LifeMiles Star Alliance Award Sale [Expired]

LifeMiles is having an award sale with certain city pairs between the US and Asia. First, business and economy cabins are discounted for Star Alliance partners, and some are discounted as much as 48% off. The award sale is going on from November 20 to December 12, 2018.

You can find eligible city pairs at the link here. Some great redemptions in the sale are:

  • Fly between New York and Seoul in first class for 72,000 miles (normally 90,000 miles)
  • Fly between New York and Beijing in first class for 72,000 miles (normally 90,000 miles)
  • Fly between New York and Shanghai in business class for 60,000 miles (normally 75,000 miles)
  • Fly between New York and Taipei in business class for 64,000 miles (normally 75,000 miles)
  • Fly between Seoul and Bangkok in business class for 25,000 miles (normally 36,000 miles)
  • Fly between Los Angeles and Singapore for 67,000 miles (normally 78,000 miles)

There are of course many other city pairs in the award sale. US cities on the list are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco. Repositioning might be required, but at least LifeMiles has a few cities from each coast.

You can fly any airline between city pairs and connections are allowed, but no stopovers.


Buy Avianca LifeMiles Cyber Week Promotion with 140% Bonus

Earlier I wrote about the LifeMiles cyber week promotion for buying miles. Avianca LifeMiles is running a Cyber Week promotion for buying LifeMiles with a 140% bonus. The promotion is running from November 20 to November 26, and the 140% bonus is on all purchases.

Usually, LifeMiles has different bonuses for a certain amount of miles bought, but with this promotion, it’s a flat 140% bonus on all miles purchased making it valuable for any amount of miles you buy. Here is the link directly to the promotion.

With the 140% bonus, you are purchasing the miles at 1.37 cents each. I personally think this is a pretty good deal since previous promotions LifeMiles ran always limited you to buying a certain amount to get that valuation with 140% bonus.

LifeMiles limits how many miles can be purchased within a calendar year to 150,000 miles purchased. Luckily, LifeMiles doesn’t count the bonus miles, only the base miles you buy.


What credit card should I use to buy Avianca LifeMiles?

The great thing about buying Avianca LifeMiles is that it codes as airfare. That means you will earn 5x points per dollar spent when using the American Express Platinum Card to buy miles.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, American Express Gold Card, or the Citi Premier Card will earn 3x points per dollar spent.

I would personally use the American Express Platinum Card earning 5x points per dollar resulting in an 8.5% return when valuing Membership Reward points at 1.7 cents each.


Final word

LifeMiles is killing it with their promotions like Citi ThankYou Points transfer bonus and buying miles bonus. This award sale is just icing on the cake. However, be aware that LifeMiles doesn’t have the best award search engine, and it acts up sometimes, but when it works, you will be pleased. If you’re in the market to fly first or business class, then this promotion might work out in your favor. 🙂