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 frequent flyer programme to programme. From the Star Alliance pack, Avianca’s LifeMiles can offer amazing value on bookings, largely 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 LifeMiles Purchase Bonus.
LifeMiles members, under a currently ongoing sale, can receive up to 125% bonus on purchased miles between May 7 and June 5, 2019.
Now, through June 5, 2019, LifeMiles is offering BoardingArea and LiveFromALounge readers a special 15% bonus on top of their usual sale, which means you can receive up to 140% bonus on purchased miles up to June 5, 2019.
Register for LiveFromALounge’s 140% bonus here
Here is how the buying bonus will look like for people who register for the promotion above.
- Buy 1,000-50,000 LifeMiles, get 115% bonus LifeMiles (total 2.15 LifeMiles for price of one)
- Buy 51,000-100,000 LifeMiles, get 130% bonus LifeMiles (total 2.30 LifeMiles for price of one)
- Buy 101,000-200,000 LifeMiles, get 140% bonus LifeMiles (total 2.40 LifeMiles for price of one)
This brings the cost to INR 0.96 (1.375 US cents) per mile, which is one of the lowest prices I’ve ever seen. 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 140% bonus. So you can buy the miles for a 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 today (May 21) 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.
I’d highly recommend registering now, and then you can decide if you want to take advantage of the promotion.
Why you should 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
If you max out the bonus, you are effectively paying close to INR 1/Mile. For 96,000 LifeMiles, you can fly to Tokyo from Mumbai on All Nippon Airways. If you were paying cash, the same flight would’ve cost you close to INR 2,00,000 (USD 2,759). That’s a 50% saving right there.
Mumbai to Tokyo on ANA Business Class for 48,000 LifeMiles
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 do the same trip for less than 1/3rd the price if you go the LifeMiles way.
Mumbai to Newark 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. One of the vital caveat with LifeMiles that your Star Alliance partner redemptions have to be on direct flights. And not a lot of members fly their First Class equipped metal to India. But that doesn’t stop you from redeeming miles on other flights around the globe.
- 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
- United States to Europe Business Class for 63,000 LifeMiles oneway
- 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 480,000 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. Diners Black won’t get the 10X here because terms state it needs to be a swipe. LifeMiles purchases are coded as an airline purchase, so you can also use your Citi PremierMiles to get 10X rewards.
Conclusion
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!
PS: LifeMiles has kindly extended this promotion for LiveFromALounge readers, and there is no other commercial relationship between the two entities.
Is there any way we could transfer Amex Rewards to Lifemiles ? Amex USA website shows conversion possible but not on the Indian Amex website.
Made full use of this. Bought 110 miles got a total of 258k miles. Redeemed DEL-YVR on Air Canada in J for 75k miles and NRT-DEL on Air India for 48k miles. All in all, super sweet deal!
Hi Suhail: Cool! Which Airline did you fly? Did it have a stop-over?
seeing current financial conditions of Avianca, I’m skeptical in buying any more LM, waiting to offload the remaining, bkk-bne or del-jnb.
looking forward for citi transfer promo on BA avios…
Great promotion Ajay! This tipped me over into getting some more LM. I’ve found it to be a helpful currency for biz flying all over. I once got a business class seat from Dulles to Dubai on UA 48h out! Finding award space has become more challenging, but I’ll have a lot of travel coming up soon and a cache of LM will be good to have.
Hi Ajay, what’s your take on award tickets being blocked on LM? Lufthansa generally opens award space for Star Alliance partners 14 days prior to departure. I see them on United portal but not a single one LM. Infact, I am unable to find the United BOM-EWR you did on the LM portal!
@Modesty Blaise, I usually find most inventory available, apart from SQ F and Lufthansa which themselves block inventory to other Star Alliance partners.
If I see availability on a flight on United (EWR to Mumbai) but it does not show on Lifemiles website, should I call them to book that flight? Is that something possible?
@ajay , on which website do you search for award availability using lifemiles
@Chandrashekhar on the lifemiles website itself after you log in
Hi guys, i was platinum on jet airways but now i plan to switch to star alliance i have a flight with united airline and air india which airline loyalty program would you recommend i sign up for value per say.thank you very much.
Can a member of lifemiles use the miles/points to issue the tickets for family members or friends
I don’t think Citi PM gives 10X on airlines purchases anymore, it is only on bookings through Citi’s proprietary website.
@Amex Guy, I’ve been hearing two different things from different people. I really need someone with a PremierMiles to validate this.
Hi Ajay, I use Citi PM, can vouch for the 10x for airline purchases.
Their website still suggests you get 10X on airline txns.
Hi Ajay,
Now that Jet is no longer on the table, I am targeting Star Alliance Gold in the next 12-18 months. Have a couple of Air India booking in next 2-3 months (domestic + international) and from what I gather online, the easiest way to do that is to credit all these journeys to Asiana.
After reading this, I’m a bit confused as to which loyalty program to focus on.
Your views on this please. If there is any other blog/post online on this comparison, would appreciate if any one can share the link here.
Thanks
@Anuj, you could credit journeys to Asiana for status. LifeMiles is good to buy miles. you will need to fly 16000 miles + on Avianca to get status on this one.
Thanks for clearing that up Ajay. Will continue on Asiana then for status.. And will only evaluate the lifemiles for getting good redemptions on star alliance partners..
Does one have to already be a life miles member? I am not a member but can I still avail this offer?
@Tanveer, sign up, then register, and you are good to go!
What about the taxes on redemption of miles.
@Jaydeep, taxes are minimal, to the tune of about $25 as charges for issuing a ticket, and in 10s of dollars as the real taxes.
By Exclusive, you mean for your readers, One Mile At a Time readers, or any other blog that has this offer?