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Now through July 31, 2025, you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Avianca LifeMiles with a 15% bonus. This transfer bonus is being offered directly by LifeMiles, so you won't see it when logging into your Amex account.
Considering LifeMiles already offers some of the best redemption rates for Star Alliance award bookings, this presents an opportunity to stretch your Membership Rewards points even further.
Transfer as few as 9k Amex points to get a domestic United award, 48k Amex points to fly business class to Europe, or take off for Japan in ANA first class for 140k Amex points. And, since LifeMiles restored Lufthansa award availability, you can book Lufthansa first class between North America and Europe for 112k Amex points each way.
Here's a closer look at this deal and some great uses of your LifeMiles to consider.
Shout out to Upgraded Points for catching this poorly advertised promotion.
Page Contents
15% LifeMiles Transfer Bonus Key Terms
- Transfer Amex Membership Rewards to Avianca LifeMiles and receive a 15% bonus miles. Here's how to transfer Amex points.
- This bonus is available for point conversions initiated by July 31, 2025.
- Points conversions are non-reversible/non-refundable.
- Bonus is offered by LifeMiles directly, so you won't see this bonus listed on Amex's website.
- Minimum transfer is 1,000 points.
- Amex caps transfers at 750,000 points.
- Bonus points will deposit in your account within 24 hours of the transfer.
- Terms and conditions are available here.
Avianca LifeMiles: The Good and the Bad
While a transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles isn’t uncommon, it's still exciting since it opens the door to some outstanding redemption value. That is, of course, if you’re willing to deal with LifeMiles in the first place.
Put bluntly, many have a love/hate relationship with LifeMiles. On the one hand, as a part of Star Alliance, it enables award bookings with a diverse set of LifeMiles partners, including ANA, United, and Lufthansa. Even better, LifeMiles offers some of the best redemption rates available.
On the other hand, the program can be frustrating to deal with — from award availability outages to inconsistent award search results. As a result, many award travelers are reluctant to book with LifeMiles unless they’ve found a particularly fantastic redemption.
Bottom line: If you need to make a Star Alliance award booking, you should absolutely check availability with LifeMiles. With few exceptions, if there’s availability, LifeMiles will provide the best redemption rate.
Lucrative LifeMiles Redemption Opportunities
U.S. domestic flights on United
One of the places that LifeMiles shines is in simple, domestic economy redemptions. The LifeMiles award chart carves up the U.S. into several confusing regions. Rather than trying to learn this award chart, just check the LifeMiles mileage price anytime you need to fly domestically.
Nonstop United award flights start at just 10,000 LifeMiles each way. During this LifeMiles transfer bonus, you'll transfer just 9k Amex points to book these awards. Sexy? No. Practical? Sure.
U.S. to Europe in SWISS business class
One of the most consistently available LifeMiles sweet spots is for Star Alliance business class between the northeast U.S. and Europe. With Avianca, for example, you can fly SWISS between New York and Zurich for as few as 55,000 LifeMiles plus taxes and fees.
With a 15% bonus, Amex cardholders can book this business class award by transferring just 48k Amex points. This transfer bonus makes this much less expensive than Aeroplan’s 60k business-class award rate — one of our favorite business-class redemptions to Europe.
U.S. to Asia in ANA First Class
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is one of the flag carriers of Japan. It’s well known for its incredible onboard soft product (customer service, dining, etc.), particularly in premium cabins.
Flying ANA first class from the United States to Japan costs 160,000 LifeMiles. With a 15% bonus, it’s possible to book this once-in-a-lifetime experience using 140k Membership Rewards.
Fly Lufthansa First Class
Lufthansa first class is one of the most aspirational award bookings you can make. Unfortunately, Lufthansa can impose hefty surcharges and withhold award availability until the last minute. Booking it is quite a task.
With that said, if you’re dead set on flying Lufthansa First, LifeMiles is one of the best places to book it. Despite a recent LifeMiles award devaluation, LifeMiles still offers a comparatively reasonable 128,000 miles between the U.S. and Western Europe. Even better, LifeMiles doesn’t pass on carrier surcharges.
Through this transfer bonus, it’s possible to book Lufthansa first class from the U.S. to Europe (or vice-versa) for only 112k Membership Rewards points.
Bottom Line
Through July 31, 2025, LifeMiles is offering a 15% transfer bonus on all transfers from Amex Membership Rewards to LifeMiles. If you need to book a Star Alliance award ticket, this transfer bonus is a fantastic opportunity to save thousands of points. However, we generally don't recommend transferring points speculatively.
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