Tag Archives: avianca lifemiles

Lifemiles Brings Back “The Best Promotion in the Americas”

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Remember, you should only buy miles if you will be using them very soon as there is always a risk they may devalue.  Having said that, Lifemiles is now the cheapest source of Star Alliance miles since US Airways joined OneWorld if you can’t manufacture spend.

Read my review of Avianca Lifemiles programLifemiles

Buy miles and receive the double!

Buy miles 2×1 is back! The promotion that has been recognized as the Best Promotion in the Americas at the 2014 Freddie Awards.

Between May 5th and 30th, for each block of 1,000 miles you buy, LifeMiles will give you a bonus of 100% more, that can be redeemed to fly to more than 1,300 destinations with Avianca, AeroGal, Star Alliance member airlines and other partner airlines. You can also enjoy your miles with the program’s extensive commercial partner network, between more than 100,000 hotels in 90 countries, for songs from the best Universal Music artists, Car Rentals, LifeMiles Catalog and much more.

Terms and Conditions

This promotion is available through Avianca Call Centers, LifeMiles.com and Avianca Information Centers, except Colombia where is available only through the Call Center and LifeMiles.com. For residents of Venezuela, it is only available through LifeMiles.com. This promotion is available between May 5th, and May 30th, 2014, as the last date of purchase. Minimum of miles to buy per transaction: LM1,000. Maximum miles to buy per transaction: LM75,000. Maximum miles to buy during a calendar year: LM150,000 (including the bonus for promotional mile purchase). Miles must be purchased in multiples of 1,000. Maximum number of transactions: 1 transaction. At LifeMiles.com, the purchase can only be done through Earn/Buy LifeMiles. Does not apply to the Flexible Redemption (miles + money) during the payment process of air ticket redemption. Each package of 1,000 miles costs USD 35.40, including all taxes applicable to each country*. For residents in Colombia, each pack of 1,000 miles has a cost of USD 30. The values are settled in Colombian pesos at the TRM rate of the date of the transaction. For residents in Peru, each pack of 1,000 miles has a cost of USD 35.4 or S/.99.1 including taxes. Reference exchange rate to April 1 2014: S/.2.80 per 1 USD. For residents in Costa Rica, each pack of 1,000 miles has a cost of USD 30. The values are settled in the exchange rate of the date of the transaction. Form of payment through Call Center and LifeMiles.com: International credit or debit card. Cash payments are only allowed at Avianca Information Centers. Other conditions: Applies only to members enrolled in the program prior to May 5th, 2014. The miles purchase transaction receipt will show the total of miles credited to the customer’s account, including bonus, and the total amount charged for the transaction. The miles bought and earned with this promotion do not apply to achieve Elite status. The amount paid for the miles purchase is not refundable. The miles are not endorsable. Miles purchased, once accrued, can be redeemed in accordance with the conditions specified in the LifeMiles Program Terms and Conditions and the portfolio of products and services available for redemption. LifeMiles Terms and Conditions apply. * The price may be lower depending on the country of residence registered in the members account in the database.

 

Avianca Lifemiles – Buy Miles 2×1 Is Back!

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This has been out for a while, just getting caught up after my trip.

Dear Tara Tuatai :

Buy Miles 2×1 is back!

We want you to live twice as much and because you deserve more, for each block of 1,000 miles you buy between December 3rd and 30th, 2013, you will receive the double!

Enjoy this bonus of 100% more that LifeMiles gives you. Is very easy! Buy now at LifeMiles.com and your miles will be accrued in your account automatically.

Remember you can enjoy your miles flying to more than 1,300 destinations and with our vast partner network: Hotels, Car rentals, products of our LifeMiles Catalog, songs from the best Universal Music artists and much more.

Read more about Lifemiles here.  

With  US Airways Dividend Miles merging into AAdvantage, Lifemiles will become more important as a source of Star Alliance awards so worth considering.

Flight Review, Taca: Flores – Guatemala City – San Jose, Costa Rica

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Many people on FlyerTalk are members of Avianca-Taca Lifemiles due to some very generous promos such as the buy/give/share 100% bonus promos.  Most people are collecting the miles to redeem on Star Alliance awards so very few have actually flown on Taca so I hope this post will be of interest.

