If you have not started thinking about your summer travel, I do have to warn you it may be too late…but don’t despair: with some flexibility you can still find space and a transfer bonus from Capital One plus a generous purchased miles promotion again places the spotlight on the value of Avianca LifeMiles.
Booking Summer Travel With Avianca LifeMiles
Last winter I advised you to lock in summer travel ahead of time. Although the pandemic had just reared its ugly head again with a new variant, it was clear to me that this highly contagious yet less lethal variant would pave the way for more borders to reopen and other roadblocks to travel removed. Indeed, that has been the case, with even cautious Malaysia recently announcing that its borders will reopen on April 1, 2022, to vaccinated travelers.
Last autumn and winter was a great time to book summer space and if you missed out on it and are looking now, I’m sure you have noticed that saver space is few and far between, especially in premium cabins, and prices, in general, are very high. It’s going to be a blockbuster summer of travel, especially in the transatlantic market.
But through March 30th, you can take advantage of 20% transfer bonus from Capital One rewards points to Avianca LifeMiles. In addition, LifeMiles is running a 150% bonus on purchased miles, bringing the cost per mile to 1.32 cents. That sale also runs through March 30th. Stack those two bonuses with the remaining saver space that is still floating around and your summer trip to Europe (or beyond) is suddenly such more affordable.
Take London, for example. While coach fares from various U.S. cities to London already exceed $1,000, you can lock in space for 60K round-trip and about $200 in taxes/fees. Factor in the 20% transfer bonus and you’re looking at 50K miles round-trip for roughly $800 in value, which is not bad at all. If you purchase the miles, that comes to $660 for the same ticket, plus taxes. Some days it will be a better deal just to buy the ticket outright while on others it will be cheaper to buy the miles outright and purchase the redemption ticket.
Premium cabin awards, when available, are even more lucrative. 63,000 miles one-way to Europe in business class is a great buy and we continue to see Star Alliance carriers release saver space at the last-minute when seats remain unsold.
Indeed, this happens even for Lufthansa First Class (87K miles one-way between the USA and Europe with no fuel surcharges):
Do note (and be warned) that not all partner space you see available with other programs will necessarily be available with Avianca LifeMiles…that’s the nature of the program. In that sense, I don’t recommend transferring points into LifeMiles or purchasing LifeMiles unless you are ready to make an immediate purchase.
But those limitations aside, I’d sure as heck rather than 30K points for a one-way trip to Europe on LifeMiles than 40K on Aeroplan if I knew the trip was 100% confirmed. Those extra 10K points per ticket really start to add up, especially since I’ll be buying four tickets now (my little baby soon turns two…).
CONCLUSION
LifeMiles remains a program of interest that is worthy of your consideration. With the current Capital One transfer bonus and purchased miles promo, your points going even further. If your’e thinking about summer travel, it may not be too late…but don’t wait much longer. At Award Expert we’ve been very busy searching for summer travel this month. I’m sure we are not the only ones…
image: @alexcheban for Austrian Airlines
