Avianca, the national airline of Colombia, is not an airline on the radar of most Australian flyers. But its loyalty program “LifeMiles” offers some unique and substantial advantages. Most significantly, the program makes premium cabin travel for a fraction of the price possible!
LifeMiles is one of a handful of programs to sell its own frequent flyer miles. Buying LifeMiles cost a fixed price of US$33 per 1,000 miles, however a current promotion sees buyers earning up to 135% bonus miles on top of those purchased! This is a new record for LifeMiles.
You’ll need to purchase more than 100,000 miles to be able to take full advantage as the bonus amounts are staggered, but modest bonuses are also available to those looking to make smaller purchases. With 100% bonus miles available on purchases of as few as 7,000 miles, there really is something for everyone.
You may be wondering why someone would purchase miles in a Colombian frequent flyer program. As Avianca is a member of Star Alliance, miles earned (or bought) with the program can be redeemed for flights on any other Star Alliance airline. This includes airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Lufthansa, ANA and Air Canada. Redeeming for flights on these partners in Business and First Class can offer real value.
Where miles are purchased during a promotion and used to redeem flights in a premium cabin, the amount paid is often a fraction of the cost of a regular ticket! For example, a ticket from Australia to Europe in First class can be redeemed for 115,000 miles. Purchasing the required miles during this promotion would cost just US$1716. By comparison, buying a First class ticket usually costs well over $7,000! As another example, a Business class flight between Australia and Asia could be had for 40,000 miles – with the required miles costing under US$700.
There is one catch. Unfortunately you’ll only be able to take advantage of this promotion if you were already a member of the LifeMiles program prior to the promotion being announced. But if you haven’t already signed up, don’t despair! Sign up now (it’s free) and you’ll be able to take advantage of the next big promotion. Avianca seems to offer bonus miles at least a few times a year, so another great promotion in the near future is likely.
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(P.S. To learn more about buying miles for cheap premium cabin travel, be sure to sign up for our popular FREE E-COURSE, “Premium Travel for Peanuts”.)
