With 26 full-member airlines within Star Alliance, Avianca LifeMiles mightn’t be a program that immediately jumps out at you. But the Colombian-based loyalty program is one of the best when it comes to great-value travel on partner airlines. That includes travel on a raft of carriers such as Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Air Canada and much, much more.
LifeMiles are some of the most popular miles our readers buy, along with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles. But it’s also one of the hardest programs to work with for most, so this guide is better suited to advanced point hackers.
Read on to learn how to buy miles and research reward availability. Plus, discover how to use bonus miles promos to score cheap Business and First Class flights with Star Alliance!
Michael Kao, one of the Point Hacks community’s longest-standing members, is very familiar with the ins and outs of the LifeMiles program. He kindly contributed to this article.
How do I buy Avianca LifeMiles?
If you’re a LifeMiles member, it’s very easy to buy miles. (If you don’t have an account yet, sign up now to take part in future offers).
- Head to the LifeMiles buy miles landing page.
- Log in to your LifeMiles account when prompted.
- Click ‘Choose an amount’ and enter the number of miles you wish to purchase.
- Enter your payment information to complete checkout.
- Your purchased LifeMiles should be ready for use within a day.
From my recent experience in buying miles in 2023, it will take up to a day before you can start using the purchased miles. Mine took five hours, but I’ve read reports of other people needing to wait overnight.
Where can I go with LifeMiles?
The sweet spot: Asia
The best-value reward for travellers in Australia is travelling back from North Asia (places such as Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Taipei and Hong Kong). You’ll only need 40,000 miles one-way for Business Class or 50,000 miles for First Class.
Travelling from Australia to North Asia is more expensive, at 50,000 miles in Business and 62,500 in First. Go figure! That means a return trip from Australia to Asia will set you back 90,000 miles in Business Class, which is probably what most of you would be aiming for. After all, First Class flights on these routes are quite rare.
For the South Asia region, which includes Singapore and Thailand, the pricing is the same in Business Class. But First Class will cost you 75,000 miles out of Australia and 60,000 miles back from Asia, which is considerably pricier.
Here is the full LifeMiles redemption chart:
Other LifeMiles reward options from Australia
The Star Alliance airlines that service Australia are:
- Air Canada
- Air China
- ANA
- Asiana (soon to be merged with Korean Air)
- Air India
- Air New Zealand (limited award availability)
- EVA Airways
- Singapore Airlines (limited award availability)
- South African Airways (limited award availability)
- THAI
- United
Of this list, only Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, and THAI service most major Australian cities other than Sydney and Melbourne. But Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines don’t release many premium cabin reward seats to their partners for flights to and from Australia.
With Asiana soon to be merged with Korean Air, that leaves Thai Airways and ANA as the two most useful carriers.
For Thai Airways, availability from Australia to Asia and Europe is wide open. You can usually redeem First Class from Bangkok to selected destinations such as London. For Europe in Business, it’ll cost you 92,500 miles from Australia and 85,000 miles back, for a total of 177,500 miles.
Looking to travel further afield? Flights between Australia and the Americas will cost you 80,000 miles in Business Class, each way. Many of the Star Alliance carriers mentioned above operate flights to the USA.
If you are willing to get yourself to a Star Alliance hub such as Singapore, Bangkok or Tokyo, your opportunities for reward flights open up widely.
Tips and tricks for using Avianca LifeMiles
Benefits of booking with LifeMiles
LifeMiles is the frequent flyer program of Avianca, the national airline of Colombia based in Bogotá. Many of us have never flown this airline and don’t intend to fly it in the foreseeable future.
So, what relevance does it have to us in Australia? Here’s why LifeMiles is one of the favourite programs in the frequent flyer community:
- It’s a member of Star Alliance, so you can use LifeMiles to redeem on reputable airlines such as Thai Airways, ANA, Lufthansa and United.
- LifeMiles’ redemption rates are fairly reasonable – comparable to many US programs.
- The program doesn’t add fuel surcharges on reward tickets. This can save you hundreds compared to many well-known programs in Australia such as Qantas Frequent Flyer and KrisFlyer. You’ll usually pay under AU$100 in taxes one-way (except when departing from the UK, where it costs around AU$300).
