Buying miles & points strategically can represent a great value, especially for first & business class travel. The Avianca LifeMiles program has just launched its latest promotion on purchased miles, and there’s an exclusive value proposition for OMAAT readers who register.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased LifeMiles
Through Tuesday, June 14, 2022, the Avianca LifeMiles program is offering a bonus on purchased miles. While the publicly available promotion offers up to a 150% bonus, OMAAT readers who register can take advantage of a bonus of up to 155%, tiered as follows:
- Buy 1,000-20,000 miles, get a 135% bonus
- Buy 21,000-50,000 miles, get a 145% bonus
- Buy 51,000-200,000 miles, get a 155% bonus
Again, to take advantage of this exclusive offer you’ll need to first register, and then you should immediately see the improved bonus attached to your account (make sure it’s reflected at the time that you make a purchase).
For what it’s worth, I don’t get any sort of kickback from LifeMiles if you buy miles, I’m just happy to be able to give readers (and anyone else who chooses to share the link) access to a better offer.
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 with this offer pre-bonus, you’d receive a total of 510,000 LifeMiles at a cost of $6,600, which is a rate of 1.29 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?
LifeMiles processes mileage purchases directly, meaning that buying miles with the program qualifies as airfare spending. Therefore you’ll want to consider using one of the following cards for your purchase, since they offer the following bonus points for airline spending:
The Platinum Card® from American Express
American Express® Gold Card
American Express® Green Card
If you pay with The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) then you earn 5x points. I value those points at 1.7 cents each, so to me that’s the equivalent of a further 8.5% return. That means that the real cost of each mile goes down from 1.29 cents to 1.18 cents, which is an even better value (this isn’t cash in your pocket, but rather points in your “pocket” based on my valuation).
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. To give some examples of one-way award redemption rates with LifeMiles:
- US to Europe in business class costs 63,000 miles
- US to Europe in first class costs 87,000 miles
- US to Southeast Asia in business class costs 78,000 miles
- US to North Asia in first class costs 90,000 miles
Sometimes LifeMiles has promotions where redemption rates are even better than that. Check out my guide on how to redeem LifeMiles for more ideas.
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 has just launched its latest promotion on purchased miles. While the publicly available offer is for up to a 150% bonus, OMAAT readers who register can receive up to a 155% bonus. With a 155% bonus, you can acquire miles for as little as 1.29 cents each. That’s potentially a great deal, especially when you factor in the credit card rewards, which could lower the real cost even further.
This is the best offer we’ve seen from the program so far in 2022.
Do you plan on buying LifeMiles with a 155% bonus?
Can you buy miles and use those to purchase a flight for someone else (I’m not on the itinerary at all).
Yes, just purchased a ticket for my brother.
Awful availability! Check first before purchasing. I’m stuck with 80+k miles I’m just not able to find anything worth it. !
LifeMiles is just fine, until it isn't!
If everything goes to plan, good, but if things go pear-shaped, and we still live in times where that is likely, you are in for a world of pain.
LM exists in a world where its Call Centres exist in a 9-5 M-F mindset, with agents whose competance widely varies, and deal with baffling internal rules with hefty penalties for changes and cancellations.
Of course...
LifeMiles is just fine, until it isn't!
If everything goes to plan, good, but if things go pear-shaped, and we still live in times where that is likely, you are in for a world of pain.
LM exists in a world where its Call Centres exist in a 9-5 M-F mindset, with agents whose competance widely varies, and deal with baffling internal rules with hefty penalties for changes and cancellations.
Of course the further out you book, where the low-hanging fruit is, the longer you are exposed to the above.
If you are of the temperament to roll with this, then go ahead and buy, but if you are not, like most, then consider carefully what you are getting into.
South American airlines are generally crap. It's amazing how poor the travel infrastructure is over there. And how expensive it is to fly within the continent. Europe and Asia it ain't.
I’ve only done dummy searches but if I look far enough out and am flexible about routes I found some great deals. I guess I will actually have to buy some Mike’s and try to book a flight to see if it is a great deal or only looks like one
Thought I'd check some dummy dates/routes...good lawd, what a mess of a website Lifemiles is to try and search/find an award. It's just horrible.
Can't use them. Used to use them a lot. Got 160,000 of them, probably stranded. Good luck, if you buy. Definitely do what Ben suggests: test out your redemption before your buy miles. Is it actually bookable on lifemiles.com?
Hey Ben,
I don’t get it. You absolutely dislike
Lufthansa business class and are constantly discrediting it, but whenever there is a LifeMiles promotion you are showing this Lufthansa business class photo. Why not show a photo of a business class product that you like?
I suggest decaf.
How would that help?
Sadly, I'm unable to post the appropriate point flying over the head .gif.
If you're angry/agitated enough about which meaningless stock photo Ben posts on a mileage purchase post to tell him about it, your caffeine consumption may be excessive.
Or, you're just crazy. In which case, reduced caffeine isn't the answer.
@neverindoubt: …is that what your doctor or your psychic recommended you to do?
So who is the one that gets angry and agitated…?
You are a funny girl!