Buying miles & points strategically can represent a great value, especially for first & business class travel. The Avianca LifeMiles program has just launched its first promotion of 2024 on purchased miles. LifeMiles is 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.
Before I get into the details of this promotion, let me note that quite a bit has just changed at LifeMiles as of a few months ago, so I’m just keeping this reminder for now, for those who aren’t aware:
- LifeMiles no longer sells miles directly, but rather these purchases are now facilitated by points.com
- This means that we’ll sometimes see variable mystery bonuses on buying miles (so not all members will be eligible for the same bonuses); furthermore, there’s no longer an exclusive bonus for OMAAT readers who register
- Since mileage purchases are processed by points.com, they no longer count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending
I appreciate LifeMiles’ partnership over the years in offering OMAAT readers a special bonus. As I’ve always disclosed, I didn’t get any kickback for it, but rather I was just happy to be able to offer readers a special bonus. I wish them all the best in this new direction, and will of course continue promoting these offers, as I’m a frequent user of LifeMiles myself.
With those points out of the way, let’s get into the details of this promotion.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased LifeMiles
Through Saturday, January 27, 2024, the Avianca LifeMiles program is offering a bonus on purchased miles. It would appear that the standard bonus is for up to 170%, and you can unlock that bonus no matter how many miles you buy (so even buying 1,000 miles would qualify).
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 with this offer pre-bonus, you’d receive a total of 540,000 LifeMiles for $6,600, which is a cost of 1.22 cents per mile.
How many LifeMiles can you buy?
LifeMiles 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?
LifeMiles 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
LifeMiles is offering a promotion on purchased miles. The standard offer seems to be for a 170% bonus, which kicks in no matter how many miles you buy. This is an opportunity to acquire miles for 1.22 cents each, which could represent a great deal. LifeMiles is a program that continues to offer considerable value.
Do you plan on buying LifeMiles with a bonus?
Mine is 160%, not the 170%
LifeMiles is now a partner with the Bilt credit card, as of the beginning of the year.
Doing a dummy search may be misleading. I saw several Business Class seats on different dates in Sep 2024 from Narita, Japan to Bangkok Thailand, and try to book them. Once into the system and after input traveler's name then it came back saying error not able to process. So after a few tries with no luck I called Lifemiles customer service and was simply told those I saw on my computer are not showing...
Doing a dummy search may be misleading. I saw several Business Class seats on different dates in Sep 2024 from Narita, Japan to Bangkok Thailand, and try to book them. Once into the system and after input traveler's name then it came back saying error not able to process. So after a few tries with no luck I called Lifemiles customer service and was simply told those I saw on my computer are not showing on their system which means those flights with Business Class seats are not real or whatever they maybe. I almost want to say Lifemiles deliberately shows those seats so people will buy their miles, but I hope I am wrong.
phantom award availability. thats all
I have had a lot of luck with buying these miles and using them. I have a big family and we’ve been able to buy 3 flights for all 8 in my party in business class to Europe or back. Think I’m going to buy my 2024 allotment with this sale.
wait a week... all currently at 160% will change to 170% like last time...
As you noted, we sometimes may see varying offers. My account is showing 160%.
But for me the 160% bonus is running until Feb 9th as opposed to Jan 27
Agree, mine is also showing 160%
The 170% offer came via direct email with a special link to click on.
Are you finding that redemptions are not subject to as many glitches (incomplete booking>having to call the Callcentre) as before?
It is just a matter of learning process. But the value is huge. It is because of the difficulties of using them, it was able to keep it value very high. Unlike AC, a very good system to navigate through, and much easier, however, it gets quickly abused by some of the brokers, now you can see a lot of airlines delisted or stopped booking from AC.
I use it for simple straight forward redemptions, not the best value but still better usually than paying cash. Try anything fancy here and you’ll be disappointed. My recommendation is to find an award you’d like and buy the miles… and pray that it doesn’t error out when you checkout… lol