Buying miles & points strategically can represent a great value, especially for first and business class travel. The avianca lifemiles program has just launched its newest promotion on purchased miles, which is the best promotion I ever recall seeing from the program.
Note that nowadays lifemiles promotions are generally targeted, so different members may see different offers, and on top of that, some members may not see any offers at all.
I find this to be one of the most useful frequent flyer programs for redeeming miles, thanks to the ability to redeem for long haul premium cabin Star Alliance awards. Keep in mind that you can get even more value with a lifemiles+ subscription, and lifemiles’ credit cards offer a discount on that.
However, lifemiles did recently devalue some redemptions, so that’s worth keeping in mind, and I recommend pricing out awards for yourself to see if you can get outsized value.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased lifemiles
Through Monday, September 30, 2024, the avianca lifemiles program is offering a bonus on purchased miles. Different members may be targeted for different offers, and the best promotion I see on any account I manage is for a bonus of up to 200%, structured as follows:
- Buy 1,000 miles, get a 120% bonus
- Buy 2,000-20,000 miles, get a 140% bonus
- Buy 21,000-40,000 miles, get a 160% bonus
- Buy 41,000-200,000 miles, get a 200% bonus
You’ll of course want to check your account to see what offer you’re targeted for.
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 (pre-bonus) with this offer, you’d receive a total of 600,000 lifemiles for $6,600, which is a cost of 1.1 cents per mile.
How many lifemiles can you buy?
The lifemiles program 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?
With lifemiles now using points.com, this means that buying miles no longer counts as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.
Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review), Citi Double Cash® Card (review), or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees).
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. Check out my guide on how to redeem lifemiles for ideas on how to redeem these miles.
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?
Miles with the lifemiles program 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
The avianca lifemiles program is offering a promotion on purchased miles. Different members may be eligible for different offers, though it appears the best promotion is for a 200% bonus, which kicks in when you purchase at least 41,000 miles in one transaction. This is an opportunity to acquire miles for 1.1 cents each. This is the lowest cost I ever recall seeing on buying lifemiles, so this is a phenomenal opportunity, with the right use in mind.
Do you plan on buying lifemiles with a bonus?
BEN
PLEASE give us an update on this offer.
It doesnt seem like 200% is real.
Can you confirm with Lifemiles team ?
Plenty of people in the comments, including myself, have confirmed having it. Feels pretty "real".
Same here. Not seeing 200%
this is annoying. only getting 150%.
Yeah - only getting 150% not 200%.
@gavinmac,
My wife's with no activity for years did not get the offer. Mine (frequent buyer) either.
Only 150%
Come on lifemiles do better!
Only got 150% offer. Maybe because I'm a frequent buyer of their miles. Wife got 200% offer.
I buy miles once a year or so and my mom has bought miles only once, ever. We both got the 150% offer :(
2 accounts both top out at 150%. I also have trouble finding J flights, but would have bought some to extend the validity of what I still have.
Tried five different routes Europe and Asia, no peak dates. Zero award availability except in coach. Given the quick expiry reinforces decision of hard pass
It is not best ever. I do remeber sale was either 2020 or 2021 for 200%
LifeMiles website search is showing ZERO availability for me from YVR on any routes on any dates I tried. Calendar says it's available, but when I click through, it says Not Available. I tried on some routes where other programs like United or Air Canada shows saver award availability - nothing via LifeMiles. I am sitting on a bunch of LifeMiles forced to buy more every few months to keep them from expiring, with no way to use them.
If Seats.aero still had access to LM, I'd buy, even at 150%. I just don't have the patience anymore to search through one route, one day at a time availability. I never find the calendar feature to work accurately. I've acquired many tickets via LM through 2021 - Y, J, and F, but not so much anymore.
Also 150%. I probably would have bought some if it was 200%
I mostly just use it for domestic flights from US to Canada for 6500 each. 13k + 120 usd for RT ticket when tickets are 600 usd during busy times. Interesting enough for Air Canada legs, you're allowed to pick seats for free while even Air Canada awards doesn't let you pick seats for free.
Guess I'll just stick with transferring my capital one miles since i can't find any other use for it.
Only 150% bonus on two accounts.
