Avianca puts on frequent promotions for buying LifeMiles from the loyalty program. In some cases, buying points during sales can represent a great deal, although it’s important to have an immediate plan for how to use them.
This time, Avianca is selling LifeMiles with up to a 160% bonus, which can be a great way to score premium cabin flights with Star Alliance airlines at a steep discount. While the program recently saw a devaluation, there’s still plenty of value to be found.
You have until November 19, 2024 to take advantage of the deal if it works in your favour.
Buy Avianca LifeMiles with a 160% Bonus
From now until November 19, 2024, Avianca is offering a bonus of up to 160% on purchased LifeMiles. Different accounts have been targeted with different offers, so be sure to check yours to see what’s available to you.
This time, you’ll receive a higher bonus as you purchase more LifeMiles, which is structured as follows for the best-available offer:
- Buy 1,000 LifeMiles and get a 110% bonus
- Buy 2,000–15,000 LifeMiles and get a 130% bonus
- Buy 16,000–35,000 LifeMiles and get a 145% bonus
- Buy 36,000+ LifeMiles and get a 160% bonus
Normally, Avianca sells points at a base price of 3.3 cents per point (USD).
If you were to take advantage of the 160% bonus promotion, you’d lower the cost of acquisition down to 1.27 cents per mile (USD).
Looking back at recent offers, a 160% bonus is on par with what we have typically seen over the past year, however it is lower than the highest ever bonus of 200% which we saw in September 2024. If you have a specific use in mind, this sale can represent a great deal.
As per the terms and conditions, LifeMiles must be purchased in increments of 1,000, and the minimum purchase amount is 1,000 miles.
LifeMiles stay active as long as there’s qualifying activity in your account every 12 months. Buying LifeMiles counts as an eligible activity, but redemptions don’t.
Therefore, you’ll want to make sure that you have at least one qualifying transaction each year to protect your balance, and sales such as this can be an easy way to extend their lifespan.
How many Avianca LifeMiles can you buy?
Avianca LifeMiles members can buy up to 200,000 LifeMiles per calendar year without taking into account any bonuses. Therefore, if you were to max out this promotion, you’d end up with 520,000 LifeMiles for $6,600 (USD) with a 160% bonus.
Which credit card should you use to buy Avianca LifeMiles?
Not too long ago, Avianca moved from selling points directly from its website to selling them through Points.com. Therefore, your purchase will no longer be coded as an airline purchase, and it’s not eligible for any category multipliers.
The best credit card to use will be one on which you’re working to meet a minimum spending requirement, or one with a higher baseline earning rate.
Keep in mind that LifeMiles are sold in US dollars. This means that if you use a Canadian-issued credit card, you’ll want to use one with no foreign transaction fees to avoid being charged a 2.5% fee.
Your best bet could be to use the Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card or the Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card, which come with no foreign transaction fees and earn Scene+ points.
- Earn 25,000 Scene+ points upon spending $1,000 in the first three months
- Earn an additional 10,000 Scene+ points upon spending $40,000 in the first year
- Earn 2x Scene+ points on groceries, dining, entertainment, and transit
- Plus, earn 3x Scene+ points on grocery purchases at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, and FreshCo
- Visa Airport Companion membership with six free lounge visits per year
- Redeem points for statement credit for any travel expense
- Minimum income: $60,000 personal or $100,000 household
- Annual fee: $150
When Should You Buy LifeMiles?
Avianca is a Star Alliance airline, which means that you can redeem LifeMiles for flights with Avianca and other Star Alliance carriers. Fortunately, it’s one of the better programs when it comes to pricing for partner awards, though it’s also worth noting that the program recently went through a devaluation for routes from US–Europe.
Buying LifeMiles during a sale such as this can make sense in a handful of situations, as is the case for most points sales.
For example, if you’re short by a few miles for an upcoming redemption, you can simply top up your account by purchasing miles, which are then added to your account instantly.
With enough LifeMiles available for a redemption, you can then proceed with the booking as per usual.
In other cases, you may be able to score a flight in a premium cabin at a significant discount over paying cash for a flight. As long as you’re redeeming your points at a greater value than what you paid to acquire them, you’ll come out ahead.
LifeMiles has competitive award pricing for many transatlantic and transpacific routes with Star Alliance airlines, and is one of the best North American loyalty programs within the alliance. The pricing is better than that of United MileagePlus, and is similar to what you might find with Air Canada Aeroplan, and sometimes better.
For example, a one-way flight in business class for most routes between the United States and Europe costs 69,000 LifeMiles, plus a very modest amount of taxes and fees.
During this promotion, buying 69,000 LifeMiles costs around $957 (USD), which is a great deal for a business class flight across the Atlantic, and surely much less expensive than the cash price for the same flight.
Fortunately, the recent devaluation doesn’t seem to apply to flights between Canada and Europe, which have retained the “old” pricing of 63,000 miles in business class.
Buying 63,000 LifeMiles during this sale costs just $858 (USD), which is a great price for a one-way flight to Europe in business class.
One of the best new sweet spots with LifeMiles is to fly between Newark (EWR) and London (LHR), which costs just 45,000 miles in United Polaris business class.
For a round-trip booking for two, buying 180,000 miles with a 160% bonus would cost around $2,310 (USD), which is phenomenal deal (assuming you can find award availability).
The award availability on LifeMiles isn’t always the same as what you might see in other programs. For example, you might find an award seat available on Aeroplan that isn’t available on LifeMiles; however, you may also find something available on LifeMiles that isn’t available with other programs.
Just be sure to locate the flight you’d like to book before proceeding with a points purchase. This way, you’ll be almost certain to get what you want at a steep discount, and won’t wind up being disappointed.
Other Ways to Earn Avianca LifeMiles
Before jumping on this bonus, it’s important to note that there are other methods to acquire LifeMiles, especially if you have access to US credit cards.
LifeMiles is a 1:1 transfer partner for the following US-based points programs:
By taking advantage of a welcome bonus and then transferring the points to LifeMiles, you’re effectively “buying” LifeMiles for whatever the annual fee is for the credit card. This tends to be the cheapest way to acquire points.
We’ve also seen transfer bonuses from the above programs to LifeMiles, usually within the range of 15–25%.
Marriott Bonvoy points can also be converted to Avianca LifeMiles at a ratio of 3 Bonvoy points = 1 LifeMile. Unfortunately, with LifeMiles, you won’t get a bonus 5,000 miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred, as you would with many other airlines.
This makes it less favourable, so you should only convert your Marriott Bonvoy points to LifeMiles when you need a top-up on a planned redemption without any other options at your disposal. Otherwise, you should save your Bonvoy points for aspirational hotel and resort stays.
Conclusion
Avianca is currently offering up to a 160% bonus on purchased LifeMiles, with different accounts being targeted with different bonuses. If you can find transatlantic or transpacific award availability on Star Alliance airlines, buying LifeMiles can be a great way to score the flight at a discount versus just paying cash.
LifeMiles is also a transfer partner of American Express US Membership Rewards, Brex Rewards, Capital One Miles, and Citi ThankYou Rewards. However, if you don’t have access to those programs, you may want to consider this sale, as long as you have a specific redemption in mind.
If you’re interested in taking advantage of the promotion, act soon, since it’s live until November 19, 2024.