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Score Incredible Award Flights For Less With 15% Amex Transfer Bonus to Avianca’s LifeMiles

Darren Murph
Darren Murph
Senior Strategist/Writer
Darren holds the Guinness World Record as the planet's most prolific professional blogger, a feat he achieved in 2010. He's a seasoned storyteller, instructor and communicator, working across marketing, editorial and public relations for some of the world's most progressive brands. He's an explorer at heart, having traversed nearly 50 countries and all 50 US states. He's flown over one million miles on Delta alone, and takes pride in facilitating unforgettable excursions using points and miles.
March 01, 2019
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4 min read
Thai 747 First Class Review
Score Incredible Award Flights For Less With 15% Amex Transfer Bonus to Avianca’s LifeMiles
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Here's a tip: You don't need to accumulate miles with a certain airline to leverage outrageous redemptions from its loyalty program. Part of the points and miles magic involves lesser-known transfer partners, which happens to be the case with Avianca's LifeMiles program.

With a 15% transfer bonus, it's even cheaper to score a Lufthansa first class award seat (Photo by Nick Ellis / The Points Guy)

LifeMiles recently became a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, enabling those who use cards such as The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express to transfer their Membership Rewards points to Avianca's program at a 1:1 ratio.

But from now through April 1, 2019, you'll get get an even better redemption of 15% more LifeMiles when you transfer Membership Rewards points. That pushes solid deals on flight redemptions into the excellent category.

For those unfamiliar with Avianca LifeMiles, it's worth getting to know the program for hidden gems such as:

  • United domestic flights within any one of three regions designated by the Avianca program: intra-region: 7,500 miles
  • Flights to South of South America in economy: 30,000 miles
  • Flights to New Zealand or Australia in economy: 40,000 miles
  • Flights to Europe in business class (with no fuel surcharges): 63,000 miles
  • Flights to North Asia in business class: 75,000 miles
  • Flights to Middle East in business class: 78,000 miles
  • Flights to Europe in Lufthansa first (with no fuel surcharges): 87,000 miles

In TPG's latest valuation, he pegs the value of LifeMiles at 1.7 cents each. However, you can easily score multiples of this valuation on these sweet spots.

How to Transfer Miles

Membership Rewards points must be transferred to LifeMiles in increments of 1,000 points at a 1:1 rate. But first, you'll need to link your Avianca LifeMiles account to Membership Rewards. When I linked my accounts, I received a message that "We are processing your account linking."

By the time I reloaded my transfer partner dashboard, the link was already complete. So, I tested a 1,000-point transfer:

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When I submitted my transfer request, I received the following message:

We are processing your points transfer to Avianca LifeMiles. For Avianca LifeMiles, transfers normally occur immediately, but please allow up to 48 hours.

However, the miles had already posted in my LifeMiles account by the time was able to log in to my account:

How to Earn Membership Rewards Points

If you're excited about these excellent redemption options, there are currently some lucrative ways of earning Membership Rewards points:

  • The Platinum Card® from American Express: 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in your first 6 months of card membership. Plus, earn 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year) and prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel. Terms apply.
  • American Express® Gold Card: 60,000 Membership Rewards points welcome bonus for spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of card membership. Plus earn 4x points at restaurants and at US supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x) and 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com. Terms apply.
  • The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Platinum Card within the first three months of Card Membership. Terms apply.

H/T: One Mile at a Time

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.