- You can redeem rewards online, making it simple to book awards (with some caveats).
- It allows one-way redemptions at half the price of return awards, giving you flexibility.
- It offers a miles and money option, meaning you only need 40% of the miles needed for the award – and can pay the other 60% in cash.
On a recent redemption from Tokyo to Sydney with ANA in 2023, I paid about US$76 in fees and taxes, including a partner award booking fee. In comparison, the same seat via KrisFlyer came with more than AU$600 worth of taxes and charges – a surprisingly significant difference.
Limitations of booking with LifeMiles
Avid Point Hacks reader and community member, Michael Kao, is experienced with using LifeMiles.
LifeMiles is a strange beast. I have a love and hate relationship with it. In some ways, it is great for cheap luxury travel, but at the same time, its limitations can really make you go mad.
– Michael Kao, Point Hacks community member
One big limitation is you won’t be able to book routings with layovers over eight hours long. Because Australia is not a Star Alliance hub, many daytime flights out of Australia don’t have connecting flights until the next morning.
On top of that, LifeMiles’s website is very temperamental, and sometimes it just crashes without reason. But since a major update a few years back, we feel it’s performing a lot better now.
Also, LifeMiles will not book any rewards that can’t be booked online with their search engine. If you can’t see it on their website, even though it can be seen on other partner websites, LifeMiles will not book it for you.
Another worrying limitation is that LifeMiles reportedly doesn’t advise you if there is a change – such as a schedule change or equipment swap – on your itinerary. You’ll have to keep an eye on your itinerary to make sure no major modifications happen to it over time.
Finally, for any booking cancellations or changes, you’ll need to deal with LifeMiles’ infamous customer service. Refunds can take anywhere up to seven days, and there are language barriers all around.
Take all that into account before jumping in.
How do I book with Avianca LifeMiles online?
You can search for award availability on the Avianca LifeMiles website, which was relaunched in early February 2019. It’s pretty self-explanatory now.
Start by clicking on ‘Fly‘ in the top bar and it will direct you to the search engine page where you can begin your search. Start with destinations, travellers and cabin class. On the next page, you’ll be able to choose your travel dates.
After selecting those dates, flight options will come up. It’ll show you the miles and taxes needed. From here, you can tweak the calendar and searches until you find your desired flights.
Once finished, click Continue and it will take you to the payment page. Pop in your credit card details and submit payment, and your e-ticket will be emailed to you within 48 hours.
Double-check your credit card details are correct before you submit the payment, and make sure you have contacted your credit card company that you are making a purchase in Colombia.
If the credit card gets declined, your reservation will remain in the system for three days until it is ticketed. Otherwise, the seats will return to the reward inventory if not ticketed.
How do I change or cancel LifeMiles bookings?
All bookings can be changed or cancelled up to 24 hours prior to departure.
To change or cancel a reward ticket, you need to call LifeMiles customer service. As there is no office in Australia, we recommend calling the US one on +1 800 284 2622.
To change an award ticket, there is a fee of US$150. Plus, the origin and destination (including the specific airport) must be exactly the same as you’d booked previously. So if your destination is Tokyo Narita, for example, you can’t change it to Tokyo Haneda.
Cancelling and redepositing miles for travel between two regions costs US$200. But for travel within a region, it clocks in cheaper at just US$50. If you do want to follow up on a refund, the Bogotá office is the best to call on +57 1 401 3434. You might need to wait for an English-speaking agent.
Summing up
Overall, LifeMiles represents a cheap option for Star Alliance redemptions. Alongside United’s MileagePlus, LifeMiles is one of the two primary options for miles purchases within Star Alliance.
There are many tricks and gotchas with LifeMiles. But due to its lack of fuel surcharges and cheap miles when there’s a promo on, you can certainly lock in a bargain.
For example, if there’s a 175% bonus on purchased miles, two passengers flying Tokyo to Sydney in ANA Business Class can buy the ticket for around AU$822 each! This includes the miles, taxes and booking fees, converted from US Dollars.
Our contributor, Michael, leaves a handy parting tip.