This route is a special bargain whether you are using Lifemiles or United Mileage Plus.  Look how much it would cost to buy the tickets.  Before you get too excited about “business class” remember these are only small planes so there is no business class unless you connect again in El Salvador.

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You can choose from a daytime connection that gets you to SJO in the evening or an overnight connection in GUA.  If you go for the morning connection, you would need to spend the night in Flores.  We did the overnight connection so we could maximize time at Tikal, arrive in San Jose at a decent hour and use Club Carlson points for a free night at the Radisson.

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Using Lifemiles more miles/more money toggle you can bring the cost of these flights down to 3500 miles plus $45 (plus tax).

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Using United Mileage Plus it’s still a pretty good deal, especially if you have the usual credit cards.  The $51.50 is the tax added on to the flights, you have to pay this on Taca as well.  Scroll down if you want the overnight connection because UA lists flights by duration of travel.

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There are no lounges in the Flores airport, there is a United Club at Guatemala City.  This is the first plane from Flores to Guatemala City, all economy seats but a very short flight so who cares?

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Arriving in Guatemala City is strange because you have to wait in line at customs even though it is a domestic flight.  We had our boarding passes out ready to show that we were on a domestic flight and they waved us through once we got to the front of the line.  Luckily we had carried our backpacks on so we avoided further delay.  This was relevant as we found the Radisson’s shuttle waiting for us and one other couple.  The other couple didn’t show up so the shuttle took us to the hotel, then the driver got a call that the other couple finally made it out of the airport and were looking for the shuttle!

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Next morning, waiting to board plane to San Jose.

 

 

 

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Guatemala City airport does have some pretty cool shops which take credit cards without a surcharge.  I succumbed to the temptation!

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Reminder – Two Major Promos Ending Tomorrow

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Last week I blogged about the opportunities to buy airline miles with US Airways Dividend Miles and Avianca-Taca Lifemiles at greatly reduced costs through sharing them with someone else who shares them back to you.  These two promos will be ending on 15 Oct so if you had it in mind to take advantage, then do it now!  I didn’t partake this time as I have enough miles in these two programs to meet our needs for the next couple years.  You shouldn’t buy miles unless you plan to redeem them within a year or so as they may depreciate.  Here’s the details in case you missed it the first time.

US Dividend Miles

Avianca-Taca Lifemiles

Avianca Taca Lifemiles Offers 100% Bonus On Sharing Miles

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Not to be outdone, Avianca-Taca Lifemiles is also offering a share miles promo!

If you are following my Central America series, you will soon see examples of how Lifemiles saved us 1000’s of $ on this trip!

See my review of LifeMiles to learn how to best use this program.

Transfer your miles and they will receive the double!

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From October 1st to 15th, for every 1,000 miles you transfer to the account of a relative or friend, we will double the miles transferred to their account!
Remember that with LifeMiles you can fly to more than 1,300 destinations around the world with Avianca, AeroGal and Star Alliance member airlines. Also, our vast commercial partner network includes more than 100,000 hotels in 90 countries, car rentals, restaurants, and many more.
Discover all the options you have to redeem your miles at EarnandEnjoy.com or visit the Enjoy section at LifeMiles.com to find our partner network in your country.

