Transfer LifeMiles With A 115% Bonus (Effectively Buy Miles for 1.3¢ Each) Transfer LifeMiles With A 115% Bonus (Effectively Buy Miles for 1.3¢ Each)

Transfer LifeMiles With A 115% Bonus (Effectively Buy Miles for 1.3¢ Each)

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Through August 31, 2023, Avianca is offering a 115% bonus when you transfer your LifeMiles to another account. Transferring LifeMiles between accounts isn't free. But, this 115% bonus promotion offers a cheaper alternative to increase your LifeMiles balance — as long as you already have miles in your account or transfer miles in from a transfer partner.

Key Terms to this LifeMiles Transfer Promotion

  • The promotion is valid for transfers through August 31, 2023, at 11:59 pm MST.
  • Receive a 115% bonus when you transfer LifeMiles from one account to another.
  • Transferring miles incurs a charge of $15 per 1,000 miles transferred.
  • Must transfer a minimum of 1,000 LifeMiles to receive a 115% bonus.
  • You can transfer a maximum of 75,000 LifeMiles per year.
  • Miles can be transferred to any other LifeMiles account.
  • Miles transferred and earned with this promotion do not apply to Elite status.

Taking full advantage of this promotion and transferring 75k miles, you will end up with 161,250 miles (75,000 miles transferred + 86,250 LifeMiles bonus). Transfers cost $15 per 1,000 miles transferred, so the total cost of the transfers would be $1,125.

This means that you are effectively purchasing 86,250 LifeMiles for $1,125. Crunching the numbers, this works out close to 1.3¢ each, which is a great value. That's right around the cost we've recently seen LifeMiles sell miles for.

Unless you're feeling incredibly generous, the idea here is to transfer miles to an account belonging to a close friend or family member. Since Avianca lets you redeem awards for anyone, moving miles from one account to another shouldn't limit your options for who can travel on an award ticket.

How Good is This Deal?

If you have a LifeMiles balance to transfer, this promotion can produce outstanding value. Remember LifeMiles has various sweet spots, especially on partner awards. At a price of (roughly) 1.3¢ per mile, sweet spots with this promotion include:

  • Business-class flights from the eastern U.S. to Europe Zone 1 (includes the UK): $783 for 60,000 miles
  • First-class flights from the eastern U.S. to Europe: $1,135 for 87,000 miles
  • Business-class flights from the eastern U.S. to North Asia (including China and Hong Kong): $978 for 75,000 miles
  • First-class flights from the eastern U.S. to North Asia (including China and Hong Kong): $1,174 for 90,000 miles

This is excellent value, especially if you can use your miles to book a Lufthansa first-class award from the U.S. to Europe. Effectively paying $1,135 (before modest taxes and fees) for a first-class ticket on Lufthansa is simply unbeatable. The ticket normally sets you back at least 5 or 6 times the price.

Lufthansa-First-Class-Terminal
Consider choosing an award originating in Frankfurt to sample the stunning Lufthansa First Class Terminal.

What If I Don't Have Any LifeMiles?

If you don't already have a significant Avianca LifeMiles balance, you'll need to acquire miles before sharing them. Avianca frequently sells miles at a big discount — such as the 165% transfer bonus that was available through February 22, 2023. Thankfully, there is a buy LifeMiles promotion that ends a day before this transfer bonus that allows you to buy LifeMiles with a 145% bonus (1.35¢ each).

As luck may have it, there's another (better) option to buying miles at full price. You can transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards (1:1), Citi ThankYou Points (1:1), Capital One (1:1), or even Brex Cash (1:1) to LifeMiles. Marriott Bonvoy points also transfer to Avianca at a 3:1 transfer ratio, but those transfers may take a day or more to post to your LifeMiles account.

From
To
Transfer Ratio
Min.Transfer
Average Time
1,000:1,000
-
Immediate
3:2
500
Immediate

This option is certainly worth considering if you have a substantial balance with one of these rewards programs, but you should only do so with a specific award in mind. Since transfers are non-reversible, you'll give up lots of alternative options when you convert them into LifeMiles.

Our Take

If you have a LifeMiles balance, and you are looking for a specific redemption then this promotion can be a no-brainer; it's hard to beat buying LifeMiles at 1.3¢ apiece. However, think carefully before transferring or buying miles speculatively, no matter how good the deal is.

Since this strategy requires transferring miles to another account, we should reiterate that (unless you're sharing miles as a gift) you want to transfer the miles to a trusted friend, family member, or another LifeMiles account you control.

5 / 5 - (8 votes)
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