American Express is really making moves lately.
Just last month they released the newly and seriously enhanced Gold Card, offering 4x points on dining and supermarkets.
Today, we learned that they are also retooling the The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN. (Compare American Express cards)
The latest shot is the addition of Avianca as a 1:1 transfer partner. Avianca has long been one of the hidden secrets of the Citi ThankYou program and one of the larger reasons to collect ThankYou points. The addition of Avianca to the Amex arsenal is another shot across the bow.
I discuss the many uses of Avianca LifeMiles in this post, so I encourage a read of it to get up to speed on why that matters.
The highlights are that they are best used for short flights on United (as well as last minute flights where you would be subject to United’s close-in booking fee) and for longhaul premium cabin Star Alliance redemptions like Lufthansa First Class, as they do not pass on the carrier imposed surcharges that can be $500 or more each way.
Note that Avianca availability does not always (and frankly often does not) match availability shown at United for the same flights. As well, it’s been said that their phone support is abysmal so making changes to an itinerary will certainly be more challenging that with a North American program like United or Aeroplan.
This transfer is now live and instant and is at a standard 1:1 ratio.
HT: Dan’s Deals
Excited by this addition? Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
New to all of this? My new “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available now.