Terms and Conditions

  • This promotion is available at LifeMiles.com, Avianca’s Information Centers and Call Center except for Venezuela where is only available through LifeMiles.com
  • This promotion applies between October 1st, 2013 and October 15th, 2013, as the last date of transfer
  • Minimum transfer miles: 1,000
  • Maximum transfer miles: 50,000
  • The miles must be transferred in multiples of 1,000
  • Transfer fee for each block of 1,000 LifeMiles: USD $15 + local taxes
  • For residents in Colombia: block transfer fee of 1.000 LifeMiles is USD $15 + local taxes The values ??must be calculated at the Alaico rate of the date of transaction
  • For residents in Peru: the transfer fee for each block of 1,000 LifeMiles: USD $17.7, S. / 49.6. Rate change to September 1st, 2013: S /. 2.80
  • The amount paid for the miles’ transfer is not refundable
  • Form of payment through Call Center and LifeMiles.com: credit card or international debit card. Cash payments are only allowed at Avianca’s Information Centers
  • At LifeMiles.com, the purchase can only be done through Earn/Transfer LifeMiles Does not apply to the Flexible Redemption (miles + money) during the payment process of air ticket redemption
  • The miles transferred and earned with this promotion do not apply to achieve Elite status
  • The transaction receipt will reflect the total miles accrued in the member’s account, including the bonus miles and the total charge of the transaction
  • The transferred miles, once accrued, can be redeemed according to the conditions specified in the LifeMiles’ Terms and Conditions and portfolio of products and services available for redemption
  • LifeMiles Terms and Conditions apply

Central American Adventure – Putting It All Together

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This was a pretty complicated itinerary that required several different air mile programs to complete.  You can find my guide to using miles to get to Central America here.   I used miles from my Top 8 recommended programs.  Simply put, we flew from Brisbane to Belize, overland to Flores, flew Flores via Guatemala City to San Jose, Costa Rica; and another short hop to Panama.  From there we flew Panama to Las Vegas, rental car to LAX, flew to Maui, then a short hop to Honolulu.  The final return was Honolulu-Brisbane.  Now let’s break it down into individual airline awards.

1.  US AIRWAYS – South Pacific-Central America award in business class – 120,000 each.  This was the hardest one to get as it was in August when availability trans-Pacific is at a premium.  The other challenge I had to deal with was that US was starting to enforce maximum permitted mileage though there were still some agents who didn’t seem to have  a clue.  My first suggested itinerary used ANA via Tokyo on a 787 to Seattle but for some reason US agents couldn’t see that space even though I could see it easily on UA’s tool.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as there were problems with 787 aircraft leading to many cancellations.  We finally booked the open jaw using Thai from Brisbane – Bangkok – Seoul, Air Canada from Seoul – Vancouver, then United (only had economy seats available) from Vancouver – Houston – Belize.  BNE-BKK-ICN-YVR-IAH-BZE.  The return was easier, a simple Honolulu – Seoul – Bangkok on Asiana, then a tight connection to Thai for the final flight to Brisbane.  HNL-ICN-BKK-BNE.  We used miles earned from the Grand Slam promo held annually from 2008-2011.

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2.  UNITED AIRLINES – Central America award Flores – Guatemala City – San Jose, Costa Rica.  Easily booked online at United for 7500 miles each using flights operated by Aviateca and Lacsa as part of TACA.  Miles earned from credit card sign-ups.

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3.  AVIANCA-TACA LIFEMILES award San Jose – Panama in economy for 7000 miles each.  Original flight was on Lacsa but when this flight was cancelled I got them to put us on Copa.  Miles sourced from Lifemiles Visa sign-up.

4.  LIFEMILES award on Copa, Panama – Las Vegas, 15,000 miles each.  I specifically chose Vegas as our point of entry to the USA after research showed there were very few international flights to LAS so customs would be easier.  I was right, it was a breeze!  Miles sourced from Lifemiles Visa sign-up, the shopping promo from Oct 2012 and needed to top up some miles & cash.

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5. AVIOS redemption on American Airlines, LAX – Maui, 12,500 Avios each.  Easily booked online for the morning flight 10 months in advance.  Miles sourced from Chase BA Visa sign-up.

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6.  HAWAIIAN AIRLINES cash ticket from Maui – Honolulu.  I found a cheap deal for $60 each so decided not to waste miles on this one.

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I had been planning this trip several years in advance and knew which credit cards to get and which promos to use to make it happen.  I have no idea how much cash we would have needed for 2 people to actually pay for all these flights but my total outlay for taxes and cash components was somewhere around $1000-1200 max.  Without strategic use of miles, we never would have been able to do this trip!

Tomorrow, I will discuss how hotel points saved us more money which made us able to spend more on the independent eco-lodges.  I will also give reviews on the airlines involved and airports we visited.

Avianca-Taca Lifemiles Bonus Promo Back 1-31 August

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See my review of LifeMiles to learn how to best use this program.

