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As a transfer partner for all major credit cards (except Chase Ultimate Rewards), Avianca LifeMiles are among the easiest points and miles to earn. The loyalty program regularly offers lucrative sales when you buy LifeMiles. In the year Until February 22, you can buy Life Mills for just 1.25 cents.
We recommend using LifeMiles more often for Star Alliance flights on airlines like United, Lufthansa and ANA. However, one of the best sweet spots is on a non-combination partner – Aeromexico.
I recently bought Life Mills for an Aeromexico flight to South America. That’s why using LifeMiles for Aeromexico flights makes this week’s Sweet Spot Sunday edition.
Why is it special?
LifeMiles has a published award chart for travel on Aeromexico, but real-time LifeMiles award values do not always reflect the value on the award chart.
It is very difficult to find a business class award seat in Buenos Aires. On most days, Aeromexico operates two daily flights between Mexico City International Airport (MEX) and Ezeiza International Airport (EZE). In my experience there is more award space on a day flight.
In place of LifeMiles awards on many Aeromexico flights, Aeromexico’s own Club Premier loyalty program costs a lot of miles (think 200,000-500,000 miles). A one-way fare on this flight usually goes for $3,600.
By redeeming 52,500 LifeMiles on this flight, you can earn around 6.7 cents per LifeMiles, nearly quadrupling TPG’s LifeMiles value.
Economy class can be a big deal, too.
No surprise, but Aeromexico economy class award space is generally easy to find. 30,000 LifeMiles can get you from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Buenos Aires.
Unfortunately, there are no stops in Mexico City
Now, I know what you’re thinking – why not spend a few days in Mexico City before continuing on to Argentina?
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LifeMiles does not allow stopovers (connections longer than 24 hours). If you want to spend a few days in Mexico City, you should book a separate ticket from the US to Mexico and then from Mexico to Argentina.
I booked an inexpensive economy class ticket on American Airlines from Miami International Airport (MIA) to Mexico City for a nine-hour business class flight from Mexico City to Buenos Aires, spent three days in Mexico, and purchased 52,500 LifeMiles. Bought for around $655.
Related: ¡Viva Mexico! Review of Aeromexico’s business class on the 787-9 from Mexico City to Buenos Aires
How to order
Go to lifemiles.com and select “Travel”. You’ll need to move the dropdown from “Smart Search” to “Aeromexico” for LifeMiles to show Aeromexico rewards.
The rest of the booking process is straightforward. All you have to do is select your flight, follow the on-screen prompts and pay the taxes and fees.
Related: Can’t Find an Award Offer with Avianca LifeMiles? Don’t give up until you try this trick
Earning miles for this award
You can transfer rewards from American Express Membership Rewards, Brax Rewards, Capital One Miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards to LifeMiles at a 1:1 ratio. Transferring credit card points to LifeMiles generally takes less than an hour.
Here are some credit cards we recommend for LifeMiles transfers.
You may also consider purchasing LifeMiles. I purchased LifeMiles for my Aeromexico flight, but they didn’t go directly to my account, preventing me from locking into the flight. It took about 36 hours for them to show up in my account.
Originally, there were three seats, but one was taken when they posted LifeMiles to my account. I was traveling to Argentina with two of my friends. Despite regularly confirming LifeMiles award space on our departing Aeromexico flight, we ended up not being able to travel together on an Aeromexico flight, so one of us flew to Argentina on Copa Airlines.
This is all the more reason to transfer credit card points, which, as mentioned, generally take a while before the miles show up in your account.
RELATED: Why You Need A Healthy Stock of Avianca Life Mills
at last
LifeMiles has developed a reputation for having inconsistent award tickets, hard-to-reach customer service, and bad technical issues. That being said, the loyalty program offers attractive rewards on Aeromexico when I traveled to Argentina for around $700 in business class.
While Aeromexico’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner boasts a 2-2-2 lie-flat configuration in business class, the in-flight food and service was superior to most premium cabin flights on US carriers. And the day flight was ideal for jet lag.
The next time my travel plans call for South America, I know where to start.
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