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AMEX is currently offering transfer bonuses to an unprecedented 12 airline and hotel partners.
That includes a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles, which is bonused from AMEX.
Incredibly though, Avianca is also offering a 15% AMEX transfer bonus on their end. Best of all, the bonus points all post instantly to your Lifemiles account.
That means if you redeem 1,000 AMEX points with a 15% bonus:
You’ll get a 15% bonus on top of the full amount, or 1,323 Lifemiles in your account for an effective 32.3% bonus! The previous record high transfer bonus from AMEX is 15%.
The last time we had a good stackable AMEX bonus was with Qantas in 2019, but those bonus points didn’t post instantly, so it was hard to know if you would get the stacking bonus. As everything posts instantly, you can always do a 1,000 point test transfer before doing a larger transfer to make sure that the stackable bonus is still live.
With this Lifemiles promotion you’ll be able to redeem United award flights for less than 5K points each way!
That being said, I still would not speculatively transfer miles to Avianca, unless you have plans to use them within the next few months, as they can always be devalued.
Avianca Lifemiles require earning activity every 12 months in order to stop your miles from expiring. Transferring points to Lifemiles will extend the points validity for 12 more months.
Lifemiles is one of the rare mileage programs that doesn’t collect any fuel surcharges. United is another program that does not collect fuel surcharges, but AMEX points can’t be transferred to United as they are exclusively with Chase.
AMEX cards with transferable Membership Rewards points to Avianca include:
- AMEX Blue Business Plus
- AMEX Platinum Business
- AMEX Gold Business Card
- American Express® Gold Card
- AMEX Green Consumer Card
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- AMEX Everyday Preferred Consumer Card
- AMEX Everyday Consumer Card
You can also transfer Marriott points to Lifemiles at a 60K:25K ratio, or Capital One or Citi ThankYou points to Lifemiles at a 1K:1K ratio.
- You’ll need to open a Lifemiles account here before you can search for award tickets online.
- Lifemiles allows you to use cash+points on award tickets, where you can effectively buy miles from about 1.5 cents each on the award search results page. You do need to have 40% of the required miles in order to do this.
Avianca is a Star Alliance member and their Lifemiles program is an interesting one. Lifemiles can be used to book travel with partner airlines like United and Air Canada within North America.
Back when I used to give regular seminars I talked about many of the glitch cities that existed that allowed you to fly to Europe or Asia for just 12.5K Lifemiles, but a blogger managed to have them killed by complaining to the DoT about a flight that involved a trip from North America to Guam via Asia that Lifemiles used to count as a domestic US award.
They recently got rid of their award charts, so I set about figuring out what they now charge for awards.
On their old award chart, Lifemiles split up the US into 3 zones:
US Zone 1: Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington DC.
US Zone 2: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin
US Zone 3: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
This used to be the one-way mileage requirements for travel within the US:
| From/To | US Zone 1 | US Zone 2 | US Zone 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Zone 1 | 7.5K Coach 15K Business | 10K Coach 15K Business | 12.5K Coach 25K Business |
| US Zone 2 | 10K Coach 15K Business | 7.5K Coach 15K Business | 12.5K Coach 25K Business |
| US Zone 3 | 12.5K Coach 25K Business | 12.5K Coach 25K Business | 7.5K Coach 15K Business |
The new formula isn’t published, but first I tried to figure out if it could be based off of the previous zones.
It soon became clear that the old zones are dead and things were working based on the distance of the flight.
I used GCMap.com to calculate the distance between airports and try to figure out what their new award chart is.
I included the distance flown in parenthesis in the sample routes below. Based on those I believe that Lifemiles typically charges:
- 6.5K miles in coach and 15K-16K miles in business for flights under 500 miles in distance.
- 7.5K miles in coach and 15K-16K miles in business for flights 500-799 miles in distance.
- 10K miles in coach and 15K-25K miles in business for flights 800-1,199 miles in distance.
- 12.5K+ miles in coach and 15K+ miles in business for flights 1,200+ miles in distance.
There are some exceptions. The short haul pricing only seems to apply within the US, as flights between NYC and Toronto or Montreal are 10K in coach or 15K in business. Chicago to Great Falls is 1,210 miles in distance and should cost 12.5K miles in coach, but only costs 7.5K miles. But for the most part, domestic routes in coach seemed to follow this formula.
Business class pricing though is all over the place.
Lifemiles used to always charge a $25 booking fee on top of tax, but now the booking fee is variable and starts at $10.
Note that Lifemiles also allows cash plus points. For example you can use 3.5K miles+$45 instead of 6.5K miles.
