Avianca has another bonus available on LifeMiles purchases, this time it’s 160%. That brings the cost per mile down to 1.27 cents, right below our reasonable redemption value of 1.3 cents. At that price, buying for a specific high-value redemption could make some sense (like business class to South America for 35K each way).
In an installment of Ask Us Anything from last month, Nick and I both mentioned that LifeMiles was our most commonly-used transfer partner over the last year or so. My wife was able to do roundtrip Lufthansa Business non-stop from Seattle to Europe last year as well as some Eva Air flights. We’ve also been able to redeem for good value on regional trips. LifeMiles has some tremendous sweet spots, so this could be a good time to top up. The 160% bonus is valid from 3/14-3/39.
The Deal
- 160% Bonus on LifeMiles purchases (h/t: OMAAT)
- Direct link to offer (OMAAT affiliate link)
- Promotion is tiered according to the number of miles purchased:
- Buy 1,000-20,000 miles, get a 140% bonus
- Buy 21,000-50,000 miles, get a 150% bonus
- Buy 51,000-200,000 miles, get a 160% bonus
Key Terms
- The offer is available from Tuesday 14 March 23 to Wednesday 29 March 2023.
- This offer is exclusively for LifeMiles members who register via OMAAT’s link.
- 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 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 Newark 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.
Past Lifemiles Sales
- 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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Recently we had a bucket of LifeMiles that needed using before they expire and we really struggled to find an attractive destination with a decent redemptions. We ended up booking a flight to London, with a return from Dublin for late Aug/Sep. I’m pleased with the plans we have for a week in London and a week in the Lake District. But it was painful to use this points. I am done with LifeMiles.
a few years ago had a redemption in J class asia-europe with lifemiles. I had to make a change (Concerned about SAS labor strike) and it did cost me $200 or whatever it was…but via email it was very efficient. I have no ‘hate’.
Virgin Atlantic also has a sale going for up to 70 percent bonus. I haven’t seen anyone talk about it.
170% or 155%? You mention both.I think you forgot to change the last line in the second paragraph.
Hmmm…I see 170. Let me refresh the cache and see. Thanks for letting me know.
You buy and get stuck with the miles. They make impossible to use without calling multiple times. Scam for sure . Company Lifemiles sits in – El Salvador . Anything goes wrong you are trouble. Don’t buy it but if you buy google a couple times and see how much trouble they create to passengers.
I think the rule with them is: buy/transfer only if you have an immediate need. I wouldn’t sit on Lifemiles too long either. That said, I got an excellent redemption using LM on Asiana earlier this year.
Ymmv.
Flew round trip first class twice this year. Writing this on my return flight right now.
EWR to Lisbon is the regular 63k. It’s JFK that’s lower (34k) and only flying eastwards. I also recently got JFK to Vienna at 58k during high summer season.
I have 125,000 in my account . Could not book anywhere in business class in 10 different cities to Europe from New York.Houston,Miami . So no point in purchasing more miles for any bonus points
Where can I find this united zone map?
Is it just me or has the search engine (and points requirements) changed for the worse? I used to find normal priced itineraries, like US domestic routes on United metal, but in recent months, you have to click “to see options” and brings up itineraries with insane mileage requirements.
I think that’s just an issue of domestic saver availability on United for domestic routes…which is terrible right now. I’ve been able to find quite a bit of interesting international availability but the domestic flights have been sparse.
You could also try changing ‘Smart Search’ to ‘Star Alliance’ or to the specific airline you are checking. I have seen different results when messing around with that option. Also click ‘see other dates’ if that comes up.
I have flown lots of folks from Denver to Helena on United using Life Miles — not only is it fewer miles than United, but I don’t fly much on United anymore so I don’t even HAVE those miles to use. I had an Avianca credit card till they dropped the Banco Popular alliance a couple of months ago. Right now United doesn’t seem to be releasing any flights to partners — Lufthansa, Avianca coming up blank all summer.
Have not been able to book a flight with LifeMikes for a very long time. Total scam. The only thing worse than their terrible web site is their awful customer service.
I purchased 130,000 Life Miles 5 years ago and tried to use them for business class multiple times for trips out of San Francisco to Hawaii and Argentina/Chile. I have never found any decent itineraries. I wish I could get my money back. I feel like a sucker purchasing a thousand miles every 18 months to keep the miles alive.
I think your experience is very common. Lifemiles is not a good program for most folks.
I know this is an old comment, but saying that “Lifemiles is not a good program for most folks” seems like you’re painting with an overly broad stroke. Lifemiles is a Star Alliance airline. Star Alliance is the largest airline alliance. It won’t work for everyone, but I think that access to Star Alliance flights with no carrier imposed surcharges is good in a lot of situations.
That said, it really depends on whether or not Star Alliance generally has awards available on the routes you want. For instance, if you want to go to Hawaii from San Francisco, your *only* Star Alliance option is United, so you’re entirely at the mercy of United opening saver space to partners. They rarely ever do that in business class and since the pandemic began United has generally been poor about even making economy class flights available to partners. So I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t able to use Lifemiles for that purpose over the past couple of years.
On the other hand, in normal times, it’s very easy to find Star Alliance award space to and from Europe given that there are so many airlines and routes. For instance, less than two weeks ago, I booked four seats in United Polaris business from Brussels to Newark within a week of departure for 63K miles each.
Again, utility of the miles will vary depending on your needs, but if Star Alliance works for you needs, Lifemiles can be good. On the other hand, given the numerous opportunities to earn Amex bonuses the past couple of years, I’m not personally in the market to buy. YMMV.
The overly broad stroke is certainly well deserved. How often do you see people say a FF program is a scam? Rarely ever. But for LifeMiles, it’s a consistent theme. You can check for yourself on Flyertalk and the comments posted here.
I just booked three of us chi to zur for 63000 each. Think EU has better choices.
Completely agree. I’ve had quite a bit of success booking US-EU businees on Lufthansa over the last couple of years.
Never purchase miles unless you have a specific redemption to immediately apply them to. Miles and points can devaluate at any moment and availability can change at any time.