Avianca’s LifeMiles program is known for their frequent bonuses on purchased miles. Buying LifeMiles is one of the best ways to score a deal on first and business class Star Alliance tickets. While they already offer frequent bonuses on purchased miles, LifeMiles has just introduced a new way for members to acquire miles through a monthly subscription service.
Interestingly at the beginning of the month Copa’s ConnectMiles program introduced a similar offering, so it looks like LifeMiles is following their lead on this.
Through this offering you can sign up for a subscription that gets you a certain number of miles every month, and then a further bonus if you stay subscribed for an entire year. There are six different subscription plans here, ranging in cost from $10.99 to $129.99 per month. The subscription automatically renews, and you can cancel at any time (though you only receive the bonus if you stay subscribed for at least a year).
Let’s look at how many miles you’d earn over the course of a year for each of these plans:
- For $10.99 per month you can receive a total of 8,000 miles after a year (~1.65 cents per mile)
- For $19.99 per month you can receive a total of 15,000 miles after a year (~1.60 cents per mile)
- For $32.99 per month you can receive a total of 28,000 miles after a year (~1.41 cents per mile)
- For $49.99 per month you can receive a total of 42,500 miles after a year (~1.41 cents per mile)
- For $92.99 per month you can receive a total of 80,000 miles after a year (~1.39 cents per mile)
- For $129.99 per month you can receive a total of 112,000 miles after a year (~1.39 cents per mile)
Those are some pretty compelling prices for purchased miles. LifeMiles frequently sells miles with anywhere from a 125-150% bonus, which would translate to ~1.32-1.47 cents per mile (though a 150% bonus is incredibly rare). So being able to buy miles for ~1.39 cents each over the course of a year potentially represents a solid value.
As much as I appreciate the creativity of this new offering, personally I probably wouldn’t sign-up for one of these types of subscription services. That’s because I generally like to buy miles with a short term use in mind, as there’s very much a cost to holding onto miles long term. Personally I’d want for there to be a significant discount over the usual sale price in order to lock myself into a subscription service like this over the course of a year. However, I’m sure others feel differently, especially since this is basically a way to acquire miles while spreading out the purchase price over time.
(Tip of the hat to Point Me to the Plane)
Ben, this was changed. Most expensive plan now offer 112000 miles a year for 125.99 a month... 0.0135 a mile. This also extend the expiration date.
Club Premier from Aeromexico has a similar offering
Does buying miles extend their new 12 month rule to use miles? I read the credit card is the only way to extend but the card does not work a lot.
I signed up for the $32.99 per month. No good reason not to sign up, with the exception of zero availability, the broken booking engine, inevitable devaluation...
Does it mean they will stop their occasional sales they've been doing?
are they going to fix their web booking engine?
They never seem to have availability every time I look for flights. Is there a "sweet spot" I am missing?
ConnectMiles is actually taking the lead of Latam, GOL, and Azul, which have been doing this for some time nos. And lets face it. With a lot better prices /mile.
Does LifeMiles have an annual purchase limit for purchased miles and does the subscription count against it?
"... and then a further bonus if you stay subscribed for an entire year."
Ah, there's the rub. But what happens if there is a devaluation during this time? No thanks.
GOL Smiles, Azul's Todo Azul and Latam Multiplus have this sort of model as well and the biggest benefit seems not be not the miles but the additional bonuses they give on mileage purchase and transfers. I suspect Lifemiles will do the same and thus limit their most generous bonuses on purchases and transfers to subscribers. It might be the end of 150% for everyone else.
No way I'm subscribing unless they guarantee no devaluation, which they probably won't.
TAP has a different model, one I haven't yet seen covered here. You buy an annual "plan" where you get miles at the beginning and then as fixed amount each month. It's called Victoria+ and I think it's surprising good value.