Avianca has another bonus available on LifeMiles purchases, this time it’s up to a maximum of 160%. That brings the cost per mile down to 1.27 cents, which is just below our reasonable redemption value for LifeMiles of 1.3 cents each.
At this price, buying for a high-value redemption could make sense. That said, we did recently see LifeMiles institute a devaluation. While it wasn’t extreme, you should check out the details before hopping on a mileage purchase.
It’s worth noting that, like most LifeMiles sales, the promotion is tiered and you need to purchase at least 36,000 miles to get the 160% bonus if you’re targeted with that top end.
Keep in mind that these LifeMiles sales happen regularly, usually with a bonus between 140-170%. There’s no need to worry about missing out if you don’t have a redemption in mind right now. Don’t buy speculatively.
The Deal
- Up to a 160% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases
- Direct link to offer
- Promotion is tiered according to the number of miles purchased:
- Buy 1,000 miles = 120% bonus
- 2,000-20,000 miles = 140% bonus
- 21,000-35,000 miles = 150% bonus
- 36,000-200,000 miles = 160% bonus
Key Terms
- The offer is available from 10 December 2024 to 31 December 2024.
- This offer is exclusively for LifeMiles members
- Minimum purchase amount is 1,000 miles, maximum is 200,000 miles.
- Each package of 1,000 LifeMiles is US$33.00
- Once the payment is made, the miles will be accrued within 24 hours to members account.
- Miles purchased may be accrued in separate transactions.
Best uses of Avianca LifeMiles
- Business class to Europe from 45-70K with no fuel surcharges. While 70,000 miles to Europe isn't Earth-shattering, what makes this particularly 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 the US Northeast to England or Ireland for 45K miles and mixed-cabin business class itineraries that price from as low as 52K (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 about Avianca LifeMiles
- How to find awards: Search for available space at LifeMiles.com (you’ll need to create a free Avianca LifeMiles frequent flyer account).
- How to book awards: Book online at LifeMiles.com. Can also book via email. Phone bookings are known to be a hassle but also possible.
- Key warnings:
- 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.
- LifeMiles expire after 12 months of inactivity. Redeeming Miles does NOT count as activity, but buying miles does.
- Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Citi, Wells Fargo. Also can transfer from Marriott Bonvoy.
Past Lifemiles Sales
- Up to a 185% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.16 cents each). 25 November 2024 to 3 December 2024.
- Up to a 165% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.27 cents each). 11 November 2024 to 19 November 2024.
- Up to a 160% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.27 cents each). Valid 9 October 2024 to 31 October 2024.
- Up to a 200% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases. Valid 24 September 2024 to 30 September 2024.
- Up to a 160% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases. Valid 22 August 2024 to 19 September 2024.
- 160% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases. Valid 19 July 2024 to 15 August 2024.
- 155% Bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid 12 June 2024 – 11 July 2024
- 165% Bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid February 27 – March 12, 2024
- 170% Bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid January 23 – January 27, 2024
- 165% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.25 cents each). November 21 – December 5, 2023
- 160% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.27 cents each). November 7 – November 14, 2023
- 140% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.38 cents each). October 10 – October 26, 2023
- 140% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.38 cents each). September 12 – Sept3mber 27, 2023
- 145% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.35 cents each). August 16 – August 30, 2023
- 150% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (1.32 cents each). July 11 – July 28, 2023
- 160% bonus on LifeMiles purchases. June 13 – June 27, 2023
- 165% bonus on LifeMiles purchases. May 16 – May 30, 2023
- 155% bonus on LifeMiles purchases. April 18 – April 26, 2023
- 160% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. March 14 – March 29, 2023
- 165% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. February 9 – February 22, 2023
- 165% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid January 17 – January 27, 2023
- 155% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid December 15 – December 27, 2022
- 170% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid November 21 – December 2, 2022
- 155% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid November 10 – November 15, 2022
- 145% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid October 13 – October 25, 2022
- 145% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. September 1 – September 8, 2022
- 155% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid May 30- June 14, 2022
- 145% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid May 3-17, 2022
- 145% bonus on Lifemiles purchases. Valid January 19-27, 2022
- 175% bonus on LifeMiles purchases. Valid through December 6-13, 2021.
- 170% bonus on LifeMiles purchases. Valid through November 22-30, 2021.
- 155% bonus on LifeMiles purchases. Valid through November 9-16, 2021.
- 150% bonus on LifeMiles purchases. Valid through March 29 – April 11, 2021.
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Good Luck using the Lifemiles interface. Will show award availability, but when you actually want to book the ticket – nope. End up calling cs and… nope they don’t see any anything. IT needs to clean up this junk.
Are you sure this isn’t targeted? My wife and I are both only being offered a 165% bonus.
Yep, must be.
Targeted offer for 200% bonus if you buy at least 41k LM. 1.1 cpp
[…] Buy Avianca LifeMiles for 1.27 cents apiece which is a great price. They have a targeted ‘mystery’ bonus of 140% – 160%. The 160% bonus allows purchase of 41,000 points or more for this price. I have enough points that I’m not a buyer but some of you will find value. They often sell for under 1.4 cents so I don’t feel the need to jump, but this is a better deal than usual. […]
So many blogs just post the terms of an airline bonus. Usually posts so sparse and corporate speak they just look like ads for the airline ( which they probably are ). On the other hand frequent miler gives history, context and most of all unbiased advice about the promo. Useful for noobs and pros alike. Thank you.
LifeMiles was painful when i tried booking a flight to Toronto, it used to show 6500 miles but once i login it used to say around 200+ in fees which is on the last page of checkout.
Is anyone else unable to login to LifeMiles? When I try to login, they say they are sending a one-time password via SMS to my mobile number, but the one-time password never arrives.
same issue with me. No OTP. Is your issue resolved or did you try contacting lifemiles?
[…] and notes from around the interweb: Avianca LifeMiles selling miles with 155% bonus through July 11 so just 1.29 cents apiece. I’m not currently a buyer, as I have plenty of miles (including a […]
Hey Tim, one easy way to extend the expiration of Lifemiles is an Amex MR or Citi TYP redemption of 1k.
Thanks, Tim! What would the FM Team say about buying Lifemiles with a bonus vs. taking advantage of a transfer bonus? Like the current 15% for Amex.
Ever since the move to points.com, the timeliness of purchased points posting for use in Lifemilew accounts has gotten significantly worse. They are sometimes using the whole 72 hours thing to post the purchased points and it’s awful for customers in this era where award seats with partner-operated flights are subject to getting grabbed faster than ever.
The link from OMAAT goes to:
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You’re right, looks like the OMAAT affiliate link is broken. The link above in the post should be fixed now.
Looks like the points purchase is no longer through Avianca but through points.com. Could someone please confirm if this will be coded as airfare or a regular non-bonus category? I am guessing the later.
if so, the article can be updated to reflect that.
If points.com it is not airfare.
With LifeMiles now using points.com, this means that buying miles no longer counts as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending. OMAAT
This shows as expired but I got an email today offering a surprise bonus for purchasing lifemiles. When I clicked through to the lifemiles website, my offer was for 160% bonus. When my wife logged on to her account, the offer was for 175%! Tempting at 1.2 cents a point…