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For sometime Avianca LifeMiles had been famous for selling
their miles with a 100% bonus every few months. That recurring offer seem to dwindle towards the latter half of 2014 but now it is back with an extra bonus! If you live in countries outside of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, United States and Colombia you’ll actually get a 120% bonus!
If you have followed us
for sometime you’ll know this is a decent option to get Star Alliance
flights on the cheap especially in business class. However Avianca announced back on September 30th the price to buy miles will go
up 10% and had changes to their award chart on October 15th which were a devaluation. So what should you do? If you
know that you can make your travel work and get the LifeMiles
redemption(s) of your choice go ahead and buy the miles however I wouldn’t buy them if you don’t think you’ll use them over then 3-6 months just in case another award chart devaluation comes along.
So for those in the listed countries above, the miles will cost you 1.65 cents a piece while those outside who get the extra 20% will see the miles cost 1.5 cents a piece. This brings the price down to levels prior to September 30th, 2014. It appears that those who are eligible for the extra 20% can only 68,000 miles (+81,600 bonus miles) for a total of 149,600 miles while those who only get the 100% bonus can still buy 75,000 miles (+75,000 bonus) for a total of 150,000 miles.
A decent feature of LifeMiles is their Cash + Part Miles option but that was devalued over a year ago. This option
only requires that you have 40% of the points for a reward (so buy 40%
during this 100% bonus period) and then you can buy the rest of the
miles (the other 60%) at about 1.56 cents per mile (used to be 1.25
cents!). So if you get the 20% bonus with the current promo you are better of buying all the miles but if you only qualify for the 100% bonus where the miles cost you 1.65 cents you may want to go with the Cash+miles options
Some things to consider with the buy miles option before you pull
the trigger is that their call center tends to be on the less helpful
side so you are better off booking award tickets online which also means
you are limited to the powers of that source, mixed class awards are
not allowed unless you book each award ticket as separate one way
flights and they have devalued the program without notice in the past so
only buy these miles if you think you will use them in the next short
while
Offer details
Earn up to 120% Bonus LifeMiles when you buy LifeMiles online. You must be a LifeMiles member as of May 4 to purchase. Full details Until May 29, 15
– Residents of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, United States and Colombia receive 100% bonus, all others receive a 120% bonus
