Avianca Lifemiles devalued again over the weekend, the second time in six months. Not only are prices higher, but there are reports of more flights being blocked from booking that should be available. As the very purpose of that loyalty program is to sell points and offer “cheap” Star Alliance redemptions, I view it as expendable and urge you all to join me in boycotting Lifemiles.
Info On Latest Avianca Lifemiles Devaluation
Not only are prices up, but more space seems to be blocked, which is even more pernicious. Let’s look at the latest changes in one-way pricing:
Between North America and Europe:
- Economy class: From 35,000 miles to 40,000 miles (up by 14%)
- Business class: From 70,000 miles to 80,000 miles (up by 15%)
Between North America and Asia:
- Economy class: From 47,000 miles to 55,000 miles (up by 18%)
- Business class: From 90,000 miles to 100,000 miles (up by 11%)
Between North America and Australia/New Zealand:
- Economy class: From 40,000 miles to 55,000 miles (up by 38%)
- Business class: From 80,000 miles to 100,000 miles (up by 25%)
Domestic pricing in North America on Air Canada and United has also risen (though I cannot yet see a pattern in the price increases).
Here’s what is even worse. Lifemiles was already notorious for blocking partner award space and now it seems to be even worse. That means that even at these new higher levels, many flights on Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, ANA, and others are not even available for booking (online or over the phone). And there’s phantom space too on Ethiopian Airlines (shows available, but isn’t actually bookable).
Customer service remains horrible, Lifemiles makes changes or cancellations difficult, and the website remaisn extremely clunky.
Why A Lifemiles Boycott?
With whatever (small) voice I have in this points and miles space, I would like to make an example of Lifemiles…to send a message that loyalty programs are a two-way street and that folks do have choice when it comes to buying miles, credit card spending, and choosing which program to send transferable points currency.
From this point on, I will not push the Lifemiles co-branded credit card, a lifemiles+ subscription plan, or any sale on purchased points. MY ADVICE: STAY AWAY FROM THIS PROGRAM. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH A PROGRAM THAT DOES NOT RESPECT YOU WHILE HAVING NO NETWORK OR OTHER MITIGATING REASON TO GRUDGINGLY REMAIN LOYAL.
And folks, the people running LifeMiles love sponsored content on blogs…don’t think some of those glowing stories are not bought and paid for. But I’m done with LifeMiles unless they walk back this latest devaluation and issue notice in the future before raising prices. Because this is a bait and switch. Selling miles on the basis of attractive redemptions and then raising prices without notice is the mark of an unethical company.
And while I question whether government regulation would be appropriate here or just make a bad matter worse (i.e. a German-style approach of your miles being valid at the redemption rate on the date of acquisition and not subject to devaluation), I do know that Lifemiles relies on folks like you and me to make its program a success. Stop buying Lifemiles. Stop transferring your credit card points to Lifemiles.
To be clear, devaluations are reasonable in the world of miles and points…it’s an inflationary world and no one is reasonably expecting award pricing to remain stagnant forever. But compare Lifemiles to Air Canada Aeroplan or Qantas Frequent Flyer. Aeroplan just announced what I expect will be a devaluation (United and Etihad redemptions will be priced at a variable level starting in March 2025), but at least gave two months of notice. Qantas will devalue its redemption charts later this year, but gave members six-months worth of notice.
That notice period makes all the difference between an honest and dishonest loyalty program. I’d prefer to pay a little more and deal with a program like Aeroplan that respects its members (not to mention makes award bookings so much easier and has far more competent customer service than Lifemiles).
CONCLUSION
Dear Lifemiles, you overstepped a line. Delta and United get away with it because they are massive and have a network that commands loyalty. You’re a loyalty program whose very premise was to offer cheaper flights, with Avianca essentially an afterthought (yeah, flying Avianca is hardly a premium experience…).
I’m not playing this game any longer…the latest round of price hikes is bad enough, but the blocking and lack of notice cross an unacceptable line.
Please consider joining me in this boycott. Pragmatically, even if a particular redemption you are eyeing is still slightly cheaper with Lifemiles, by rewarding them for a series of no-notice devaluations and an increased in seat blocking, we validate a strategy that assumes, as a premise, that we are so transactional that the ethics of a program mean nothing. No, I’m not willing to do that any longer.
@ Maatthew — You are a little late to the party. This program has beena scam for several years now.
Better late than never?
Hardly. 60% of my *A redemptions and most of my best value ones have all been Lifemiles, 2018 thru last month
@ Willem — The primary problem with LifeMiles is not the devaluation of the now-hidden award charts, but the blocking of partner awards and the non-functional website. Clearly, the broken website is a feature not a bug after three years. Bottom line is that LifeMiles is a SCAM. Maybe you have endless hours to waste booking tickets through them, but no one should need to do that. You are not winning by wasting your time.
lol. It’ll be “boycott Lifemiles!” until the next deval of Aeroplan or w/e & their value will increase relative to the competition again.
