When it comes to frequent flyer programs, many travelers tend to stick with the big names like United Airlines MileagePlus or American Airlines AAdvantage, often overlooking hidden gems. LifeMiles, Avianca’s frequent flyer program, is one of those underrated gems that’s worth your attention. With its unique benefits and flexible features, LifeMiles can save you both miles and money.
Here are three big reasons why you should consider Avianca LifeMiles the next time you book award travel.
Perfect For Routes With High Fuel Surcharges
One of the most frustrating things about booking award travel is dealing with fuel surcharges. These fees can quickly add hundreds of dollars to your ticket, making an award redemption feel a lot less like a deal. LifeMiles, however, doesn’t charge fuel surcharges, making it a fantastic choice for long-haul flights where these charges can be especially high.
Let’s look at an example from Boston, United States to Zurich, Switzerland.
- Booking through United Airlines (UA) loyalty program, MileagePlus, would cost you 88,000 miles, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees.
- Booking through Avianca LifeMiles, it only costs 69,000 miles with $28 in taxes.
- Booking through Lufthansa’s Miles & More costs the lowest in mileage – 56,000 miles, however, fuel surcharges of $1,027.80 is jaw-dropping.
Both UA and LifeMiles waive fuel surcharges, making the 21% mileage savings between UA MileagePlus and LifeMiles a great deal. While the taxes with LifeMiles are $20 more, it’s still an excellent value – saving you 19,000 miles in the process! The number tells you that LifeMiles isn’t always the absolute cheapest program. However, LifeMiles is hard to beat saving miles while avoiding huge surcharges. For anyone planning a trip to Europe, LifeMiles is a great way to stretch your miles, especially on routes that are notorious for high fuel fees.
LifeMiles Plus: No More Hefty Change Fees
LifeMiles used to have a bad reputation for high change fees, which is $150 for changes and $200 for cancellations. But in a move that has made it far more user-friendly, LifeMiles introduced LifeMiles Plus, a subscription plan that completely eliminates these change fees. For a monthly fee (as low as $30 for co-branded credit card holders), you get unlimited free changes and cancellations. When you look at the benefits, it’s easy to see how this can be worth the investment:
- Monthly Mileage Bonus: You earn 2,000 miles per month, which adds up to 24,000 miles a year, which is about $336 in value.
- Mileage Rebates: Plus, LifeMiles Plus subscribers get a 10% rebate on miles redeemed. So, if you book a premium cabin flight (like All Nippon Airways (ANA) first class from Tokyo to Chicago), you could get 12,000 miles back, effectively reducing your redemption cost.
Even if you only make a couple of changes or cancellations in a year, the program practically pays for itself. If you travel frequently or like the flexibility to adjust plans without hefty fees, LifeMiles Plus is a huge win.
More Flexibility, Fewer Miles: Save On Mixed-Class Flights
One of the biggest frustrations with traditional award bookings is the way programs charge you for mixed-class itineraries. If you’re booking a multi-leg trip with business class on one segment and economy on another, some programs will still charge you as if you’re flying business for the whole journey. Not so with LifeMiles. LifeMiles is much more flexible in how it calculates award ticket prices. If you’re flying from Los Angeles to Singapore, with business class on the first leg (Los Angeles to Taipei) and economy class on the second (Taipei to Singapore), LifeMiles will only charge you for the actual mileage of each segment. This can lead to significant savings.
For example, a mixed-class itinerary with business class from os Angeles to Taipei and economy from Taipei to Singapore might cost you around 69,000 miles, compared to a full business class redemption, which would be closer to 90,000 miles. That’s a 23% savings in miles just by choosing a mixed-class option.
The Best Way To Use LifeMiles
If you’re dreaming of flying in ANA’s world-class first class, LifeMiles stands out as a top choice for redeeming ANA first class. It combines great value, flexibility, and ease of use – all the ingredients for an unforgettable journey.
ANA Mileage Club:
While you find more availability and priority waitlisting, ANA Mileage Club only allows round-trip bookings, which can be a real headache (finding both outbound and return first-class seats at the same time is no easy feat!). Plus, you can only book flights more than 96 hours in advance, which limits your flexibility.
