How To Maximize Value Redeeming LifeMiles

I often write about LifeMiles’ promotions on purchased miles, and other opportunities to earn LifeMiles. While I talk about how best to redeem them, I generally do so pretty vaguely.

In this post I wanted to share where I see the value in the LifeMiles program — how do I earn LifeMiles, when do I choose to redeem LifeMiles rather than other Star Alliance miles, how do I do the math on that, etc.

Best ways to earn LifeMiles

There are quite a few ways to earn Avianca LifeMiles.

First of all, LifeMiles frequently has promotions on purchased miles. For example, one such promotion is expiring later today, as you can buy LifeMiles with a 140% bonus (see this post for all the details on that, as registration is required).

That’s not the only way to earn LifeMiles, though:

• LifeMiles is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards
• LifeMiles is transfer partners with Capital One
• LifeMiles is transfer partners with Citi ThankYou
• LifeMiles has co-branded credit cards with good sign-up bonuses

I primarily earn LifeMiles by buying them directly, though I supplement redemptions by transferring points from Amex and Citi.

LifeMiles is the frequent flyer program of Avianca

Important things to understand about LifeMiles

Before talking specifically about how I redeem LifeMiles, I wanted to talk about some aspects of LifeMiles that are important to understand before buying any miles, both for better and worse.

There are no carrier imposed surcharges

LifeMiles doesn’t have carrier imposed surcharges for travel on any partners, which is fantastic. For example, otherwise Air Canada’s Aeroplan program is one of my favorite Star Alliance programs, but they have outrageous surcharges for travel on Air Canada and some partner airlines.

For example, want to redeem Aeroplan miles for a one-way business class ticket from the US to Germany on Lufthansa? Expect to pay pay $800 in addition to the taxes and mileage requirement. Ouch.

Pay no surcharges through LifeMiles, even on Lufthansa

LifeMiles isn’t for complicated itineraries

If you’re looking to book a complicated itinerary with many stops, or are interested in stopovers, the LifeMiles program isn’t for you.

I don’t think I’ve ever booked a LifeMiles award ticket that included travel on more than two segments on a one-way itinerary.

Some report having luck emailing LifeMiles to ticket reservations, but that seems mighty complicated, and my goal with this advice is to be practical.

For me LifeMiles is a program that’s about simple, point-to-point travel.

Save complicated itineraries for other Star Alliance programs

Buy miles at ticketing at a reasonable cost

One thing that makes LifeMiles unique is that they let you buy up to 60% of the miles needed for a ticket at the time of booking.

The cost per mile doing this varies anywhere from 1.5 cents to 3.3, though if you buy around 40-60% of the miles needed at the time of booking, you can expect to pay 1.5 cents per mile.

That’s marginally higher than you’ll pay if you outright buy miles during the best promotions, but it’s still a good option.

You can buy LifeMiles at the time of booking

LifeMiles sometimes has access to different award availability

There are some discrepancies between the award space that LifeMiles has access to and the award space that other Star Alliance airlines have access to. Truth be told, I’ve found this to be less of an issue in the past few months than before.

Some people report this being a huge issue, but I can think of very few discrepancies I’ve seen in the past few months of all the searches I’ve done. Let me again emphasize that I use LifeMiles for straightforward itineraries.

There was actually a situation last year where an itinerary had award availability through LifeMiles but not through Aeroplan, due to the way that they display married segments. So it can sometimes even work in your favor.

This is something to be aware of and something to do your own research on, but it’s not something I consider to be a major downside to the program anymore.

Sometimes there may be availability discrepancies with LifeMiles

How to decide whether to redeem LifeMiles

I very much view miles as a currency, as I have a value I attach to each program. I have lots of transferable points between various currencies, but I sometimes still find myself buying and redeeming LifeMiles.

Why? Well, during a promotion I view my acquisition cost of LifeMiles as being around 1.25 cents:

• When there’s a 140% bonus on purchased miles, you can acquire them for 1.375 cents each
• If you pay with The Platinum Card® from American Express you earn 5x points, which I value at an 8.5% return, bringing down the “real” cost per acquired mile to ~1.25 cents

Does it make sense to redeem a transferable points currency that I value at 1.7 cents per mile, when I could instead buy points for 1.25 cents each?