- All of these routes are under 500 miles in distance, cost 6.5K miles each way in coach, and had a $10 booking fee:
- Chicago-Kansas City (403): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Cleveland-Chicago (315): 6.5K coach, 16K business. $10 booking fee.
- Houston-New Orleans (305): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- LaGuardia/Newark-Cleveland (404): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Newark-Boston (200): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Newark-Columbus (463): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Newark-Detroit (488): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Newark-Pittsburgh (319): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Newark-Washington/IAD (212): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Los Angeles-Las Vegas (236): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Los Angeles-Phoenix (370): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Los Angeles-San Francisco (337): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Washington/IAD-Charlotte (322): 6.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- The following routes cost 7.5K miles in coach and vary between 500-799 miles in distance. The booking fee on these is $10 as well:
- Newark-Atlanta (746): 7.5K coach, 16K business. $10 booking fee.
- Newark-Charlotte (529): 7.5K coach, 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- Newark-Cincinnati (569): 7.5K coach, 16K business. $10 booking fee.
- LaGuardia/Newark-Chicago (719): 7.5K coach, 16K business. $10 booking fee.
- Los Angeles-Jackson Hole (784): 7.5K coach. 15K business. $10 booking fee.
- San Francisco-Seattle (679): 7.5K coach, 25K business. $10 booking fee.
- Washington/IAD-Orlando (758): 7.5K coach, 16K business. $10 booking fee.
Exception route: Chicago-Great Falls (1,210): 7.5K coach, 15K business. $25 booking fee.
- The following routes cost 10K miles each and vary between 800-1,199 miles in distance. The booking fee on these ranged from $15-$25:
- Chicago-Bozeman (1,186): 10K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- Chicago-Denver (888): 10K coach, 25K business. $15 booking fee.
- Cleveland-Orlando (895): 10K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- Chicago-Fort Lauderdale (1,182): 10K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- LaGuardia/Newark-Toronto (357): 10K coach, 15K business. $25 booking fee.
- LaGuardia/Newark-Montreal (324): 10K coach, 15K business. $25 booking fee.
- Los Angeles-Colorado Springs (833): 10K coach. $15 booking fee.
- Los Angeles-Denver (862): 10K coach, 25K business. $15 booking fee.
- Los Angeles-Seattle (954): 10K coach, 25K business. $15 booking fee.
- Newark-Fort Lauderdale (1,065): 10K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- Newark-Kansas City (1,094): 10K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- Newark-Orlando (937): 10K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- Newark-New Orleans (1,167): 10K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- Washington/IAD-Fort Lauderdale (901): 10K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- The following awards over 1,200 miles in distance cost 12.5K or more miles:
- Chicago-El Paso (1,236): 12.5K coach, 25K business. $15 booking fee.
- Chicago-Salt Lake City (1,250): 12.5K coach, 25K business. $15 booking fee.
- LaGuardia/Newark-Houston (1,400): 12.5K coach, 15K business. $15 booking fee.
- Newark-Vancouver (2,429): 12.5K coach, 25K business. $25 booking fee.
- Newark-Los Angeles (2,454): 13.5K coach, 25K business. $25 booking fee.
- Los Angeles-Honolulu (2,256): 15K coach, 40K business. $25 booking fee.
- Newark-Honolulu (4,962): 15K coach. Keep dreaming in business. $25 booking fee.
- JFK-Zurich (3,931): 16.5K coach, 63K business. $25 booking fee.
- Newark-Sao Paulo (4,758): 30K coach, 50K business. $25 booking fee.
- Newark-Tel Aviv (5,692): 42.5K coach, 78K business. $25 booking fee.
While I typically book all of my travel as one-way as that allows the most flexibility, with Lifemiles you’ll pay the booking fee twice if you book 2 one-way awards instead of a round-trip award.
It’s worth noting that Lifemiles has non-existent customer service and their website does not see all of the awards that it should, so you should always check for availability before transferring miles.
Lifemiles are also great for international business and first class redemptions. For example you can fly in Lufthansa First Class for just 87K Lifemiles. United charges 121,000 miles for this award:
Or book a connection with Lifemiles and you’ll save on even more. For example the flight from Venice will be as low as 82,720 miles. That’s less than 63K AMEX points!
What do you do with your Lifemiles? Will you transfer points to Lifemiles with this stackable offer?
HT: Abe and AJK
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29 Comments On "WOW! Take Advantage Of Stacking Avianca Transfer Bonuses! Fly United Short-Haul For 4.9K, Lufthansa First Class For 62.5K Points!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Is 32.2% in Lifemiles better than 40% in Avios?
