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Booking flights well in advance is generally a good idea for getting the best prices. Recently, Avianca started offering an early reservation discount for LifeMiles members booking Avianca-operated flights well in advance. In the short time since we originally covered the promotion, Avianca has hard-coded the discount into its booking calendar. The early bird discount is now permanent.
Here's what you need to know about Avianca's advance booking discounts on LifeMiles redemptions.
Related: Avianca LifeMiles Program: Overview and Sweet Spots
Book Early To Save More
If you plan on redeeming LifeMiles for an Avianca-operated flight well in the future, you're in luck. With the early bird discount, flights booked well in advance could qualify for up to 30% in extra savings, depending on the route.
Avianca has shared a chart outlining potential savings based on the number of days in advance the booking is made, and you can view it below.
On its booking matrix, Avianca has introduced colored bars to indicate three tiers of LifeMiles required. Light blue is the area of interest with the early bird discount. Flights booked well in advance feature “early mileage” or more favorable award prices. The number of “days in advance” corresponds with the chart above. The number varies between 30 and 75 days.
Avianca's calendar view makes it simple to see which flights qualify. Here's an example of flights between Miami (MIA) and Bogotá (BOG) between September and November 2023. First up, September:
Notice only dark gray (last seats) and dark blue (regular mileage) awards are available, but moving into October starts to show some light blue (early mileage).
And now we see lots of dates with early mileage discounts in November, given that the dates are 45 or more days in the future.
Typical LifeMiles Discounts
We compared the flight prices for days featuring early and regular mileage to dive into the potential savings. Looking at the same Miami to Bogotá route, here are the September 9 and November 15 award fares to illustrate the difference.
September 9, 2023 flights start at 6,900 LifeMiles:
On November 15, 2023, flights start at 5,600 LifeMiles:
By booking your award flight between Miami and Bogotá route more than 45 days in advance, you're looking at a discount of roughly 19%. Club LifeMiles and regular LifeMiles members share about the same savings — with Club members enjoying a cheaper base award fare.
All Avianca-operated routes feature discounts, with some offering more significant savings than others. For comparison, booking a flight between San José, Costa Rica (SJO) and Bogotá (BOG) more than 45 days in advance could provide a discount of 20% (regular members) or 19% (Club LifeMiles members).
Ultimately, by booking well in advance, you should retain a reasonable amount of LifeMiles.
The Club LifeMiles program
Avianca's Club LifeMiles program is a monthly subscription plan to purchase LifeMiles. Depending on your selected tier, you could pay between $12 and $99 monthly and receive between 7,200 and 84,000 LifeMiles annually.
Avianca recently revamped this program. When covering the changes, we noted that subscribing to Club LifeMiles makes the most sense if you're an Avianca co-branded credit card holder. You must reside in one of the select markets offering these cards to take complete advantage of the savings.
However, the early mileage program isn't dependent on being a Club LifeMiles subscriber. Members and non-members enjoy roughly the same discount by booking flights well in advance.
Discount-Eligible Airlines
Avianca has specified that LifeMiles must be redeemed on the following airlines to be eligible for the advance booking discounts:
- Aerovías del Continente Americano
- S.A. Avianca
- Avianca Costa Rica
- Taca International Airlines
- Avianca – Ecuador
These are all sub-brands of Avianca acquired over time, plus Avianca's main brands. Unfortunately, you won't be able to apply this discount to Star Alliance airlines or any of Avianca's other LifeMiles partners.
Earning LifeMiles
If you're seeking to take advantage of Avianca's early bird discount or grow your LifeMiles balance in general, there are many ways to earn them. Avianca partners with a handful of transferable currencies
Other ways to earn LifeMiles include buying them with bonus whenever they're on sale or subscribing to the Club LifeMiles program.
Bottom Line
Avianca offers cheaper award fares for flights booked more than 30 days in advance. This early bird discount is only for Avianca-operated flights but can offer substantial savings, depending on the route you're flying. The ability to save LifeMiles by booking early is excellent news, as this award currency can be extremely valuable. This is a great feature, and we're glad Avianca has installed it permanently.
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