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. This is a pretty typical promotion from the program, so if you have a short term use in mind for these miles, this offer could be worth it.
Note that nowadays lifemiles promotions are generally targeted, so different members may see different offers, and on top of that, some members may not see any offers at all.
I find lifemiles to be 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. Keep in mind that you can get even more value with a lifemiles+ subscription, and lifemiles’ credit cards offer a discount on that. Still, I always recommend pricing out awards for yourself to see if you can get outsized value.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased lifemiles
Through Friday, January 31, 2025, the avianca lifemiles program is offering a bonus on purchased miles. Different members may be targeted for different offers, though it appears the standard offer is for a bonus of up to 160%, and that’s structured as follows:
- Buy 1,000 miles, get a 120% bonus
- Buy 2,000-15,000 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
You’ll of course want to check your account to see what offer you’re targeted for.
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 a 160% bonus, 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?
The lifemiles program 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).
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?
Miles with the lifemiles program 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
The avianca lifemiles program is offering a promotion on purchased miles. Different members may be eligible for different offers, though it appears that the standard offer is for up to a 160% bonus, which is an opportunity to acquire miles for 1.27 cents each. This has the potential to represent a solid value.
Do you plan on buying lifemiles with a bonus?
I have been a LifeMiles user for years, and today it is a disaster. Avoid buying, as there is no availability—Ethiopian Airlines has nothing available, and the rest of the airlines have practically no availability either. Only Avianca has availability, but at extremely high mileage rates for their tickets. Avoid it at all costs. It went from being the best program to the worst, along with Gol's Smiles, which went through the same decline.
They...
I have been a LifeMiles user for years, and today it is a disaster. Avoid buying, as there is no availability—Ethiopian Airlines has nothing available, and the rest of the airlines have practically no availability either. Only Avianca has availability, but at extremely high mileage rates for their tickets. Avoid it at all costs. It went from being the best program to the worst, along with Gol's Smiles, which went through the same decline.
They used to be by far the best programs, and now, even though I have 636,000 miles in LifeMiles, I CANNOT USE THEM EVEN IF I WANT TO. It’s impossible! And that’s despite searching for more than 20 destinations that I could adapt to.
Sorry for using an "almost" identical comment twice, but since the subscription was mentioned here, I think it's worth it.
@Ben, lifemiles is no longer honoring the 10% miles refund for *A redemptions made by subscribers.
It's upsetting that they still advertise this benefit on the international English and Spanish websites (LM subscription in Colombia has different terms and benefits, though).
Source: Me. Last week I submitted a complaint because I didn't receive the 10%...
Sorry for using an "almost" identical comment twice, but since the subscription was mentioned here, I think it's worth it.
@Ben, lifemiles is no longer honoring the 10% miles refund for *A redemptions made by subscribers.
It's upsetting that they still advertise this benefit on the international English and Spanish websites (LM subscription in Colombia has different terms and benefits, though).
Source: Me. Last week I submitted a complaint because I didn't receive the 10% miles refund for a recent AC redemption and the reply I got was more or less like "your redemption already included a 10% discount so you won't receive a miles refund. Our terms and conditions have been updated".
Of course, I checked the websites [right after I received their response and, also, just a few seconds ago before re-publishing this comment] and nothing has been changed. Their website still says "get 10% of your miles back in all your redemptions and for all passengers. Miles back will be received up to 15 days after redemption," which won't happen.
I used to cheer AV and LM since those days when they were one and the same company. But, the lack of transparency of airlines and FT programs in general really angers me.
Do bear in mind that Avianca, for unknown reasons, are not allowing redemptions on Lufthansa or United in business class for flights departing less than three weeks ahead. Allegedly this is temporary, but it sure is inconvenient as it destroys one of the key value propositions of redemptions.