Buy miles and get twice as much!

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At LifeMiles we give you more because we want you to live your miles to the fullest. Therefore, until August 30th, 2013, for each package of 1,000 miles you buy, we will give you a bonus of 100 % more that can be redeemed to fly to more than 1.300 destinations around the world with Avianca, AeroGal or Star Alliance member airlines. Also, at LifeMiles.com we offer you the redemption platforms “Hotels Around the World” and “Hilton HHonors™” for you to enjoy your miles at more than 100.000 hotels in 90 countries.

And there are many more ways to enjoy your miles! Visit EarnandEnjoy.com to discover our vast air and commercial network and everything you can do with your LifeMiles.

You can access this promotion through our Call Center, LifeMiles.com or at Avianca’s Information Centers.

Terms and Conditions

  • This promotion is available through Avianca Call Centers, LifeMiles.com and Avianca Information Centers, except Colombia where is available only through the Call Center and LifeMiles.com.
  • This promotion is available between August 1st, and August 30th, 2013, as the last date of purchase.
  • Maximum miles to buy per transaction: LM75,000.
  • Minimum of miles to buy per transaction: LM1,000.
  • Maximum miles to buy during a calendar year: LM150,000.
  • Miles must be purchased in multiples of 1,000.
  • Maximum number of transactions: 1 transaction.
  • At LifeMiles.com, the purchase can only be done through Earn/Buy LifeMiles. Does not apply to the Flexible Redemption (miles + money) during the payment process of air ticket redemption.
  • The amount for purchase of miles is not refundable.
  • Each package of 1,000 miles  costs USD 35, 40, including all taxes applicable to each country *.
  • For Venezuela residents: each package of 1,000 miles costs USD 50,oo plus local taxes of 12% IVA, for a total cost of USD 56,oo. The values are settled at the current exchange rate to Bolivares Fuertes.
  • Form of payment through Call Center and LifeMiles.com: International credit or debit card. Cash payments are only allowed at Avianca Information Centers.
  • The cost per block of 1,000 miles may vary according to the country or channel of purchase.

Other conditions

  • Applies only to members enrolled in the program prior to August 1st, 2013.
  • The miles purchase transaction receipt will show the total of miles credited to the customer’s account, including bonus, and the total amount charged for the transaction.
  • The miles bought and earned with this promotion do not apply to achieve Elite status
  • The amount paid for the miles’ purchase is not refundable.
  • The miles are not endorsable.
  • Miles purchased, once accrued, can be redeemed in accordance with the conditions specified in the LifeMiles’ Program Terms and Conditions and the portfolio of products and services available for redemption.
  • LifeMiles Terms and Conditions apply.

* The price may be lower depending on the country of residence registered in the members account in the database.

AviancaTaca LifeMiles Award Chart Changes

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HT:  Loyalty Lobby.  He already has charts up on his blog.  The changes mostly affect Star Alliance awards and they will upset the majority of people on FlyerTalk who have been collecting miles for this purpose.  So far the changes seem to affect Europe, Asia, South Africa, the Middle East/Africa and Others.  For eco-travelers, I have recommended collecting LifeMiles to use on intra South/Central American awards and these have not been affected.  See my main post for more about best uses of AviancaTaca Lifemiles.

Avianca-Taca LifeMiles 100% Bonus On Buying Miles 8-30 April

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One of the best buy miles promos is back!  Hopefully you all took my advice and joined LifeMiles when I first blogged about its benefits for eco-tourists.   One of the catches with these promos is that you must have joined before the promo is announced.  If you are new to MTTW, here is a complete list of all the airline programs I recommend you join to get started.

If you read other travel blogs, you will see most bloggers recommend using LifeMiles for Star Alliance awards, but it is much easier to use them on Avianca-Taca flights and you can save quite a bit since flights within Central America and Peru can be costly.  When you buy miles, you should always have a plan to use them within the next year or so as you never know when they may be devalued.  Also, be sure to check the cost of buying a ticket for cash (which may earn you miles depending on fare class) and compare to the cost of buying enough miles for an award.  You will be able to check availability on the LifeMiles site before you spend any money.  Star Alliance awards can be a bit tricky to get so if you have a destination in mind, please ask in the comments and I will tell you more info.  Awards on Avianca-Taca can be great bargains, I used them for our upcoming trip to Central America and saved over $1000 for 2 people!  Here’s the rules of the current promo:

Buy miles 2×1

Buy miles and get twice as much!

