(EXPIRED) 25% transfer bonus Citi ThankYou to LifeMiles

Citi ThankYou points are offering a 25% transfer bonus when transferring to Avianca LifeMiles. With this bonus, you’ll get 1,250 LifeMiles for every 1,000 Citi ThankYou points transferred.

The Deal

• Get a 25% transfer bonus when you transfer Citi ThankYou points to Avianca LifeMiles
• With the bonus, the transfer ratio is:
  • 1,000 Citi ThankYou points : 1,250 Avianca LifeMiles

Key Terms

• Bonus LifeMiles offer is valid for Point transfer to Avianca LifeMiles completed between 08/17/20 12 AM ET y el 09/18/20 11:59 PM ET.
• For the bonus LifeMiles offer, you will receive a 1.25 LifeMiles for each ThankYou Point transferred during the promotional period listed above.
• That is 0.25 bonus LifeMiles in addition to the base redemption rate of 1 ThankYou Point to 1 Mile, for a total of 1.25 LifeMiles.
• For example, if you transfer 1,000 ThankYou Points, you will receive a total of 1,250 LifeMiles.
• The bonus miles and the transferred miles will be reflected in the account statement in two different transactions.
• In order to transfer Points to Avianca LifeMiles using the Points Transfer feature on thankyou.com, you must have an eligible Avianca LifeMiles account and the first and last names on your ThankYou account and Avianca LifeMiles account must match.
• A submitted request to transfer Points may not be cancelled and the Points in a submitted request may not be returned to your ThankYou account.
• Following the Points Transfer, the resulting LifeMiles will be subject to the Terms and conditions of the Avianca LifeMiles program. LifeMiles is a trademark of LifeMiles LTD.

Quick Thoughts

I like Avianca LifeMiles as much as anyone, but I’d not recommend a transfer unless you have pretty dialed-in travel plans to book right now. There is uncertainty from every angle at the moment (Will the trip be possible? Will it be enjoyable? Will the flight get cancelled? How long will it take for you to get a refund from Avianca if the trip gets cancelled? Will Avianca fold? Note that I’m not terribly concerned about that last one, but neither would I book a trip for next July with Avianca right now). Keep in mind that transfers are one-way. I’d not really want to give up the flexibility of transferable points unless I had a near-term use in mind.

The issue I find particularly bothersome about booking uncertain award travel today is that we’ve consistently gotten reports from readers about long/slow refund times on taxes from award tickets with most frequent flyer programs. While those fees should be relatively low here given that LifeMiles does not add fuel surcharges, waiting months for a refund is still an annoyance.

Still, with this bonus valid through September 18th, it’s worth keeping it in mind especially for last-minute travel if your plans are firm. It’s also encouraging to see transfer bonuses slowly return after a dearth of bonuses given the pandemic.

We have added this to our list of current point transfer bonuses.

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