My issue is availability. I find it as easy to find $1600 J tickets to Europe as easy as it is to find J award availability. So if the routes/ availability match up for a user it can be valuable but finding more and more Just sitting on points that I need to manage and watch out that they don't expire. Unfortunately I am not a traveler who can just gamble on a 1 week...
My issue is availability. I find it as easy to find $1600 J tickets to Europe as easy as it is to find J award availability. So if the routes/ availability match up for a user it can be valuable but finding more and more Just sitting on points that I need to manage and watch out that they don't expire. Unfortunately I am not a traveler who can just gamble on a 1 week out flight opening up and then needing to route through Asia and South America to get home from Europe. Sitting on several million miles that I constantly worry about expiring.
Have 200% but cant find a single flight thats useful to me in J. Could offer me 500% and still not point buying if can't book J cabins.
I manage 5 LifeMiles accounts. None displays any Bonus. Cleared cookies, used VPN, nothing. Straight purchase $3,300 for 100k, right through to the payment page.
I did receive a promo from LifeMiles on "Buy 1 Mile Get 2 Free" yesterday afternoon. I have the account for a while but never earned or bought any miles. I have my reasons to be hesitant to spend money on them. I have a few days to consider, but given the devaluation recently and at times difficult to obtain reward ticket while I have had good experiences with AC recently, I may stay away from LifeMiles.
Any chance I could take over your account? ;)
Same as everyone else, i only see 150% promo, nothing about 200%.
The issue is availability great value but is any award I want actually bookable. This is a deal for someone with extreme flexibility for travel and close in booking. Would love to use LifeMiles for United flights which are rare to find for the destinations I want to travel to.
There is only 150% if I click on it
Nowhere 200%
Wherein should find 200%?
Good luck getting ANA award tickets with LifeMiles. Haven't seen them release seats to LM in years.
In May, Seats.aero alerted me to ANA F availability HND-JFK, two weeks ahead. I found it on LifeMiles, added a Y segment from BKK and Blamo I was ANA F for under 90k LifeMiles. I agree it's not like the old days but "haven't seen in years" might mislead other readers if I didn't tell my contrasting story.
I scored two first-class tickets on ANA from ORD to HND this November using LifeMiles, which I booked last fall. Today, I got an email from the airline announcing an aircraft change, and now we’re seated in their amazing hard product, THE Suite! Exciting upgrade!
They are selling them cheaper because they are now worth less following their no-notice devaluation
Ben, do YOU plan on buying at this rate?
given the recent life miles devaluation combined with their diminishing premium cabin availability I find it really hard to get any value out of life miles.
Does not help that seats.aero can no longer show availability / set alerts.
Awardtool still shows availability/alerts for AV. The premium cabin availability has been cut off by the partners as a rule. in Random searches for Feb-Apr 25 I found tons of availability on AV to Europe in J for 69K miles + ~$30-50. Not as good as it used to be but considering UA charges 80-88K for those flights and AV miles are worth less as a currency it still works out to paying $800 for...
Awardtool still shows availability/alerts for AV. The premium cabin availability has been cut off by the partners as a rule. in Random searches for Feb-Apr 25 I found tons of availability on AV to Europe in J for 69K miles + ~$30-50. Not as good as it used to be but considering UA charges 80-88K for those flights and AV miles are worth less as a currency it still works out to paying $800 for a (semi) refundable 1 way ticket to EU in J on UA/LH/LX.
I know that it is hard for a lot of people who have been in this game for a while to adjust to - Flights just cost more and with more people playing, there is just less availability.
Offered 150%. Will leave it
I feel like the value of lifemiles has plummeted, availability is few and far between.
I have got the 200% target bonus, i don't have any travel plans until mid next year, would it still make sense to buy this speculatively?
I would not buy speculatively. Lifemiles can be good value at times, but availability is not always there. I would only buy if you have a redemption in mind and confirmed availability.
Also 150% for me
I actually got 200% - Wow. Don't know how many I will pull the trigger on. At least the 41K I guess.
Only 150% for me :'(
Same here (2 accounts , both - 150% bonus only )
Not seeing this for myself, 150% only sadly
Me too. 150%
150% for me too.
Spent this evening doing 100+ dummy bookings for trips I am currently planning. No availability. Nothing close :(
Me 3 at 150%
also three accounts for my family, all at 150%, are the 200% for valued users or is it just random?