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Avianca LifeMiles are one of my favorite programs even if their tech can be frustrating. The rates are just so good, and you can always email them to issue tickets ( support@lifemiles.com ) if they aren’t showing up on the website. Currently, until 12/17/21 you can transfer points from 3 banks and enjoy a 25% transfer bonus. This could be particularly valuable if you’re looking to book travel next year.
The Cap1 Venture X just dropped…it’s our pick for best Premium card for most people
Transfer between now and 12/17/21
- Capital One
- Citi Thank You
- Brex
What are some great uses of Avianca LifeMiles?
In order to use Avianca LifeMiles, you need to know where to use them best. Here’s a half dozen redemptions that we think are pretty amazing.
Within USA
- Economy 8750
- Business transcon 25k
USA to Europe
- Business Class 63k
- First Class 87k
USA to South America
- Economy
- Northern South America 20k
- Southern South America 30k
- Business Class
- Northern South America 40 to 60k ( Avianca Metal is cheaper
- Southern South America 60k
USA to Africa
- Business Class 78k
USA to Asia
- Business Class 78k
- First Class 90k
Searching for award space – first go to United.com
Remember the easiest tool to use to find Star Alliance award space is on United.
Which will populate the search like this – I turned on calendar view:
And then you can see the direct flight option on Lufthansa
Which then looks like this when you search on Avianca LifeMiles
Which would cost just 51k miles during this transfer bonus promo
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.