This is often the situation I find myself in, so in general my approach is:

• If LifeMiles and other programs are charging roughly the same number of miles, or if LifeMiles is charging fewer miles, I’ll book through LifeMiles (I factor in any carrier surcharges through other programs when doing the math)
• I compare the cost in LifeMiles to the number of transferable points I would have to transfer, so any transfer bonuses could also impact the math on that
• Typically the alternative would be transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United, or Amex Membership Rewards points or Capital One miles to Air Canada

This isn’t an exact science for me. Sometimes I just don’t want to spend cash buying miles, while other times I’m happy to conserve miles based on my current mileage balances with various programs.

Examples of my recent LifeMiles redemptions

I’m going through my email inbox here looking at some of my recent LifeMiles redemptions, and wanted to share them, along with the logic for why I chose LifeMiles over another program.

Harrisburg to Munich in Lufthansa business class

In a couple of months my mom needs to go from Harrisburg to Munich, and it worked out perfectly, because there was a one stop option, flying United to Washington, and Lufthansa to Munich. This was literally the only saver award option available that day.

I considered three options for booking this:

• 62,345 LifeMiles and no surcharges
• 70,000 MileagePlus miles and no surcharges
• 55,000 Aeroplan miles plus $800 in surcharges

LifeMiles was a no brainer.

LifeMiles is great for Lufthansa redemptions

London to Tokyo in ANA first class

I recently flew ANA’s new first class between London and Tokyo, and I considered three options for booking this:

• 115,000 LifeMiles and no surcharges
• 118,500 MileagePlus miles and no surcharges (usually 115,000, but United charges an extra 3,500 miles when booking last minute)
• 105,000 Aeroplan miles plus $72 in surcharges

The surcharges through Aeroplan were reasonable, and arguably it’s slightly better of a deal. However, I still thought I’d rather redeem 115,000 miles that I acquired at 1.25 cents each, than 105,000 Aeroplan miles that I’d need to transfer over from Amex.

ANA first class 777

London to Brussels to New York in Brussels Airlines business class

I recently flew Brussels Airlines’ A330 business class from Europe to the US, and on the surface I considered three options for booking this:

• 60,000 LifeMiles and no surcharges
• 70,000 MileagePlus miles and no surcharges
• 55,000 Aeroplan miles and no surcharges

On the surface Aeroplan was the best deal, but the reality is that Aeroplan couldn’t actually book the ticket. This was a case where married segment logic meant that one program could book it but not the other, due to the systems they use — it kept erroring out on Aeroplan’s website, while it booked without issue through LifeMiles.

Brussels Airlines business class A330

Bangkok to Milan in Thai Airways business class

Last summer I flew Thai Airways’ A350 business class from Bangkok to Milan, and I considered three options for booking this:

• 78,000 LifeMiles and no surcharges
• 100,000 MileagePlus miles plus a $75 close-in ticketing fee
• 75,000 Aeroplan miles plus $120 in surcharges

LifeMiles was once again the best value.

Thai Airways business class A350

New York to Johannesburg to Windhoek in SAA business class

Ford and I are headed to Namibia this spring, and are flying South African Airways’ A350 business class from New York to Johannesburg, before connecting to Windhoek.

I considered three options for booking this:

• 78,000 LifeMiles and no surcharges
• 80,000 MileagePlus miles and no surcharges
• 75,000 Aeroplan miles and no surcharges

While Aeroplan has a marginally lower mileage requirement, I ultimately preferred buying miles for ~$975 rather than transferring 75,000 Amex points.

South African Airways’ A350 business class

Bottom line

I’m not suggesting that LifeMiles is the very best program for every single Star Alliance redemption. There are many redemptions I book through other programs instead.

However, I’ve consistently gotten great value from the program, and am always happy to have a mileage balance with LifeMiles.

If I can pick up miles at a real cost of 1.25 cents each, and if redemption rates are roughly comparable between programs, I sure think that’s a solid alternative to transferring points from another currency.

For example, I could buy LifeMiles for 1.25 cents each, and then redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card for 1.5 cents each towards other travel purchases, and I would come out ahead (compared to transferring to United in situations where costs are comparable).

Anyway, that’s my take on the value of the LifeMiles program, so hopefully that provides some inspiration for others…