LifeMiles is most useful for simple itineraries with minimal connections. It’s not the sole frequent flyer program I use, but I use it to integrate with others to help planning my itinerary.
– Michael Kao, Point Hacks community member
Lifemiles keeps credit card details on file – but a limited number – when that quota gets filled up you need to communicate with them to remove older card details to make way for new ones.
When you make a financial transaction during phone call any payment is levied using a automated payment system – the agent cues the automated system, and then returns to the call once you have entered the data in response to the prompts.
When this goes wrong (it’s clunky and sometimes refuses to work) your can no longer make the payment (e.g. for a cancellation) with the card of choice. They tell you to call back. They can also arrange call back from an agent from the finance area who can take card details over the phone, which can take a day or two.
If you need to cancel, it’s best to do so with some lead time because of the above issues. As in the article above, cancellation fees are high.
I have successfully redeemed using Lifemiles for Lufthansa business class award seats (e.g. 16,000 miles for a FRA-FCO, VCE-FRA, etc., and onto United, IIRC HNL-GUM). I have also redeemed for business class on Avianca itself (LAX-BOG-CTG etc), but had to cancel due to the pandemic. I recently redeemed for BOG-MAD-BOG in business class for my niece.
To note that Avianca itself no longer flies a business class product domestically within Colombia or to / from the USA, only to Europe (BOG-MAD, BOG-BCN, BOG-LHR, MDE-MAD, etc).
However, on some routes without business class you’ll find the 787, which still have lie-flats in the forward cabin – you can pay to sit in those (e.g. around USD350 for a BOG-LAX). Similarly, some of the A320s still have the 2×2 seats at the front bookable for a fee although the aircraft runs as all economy.
When redeeming Lifemiles on Avianca metal you are presented with a few pricing options – a MAD-BOG may be around 86,000 miles for fully flexible business class, but 80,000 for a non refundable redemption.
I have easily changed AV bookings online when I have redeemed for the flexible award using Lifemiles.
Lounge can be purchased for some locations as a ticket add-on, if you don’t otherwise have such.
On a good day Lifemiles is great, on a bad day it’s very frustrating even with a a partner who can speak Spanish.
Arguably, for confident and advanced players…..;)
Any extra on this aspect please, or from our community?
SEEMS there’s no capacity on their search page to elect Prem Economy, just economy or Bus/First…or have I missed a checkbox? Search results don’t produce any extra classes (and indeed, no first on this route, my dates either.)
(It’s a trip I’ve been eyeing for a while, Bne-Akl or vv: heard good things. For me, for a short haul, and on an award winning airline, it’s worth sampling.)
Personally I have found redemptions using Lifemiles intra-Europe or intra-US to be relatively easy to find. As always though, it all depends on the class and route you are going for.
Thanks for the feedback though regarding long-haul ex Australia flights.
As with all frequent flyer programs, they are at the mercy of the performance of the underlying airline. Remember Ansett Global Rewards?
However the situation with Avianca is a bit complex. My understanding is that it is not the airline itself that is in trouble. In fact, it has been strengthening its financial position on the back of a growing Colombian economy. The problem is a default by its major shareholder BRW, which could instate United Airlines, a current significant shareholder themselves in Avianca, as the controlling shareholder. What United may then do with Avianca Lifemiles is anyone’s guess. It is a wait and see approach for the moment.
Since April, I cant seem to see any premium seats on Thai from 1 August through to the end of the schedule. Do you know if Lifemiles is blocking premium awards on Thai or only releasing for a few months out?
Yong
btw, There is now 140% bonus if you purchase through TripPlus (there is a link from LifeMiles).
Note that the 15-day booking restriction is only for Lufthansa First Class flights.
Thanks for letting us know about the bonus deal.
Nice report and i enjoyed reading it.
Newbie here. I have a question. What about if you book LM for S.E.Asia to Europe? Say e.g. Kul – Cdg via BKK or Tpe.
Thank you.
TA’s business class seats aren’t always the best (not every seat has aisle access). But the flat-beds are comfortable, and TA is pretty good service-wise. TA is a good option if you cannot find seats on (say) Singapore Airlines or a gulf carrier since Istanbul Airport is an intercontinental hub these days (if a rather chaotic one).
