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Frequent flyers in the United States have access to over 60 airline loyalty programs with which to earn points and miles. While many people choose a domestic carrier from each major airline alliance, savvy travelers have often looked further afield to find a carrier in their preferred alliance that offers additional earning and redemption opportunities. One of the international programs our readers frequently cite as offering exceptional value in the Star Alliance is avianca's lifemiles loyalty program. The Colombian flag carrier avianca is the world's second oldest airline and one of just five that has been operating for over 100 years. The carrier was named the most punctual airline in the world for 2023, and its lifemiles program is often recognized as a leader in the loyalty space. This past month alone, it nabbed an award for Best Customer Service at the prestigious Frequent Traveler Awards 2024, and was named the best Frequent Flyer Program in Latin America by point.me.Simple Flying recently sat down with Valeria Yglesias, CCO at lifemiles, to find out what goes into a winning program and how US travelers can use it to receive the most value for their miles. The program has gained over 13m members in the 15 years since launching and has recently expanded its US offerings to encourage travelers to look for new ways to earn and redeem miles in the Star Alliance. Story has more.<br/>

Deutsche Lufthansa AG CEO Carsten Spohr said the company’s flagship airline has continued to weigh on earnings as Europe’s largest carrier grapples with high personnel costs, aircraft delays, and growing competition from the Middle East and Asia. “We’ll likely report strong traffic figures, but unfortunately the gap between the positive developments of the whole group and those of Lufthansa Airlines and City Airlines has widened,” Spohr said at a press briefing in Frankfurt on Monday, referring to third-quarter figures. Lufthansa is set to report the numbers on Oct. 29. The airline already revised its full-year outlook in July, saying at the time that breaking even at its namesake German unit will be “increasingly challenging” this year. In the first half, the Lufthansa Airlines subsidiary had an adjusted operating loss of E427m, compared with an profit of E149m a year earlier. The unit generates over 40% of the group’s annual revenues. “We need to get Lufthansa Airlines back on track,” Spohr said, adding that the target for the 100th anniversary in 2026 is for Lufthansa Airlines to be “a sign of strength, not our problem child.” In response to the slower business, Lufthansa has initiated a savings plan as stiff competition drives down fares and corporate travel hasn’t rebounded fully from the pandemic. Lufthansa is also eliminating its direct daily flight from Frankfurt to Beijing because the airline is deploying fuel-guzzling, older aircraft on that service that are making that route unprofitable. <br/>

Swiss International Air Lines and Helvetic Airways have extended their long-standing wet-lease partnership for a further five years. Zurich-based Helvetic said on 1 October that it will operate “up to” 15 Embraer 190-E2 and 195-E2 aircraft for the major carrier across its European network under the new deal. “Helvetic Airways fully and consistently meets all our high safety standards and all our premium aspirations, and is well-liked by our customers,” says Swiss’ CCO Heike Birlenbach. “Our collaboration not only enables us to cover our operating peaks: with Helvetic’s smaller aircraft, we can also serve destinations for which our own Swiss aircraft would be too big.” Under the agreement, Helvetic will operate up to nine aircraft during the upcoming European winter season for the Lufthansa Group carrier, increasing to 15 during next year’s summer travel peak. “We are proud that the partnership which Swiss and Helvetic Airways have cultivated since 2007 will now be further extended and expanded,” adds Helvetic CE Tobias Pogorevc. <br/>

The runway at Miyazaki airport in southwest Japan was closed Wednesday after an explosion was reported, local authorities said. The runway closure has led to the suspension of all Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways flights to and from the airport, according to the airlines. Local firefighters said they received a report at around 8:10 a.m. that an explosion had been heard within the airport grounds, while the local office of the transport ministry said the runway closure was expected to continue through Wednesday evening.<br/>

Almost 2,000 people have been refunded after an Air New Zealand glitch saw fares posted for the equivalent of less than $10 AUD. The issue with the airline’s South Korean booking website last week resulted in some trans-Tasman economy fares as far out as September 2025 going for as low as 6,100 Korean won, or under AU$7, while business fares were seen from 12,500 won, or under AU$14. Air New Zealand temporarily suspended the South Korean site while it fixed the issue, with customers who bought the fares refunded and offered reimbursement for “reasonable” non-refundable expenses such as accommodation and transfers.“Last week, we were made aware of an error in our system showing domestic and short-haul flights on our South Korean website at incorrect prices,” said Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty. “This resulted from a glitch in the currency conversion extension used on our South Korean storefront, showing fares for as low as $8. Just over 1,800 bookings were made until we suspended the website to avoid any further purchases of these erroneous fares. As this was an error, we will refund customers who purchased tickets at the incorrect prices. We know this will be disappointing, so we’re offering them the opportunity to rebook the same flights at the lowest fare class available if they still wish to travel. We want to apologise for this genuine error in our system; our teams are working to understand the root cause and ensure this doesn’t occur again in the future. Customers will have received a cancellation notification via email. If they wish to rebook with us at the entry-level rate, we ask that they contact our customer care team.”<br/>

Capacity on some Air New Zealand routes are about to take a plunge. The airline is changing the aircraft from a 171-seat Airbus A320 to a 68-seat ATR-72 on two routes, a reduction of more than 100 seats. It announced on Monday it will stop the direct Invercargill to Wellington flights from January 19, 2025 due to global engine maintenance issues putting aircraft out of service, coupled with a softening of demand domestically. Today, the airlinesaid four other routes will see changes too. Story has details.<br/>