Ouch: Lifemiles Devalues Award Ticket Costs

Ouch: Lifemiles Devalues Award Ticket Costs

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The avianca lifemiles program is known for being useful for Star Alliance redemptions. Not only does lifemiles often sell miles at an attractive cost, but the program also partners with major transferable points currencies. Unfortunately the value of lifemiles has just decreased a bit, as many award costs have quietly been increased.

The lifemiles program increases award costs by up to 50%

While lifemiles no longer publishes award charts, the program does have consistent pricing between regions for travel on partner airlines, so we always have a sense of what pricing should be like. Unfortunately overnight, many award costs have increased considerably.

For example, up until now, a one-way transatlantic award (between the United States and Europe) booked through lifemiles cost 30,000 miles in economy, 63,000 miles in business class, and 87,000 miles in first class.

Those prices have now been increased to 35,000 miles in economy (a 17% increase), 70,000 miles in business class (an 11% increase), and 130,000 miles in first class (a 50% increase). This applies regardless of which partner you redeem on.

New lifemiles award redemption rates
New lifemiles award redemption rates

There are similar increases in other regions. For example, a one-way first class award between the mainland United States and North Asia used to cost 90,000 miles, and now costs 120,000 miles (a 33% increase).

New lifemiles award redemption rates

Now, there are some regions where costs haven’t gone up. For example, a one-way award between Hawaii and North Asia continues to cost 27,500 miles in economy, 48,000 miles in business class, and 66,000 miles in first class.

New lifemiles award redemption rates

My take on lifemiles award pricing changes

It goes without saying that no one likes a devaluation, so of course any and all price increases are an unfortunate development for consumers. To lifemiles’ credit, the program hasn’t had a widespread devaluation in award costs in… well, a very long time. For example, Lufthansa first class awards across the Atlantic have cost 87,000 miles one-way for as long as I can remember.

Furthermore, as you can see, the scale of the increases varies greatly:

  • Transatlantic business class awards increasing in cost from 63,000 miles to 70,000 miles doesn’t seem like that huge of an increase, and it’s still basically the best pricing you’ll find in the industry, especially with the lack of carrier imposed surcharges
  • Transatlantic first class awards increasing in cost from 87,000 miles to 130,000 miles stings a lot more, as that’s a huge percentage increase; booking Lufthansa first class with points is now a much better deal through Air Canada Aeroplan

In terms of my overall take on this devaluation, let me say that the folks behind lifemiles are savvy, and they work hard to offer value. This isn’t like Delta SkyMiles or United MileagePlus, where they don’t have to offer much value on the redemption side, because people will be loyal no matter what. Those programs make devaluations because they can, and because they want to condition people to thinking that miles in their currency are only worth X amount.

In the case of markets outside of Latin America, executives behind lifemiles know that the appeal of the program is good award pricing, so the program has to balance earning a fair profit while offering value. There are still lots of markets where lifemiles offers attractive pricing, though unfortunately Lufthansa first class awards through the program aren’t what they used to be…

Lufthansa first class awards got a lot more expensive

Bottom line

The avianca lifemiles program has just increased many award costs without notice. In some cases the changes aren’t that bad (like business class awards across the Atlantic going from 63,000 miles to 70,000 miles), while in other cases the changes sting (like first class awards across the Atlantic going from 87,000 miles to 130,000 miles).

Ultimately the miles & points game is always evolving, and the same sweet spots don’t always stay the same. The lifemiles program had the same award pricing in many markets for a long time, so I can’t say I’m surprised by a devaluation.

What do you make of this lifemiles devaluation?

Conversations (25)
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  1. Gerardo Guest

    This is pathetic. Lifemiles is in the bucket with Delta and Virgin now under "airlines that you can't trust"

  2. HP Guest

    Lufthansa economy is pricing at 39k for September?????? Seems like pricing is dynamic or they were not done with the increases yesterday.

  3. deepyarn Guest

    Sadly, the 35K biz sweet spot from JFK to Lisbon on TAP is now 65K. Glad I was able to take advantage in the past

  4. Ed A. Guest

    Last week I booked a LifeMiles ticket for 23,000 one way economy Lufthansa Washington-Munich for next May. I was surprised how cheap it was.

  5. Ted Guest

    I feel like this post has a certain level of learned helplessness on display…this is a HUGE devaluation in terms of F awards for LifeMiles.

    Personally, Business awards are where I find value and I use Aeroplan and FlyingBlue for that, but the general trend is not something that consumers should be OK with. Yes - there has been inflation in the past few years, but not 50%!

    When will the madness end?

  6. Lothar Guest

    warum finde ich immer nur max. Eco Tickets?

  7. seanp78 Gold

    Well we all know the risks of hoarding Lifemiles. This still sucks about the F redemptions. VERY annoying.

  8. 305 Guest

    Ben did you happen to get the email announcing their new cruise booking site? 5x miles per dollar is a pretty damn good earn rate, especially compared to AA cruises and others.

  9. yoloswag420 Guest

    Is the price of TPAC F flights changed @Ben?

    Your screenshot showed 120k as the new price, which was the old price.

