The avianca lifemiles program is one of my favorite frequent flyer programs, thanks to the solid redemption rates on Star Alliance partners, plus all the ways there are to earn miles with the program. Not only does lifemiles often have promotions on purchased miles, but the program also partners with major transferable points currencies.
We’ve just seen a new transfer bonus introduced for lifemiles, and it has the potential to be a great deal.
In this post:
Citi to lifemiles 25% transfer bonus details
Through Saturday, October 19, 2024, you can receive a 25% bonus when you transfer Citi ThankYou points to avianca lifemiles. This promotion is being offered on Citi’s end, so you should see the bonus reflected at the time that you make the transfer.
There are several great credit cards in the US that earn Citi ThankYou points. When it comes to transferring Citi points, you can expect that conversions to avianca lifemiles are typically instant.
Is earning lifemiles worth it?
Avianca is in the Star Alliance, which means you can redeem lifemiles on all Star Alliance airlines (which is what makes the program so great). Premium cabin redemptions are often quite attractively priced, with some transatlantic business class awards starting at 45,000 miles one-way. While lifemiles recently had a devaluation, there’s still lots of value to be had.
Sometimes there are promotions on redemptions, which can offer even more value. There’s also plenty of value for redeeming on United Airlines for domestic flights, which might just be the most practical use of lifemiles.
Personally I wouldn’t speculatively transfer points, but with a specific use in mind this could be a great value, whether you’re looking at traveling in first class on All Nippon Airways or Lufthansa, or are looking at traveling in business class on a countless number of airlines.
The lifemiles program doesn’t always have access to the same award availability as Star Alliance partners, for better or worse. In some cases the program doesn’t have access to partner awards that other airlines do have access to, and in other cases the inverse is true.
That’s why I always recommend doing some “dummy” award searches before acquiring miles in a program, so you can get a sense of how award availability lines up with your needs.
Bottom line
Through October 19, 2024, you can receive a 25% bonus when you transfer points from Citi ThankYou to avianca lifemiles. You should see the bonus reflected at the time that you transfer points.
This has the potential to be a good deal for Star Alliance redemptions, given all of the airline partners that lifemiles has. Personally I use lifemiles all the time for premium cabin Star Alliance redemptions, and find the program consistently offers great value. Just remember that lifemiles also sells miles directly, often at a reasonable cost, so I know some prefer to save their points for other uses, and just buy miles directly.
Do you plan on converting Citi points into lifemiles with this bonus?
@Lucky. Can such transfers be made 2-3 times during the promo period, or is it limited to one transfer only?
Can anyone comment if they are seeing drastically reduced award availability on Avianca LIFEMILES. I have recently been looking and have found zero business class award seats on many, many routes.
Yes, that has been my experience too. I noticed that in the last 2-3 months.
Plenty of availability to and from Europe. Got 4 seats in biz on Swiss from Zurich to Washington early December. Middle East is available too. Asia/Pacific is a different matter.
They just raised prices 50% or more on many routes. Junk program, garbage rates, always problems and terrible service. Don't move your points to LifeMiles.