Just wondering what peoples experiences are in finding flight availability from SYD-NRT direct via ANA? I rarely seem to find J flights for 2 return.
Cheers
Interesting note on ANA.
https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/tra/pro/proofenot.aspx?D=TTN343&utm_campaign=20170418-LM-starallianceeng&utm_medium=email&utm_source=151123-LM-Noticias%2Fofertas
First time using LM to book business ticket to Seoul using Air Asiana!!!
Got a Q. if I can upgrade my dad’s ticket to business (from economy/ only One-way) using my LM
Thank you
1. If you bought miles in the last promotion, there is an extra 10% bonus (so up to +35%) for this promo.
2. Singapore Airlines and Air NZ do actually release premium cabins to/from Australia, you can find them on Lifemiles if you look hard enough. Melbourne is the problem child for SQ, SYD, BNE, ADL and PER are available quite regularly. AirNZ business class is generally available from MEL, SYD and BNE.
3. South African no longer seem to release premium seats anywhere. Occasionally you can find Africa<>Europe but it’s a;most impossible.
4. Air China is no longer bookable on Lifemiles
1,000-50,000 miles: 100% bonus
51,000-100,000 miles: 115% bonus
101,000-200,000 miles: 125% bonus
valid to 27 feb
It says ‘sold out’ for almost everything even though United MilagePlus gives many options with less than 8 hour stopovers. I can’t find any flights from Perth to US or Europe. I tried searching from Sydney too.
I’m currently searching for First with Thai, Syd-Hnd via BKK. United has availability wide open, connection is only 6 hours, but the best I can do is Bus with ANA. Thai doesn’t even come up.
Anyway, here are the steps:
1. Search individual segment, in your case, SYD-BKK, and it will show that it is bookable with LM. Take a screenshot of availability with LM (screenshot 1)
2. Repeat step 1 but with BKK-HND. (Screenshot 2)
3. Take another screenshot of SYD-HND that shows no availability to prove you can’t do it online.
4. Send the above 3 screenshot, together with a scanned copy of your passport to lifemile on [email protected]. Write some brief sentences stating you can’t book it online but those flights are available. Request that it be booked as one award at their star alliance award price, in this case 50k.
5. Including in your email your full name, DOB, your contact number and LM number. Also state if you would like to pay with cash, and how many miles you would like to pay and how much cash.
As long as the connection time is within 24 hours, no mixed cabin and no change of airport, they should book if for you within 24 hours, sometimes up to 72 hours if they are busy. In the past you wait for them to call you to pay for taxes to get it ticketed. Now it seems they require you to call their Bogota office.
Hope that helps and good luck!
Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Some Air New Zealand business class award seats are now visible on Avianca and United.com
The only issue is that award spaces which get released to aviaca isn’t the same as to united or miles and more (within the 14 day advance purchase rule). I’ve had to keep twiddling my thumbs to wait for award space to open up, even though its bookable through united.
Worth keeping in mind, cheers.
LM does allow mixed cabin redemption but sadly the 8hr transit limit is still in place.
Good for miles purchases Nov 28,29, 30 only
https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/ear/tra/traneepurproc.aspx
Was worth hanging out for this one!
One thing I didn’t mention but I think might he worth mentioning, is that if you booked award using LM and there is a schedule change by the operating airline, LM will not notify you! It is your responsibility to check your bookings regularly to ensure there is no schedule change. The best place to check is http://www.checkmytrip.com.
Generally for minor changes of <30 min, you don’t need to do anything. But for major changes such as a change of flight number, or a change of class of service (eg. You might be booked in first class, but due to equipment change the new aircraft doesn’t offer first class and you get downgraded to business, a frequent occurrence with Thai), you need to contact LM to have the ticket reissued.
Just thought I should mention it as all other FFPs that I had schedule change (QF, VA and CX) they will inform you in email, SMS or even phone call! (Kudos to Asia Miles) Just in case people assume LM would do the same and got denied boarding at the airport because the flight number didn’t match.