Avianca LifeMiles Changes Redemption Rates

This week, Avianca LifeMiles quietly introduced a string of award redemption price changes, affecting flights from the US to Europe and North Asia.

In this round of changes, some pricing increased, while surprisingly, some pricing decreased as well.

Let’s take a look at what these changes entail.

Avianca LifeMiles Changes Redemption Rates

For the longest time, Avianca LifeMiles hasn’t introduced changes in its award pricing, despite offering among the most favourable award pricing and generous “buy points” bonuses in the industry.

But as recently flagged by One Mile at a Time, LifeMiles has introduced a handful of changes, mostly affecting flights from the US to Europe and North Asia.

So what changed?

Based on our searches, a one-way award between the US and Europe now costs as follows:

• 35,000–39,000 LifeMiles in economy (from 30,000 LifeMiles or a 17–30% increase)
• 69,000 LifeMiles in business class (from 63,000 LifeMiles or an 10–11% increase)
• 120,000 LifeMiles in First Class (from 87,000 LifeMiles or a 38% increase)

This means a one-way United flight from Chicago (ORD) to London (LHR) now costs 39,000 LifeMiles in economy and 69,000 LifeMiles in business class.

More painfully, a one-way Lufthansa First Class flight from Boston (BOS) to Frankfurt (FRA) now costs 120,000 LifeMiles; however, it’s at least lower than the 130,000 LifeMiles figure initially reported by other websites.

Interestingly, there seem to be aberrations in this supposed US transatlantic devaluation, where award costs have remained the same or actually decreased.

For example, New York (JFK) to Zurich (ZRH) and Geneva (GVA) on Swiss in business class costs 55,000 LifeMiles and 60,000 LifeMiles, respectively, while economy costs 27,500 LifeMiles and 30,000 LifeMiles, respectively.

Furthermore, as pointed out by Frequent Miler, Newark (EWR) to London (LHR) on United costs only 22,500 LifeMiles in economy and 45,000 LifeMiles in business class.

Now, these seem to be exceptions, since based on all our searches, transatlantic flight award costs have increased. These include Newark (EWR) to Shannon (SNN) in Ireland, which is almost equidistant to the aforementioned Newark to London route.

Meanwhile, there also are devaluations on awards between the US and North Asia.

For instance, ANA First Class now costs 120,000 LifeMiles, which is up from 90,000 LifeMiles, corresponding to a 33% increase.

Thankfully, not everything is bad news, as many regions have seemingly been spared from this string of devaluations. Canada is one.

For example, a one-way flight from Toronto (YYZ) to Zurich (ZRH) on Swiss still costs 30,000 LifeMiles in economy and 63,000 miles in business class. Hopefully it remains this way.

LifeMiles Is Still a Competitive Program

While this round of devaluations is unfortunate, especially since it came without warning, the fact remains that Avianca LifeMiles is a competitive program for Star Alliance award redemptions.

For instance, transatlantic business class flights cost 60,000–70,000 points with Aeroplan or 50,000 miles (or less with Promo Rewards) with Air France KLM Flying Blue.

Plus, it helps that, as mentioned, LifeMiles offers some of the most generous “buy points” bonuses in the industry – going as high as a 170% bonus.

Previously, one popular approach for buying LifeMiles was to purchase points during a sale, and then redeem them for Lufthansa First Class, given that the award pricing was so good and the miles were so cheap.

For example, buying 87,000 LifeMiles during a 160% bonus event would cost $1,105, and now, buying 120,000 miles costs roughly $1,524 during a 160% bonus event. That’s still a great deal for a one-way flight in First Class, though it stings that it’ll cost more than it used to.

As a reminder, Avianca LifeMiles is also a transfer partner of several US credit card programs, namely:

• American Express US Membership Rewards
• Brex Rewards
• Capital One Miles
• Citi ThankYou Rewards

Recently, Cardless also launched the avianca lifemiles American Express® Card and the avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card in the US.

Conclusion

Avianca LifeMiles has devalued the pricing of most US transatlantic awards, with increases of as much as 38% for First Class seats.

While most prices have gone up, there seem to be aberrations, whereby pricing has either stayed the same or actually decreased.

Award prices have reportedly gone up to North Asia too, with ANA First Class to Japan now costing 120,000 LifeMiles from 90,000 LifeMiles previously.

Avianca LifeMiles hasn’t increased its award pricing for the longest time, so whether this is just a taste of what’s to come remains to be seen.

If there are further price movements, we’ll be sure to report here on the website.