  10. jhwptp New Member

    There was actually a better award rate for LX on some routes. Previously JFK-ZRH was 56K, now it is 55K. JFK-GVA was 63K, now it is 60K.
    Also outside of US still seems okay for now. YYZ-Europe is still 63K in J. LH on MEX-FRA is at 96K. Currently no LH aircraft with F scheduled to Canadian airports to check that further.

  11. Willem Guest

    yea ANA First/Biz increased many months ago… and you just HAD to point out Hawaii huh?!?!?

  12. Michal Guest

    While not good, if you are lifemiles plus member you get 10% back in miles, so J award ticket is back to 63k.. however F awards increase is pretty steep. Aeroplan BOS-MUC in F today is 90k points and $80 in fees.. for F Aeroplan is the way to go till they hike their awards as well

    1. ecco Diamond

      Aeroplan not very viable due to astronomical change and cancellation fees. I paid out $300CAD to cancel two flights due to change of plans.

  13. l0pez Guest

    devaluation is solely on flights to/from the US. As it is much easier to achieve LM with an american cc and endless bonus offers it somehow equalizes the costs to US travelers versus the rest of the world ;)

    Doing it silently without any announcement shows what kind of ffp Lifemiles is - at least not a very trustworthy one...

  14. Tony Guest

    "For example, a one-way first class award between the mainland United States and North Asia used to cost 90,000 miles, and now costs 120,000 miles (a 33% increase)."

    It was already 105k at least about a year ago, so the latest increase is about 14%.

  15. beyounged Guest

    After this devaluation, AV is almost always strictly worse in rates than AC. TATL is almost always bad value compared to AC except the longest routes. TPAC was already pretty mediocre value to begin with. Anything on AV metal is almost always a bad value compared to cash prices.

    1. beyounged Guest

      and you add the customer service headache and the "quirky" IT, you have very few true stellar reasons to book using AV.

    2. snic Diamond

      LifeMiles used to have absolutely abysmal IT and service, has that changed? Last time I tried to use them (maybe 6 or 7 years ago), their website was glitchy, and if you had to call in to do anything, you'd have to leave a message and they'd get back to you in a couple of days. By which point, of course, the award ticket you were interested in would probably be gone.

      I've also heard...

      LifeMiles used to have absolutely abysmal IT and service, has that changed? Last time I tried to use them (maybe 6 or 7 years ago), their website was glitchy, and if you had to call in to do anything, you'd have to leave a message and they'd get back to you in a couple of days. By which point, of course, the award ticket you were interested in would probably be gone.

      I've also heard such bad things about AC. I've decided to just stick with United for *A awards. Maybe a bit more expensive, but generally decent customer service.

    3. Apple Guest

      AC is really really good these days at least in my experience. I followed suit with what Ben did in booking a multi-leg around the world, and it was all done and confirmed in 20 minutes. No hold time, nothing.

    4. Anna Guest

      When AC works it's fine.
      It's when it doesn't you're left to fend for yourself.
      Not worth the risks. Even if half the partners weren't blocked.

      Good luck your first schedule change.

    5. Ricky Guest

      LifeMiles customer service is still abysmal. Just yesterday I had to call their customer service regarding my existing award ticket on Turkish Airlines using Lifemiles and the Lifemiles agent transferred me over to operational changes with an automated menu that asked me to enter a phone number to continue on Whatsapp! With no other option, I did just that and after some back-and-forth where I was providing some info (automated replies on the part of...

      LifeMiles customer service is still abysmal. Just yesterday I had to call their customer service regarding my existing award ticket on Turkish Airlines using Lifemiles and the Lifemiles agent transferred me over to operational changes with an automated menu that asked me to enter a phone number to continue on Whatsapp! With no other option, I did just that and after some back-and-forth where I was providing some info (automated replies on the part of Avianca), it ended up telling me that I needed to call customer service for help with partner flights! I called again but this time I chose the option for new tickets in order to get a human being.

    6. Andrew Guest

      I would say... the mixed itineraries are probably good values in some cases. Not sure if anyone's played around with it, but adding a long economy leg to a first class, transatlantic, might still make it a winner.

    7. Bob Guest

      AC is next.
      Give it a couple months.

      And don't forget AC blocks half the partners, and has huge cancellation/change fees.

    8. seanp78 Gold

      I agree AC is next. Book book book!

    9. Chris Guest

      AC is useless to the West coast

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Ted Guest

I feel like this post has a certain level of learned helplessness on display…this is a HUGE devaluation in terms of F awards for LifeMiles. Personally, Business awards are where I find value and I use Aeroplan and FlyingBlue for that, but the general trend is not something that consumers should be OK with. Yes - there has been inflation in the past few years, but not 50%! When will the madness end?

1
l0pez Guest

devaluation is solely on flights to/from the US. As it is much easier to achieve LM with an american cc and endless bonus offers it somehow equalizes the costs to US travelers versus the rest of the world ;) Doing it silently without any announcement shows what kind of ffp Lifemiles is - at least not a very trustworthy one...

1
beyounged Guest

and you add the customer service headache and the "quirky" IT, you have very few true stellar reasons to book using AV.

1
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