Star Alliance member Avianca LifeMiles is selling miles with up to a 125% bonus.
- They bonus miles purchases very frequently
- Sometimes selling miles for even less than the 1.47 cents apiece under this deal, for instance at the end of November they were selling at 1.35 miles apiece.
Here’s the bonus table:
Buying 101,000 miles gets you 227,250 at a cost of $3333 or 1.47 cents per mile.
LifeMiles will expire after just 12 months of inactivity instead of 24 and only accrual – not redemption – will extend the life of miles, effective April 15.
Still LifeMiles is a fantastic Star Alliance program.
- No fuel surcharges
- Reasonable award chart
Not all connections are bookable, you’re pretty much limited to the options you see on their redemption website (which is serviceable) and telephone customer service is challenging (e-mail is better). I’m a fan of the program and have a few hundred thousand miles there myself.
Avianca LifeMiles is a Citibank transfer partner.
also an SPG transfer partner…
@ivk – I hope you wouldn’t use your SPG points this way!
Does transferring Citibank points count as accrual and extend mileage expiry?
Your (new to LifeMiles) readers will want to know that although the cost of the miles is very good, there are also some caveats to the program.
–Although vacancy in coach is readily available, many Business and First Class Awards aren’t as plentiful as with partner programs. For example, *A partner South African Airways does not allow any of its awards to be available on the LifeMiles site. Nor is Swiss First, only Business.
–Award travel redemption availability can be iffy and harder to obtain than going directly through the partners themselves.
–Dealing with the LifeMiles customer service center can be difficult, as the majority of representatives speak only Spanish. However, if using the call center (English) in the USA during daytime hours the calls are diverted to a center in El Salvador where the bilingual agents have a decent command of English.
I was recently able to book 2 Biz class award seats on Swiss from Miami to Zurich, Zurich to Joburg, and return for 2 adults, 9 months in advancd. However, I am retired and have a great deal of flexibility in dates, departure cities, connections, etc. I had a 2 month window to play with for travel options, and I am not sure others have the same freedom of choice.