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Avianca LifeMiles can be a very useful frequent flyer program, but it has one big Achilles heel: miles expire after 12 months…and spending miles does not reset the clock.
Other issues include their poor website search tool, mandatory phone booking fees, and notoriously poor customer service. But in this post, we’ll concentrate on how to keep that pesky 12-month clock from biting into your LifeMiles stash.
There are a number of reasons to like the LifeMiles program:
- Avianca is a member of the Star Alliance. Since this is the largest airline alliance, it means that miles can be used for award flights on a huge number of airlines.
- Like United, Avianca does not pass along fuel surcharges to their members.
- Unlike United, Avianca doesn’t charge a close-in booking fee (United charges up to $75 per ticket when booking within 21 days)
- Avianca’s mixed-cabin award pricing makes it possible to get amazing deals (see this post for details).
- You don’t have to always have enough miles: Avianca often sell miles cheaply, plus they allow cash + miles for all award bookings.
LifeMiles Expiration Policy
- Miles expire after 12 months.
- You can reset the clock to extend the life of your miles by earning more miles.
- Spending miles no longer resets the clock.
- You can extend the expiration by earning miles from an Avianca branded credit card
How to Keep LifeMiles Alive
- Fly a Star Alliance carrier (United, for example) and credit the flight to Avianca in order to earn miles.
- Sign up for an Avianca credit card.
- Transfer points from a transferable points currency or hotel program to Avianca.
- Buy miles from Avianca. You can do this automatically and at a good rate through a LifeMiles subscription (details here).
Transfer points to keep points alive
The easiest way to extend the life of your LifeMiles is to transfer points from Citi ThankYou points (if you have the Citi ThankYou Premier or Citi ThankYou Prestige card), or from SPG (Starting August 2018, you can transfer from the combined Marriott SPG program at a rate of 3,000 points to 1,000 LifeMiles).
I tested to make sure that transferring points into LifeMiles actually resets the clock. It does.
I transferred the minimum 1,000 points from Citi to LifeMiles. The transfer completed instantly. And as soon as I logged into my account again I saw that my point expiration date was reset:
Before transferring points my miles were set to expire in January 2019:
After transferring points (which I did in May 2018), my miles were set to expire in May 2019:
Of course I would have been better off waiting until December 2018 to transfer points to miles, but I wanted to confirm that this works before publishing these recommendations.
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Does buying miles still work?
Yep
just started looking into lifemiles. Does the subscription of monthly miles count towards resetting the clock nowadays?
Since the subscription gives you some points each month and since the clock is reset each time you acquire new miles, I *think* the answer is yes.
just transfer 1K miles from AMEX to LM, it posted right away but still showing the same miles expiration date. Does it take a bit for LM to update that info?
Yes it takes about a day
Just came across post this while trying to extend expiration of my LifeMiles. Would transfer from Amex extend the expiration as well? I just transferred some points and while the transfer was instantaneous, the expiration date hasn’t updated. I guess will check in a day to confirm.
Well, I can confirm that this worked. Logged in today and the expiration was extended by 12 months.
I just tried transferring from Citi points, and it did NOT reset my expiration date. Just FYI….
Check it again tomorrow. It has worked for me every time.
Great, thanks. Maybe just takes a day then?
No surprise, but you were completely right. Miles extended as of this morning. Thanks again!
Awesome
Hi. Those transferring points from Citi or amex count towards elite status?
No
Hi. Those transferring points from Citi or amex count towards elite status? Thanks!
Hello:
Avianca Lifemile: Just curious if expiration date is reset for 12 months from the date you earned the miles? Thanks for your help.
Yes, that’s correct
Heard any reports on anyone getting the Avianca Vuela credit card 60k bonus again, now that it’s been around for 18 months or so? I haven’t seen any mention of it.
I saw a few reports of people who weren’t approved when trying to get the card again. Other than that I haven’t heard anything
[…] You have Avianca miles? Here is how to keep them alive. […]
AwardWallet seems to think my miles and my wife’s won’t expire for 18 more months. Is it wrong?
Likely you earned miles 6 month ago when the old expiration policy was in effect?
It’s correct. The policy changed from 24 months to 12 months in April, so miles earned before the changeover are still valid for the rest of the 24 months.
I’m pretty sure that if you buy miles during a redemption (cash+points), that counts as a purchase also for extending the expiration date.
That’s probably true. Can anyone confirm?
They used to have low cancel fee, when did it changed?
Now
“Changes: USD 150
Refundable: USD 200”
I’m not sure when it happened, but I do remember an announcement about it.
never mind, found it under estatement
Hi I seem to be having trouble checking the expiration date, where is it? thanks
Greg, please also add “club life miles subscription plan” option, for keeping points alive!
Good idea. Thanks!