Update: The offer mentioned below has expired and is no longer available.
Do you have an Avianca LifeMiles account? How about a family member with one, or maybe a great friend?
With this newest offer, LifeMiles will give you a 115% bonus when transferring miles between accounts. This promotion is short-term, so if you’d like to get in on it, you’ll need to take advantage quickly.
Let’s take a look at the details.
Offer Details
Image Credit: Avianca
Avianca’s LifeMiles program allows you to transfer a maximum of 75,000 miles each year. This remains true with this promotion, though if you take advantage of the 115% bonus, you’ll be able to change those 75,000 miles into 161,250 total miles.
Unfortunately, it isn’t free to transfer miles from one member to another. LifeMiles charges 1.5 cents per mile to transfer, but with the bonus, you’ll actually be able to bring your pre-tax cost down to 1.3 cents per point. That’s below our valuation of 1.4 cents apiece, so you’re coming out slightly ahead here.
While we would never recommend generating miles without a purpose, this is a pretty good deal if you have a redemption in mind.
If you were to maximize this promotion and transfer the full 75,000 miles to another account, you’d pay $1,125 in fees in addition to $146.25 in taxes, for a total out-of-pocket cost of $1,271.25.
Keep in mind that Avianca LifeMiles transactions are coded as airfare, which means they’re eligible for bonus spend categories on your credit card. The Platinum Card® from American Express, for example, would earn 5x points per dollar on this purchase (up to $500,000 per year), netting you 6,355 Amex Membership Rewards points.
Finally, remember the promotion ends on August 31, 2022, so don’t hesitate if you want to jump on it.
Hot Tip: Read up on all the best ways to redeem Avianca LifeMiles for maximum value!
Is It Worth It?
Avianca charges just 87,000 miles for a one-way first class ticket on Lufthansa. Image Credit: Cherag Dubash
This is an interesting question. Avianca is running another promotion — also valid through August 31, 2022 — that will give you a 25% bonus when transferring Citi ThankYou Points to Avianca.
If you were to transfer 60,000 Citi ThankYou Points over to Avianca, you’ll receive 75,000 LifeMiles. You can then transfer those 75,000 miles to another member (and pay the $1,271.25 in taxes and fees) and in turn, they’ll end up with over 160,000 miles.
So, should you turn 60,000 Citi ThankYou Points into 161,250 Avianca LifeMiles?
Avianca LifeMiles is an undervalued program with quite a few sweet spots. A one-way first class ticket on Lufthansa, for example, will cost you just 87,000 miles. LifeMiles doesn’t pass along fuel surcharges, which means your out-of-pocket cost on the award ticket will be very low. The cash price for these tickets is often in excess of $13,000!
You can also snag one-way business class seats to Europe for just 63,000 miles, including United’s fantastic Polaris seats. Generating miles in this way could get you a round-trip flight with some 35,000 miles left over — not a bad deal!
Final Thoughts
This is a decent promotion if you’re looking to generate miles and have a friend on hand to help you out. It’s easy to score good deals using your LifeMiles, but if you want to take advantage of this promotion, you’ll need to do so quickly — the offer ends on August 31, 2022.
