LifeMiles offers miles cheap so frequently that they’re effectively the unofficial consolidator for Star Alliance airline distressed inventory, you buy seats cheap that other airlines aren’t going to sell (and so are offering them as awards) by buying miles from LifeMiles.

They do this all the time, and it seems to make even more sense when passengers are mostly grounded – it generates cash, while redemptions (and so expenses related to the miles purchase revenue) may not come until later.

LifeMiles Selling Miles For 1.2 Cents Apiece Through August 31

>125% bonus on transferred Avianca LifeMiles lets you buy miles at 1.2 cents apiece through August 31.

The cost to transfer miles is 1.5 cents apiece. You can transfer up to 75,000 miles per year. The recipient gets the miles you transfer plus 125% ore. So for example transferring 75,000 miles costs $1125, and the recipient gets 168,750 miles in the account you transfer to.

LifeMiles Are Valuable

Star Alliance frequent flyer program Avianca LifeMiles is one of my favorites. They offer domestic US flights from just 3500 miles, and transatlantic awards for as little as 13,500 miles. You can even save miles on a premium cabin award by adding a segment in a lower class of service.

They’re a transfer partner of Citi, American Express, and Capital One so you can combine points into a LifeMiles account, and you can earn their points quickly with their credit card as well.

You can fly business class to Europe for 63,000 miles each way or Southeast Asia for 78,000. And that’s before special deals or cutting the cost with lower-cabin connecting flights.

Is It Safe To Buy LifeMiles?

Avianca declared bankruptcy. My guess is the airline survives. LifeMiles is a separate company, which is not in bankruptcy.

In 2015 Avianca sold 30% of its frequent flyer program LifeMiles for US$343.7 million. However the value of miles in the LifeMiles frequent flyer program is intimately tied to the health of its associated airline.

Avianca is an Airline — and Not Just a Frequent Flyer Program That Sells Partner Seats Cheap

It’s through Avianca that LifeMiles has access to Star Alliance award redemptions. When Jet Airways collapsed, the separate JetPrivilege program had little to offer members though it has valiantly rebranded as InterMiles.

I’ve warned against buying LifeMiles because of the risk that the miles would become worth less (not worthless) as a result of failure of the airline. Partner airline redemptions aren’t a hedge against bankruptcy, although there’s some chance if LifeMiles survives while Avianca does not, that awards issued on Avianca ticket stock will still be honored to the extent that LifeMiles is able to pay for them.

The advice with LifeMiles – which has a good award chart, no fuel surcharges, and sells miles cheap – has long been to buy what you need to use right away, not to invest in the program long term.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy does not mean an end to the associated airline. It means that existing equity and unsecured creditors take a haircut and there’s an opportunity to recapitalize the carrier. As long as the airline continues to exist and remains a member of Star Alliance with other members accepting its tickets then LifeMiles retain their value.