Depends on your needs. But Lifemiles domestic availability on United is typically much better than on American. Plus Lifemiles has no fuel surcharges on international flights, while Avios typically have usurious international fuel surcharges.
Either way, check the availability and cost on the routes that you need.
“But Lifemiles domestic availability on United is typically much better than on American”
I couldn’t disagree more. United domestically truly is horrific recently
On which routes?
I just inadvertently stumbled onto this double dip, although unfortunately I also belatedly realized the “double dipping” on the booking fee.
I’m having 2 issues with Lifemiles:
2) fees initially shown aren’t necessarily accurate, but without transferring points I can’t see the true cost (and then it’s too late)
2) because the site counts “travelers” and doesn’t distinguish by age, the full U.K. duty is charged as if all passengers were adults. In my case, that’s more than twice the correct fee for my 14 yo son. Yet I can’t imagine calling to correct that (as I’ve done with American in the past).
Any tips?
You can try calling to correct it, but be prepared for endless hours on the phone.
I recently called to correct a tax issue, but it was brutal and I’m not inclined to do that again.
On the other hand my BIL recently wanted to change a Swiss ticket booked with Lifemiles, he connected instantly and was told he was speaking with Avianca, even though he hit the prompts to speak to Lifemiles, and they changed him to the flight he wanted (a week later-the return flight) even though it did not show any award space online (not through MileagePlus either). And this was a booking with an infant attached to it. Took less than 5 minutes. Took him longer to call Swiss to make sure that everything was good on their end (I told him to call to confirm that everything was fine, because I didn’t believe that LM was able to switch it like that).
Oh, and they did not charge any change fees due to COVID.
I second tha they have HORRIBLE phone service HUCA’s will just get you another incompetent agent.
I hope to never have to call them again.
They really do a great job at making ELAL comaparetively look amazing!!!! 🙂
bit a shame!!
I just transfered 20k amex to lifemiles and booked the tickets for 6.5 each
Was supposed to travel today at 7:30 but the flight was canceled and it screwed up all my plans
They rebooted me for tomorrow LGA at 8am
So will have to leave lakewood at 4:30-5
What about Avianca Lifemiles for Avianca flights? Are they a worthwhile use for Lifemiles?
A hat tip from the man himself??? Wow, check that off the bucket list. Thank you Dan for everything you do!
Thanks, Abe!
How do I get nyc-chi flights on 1/2/22 for 7500 ? Maybe I’m searching wrong
What’s the award cancellation policy for Lifmeiles tickets?
1. THEY HAVE HORRIBLE phone agents,you can HUCA dozens of times it ain’t going to do you any good. Unless anyone can say otherwise to that.
2. I used them for a Lufthansa First class ticket from TLV-EWR (with TLV-FRA in euro biz) then I got to go to the First Class terminal where I drank a lot of my $$’s worth ofexpensive stuff (I came prepared with the CRC liquor list) was unable to get a Kosher meal.
I HIGHLY RECOCMEND it was a great flight and lounge!!!!
Research the Kosher meal out of Frankfurt and Munich as according to many Kasrus authorities it is not reccomendable.
3. You CAN NOT add a lap infant on a Lifemiles award!!!!
The way to add a lap infant on a Lifemiles award ticket is to get the operating carrier of the flights to do the lap-child addition/ticketing after Lifemiles issues the ticket or to get the airlines’ ticketing ground agents/contractors to do it. I’ve had it done with the TATL-flying European Star Alliance airlines, United, Air Canada and some other Star Alliance airlines.
*Keep dreaming in business- Hahahahaha
I agree with the comment directly above, so true. I was rolling over laughing!!! That was Hilarious
YES! Thank You.
10,000 ->> 13,225.
I should have transferred 1,000 ten times and would have ended up with 13230.
Chicago to Cleveland 16.90 fee.
“Keep dreaming in business “
Ewr to Tlv is 42 5k only one way?
I have a bunch of amex points- and thinking of moving some to have on avianca for when i need. Is there any downside (besides for a long term change in redemption rates) to doing so to take advantage of these bonuses?
I just transferred points yesterday and did not receive the second bonus. Just a DP.
did anybody get the second bonus ? i transferred miles & i did not get the second bonus yet
Also transferred yesterday and did not receive the 2nd bonus… hopefully it’s lagged as the offer says the original transfer and the bonus should show up as two separate entries in account activity
This is either dead, rescinded, or broken. See the comments, above, on OMMAT, Flyertalk, and Frequent Flier Insiders on Facebook. Nobody has received the second bonus miles as of recent (Including myself), and there are even some reports of those who did receive the bonus initially having them clawed back.