We want you to enjoy life twice as much, therefore, for each package of 1,000 miles you buy, LifeMiles will give you a bonus of 100 % more that can be redeemed to fly on routes operated by Avianca, TACA, AeroGal, partner airlines or Star Alliance member airlines. Also, you can enjoy your LifeMiles with the programs’ vast partner network or through our LifeMiles Catalog where you get the best products from different categories like technology, personal use items, home appliances and toys among others.

You can access this promotion through our Call Center, LifeMiles.com or at Avianca and TACA’s Information Centers.

Terms and conditions

  • This promotion is available through Avianca and TACA’s Call Centers, LifeMiles.com and Avianca and TACA’s Information Centers, except Colombia where is available only through the Call Center and LifeMiles.com
  • This promotion is available between April 8th, and April 30th, 2013, as the last date of purchase
  • Maximum miles to buy per transaction: LM75,000
  • Minimum of miles to buy per transaction: LM1,000
  • Maximum miles to buy during a calendar year: LM150,000
  • Miles must be purchased in multiples of 1,000
  • Maximum number of transactions: 1 transaction
  • At LifeMiles.com, the purchase can only be done through Earn/Buy LifeMiles. Does not apply to the Flexible Redemption (miles + money) during the payment process of air ticket redemption
  • The amount for purchase of miles is not refundable
  • Each package of 1,000 miles costs USD 35,40, including all taxes applicable to each country*
  • For Venezuela residents: each package of 1,000 miles costs USD 40,oo plus local taxes of 12% IVA, for a total cost of USD 44,8o. The values are settled at the current exchange rate to Bolivares Fuertes.
  • Form of payment through Call Center and LifeMiles.com: International credit or debit card. Cash payments are only allowed at Avianca or TACA’s Information Centers
  • The cost per block of 1,000 miles may vary according to the country or channel of purchase

Other conditions:

  • Applies only to members enrolled in the program prior to April 8th, 2013
  • The miles purchase transaction receipt will show the total of miles credited to the customer’s account, including bonus, and the total amount charged for the transaction
  • The miles bought and earned with this promotion do not apply to achieve Elite status
  • The amount paid for the miles’ purchase is not refundable
  • The miles are not endorsable
  • Miles purchased, once accrued, can be redeemed in accordance with the conditions specified in the LifeMiles’ Program Terms and Conditions and the portfolio of products and services available for redemption.
  • LifeMiles Terms and Conditions apply
  • * The price may be lower depending on the country of residence registered in the members account in the database

 

Avianca-Taca LifeMiles & Best Uses For Eco-Travelers

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Avianca-Taca’s frequent flyer program is one of the newest to the Star Alliance but given that it’s hubs are in countries rich with birdlife, it’s a program that all eco-travelers should get to know.

BASICS OF AVIANCA-TACA LIFEMILES

1.  First thing to do is join the program if you haven’t already.  LifeMiles has frequent buy/share bonus miles promos and they always restrict them to people who are already members as of the day the promo begins.  It’s free to join so no reason not to!

2.  You only need to have 40% of the miles required to redeem an award.  Then you can buy the remaining miles at $15 per 1000 miles.  For example in this flight from LAX to San Jose, Costa Rica; the normal price is 12,000 miles but if you are willing to pay $90, you can get away with only using 5000 miles.  You have effectively bought 7000 miles for $90 at a cost of $15.00 per 1000 miles.  (The price has increased to $15.00 per 1000 miles since July 2013.)  The technique remains the same is pictured.

3.  The normal price to buy miles is $30 per block of 1000 miles.  If LifeMiles is running a 100% bonus, this becomes $15 per block of 1000 miles.  You will only need to buy enough to get you to the 40% redemption level, then use the “More money” button to buy the miles even cheaper.

