What to do with expiring LifeMiles

[PatMcrotch]

Great news!

 

[Notyourbag]

Thanks to @Gold Member for the suggestion on booking and cancelling hotels.

+1 has 2,475 LifeMiles expiring on Dec 31. Not enough to book a hotel outright in Aus (or at least I haven't found one as yet).

She doesn't want to just let them expire even though they are not worth much. So to buy 1,000 LifeMiles costs USD33 (AUD49.31 at today's exchange rate). That works out to 4.9 aussi cents each. Of course, if you buy with the 130% bonus currently on offer for small purchases, you get 2,300 LifeMiles for your AUD49.31 or a cost of 2.15 cents each.

OTOH, if you book a fully-refundable hotel on points + pay and then cancel, you get refunded all in points. An example is the Ibis Budget in Dandenong. 10,700 to book outright or 2,100 + AUD76. If you cancel, presumably you would get 10,700 miles refunded. So you get an additional 8,600 LifeMiles for AUD76 or a cost of 0.88 cents each. Seems like a much better deal (assuming my maths is correct).

Of course, she could just book the RedDoorz @ Paus Raya in Palangkaraya for 1,900 LifeMiles full price, fully-refundable.

I hear Palangkaraya is lovely this time of year

 

[Gold Member]

OTOH, if you book a fully-refundable hotel on points + pay and then cancel, you get refunded all in points. An example is the Ibis Budget in Dandenong. 10,700 to book outright or 2,100 + AUD76. If you cancel, presumably you would get 10,700 miles refunded. So you get an additional 8,600 LifeMiles for AUD76 or a cost of 0.88 cents each. Seems like a much better deal (assuming my maths is correct).

You’ve stumbled across a golden nugget that I’ve been reluctant to drop publicly for fear of the US bloggers getting a hold of it and wrecking it for everyone when Lifemiles realises people are indirectly purchasing miles in this manner (let alone extending their miles validity for free with fully refundable all miles Hotel Bookings). Hopefully Pointhacks will show some discretion here.

But, now that it’s out there - Lifemiles for $0.0088 AUD cpp (varies ever so slightly depending on the miles/$ combination) using the hotel points + cash option. Similar to indirectly buying IHG points using points + cash. Using LM‘s marketing speak and at a year round base purchase price of 3.3 USD cpp, that works out to an equivalent “560% bonus“ in Australian Dollar terms at today‘s exchange of 0.67.

Shhh….

 

[Notyourbag]

You’ve stumbled across a golden nugget that I’ve been reluctant to drop publicly for fear of the US bloggers getting a hold of it and wrecking it for everyone when Lifemiles realises people are indirectly purchasing miles in this manner (let alone extending their miles validity for free with fully refundable all miles Hotel Bookings). Hopefully Pointhacks will show some discretion here.

But, now that it’s out there - Lifemiles for $0.0088 AUD cpp (varies ever so slightly depending on the miles/$ combination) using the hotel points + cash option. Similar to indirectly buying IHG points using points + cash. Using LM‘s marketing speak and at a year round base purchase price of 3.3 USD cpp, that works out to an equivalent “560% bonus“ in Australian Dollar terms at today‘s exchange of 0.67.

Shhh….

Wow, never realised you got refunded all in points.
I assumed you'd get your points plus the cash back. This is insane!

 

[Gold Member]

Wow, never realised you got refunded all in points.
I assumed you'd get your points plus the cash back. This is insane!

The cancellation policy states:

In the case of cancellations of bookings purchased using miles and cash, the full value of such booking will be re-credited in miles to your Program account in accordance with the terms and conditions of the LifeMiles Program. No cash reimbursement will be made of the portion of the miles purchased in connection with the original flexible payment transaction.

 

[liparj]

The cancellation policy states:

Is this a quirk of the current 2:1 offer (ending 15 Nov) or is the points credit always this generous?

 

[Gold Member]

Is this a quirk of the current 2:1 offer (ending 15 Nov) or is the points credit always this generous?

Nothing to do with the Bonus miles promotions they regularly run. It’s just a quirk of the hotel pay with points + cash system.

 

[mushypeas]

Does the pts + cash refund also extend your points expiry date Given they’re “adding” to your balance?

 

[NDiddy]

Looks like the hotel redemption through points doesn't extended the expiration anymore? Did this for the last 2 years and worked brilliantly but seems like you now need to earn points to extend the delivery.

Does anyone know when this changed?

From the LifeMiles Help Centre
LifeMiles can expire, but it is very easy to prevent your LifeMiles from expiring. Just make one accrual transaction every 12 months, and the validity of all the LifeMiles in your account will extend for a minimum of 12 months. The best way to ensure you miles don’t expire, is to have an Avianca LifeMiles credit or debit card. As long as you use this card, your miles will never expire.

 

[aikman]

Looks like the hotel redemption through points doesn't extended the expiration anymore? Did this for the last 2 years and worked brilliantly but seems like you now need to earn points to extend the delivery.

What did you end up doing instead to extend your miles?

 

[NDiddy]

What did you end up doing instead to extend your miles?

Doesn't look like I have much choice but to buy 1000 at this stage unless someone can suggest a cheaper way to do this?

 

[Happy Trails]

Looks like the hotel redemption through points doesn't extended the expiration anymore? Did this for the last 2 years and worked brilliantly but seems like you now need to earn points to extend the delivery.

Does anyone know when this changed?

It worked for me just three weeks ago.

 

[NDiddy]

It worked for me just three weeks ago.

Good data point - looks like something has changed very recently then.

 

[Buzzard]

I purchased 1,000 the other day (got 2,250) to extend for another year.
Hopefully redemptions will be available soon.

 

[NDiddy]

Doesn't look like I have much choice but to buy 1000 at this stage unless someone can suggest a cheaper way to do this?

Well what do you know - My expiration has been updated to 2024. Bizarre set of timelines here:

Made a hotel redemption on lifemiles on 24 June - 10000 miles
Checked account on 29 June - No update to expiration date
Cancelled redemption on 29 June - Miles immediately refunded
Checked account 30 June - Expiration updated to 2024

Not sure what to make of that but hopefully this helps someone else.

 

[Notyourbag]

Well what do you know - My expiration has been updated to 2024. Bizarre set of timelines here:

Made a hotel redemption on lifemiles on 24 June - 10000 miles
Checked account on 29 June - No update to expiration date
Cancelled redemption on 29 June - Miles immediately refunded
Checked account 30 June - Expiration updated to 2024

Not sure what to make of that but hopefully this helps someone else.

Must still be working but taking 24 hours to be adjusted.

 

[NDiddy]

Must still be working but taking 24 hours to be adjusted.

Yep - I think I was a bit confused in thinking the redemption triggered the extension rather than the cancellation which acts as the accrual of miles to the account.

Anyway another year to figure out how to use these miles :/