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Few things in life are certain: death, taxes, and frequent flyer program devaluations. As One Mile at a Time uncovered earlier this morning, Avianca — without notice — increased the costs of LifeMiles award tickets by up to 50%. But it's not all bad news. We've found that Avianca also “re-valued” some awards, dropping the award price on some itineraries by up to 25%.
Here's what we know about Avianca's award chart shakeup, plus a look at what you'll pay the next time you redeem your Avianca LifeMiles.
The Bad News: Avianca Partner Award Devaluation
For all its faults, Avianca LifeMiles has had a lot going for it. An easy-to-earn mileage currency plus comparatively cheap award prices (and lack of fuel surcharges) are reasons in and of themselves to use the program. However, the latter took a hit this morning.
Without notice, Avianca made select partner awards more expensive. Thankfully, the changes aren't award chart-wide, as most of what took a turn for the worse are limited to long-haul flights originating in North America and terminating in North Asia or parts of Europe.
For example, United flights from Chicago (ORD) to London (LHR) now ring up at 39,000 miles in economy and 70,000 in business class. Had you booked yesterday, you would have paid 35,000 miles for an economy seat or 63,000 for a business class one.
Other notable increases include Avianca's elimination of one of the best business class award sweet spots to Europe. New York (JFK) to Lisbon (LIS) used to cost 35,000 LifeMiles for a business class award on TAP Air Portugal. This rate also applied to connecting itineraries on partner airlines; you'll now pay 65,000 miles to get between the two cities in a lie-flat seat.
Avianca LifeMiles has also long been one of the best ways to book Lufthansa First Class. LifeMiles doesn't impose surcharges, which made the now-former 87,000-mile rate even better. Now, you'll need 130,000 LifeMiles to book Lufthansa First Class.
And, just for good measure, ANA First Class awards from the mainland U.S. to Japan will now run you 120,000 LifeMiles.
The Good News: Avianca Made Select LifeMiles Partner Awards 25% Cheaper
Whew, that was a lot. But there's good news, you say? Yes — sort of.
Avianca didn't touch the vast majority of its partner award pricing. At least not yet. You'll still pay 6,500 LifeMiles for hundreds of short-haul United routes, and you can snag Polaris seats on ultra-long-haul flights from the U.S. to Singapore for 90,000 LifeMiles.
Until those things change, those routes (plus several others) will still rank as some of the best LifeMiles sweet spots.
Something Avianca also did was cut the cost of select LifeMiles awards by up to 25%. LifeMiles has a carveout in its unpublished partner award chart — formally known as “U.S. Region 1” to “Northern Europe” — where you'd normally pay 20,000 miles for an economy seat or 60,000 miles for a business class one. The latter just got cheaper.
Now, provided you can find availability, you'll pay 45,000 to fly United Polaris between Washington, D.C., Boston, or Newark and Northern Europe (think Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia). That's a 15,000-mile reduction!
Given how easy LifeMiles are to accrue, plus what other programs, such as United MileagePlus, charge, there's no reason to overlook this sweet spot if you're trying to get to Europe.
Final Thoughts
It's never fun to wake up to a devaluation. However, the price drop on select awards made this LifeMiles award chart shakeup a little bit better.
In typical LifeMiles fashion, something was amiss with its website. So, as we know more and are able to find availability for additional routes, we'll continue to update this post with our findings.
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