I only got an email reminder about the Avianca LifeMiles 100% bonus on purchased miles that expires in a few days.
But GlobetrotterHQ received notice of a short-term 200% bonus.
You can only purchase miles through this offer by calling a call center.
Mommy Points didn’t receive the e-mail but confirmed with LifeMiles at 1-800-284-2622 that they would honor the offer for her.
I don’t love not being able to take a screen shot of the offer myself (the graphic GlobetrotterHQ received notwithstanding), but it’s a fantastic opportunity to purchase miles at about 1 cent apiece. It’s likely targeted, responses from agents may very, I would call myself but I am inflight and bans on inflight calls remain in place (for now? hah!). Some will find it worth calling, though!
When they joined Star Alliance I declared LifeMiles the most generous in the alliance. After United’s devaluation, which goes into effect February 1, that’s likely true. They are part of my “Devaluation Plan B” which is to look to international frequent flyer programs for value if and when US programs devalue further.
I don’t want to make speculative purchases, really, since they do tend to tweak the award chart with no notice. But it’s hard to imagine doing worse with miles than the price they’re offering them under this bonus offer.
The program has no fuel surcharges, offers one-way awards which are priced reasonably, and as with this offer they sell miles cheap. They also offer ‘cash and points’ which means that as long as you have 40% of the miles needed for an award you can buy the rest at the time of redemption for just over 1.5 cents apiece.
That said, their call centers are frustrating and they don’t permit “mixed cabin” redemption — so if you are redeeming a transatlantic business class award, all segments need to be in business class (including domestic US flights, and intra-Europe flights).
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Called. It is targeted.
I read that the maximum permitted miles purchased per year is 150K – does that mean I pay for 50k and get 150K or I can pay for 150K and get 450k?
Thanks for the tip!
@ sam : it’s 150K including bonus, and i’ve already hit my limit earlier so i can’t participate in this 3×1
and of course you need to be registered with them a while in advance and same day registration won’t fly..?
so if it’s targeted, should I call or not? I don’t have avianca acct yet, would that create a problem?
I am Avianca Gold and just called. They could not honor the offer since I did not receive the email. They operator did say that I could purchase at a ticket office though just not over the phone
Definitely targeted. They are now asking you to forward the 3×1 email otherwise to their address to confirm that YOU received it. Otherwise, no dice.
@patricia thanks!
If only it worked… I had no success at all.
I just called and inquired about the cancellation policy for award tickets. They said you can cancel an award ticket within 24 hours of booking. I am not sure if this is true. I also checked their website but can’t find any useful information. Any help here would be much appreciated.
I didn’t get the email and was told I did not qualify; however, they sold me 60,000 for $1200 and I got an extra 60,000. So, I paid the same 1 cent per mile as the 3×1 deal that is being targeted. You may want to ask if this is an option.
Ignore my previous post….when I asked for the total before paying, he quoted me $1800 not $1200. After 20 minutes on hold, he came back and apologized that he had first told me $1200…so no deal for me!
lol, LIFEMILES phone lines just went from 2 min wait to now over 15-30 min holds… nice.
they said i wasnt targeted and referred to email Lifemiles — and the email office replied and turned me down. boo.
Targeted offer, you have to have received their email. Long call center wait, but very friendly and helpful agent.
Targeted offer. DOUBLE check. I got an email which looks similar but is only the regular 100% bonus
they let me buy but only 20,000..I wanted to buy 50,000. Anyone who bought were you limited as well?
The purchase limit is 20,000 (for 60K haul) and the wait times are horrid now.