One of the ways to use your air miles is to burn them for premium cabin award redemptions. However, where your miles can get you to differ from one frequent flyer programme to programme. From the Star Alliance pack, Avianca’s LifeMiles can offer fantastic value on bookings, mainly because of their policy not to charge fuel surcharge and booking tickets almost all of them online. You can either earn miles by flying or buy miles outright. Now, read on to discover an exclusive new LifeMiles buy miles promo.
Through December 3 5, 2019, LifeMiles is offering BoardingArea and LiveFromALounge readers an exclusive bonus on top of their usual sale, which means you can receive 150% bonus on purchased miles up to December 5, 2019. It is their best deal so far since they usually give out a 145% bonus on purchased miles to LFAL readers.
Register for LiveFromALounge’s 150% bonus here
Unlike their earlier sales, this time, there is no minimum purchase to get the 150% bonus, which means you could get 150% miles bonus even on purchasing as less as 1,000 miles. This brings the cost to INR 0.94 (1.32 US cents) per mile, which is the lowest prices I’ve ever seen factoring for forex movement when you buy LifeMiles in a promotion. The price quoted is ex-taxes since taxes vary per country. No taxes in India, for instance.
The minimum purchase for this promotion is 1,000 miles, while you need to buy at least 101K miles to get the 145% bonus. So you can purchase the miles for future redemption, or you can use them to top up your account if you are a few thousand miles shy.
Registration for the promotion is open from now through the end of the promotion. You will be able to make a purchase immediately after registration. So head to this page and enter your LifeMiles number. Make sure to into your account and see the increased bonus on your account when you buy miles.
Why should you look at buying LifeMiles?
And with all those miles will get you some fantastic award flights.
Mumbai – Tokyo return in ANA Business Class for 96,000 LifeMiles
You are effectively paying close to INR 0.94/Mile. For 96,000 LifeMiles (INR 90,200), you can fly to Tokyo from Mumbai on All Nippon Airways roundtrip. If you were paying cash, the same flight would’ve cost you close to INR 2,00,000 (USD 2,759). That’s more than 50% saving right there.
Mumbai to Tokyo on ANA Business Class for 48,000 LifeMiles one way
Mumbai – Newark return on United Polaris for 156K LifeMiles
United’s Polaris is one of the better business class products out there if you want to fly direct to the US from India. A round trip in peak season would set you back by INR 5,00,000 or USD 7,059. But you could make the same trip for less than 1/3rd the price if you go the LifeMiles way.
Newark to Mumbai on United Airlines Business Class for 78,000 LifeMiles
Some of the best value that you can unlock using LifeMiles is when you fly First Class and premium cabins.
- India to United States Business Class for 78,000 LifeMiles oneway
- India to Europe Business Class for 45,000 LifeMiles oneway
- India to Japan/S. Korea Business Class for 48,000 LifeMiles oneway
- The United States to Europe Business Class for 63,000 LifeMiles oneway
- The United States to Japan/North Asia First Class for 90,000 miles
You can find the full LifeMiles Star Alliance award chart here, updated as of May 2019. And the best part about Avianca LifeMiles redemptions is that there is no extra fuel surcharge or taxes.
Remember, you can purchase a maximum of 200,000 LifeMiles before bonuses every calendar year. Which means if you haven’t bought at all this year, you get to stockpile on 500,000 LifeMiles when you buy 200K. The full T&C of the promotion is here.
You could use the Citi Prestige or the American Express Platinum Charge Card which now offers 3X Membership Rewards on spends abroad. LifeMiles purchases are coded as an airline purchase, so you can also use your Citi PremierMiles to get 10X rewards.
Not just that, earlier in the week, I also wrote about the sale on Star Alliance Award seats which LifeMiles is offering for members through December 9, 2019.
Remember, when using LifeMiles, you won’t be able to access Singapore Airlines premium award space. Also, LifeMiles expire within 12 months unless you keep any activity in your account. In my case, I credit all my Air India flights to LifeMiles.
So, what are you waiting for, Sign up and Buy if you please!
I would really appreciate if someone can advice me if it’s possible to convert citibank premier miles points into Avianca life miles? And if it is how should one go about it. I am new to this airline conversion game . Thanking everyone for their help
@Vineet, it is not possible
Thank you
The only concern I have with Lifemiles is their spanish website. I don’t seem to find a way around to use the English webpages. Any help would be appreciated.
There are not many europe options available. Plus surcharge for some sectors are as high as 100$. US and Japan seems to be a good option.
Lufthansa has many direct europe connections but they don’t appear for the premium cabin.
This is great, Ajay. I used this to stock up last time … and I’ve almost used all of those miles. Given my current circumstances, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to get great premium cabin redemptions in and around India and Asia. Kudos!
and to sweeten the deal there’s currently also an award sale on certain flights — discount on buying miles, discount on redeeming miles …
Hi Ajay,
Thanks for this information.
0.94/mile sounds good. Based on the Indian Market, what is the price range we should be buying miles at ? 0.94 to 1.2 / miles ? Or 1.3 ?
Please let us know since all airlines miles are of different valuation, i would like your advise on this as i am sure many readers would so that they can make a more informed decision. Thank you !
@Ray King, LifeMiles usually does a sale ever so often. Just wait till the sale comes around and then buy. That is the best price I’d say.
Thanks for this Ajay. I see value in obtaining miles from various airlines for travel fm/to India upto INR1.35 per mile. So this price does make a lot of sense. Thanks for bringing this deal to everyone’s attention. Have an awesome day ahead !
Hi Ajay
I always find your blog informative. However I’m surprised you haven’t found it prudent to advise your readers of the challenges faced with lifemiles to find availability, a temperamental website that doesn’t always do what it is supposed to & Ofcourse the headache of finding a good English speaking customer rep in their call centre to modify / cancel flights.
It’s a good program to get premium class tickets on the cheap. But one must enter it with their eyes wide open.
Agree completely on this. Somehow the flaws are not highlighted and even the lack of availability of India-US premium cabin except in airlines in Egypt or Ethiopian.
When you write a post be all clear on pros and cons
@Bharat Shah, If premium cabin space get sold out quickly, that won’t be at the doors of the programme, right? I can see many open dates for India USA premium cabin, and you ask for it as if it is your privilege to get your premium cabin ticket in 30 seconds. Besides, I find your tone very preachy, come into my shoes and then you can give me advice.
LM has its issues, sure … however, they’ve redone the website, making it a little easier to navigate. Sometimes things can be a bit tricky – there’s a whole Flyertalk thread on LM bookings and redemption issues — but given all that, they can be a worthwhile investment. I’ve certainly found that to be the case. In the past, I’ve gotten premium cabins US-India on AI, fairly last minute, US-India on UA-AI (when UA flew to DXB), literally the day before, and numerous Europe to India, or SE Asia, or vice versa on AI, LX or OS. A little bit of research into using LM can pay off well. And I appreciate Ajay’s occasional promotion bonuses.