We’ve just seen a new transfer bonus introduced when moving Amex Membership Rewards points, and it could represent a good deal.
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Transfer Amex points to Lifemiles with 15% bonus
Between June 15 and July 15, 2026, it’s possible to receive a 15% bonus when moving points from Amex Membership Rewards to Avianca Lifemiles. Note that this isn’t being offered on Amex’s end, but instead, is being offered directly by Lifemiles.
Ordinarily points transfer at a 1:1 ratio (in increments of 1,000 points), while through this promotion you’d get 1,150 Lifemiles for every 1,000 Amex Membership Rewards points transferred. The bonus miles may post in a separate transaction, but within 24 hours of the initial transfer (though usually faster than that).
We see transferable points currencies frequently offer bonuses on transfers to Lifemiles, and we’ve seen such promotions from most major transferable points currencies in the past year.
Should you transfer Amex points to Lifemiles?
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 the program, 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 use these miles.
With a specific use in mind, this could represent a great value, whether you’re looking at traveling first class on All Nippon Airways, 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.
Let me emphasize 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.
Bottom line
Through July 15, 2026, the Amex Membership Rewards program is offering a 15% bonus on points transfers to Avianca Lifemiles. If you’re looking to redeem on Star Alliance partners, there’s definitely some value to be had here.
With the 15% bonus, you can potentially get a very reasonably priced award on Avianca or one of its Star Alliance partners. As always, the challenge is actually finding award availability.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this Amex transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles?
I still utilize Life miles as a hack for Business travel. Bad as the nuances are, this is still a great value these inflation laden times.
There's been devaluations over the years (gone are the days of flying IAD-CDG one-way in Y for just 23k LM) but I'd argue that LM is still a fairly good program - if you have the patience to deal with their lousy IT and customer service. It's definitely a program that isn't for beginners. Their website straight up sucks and looking for flights is a huge PITA. No self-service options, ether. So many functions require...
There's been devaluations over the years (gone are the days of flying IAD-CDG one-way in Y for just 23k LM) but I'd argue that LM is still a fairly good program - if you have the patience to deal with their lousy IT and customer service. It's definitely a program that isn't for beginners. Their website straight up sucks and looking for flights is a huge PITA. No self-service options, ether. So many functions require calling in to their CS.
Still, I'd argue it's a fairly good program provided you live in a UA hub city.
What a joke Amex has become with partners. And If you’re gonna lean into Hilton, then do it right!