Buying miles & points strategically can represent a great value, especially for first and business class travel. The Avianca LifeMiles program has just launched its newest promotion on purchased miles, which has the potential to be a great deal.
Note that nowadays LifeMiles promotions are targeted, so different members may see different offers, and on top of that, some members may not see any offers at all.
LifeMiles is one of the most useful frequent flyer programs for redeeming miles, thanks to the ability to redeem for long haul premium cabin Star Alliance awards.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased LifeMiles
Through Friday, May 31, 2024, the Avianca LifeMiles program is offering a bonus on purchased miles. It would appear that the best version of the offer is for a bonus of up to 160%, as follows:
- Buy 1,000-15,000 miles, get a 140% bonus
- Buy 16,000-35,000 miles, get a 150% bonus
- Buy 36,000-200,000 miles, get a 160% bonus
However, it’s possible that other members will be eligible for different promotions, so you’ll want to check your account. I know in some cases members are now being targeted for different promotions at different times.
How much does it cost to buy LifeMiles?
Ordinarily you can buy Avianca LifeMiles for 3.3 cents each, before any discounts or bonuses. That means that if you purchased 200,000 LifeMiles (pre-bonus) with this offer, you’d receive a total of 520,000 LifeMiles for $6,600, which is a cost of 1.27 cents per mile.
How many LifeMiles can you buy?
LifeMiles lets members purchase up to 200,000 miles per account per calendar year, before factoring in any bonuses.
Which credit card should you buy LifeMiles with?
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.
Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review), Citi Double Cash® Card (review), or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees).
Is buying LifeMiles worth it?
For context, Avianca is in the Star Alliance, which means you can redeem LifeMiles on all Star Alliance airlines without any fuel surcharges. Really this is the core value proposition of buying LifeMiles, since this is a great way to book Star Alliance premium cabin seats at a huge discount. Check out my guide on how to redeem LifeMiles for ideas on how to redeem these miles.
With a specific use in mind, this LifeMiles promotion can be a great value, whether you’re looking at traveling first class on All Nippon Airways or Lufthansa, or are looking at traveling in business class on a countless number of airlines.
Everyone has to crunch the numbers for themselves and decide whether this makes sense or not.
Do note that in some cases LifeMiles doesn’t have access to the same award availability as Star Alliance partners, for better or worse. Sometimes LifeMiles doesn’t have access to partner awards that other programs do have access to, and other times the inverse is true.
That’s why I always recommend doing some “dummy” award searches before buying miles, so you can get a sense of how award availability lines up with your needs.
How much are LifeMiles worth?
Everyone will value mileage currencies differently, but personally I value LifeMiles at ~1.4 cents each. That’s based on the redemption values on Star Alliance partners, as there’s tons of value to be had. I tend to value miles very conservatively, so if you’re maximizing miles you should be able to get way more value than that.
Do LifeMiles expire?
LifeMiles don’t expire as long as you accrue some miles at least once every 12 months. Any mileage earning activity, including buying miles, will extend the expiration of your miles. However, redeeming miles as such doesn’t extend the expiration of your miles.
How else can you earn LifeMiles?
If you’re looking to earn LifeMiles, the good news is that there are lots of options beyond outright buying them. Specifically, Avianca LifeMiles is partners with several bank currencies, including Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Citi ThankYou, so there are lots of ways to pick up these miles.
Bottom line
LifeMiles is offering a promotion on purchased miles. Different members may be eligible for different offers, though it appears the best promotion is for a 160% bonus, which kicks in when you purchase at least 36,000 miles in one transaction. This is an opportunity to acquire miles for 1.27 cents each, which could represent a great deal. LifeMiles is a program that continues to offer considerable value.
Do you plan on buying LifeMiles with a bonus?
Hey you forgot to mention how flaky Lifemiles can be, doing a Dummy booking is all very well but makes you the Dummy when you do it again for real and get to the payment page and it crashes out. Which happens all too often on the Lifemiles site. Yes you can phone them and try to recover your award, you'd need to be, er, lucky eh
re: harry hv isnt wrong. People think US/Domestic airlines are bad...South American (and Iberia, ugh) airlines are really bad...and sketchy.