Avianca LifeMiles has launched yet another mileage sale, this time to buy miles with up to a 140% bonus between August 16 – 30th, 2023.
LifeMiles members can buy up to 200,000 miles yearly (before the bonus), and the maximum bonus under this sale is 140%.
LifeMiles is running their mileage sales pretty much consecutively, sometimes as a transfer promotion and most often with a bonus for the member’s own account as well as some other discount/bonus varieties.
The base bonus of 135% is rather large starting from the first 1,000 miles purchased and the difference for larger amounts isn’t much higher.
You can access this offer on the LifeMiles website here.
This time the bonus depends on the number of miles purchased:
- Buy 1,000-20,000 miles, receive 135% bonus
- Buy 21,000-200,000 miles, receive 140% bonus
Here is an example of this campaign’s purchase price for miles in an example to buy with $2000 budget:
The cost of a LifeMiles under this sale, when purchased at a 140% bonus, is 1.37 US cents each. The lowest price Avianca sold LifeMiles in 2021 was 1.2 cents each.
John previously tried to buy a large amount of Lifemiles to see how the elite qualifying miles would post, and unfortunately, not only did the miles NOT post as Avianca (meaning you can’t qualify for Gold based on mileage purchases alone), but there was also a transaction problem, and miles still haven’t reflected as a positive balance on the account:
There is also a discrepancy in terms of what Life Miles advertises when it comes to earning status:
Additionally, there is the ongoing problem of the website frequently producing error messages and the member then having to get in touch with the call center or chat to get ticketed.
This compounds the point we always try to hammer home for these sales: Avianca is a highly unreliable carrier/program and you can either be in for an easy transaction (like my last Korea redemptions) or a world of pain, as in John’s case.
There is no excuse for most of these blunders associated with his transactions and pretty much all other problems people experience with them.
LifeMiles has, in the past, amended award charts without any prior notice, is actively blocking award availability, and has an absolutely shoddy IT. Trying to cancel or, especially, change an award is a nightmare.
Conclusion
LifeMiles can come in handy for premium cabin redemptions and are currently the cheapest Star Alliance miles that one can buy. Avianca’s lowest price it has sold miles over the past 12 months has been a 200% bonus.
Nevertheless, a word of warning here: There have been consistent issues finding award space and issuing tickets using LifeMiles. Clearly, this has been intentional on LifeMiles’ part (less money going out for paying other carriers).
I would be somewhat hesitant to purchase LifeMiles unless you have instantaneous use for them, and award space can be booked using Avianca’s miles.
These are the Terms & Conditions for this campaign:
This promotion is exclusive for LifeMiles members that have received this email directly from LifeMiles.
This promotion applies for miles purchases made between August 16th and August 30th, 2023 (00.00-23.59 GMT-6, El Salvador).
The bonus applies as follows: for purchases between 1,000 – 20,000 LifeMiles receive 135% additional miles and for purchases between 21,000 – 200,000 LifeMiles receive 140% additional miles.
The miles must be purchased in multiples of 1,000.
The minimum miles to purchase per transaction is 1,000 LifeMiles.
The maximum miles to purchase per transaction during this promotion is 200,000 LifeMiles. Additionally, the maximum miles that a member can receive during the promotion, including applicable bonuses is 1,000,000 miles, minus the miles that the member has previously purchased in 2023 and their respective bonuses. The purchase transaction cannot be made if the amount of miles to purchase and the corresponding bonus, including all miles purchased in 2023, including the bonuses, exceed the 1,000,000 miles limit, unless the amount of miles to receive without applying the promotional bonus is less or equal to 1,000,000 miles, in which case, the transaction will be processed but no bonus will be granted, giving such warning to the member.
The maximum number of miles to receive by a member through the purchase of miles per calendar year outside of this promotion is 200,000 LifeMiles including any bonus miles received. If the member surpasses the limit, through purchases made during this promotion and other purchases in 2023, considering the bonuses received for those purchases, he or she will not be able to purchase any more miles outside of promotional periods until the next calendar year.
Each package of 1,000 LifeMiles is US$33.00 without applicable taxes and US$40.26* including applicable taxes according to country of the mailing address registered in the LifeMiles database.
All accrued miles count towards Elite progress, except for miles accrued in Iberia, GOL, and certain miles compensations. You will earn qualifying miles according to the rates established for each product or service. Check your Elite progress and other conditions at LifeMiles.com.
The purchase of miles is not reversible or refundable, except in countries where this right is granted by applicable law, such as the right to retraction in Colombia, in the cases where it applies. The purchase of miles is an immediate execution contract. Once the payment is made, the miles will be accrued immediately on the member’s account. As of that moment, the miles can be used according to the terms and conditions of the LifeMiles Program.
Miles are not endorsable.
Miles purchase is available through Avianca’s Call Centers, LifeMiles.com and Avianca Information Centers. For residents of Venezuela, it is only available through LifeMiles.com. Only form of payment through Avianca’s Call Center and LifeMiles.com: credit card or international debit card. Cash payments are only allowed at Avianca’s Information Centers. The receipt of the transaction will reflect the total number of miles accrued to the member´s account, including the bonus miles and the total charge for the transaction.
Does not apply to the Flexible Redemption (LifeMiles + Money) during the payment process of air ticket redemption.
Miles purchased, once accrued, can be redeemed in accordance with the conditions specified in the LifeMiles Program Terms and Conditions and the portfolio of products and services available for redemption.
LifeMiles Terms and Conditions apply. Available at LifeMiles.com
LifeMiles is a trademark of LifeMiles LTD
*The values are settled based on the exchange rate of the date of the transaction. The price can be lower depending on the correspondence country entered on the Member´s profile in their LifeMiles account.
