In this article
Citi and Avianca Lifemiles have launched a new 25% transfer bonus until August 20th (at 11:59 PM Central Time)
Notably, this bonus comes from Avianca, so you won’t see the promotion at Citi’s ThankYou website. You can reference the promotion here.
As a reminder Avianca Lifemiles is a Star Alliance partner, meaning you can book (some) United awards via Lifemiles as well as other Star Alliance carriers like Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Air Canada, ANA and many more.
There are some major pros and major cons to Lifemiles.
The pros are that they don’t tack on fuel surcharges, meaning that you can book a First Class Lufthansa flight without any of Lufthansa’s own surcharges which can top $500 one way and for just 87,000 Lifemiles (versus, for example, 113,000 United miles for the same flight). 63,000 miles for Business.
Cons include how hard it is to make any changes at all once ticketed and that the site sometimes shows phantom award availability.
Especially noteworthy is how abysmal is has been for people to deal with Lifemiles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hours long phone calls (if you can get someone at all), run arounds, months and months for refunds on cancellations, and even service fees deducted from refunds. Trying to make changes may even be worse than cancellations.
I would keep this in mind should you have a Star Alliance flight to book, but I wouldn’t advise transferring speculatively. Especially now.
Citi has a bonus like this to Avianca once or twice every year.
Other Notes on Avianca Lifemiles
- LifeMiles Awards – Changes and Cancellations: What You Need to Know (And It’s Bad!)
- Best Uses for Avianca LifeMiles (Analysis Inside)
HT: OMAAT
Thoughts?
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