Update: After years of fun, Lifemiles has moved Guam from the US48 to the Philippines, killing some of the easy 12.5K Lifemiles awards from North America to Asia. Oddly coincidental timing after a travel blogger decided to file a complaint with the DoT when he had an issue on a Lifemiles ticket to Guam via Taipei.
The lesson? There’s a time and place for everything, complaints included. Just because you can complain doesn’t mean you should.
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Originally posted on 07/03:
Avianca Lifemiles Transfer Bonus Linky
-Through 07/17 if you transfer Lifemiles to someone they will get double the amount transferred.
-You can transfer up to 75,000 miles. A 75K transfer would incur a $1,125 fee and the recipient will get 150,000 miles. Effectively you are buying additional miles for 1.5 cents each.
-Several times per year they also sell miles outright for 1.5 cents each.
-Use a card like Chase Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card® Card so that you don’t pay a foreign transaction fee and in order to get the 2.14 points per dollar on travel spending.
-LifeMiles is the Star Alliance program run by Avianca/TACA. Miles don’t expire as long as there is activity every 24 months. You can book partner travel online and one-way awards are allowed at half the rate of round-trip awards.
-LifeMiles has a good award chart and don’t charge any fuel surcharges, though they don’t sell mixed cabin awards.
-Beware that their call center customer service is notoriously poor.
-If you have attended a DDS you’ll (hopefully!) already have an account and know some pretty cool stuff to do with it…and that’s all I’m going to say on the matter 
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24 Comments On "Avianca Lifemiles Transfer Bonus"
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how can i earn those points?????????????????????????
could i transfer amex??
care to hint to some uses of these miles?
There is a LifeMiles credit card. The signup bonus was recently 40K. I don’t know if it’s still available at 40K. No fee the first year.
@Dan’s the Man: what are its best uses?
Whats the math to get to 1.5 cpp?
Seems to say $17.70 per 1000 miles…
@Anonymous next time attend the seminar
any use for this miles besides for the trick you mentioned at the seminar? (which by the way was genius!!!!!!!!!!)
Can you give me any information on the Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa? They are offering 85,000 points after spending $2000 in the first 90 days. Good deal, worthless???
dan what about us living abroad where no DDS has taken place yet, how can we know about these tips ?
@eli:
@eli-
Use miles to attend one? 🙂
Big talk coming from a guy who essentially murdered IHG’s brg
wow. cant believe this was killed. so glad i went to your seminar and was able to take advantage before this…
HT?
So, as a “novice,” may I ask:
Does it make sense for me to:
1. enroll in Life Miles (free; answer must be yes; is there some sign-up bonus somewhere I should know about?)
2. purchase 75,000 miles ($1,125)
3. enroll my wife in Life Miles (also free)
4. transfer the 75,000 miles to her, so they become 150,000 miles in her account (another $1,125).
total spend: $2,250 for 150,000 miles ($0.015/mile).
But then I can do the following:
5. wife buys 75,000 miles (another $1,125)
6. wife transfers 75,000 miles to me (yet another $1,125).
My grand total spend: $4,500 for 300,000 miles (still $0.015/mile).
Back to the question others have asked:
What can I do with 300,000 miles? Presumably a lot more than $4,500 worth of purchased travel?
Thanks, Dan (and others!).
@it’s me again:
Right, exactly the same to post a BRG (after I posted several others without incident) as to go to the DoT on a GUM ticket.
🙄
Never mind that IHG BRG is hardly dead.
@jaywhy:
Saw it yesterday when it was making the rounds but I’ve added the HT to your profile 🙂
@zow:
Depends on what you’ll use em for.
there used to be a 40k card for avianca from us bank? i couldnt find anything online.
gotta edit your slides for the next seminar… 🙂
Dan, did they change any other places out of the us48?
@robbie, I think the 40k offer expired. The best I’ve seen is 20k with no spend required after first purchase.
I also wonder what other places changed besides Guam?
Oh and folks remember the miles deal golden rule #1 Don’t ever call the airline to ask why or how.
Rule #2 See rule #1
Hate it when people ruin good deals.
@DaninSTL: They had the 40K deal in the spring. I think they usually have it about once a year.
Anyone know if they made any of changes moving out certain cities out of the US48?
Which travel blogger filed the DOT complaint?
your acronym list doesn’t have these yet – what are IHG, BRG, GUM?
@kranzman:
IHG – is a hotel company that has Holday Inns, Intercontinental, Crowne Plazas, etc
BRG – Best Rate Guarentee
GUM – This is an airport code for Gaum
Is the 75K buying always available or only certain times a year ?