver and convince him to drive off the side of the highway…
Being able to talk to your loved ones via Nextel international walkie-talkie when you think you’re a goner is something that is hard to describe, surreal is the only word that comes close to doing it justice.

Mo

@Dan/Ctownbochur:

No it doesn’t matter, I was just trying to figure out how the system works.
So by nights & flights, you are never paying for a ticket,you are just redeeming points for hotels and airlines miles?
I understand that you can’t get back points that went into a airline, but if you want to cancel the hotel part, what points will they refund you, 20k, or 28K. Will the agent see that the 5 nights was a combo with a airline transfer, or will they put back 28k into your account.
Thanks again

ralph

Yes They do Charge a change fee, however they charged me a 17 dollar fee when they told me it was going to be a $75 fee

Mo

@Mo:

If hotel availability allows a date change on the Free Night Award reservation for a Nights & Flights award, the Nights & Flights award dates may be changed.

No Starpoints will be refunded for any portion of the Nights & Flights award’s free nights not stayed at the property. Members who elect to stay fewer nights than the required 5 nights stay for the Nights & Flights award offer should advise the hotel at check-in to avoid any early departure charges.

Nights & Flights awards may be canceled. If a Nights & Flights award is canceled, the member will only receive a Starpoint credit of 20,000 for a Category 3 and 30,000 for a Category 4 Travel Award. The 40,000-point airline transfer, plus the 10,000-point bonus from Starwood Preferred Guest, will remain as airline miles and cannot be returned to the member’s Starwood Preferred Guest account.

Guest will not receive Starpoints or airline miles for their reservation; therefore, a Nights & Flights Award stay does not qualify as an eligible stay toward earning elite level or toward any promotions requiring nights or stays.

wantagooddela

hi dan,
do u know of any good deals from nyc to florida about feb 18 till the 21?
im despearte..need to prepare for my anniversary!:)

moshe

Is it possible and is it worthwhile to fly NYC-LONDON (LHR)with AA using the starwood-LAN transfer?

Shira

So I keep hearing about these GREAT redemptions with starwood point. My husbanda and I have about 25k and want to redeem them as effectively and economically as possible. We’re hoping to travel from the DC area to somewhere in the carribbean/mexico/aruba.. not POSITIVE where yet. Any suggestions on the most private areas to visit? Also what is the best method to redeem our points for tickets?

David Z.

@Shira: Probably better off posting in the forums- dansdeals.com/forums

Iossi Khafif

Yes… Dan..
Come to Brazil!!! i”ll be Happy… (or Barcelona)
And for sure you are invited for Shabes on my house…
Let me know.. xD

Dan/Ctownbochur

@Iossi Khafif:
Se eu viajar ao Brasil e voce nao vai estar la…

Iossi Khafif

I”ll be back in 2 March…

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