If you purchase Lifemiles only during sales & book immediately, no risk of devaluation in the interim. It’s the fools who buy or transfer huge amounts speculatively that get left holding the Big Bag
I don’t dispute that those who transfer and burn simultaneously have been able to get good deals. But I don’t like programs that operate with such blatant disrespect for members. Mock me if you want, but I’m done with Lifemiles even when (not if, but when…) the others devalue too.
Way ahead of you there. I transferred some points in which got stuck in there during the start of COVID and experieinced their award blocking firsthand (I was aiming for an itin on LH in J). No matter how cheap the prices are, they do you no good if the award seats themselves are blocked.
My customer service experience with them was not as bad as what others have mentioned but their website is appallingly bad. HUGE IN YOUR FACE font sizes and clumsy organization.
I thankfully was able to redeem all the orphaned points in the middle of the pandemic (AC long haul J, connection in Y, so I got a reduced price itin which is a plus for their program) and never looked back.
I’ve used up all my miles that I have purchased with them in the past years. I will join your boycott and not purchase/use miles with them for the foreseeable future.
Well, it’s definitely an issue. Sadly they have some of us in their clutches because we have award bookings made and have LM+ Basic (or higher) subscriptions specifically to leverage the change fee waiver.
Sadly, they’ll be getting their free money.
Your criticism is fair, but let’s not pretend that anyone else is much better. All the programs that get hyped up by others – Mileage Plan, Flying Blue, and Aeroplan in particular – fully intend to shiv you in the back with devaluations, and are just as bad about blocking partner award space. (I find Mileage Plan especially egregious, given how aggressively they sell miles.) Yeah, Aeroplan did us a favor this time by giving us some notice, but really, can you trust them to do so going forward? Maybe I watched too much X-Files in the 90s, but I trust no one.
I’ve been maintaining for a while, any program can provide value for those willing to put in a little work (usually by booking far in advance and/or at off-peak times), and if you transfer and buy miles only when you have an immediate use identified. But the old paradigm of speculatively buying/transferring miles on sale for high value last-minute redemptions? It’s a sucker’s game.
I had given up on LifeMiles a while ago. The sheer frustration of the website and any support turned me off years ago. It’s a joke.
Don’t announce boycotts. Just do it silently and quietly. It’s up to them to earn you back.
Disagree- a boycott, or better yet, protest has a much greater chance of success in gaining action with numbers. One man doesn’t move a needle.
This is really purposefully underplaying the devaluation, big time.
46K awards are now 85K or 100K. That is for short <4000 mile, 6 hour flights.
Costs have about, or more than, doubled generally. LM now has the highest pricing amongst *A airlines, more than double that of other *A programs like Miles & More for many routes.
The cherry picked examples here of smaller increase are really disingenuous. It should be disclosed that the devaluation is generally a DOUBLING in prices, bringing LM now to be one of the most expensive *A FFPs in terms of redemption costs.
a Avianca le encanta estadar a los clientes. a pesar de varios reclamos todavia me debenmas de $ 400.- desde la epoca del COVID, cuando cambiaban y anulaban los vuelos constantemente; devolvian las millas pero nunca los TAX.
hace medio ano me cambiaron tipo de avion en ultimo mom y fui obligada volar en clase turista a pesar ke pague Ejecutive. Todavia sigo reclamando devolycion de diferencia de millas y tax….
Y asi tengo varios ejemplos mas.
Parece que estafa es un deporte preferido de esta empresa.
This declaration of war on Avianca Lifemiles is a vote of confidence for Trump.
Trump felt betrayed by the Colombians so he slapped a big tariff on them. They immediately backed down. Trump knows who is bad and it is the Colombians.
I don’t particularly like Trump but I support Matthew’s boycott of Avianca Lifemiles.
For a moment I thought you were breaking into a song from Les Miserable :
” Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?”
Completely agreed, that’s really unrespect towards customers, 2 devaluations in few months and with no customer alert, think really only chance to let them understand how to act is boycott. Their mileage rewards are like a rollercoaster, monitoring a First class with Ana from Ord to Hnd that on Saturday was prized at 120.000 miles, then on Sunday jumped at 128.000, this morning again at 120.000 and by lunch time rise up at 160.000!!! Now back to 120.000!!!! what shame program no way!!!
Lifemiles is not the first and definitely not the last to do something like this. I promised never to give business to Air Canada after the debacle during COVID (they refused to refund flights). But that lasted until Aeroplan had good redemption options.
Here’s my more practical strategy:
1. Embrace free agency (no more blind loyalty to any airline).
2. Earn and burn points as soon as possible (unless they are with a transferable currency).
3. Earn transferable currencies and reduce airline/hotel balances.
4. Look for the best deal for a particular redemption. Don’t be loyal or blind to any program.
5. Get signup rewards and dump the card in 2-3 years.
EWR to CLT on United economy has doubled in pricing. I used to book that for 7500 and now it’s 15000, same as Utd pricing. No reason to continue with Lifemiles if that price sticks.
I second Rad’s comment. Aside from insane domestic US award increases, US to South America on UA in Y is now showing 45k (vs 30k previously, a 50% increase. Also they seem to be blocking any J space which was not previously the case. Also going to be done with LifeMiles after this.