(EXPIRED) 15% transfer bonus Amex Membership Rewards to Avianca LifeMiles

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Avianca LifeMiles is offering a 15% bonus on miles transferred from American Express Membership Rewards.

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The Deal

Get 15% bonus miles when transferring points from Amex Membership Rewards to Avianca LifeMiles.

  • Valid May 1 to May 31, 2022.
  • When transferring from American Express, you won’t see the bonus since this one is provided by LifeMiles after the fact.
  • You can find the LifeMiles promo page here.

Quick Thoughts

Avianca LifeMiles is a very good program for booking Star Alliance flights.  Award prices are usually cheaper than with United miles and, like United, LifeMiles doesn’t impose fuel surcharges.  On the other hand, their prices are usually higher than ANA, their online award search tool is limited, they have high change fees, and dealing with customer service can be challenging.

As always, I wouldn’t recommend moving miles to this program for this deal unless you have a specific award redemption in mind.

Best uses For Avianca LifeMiles
  • Business class to Europe from 63K with no fuel surcharges.   While 63,000 miles to Europe isn't Earth-shattering, what makes this particuarly exciting is the lack of fuel surcharges. Surcharges for Lufthansa are often $700-1000, so this can be a huge savings.  There are many examples of routes inexplicably pricing far below the official award chart like JFK to Lisbon for 35K miles and mixed-cabin business class itineraries that price from as low as 49K (Check out The secret LifeMiles award chart and Avianca LifeMiles’ awesome mixed-cabin award pricing: First class for less).
  • Business class South America from 35K. Avianca LifeMiles offers competitive Star Alliance pricing to both Northern and Southern South America with no fuel surcharges. Again, you can mix cabins on partner awards to save miles, which can be useful if you need a positioning flight. Flights on Avianca metal usually price out slightly higher than partners
  • North America in Business for 10K.  Avianca LifeMiles offers one-ways on United within a single "zone" at excellent prices (the US is split into 3 zones). Within a single zone, pricing is officially 10K one-way in business class. Pricing between Zone 1 (most of the East Coast) and Zone 2 (most of the states apart from the far west) is officially 15K. Many routes will price well below the chart for no obvious reason.

Things to know

  • LifeMiles Purchases are processed directly by Avianca and DO qualify as airfare.
  • LifeMiles expire after 12 months of inactivity.  Redeeming Miles does NOT count as activity, but buying miles does.
  • LifeMiles generally does not pass on the fuel surcharges we see in other Star Alliance programs, making redemptions even more valuable.
  • Availability at LifeMiles.com often doesn't match what you’ll find at United.com or Aeroplan. Phone agents usually do not see better availability than what is shown at LifeMiles.com.  While it can be possible to book via E-mail, it is very slow and frustrating. ALWAYS check the LifeMiles site before transferring points.
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