United Airlines MileagePlus:
United Airlines MileagePlus has been a popular choice for ANA first-class redemptions. Unfortunately, the dynamic pricing for a one-way first-class seat has now skyrocketed to 220,000 miles for one-way route. While you don’t pay fuel surcharges, the number of miles required might make it less appealing.
Air Canada Aeroplan:
Air Canada Aeroplan used to be a great option for redeeming ANA first class, offering reasonable mileage rates and no fuel surcharges. However, sometimes they block a few ANA award availability, which makes it harder to book recently.
Lufthansa Miles & More:
Lufthansa Miles & More’s redemption rates (111,000 miles for North America to Asia one-way) aren’t bad, but they hit you with high fuel surcharges, which can take away from the value of the redemption.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club:
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club offers one of the best deals, with 72,500 ~ 85,000 miles one-way for North America to Japan with moderate fuel surchange. The catch is that availability can be tough, and you can’t book online. Some of their customer service agents might not even know how to search for ANA award seats. That leads to frustrating back-and-forth and could be a big time drain.
Avianca LifeMiles:
For 120,000 miles one-way from North America to Japan or 66,000 miles for Hawaii to Japan, Avianca LifeMiles offers fantastic value. No fuel surcharges, easy online booking, and straightforward redemption making Avianca LifeMiles is by far the most balanced option if you want to experience ANA’s first class.
How To Earn LifeMiles
There are so many exciting ways to collect LifeMiles! Whether it’s through credit card sign-up bonuses, transferring flexible points, or taking advantage of LifeMiles’ sale promotions, the opportunities to boost your balance are endless.
LifeMiles is great at offering special mileage sale promotions! For 2024, the lowest rates are around 1.1 cents per mile (cpm). Just recently, LifeMiles wrapped up a 180% bonus sale, so keep an eye out during the following holiday season for even more amazing promotions!
Pro Tips: why bother with these sale promotions? The answer is simple: most credit card points are typically worth 1.4 ~ 1.8 cpm. During a sale, you can grab LifeMiles for as low as 1.1 ~ 1.2 cpm. So, that’s something to seriously consider! It is a better strategy to buy LifeMiles directly during a sale and save your credit card points for other redemptions that offer better value. At the end of the day, whether it’s worth it depends on how many American Express Membership Rewards (Amex MR) points you have and how you plan to use, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer!
- Credit Cards
Avianca LifeMiles is partnered with major credit card rewards programs – American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Capital One Miles, allowing you to transfer these credit card points to LifeMiles at a 1:1 ratio. Here are the credit cards with best sign-up bonus right now:
- Capital One Venture Rewards: Annual Fee: $95. Sign-Up Bonus: Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.
- Capital One Venture X Business: Annual Fee: $395. Sign-Up Bonus: Earn 150,000 Miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.
- The Business Platinum from American Express: Annual Fee: $695. Sign-Up Bonus: Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of card membership.
- American Express Business Gold: Annual Fee: $375. Sign-Up Bonus: Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of card membership.
- American Express Platinum: Annual Fee: $695. Sign-Up Bonus: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases within the first 6 months of card membership.
- American Express Gold: Annual Fee: $325. Sign-Up Bonus: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases within the first 6 months of card membership.
Now through November 30, 2024, Amex MR is sweetening the deal with a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles, making it the perfect time to boost your miles and get closer to your next adventure!
Final Thoughts
In a world of complex and often frustrating award programs, Avianca LifeMiles stands out for its simplicity, value, and flexibility. Whether you’re trying to avoid high fuel surcharges, need flexibility to change your plans, or want to save miles with mixed-class bookings, LifeMiles offers a unique set of benefits that shouldn’t be overlooked. If you haven’t noticed yet, it’s time to start paying attention to LifeMiles. Then next time when you book an award ticket, you might just find that this underrated program offers the best value for your miles – and it might just be the best-kept secret in travel!
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