4.  The normal price to share miles is $15 per block of 1000 miles.  If LifeMiles is running a 100% bonus, this becoomes $7.50 per block of 1000 miles.  Bear in mind that the miles come out of your account and go into your friend’s account.  There is a maximum of 50,000 miles transferred per calendar year.

So let’s say you have 20,000 miles because you got the LifeMiles Visa card.  You transfer these miles during a 100% share miles promo to your spouse.  You pay $300 for the transfer of 20,000 miles and your spouse gets 40,000 miles in his/her account.  You have basically paid $300 to create 20,000 new miles (since you already had 20,000) so you bought those miles at $15 per block of 1000 miles.  Now your spouse transfers the whole lot of 40,000 miles back to you.  He/she pays $600 for the transfer.  Now he/she has 0 miles and you have 80,000 miles, so again you bought the miles at a cost of $15 per block of 1000 miles.

4.  You can kickstart your LifeMiles by getting the LifeMiles Visa (US Bank) with a bonus of up to 20,000 miles with first purchase.

 

 

SAMPLE BARGAIN ROUTES WITH LIFEMILES

For eco-tourists, the best uses of LifeMiles are to get you between airports in the birding hotspots of Central America and South America, or from the USA to Central/South America preferably on an Avianca or Taca flight.  Here are some examples, please note the difference in base price and the price when you spend 40% of required miles and add cash.

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA TO PANAMA CITY

There is a special on business class which makes this the cheapest way from A to B if you are paying cash.

Now if you don’t really care which class you are in, let’s compare with the price of the flight in miles and cash.

Depending on how many miles you have in your account, you can spend as little as 3000 miles plus $62 cash.  If you used the bonus promo above, these 3000 miles would have cost $45, so your total out-of-pocket is $107, rather than $307.

LIMA TO SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA

If you are enchanted by the blue-throated macaws at Barba Azul, here’s how you can get there.  First, the cash price-economy.

Now let’s see what it costs in miles.  The normal price is 9000 miles which during the promo would be $135 to buy the miles.   Or you can buy 4000 miles during the promo for $60 and another $66 for the remaining 5000 miles you need for a total of $126.  Nice savings over the cash price of $435!

PANAMA CITY TO LAS VEGAS (STAR ALLIANCE AWARD ON COPA

$510 for the one way ticket using cash.

Now let’s see how much it costs with miles!  Normal price is 15,000 miles.  Using the 40% minimum to pay with 6000 miles plus $114 cash and $25 redemption fee we have paid (using a 100% buy/share bonus) $90 for the minimum miles plus $114 plus $25 plus $28 tax for a total of $257, about half the cash price!

GETTING LIFEMILES IN EVERYDAY LIFE

It’s a fairly new program so there aren’t too many opportunities yet, though this may grow.

1.  Get the credit card and use it for purchases, get 1 mile per $.

2.  LifeMiles shopping portal.  They are having some problems with this and miles haven’t been posting while they work out the bugs.  Hopefully they will and this will become a nice source of LifeMiles.  Don’t buy things you don’t need just to get miles, but if you do need something, start at the portal and get free miles!

3.  Buy flowers or a gift at FTD.com.

4.  Transfer hotel points.  These are not the best use of hotel points but if you have some orphaned points you need to get rid of, it’s one option.

  • HiltonHonors: 10,000 HHonor Points for 1000 LifeMiles.
  • Best Western:  5000 Best Western points for 1000 LifeMiles.
  • Marriott:  10,000 Marriott Rewards points for 1500 LifeMiles.

 

IN SUMMARY

1.  Best uses of LifeMiles for eco-tourists are on Avianca or Taca flights, or some partner flights like Copa.

2.  Credit card can kickstart your miles account.

3.  Wait for Buy/Share bonuses to buy miles at a discount.

4.  Only buy enough to get you to 40% of your desired award, then use the miles plus cash tool to buy the remainder at $12-13 per block of 1000 miles.

Anymore questions, please ask in the comments?  Does anyone have plans to travel to Central or South America and planning to use LifeMiles for a cheap ticket?