Turn Amex Membership Rewards into Avianca LifeMiles with a 15% bonus

Through February 28, 2025, you'll receive a 15% bonus on Amex Membership Rewards transfers to Avianca's LifeMiles loyalty program. Transfer bonuses, if you're unfamiliar with them, are promotions that incentivize you to exchange one point of currency for another. As one of the most versatile 'bank points,' AMEX Membership Rewards can be transferred to 21 programs, 18 airlines, and three hotel loyalty programs. This current transfer bonus with Avianca might be a good deal if you're seeking to top up your Avianca balance for an immediate redemption.

It's worth mentioning that Avianca habitually sells points throughout the year (usually with a bonus between 155% and 200%), so depending on your situation, it may make sense to purchase Avianca Lifemiles directly through the carrier's website if you only need a handful. As Membership Rewards can be deployed in many different ways, there's a real opportunity cost to transfer them out when there are relatively frictionless alternatives. Over the last few years, the best transfer bonus we've seen between Amex and Avianca is 15% (last one was Feb/March 2024) so the current offer is what we've come to expect when these Amex and Avianca pair up for a transfer bonus. Amex and Avianca offer these transfer bonuses usually one time a year.

How Do You Transfer Amex Membership Rewards to Lifemiles?

Transferring your Membership Rewards is simple though it's important to note that you won't see the bonus reflected on the AMEX side. Rather you'll receive the additional miles from Avianca at the time of transfer:

1. You'll want to make sure your accounts are linked (or if you don't have an Avianca Lifemiles account you can create one during this flow) by visiting this site: https://www.lifemiles.com/enrollment/step/1
2. Then log into your AMEX account at americanexpress.com, then navigate to the Account Home page of one of your credit cards, and click on 'Rewards & Benefits.'

3. Select the 'Transfer Points' option from the 'Earn and Redeem' sub-menu.
   

4. Scroll down to the list of loyalty programs to find Avianca, and enter (or toggle the slider) the amount of points you'd like to transfer. Follow the prompts to complete the process.

Again, you'll see the 15% bonus reflected in your Avianca account post-transfer.

What are Some Good Uses of Lifemiles?

Oftentimes you'll find the best redemption deals come from using the loyalty currency of one airline to redeem for a flight on another airline. For example, one might redeem Lifemiles to fly with a partner airline, say Singapore Airlines, as they are members of the same airline alliance - Star Alliance. Airlines also strike one-off partnerships with others airlines, even if they aren't part of the same alliance, thus enabling members to earn and redeem miles when flying each respective program. This is a key concept for playing the points and miles game and I touch upon this briefly in this Introduction to Points and Miles - A Primer post.

The Lifemiles loyalty program is a favorite among points and miles enthusiasts due to the good availability of premium cabin partner awards seating, lack of fuel surcharges, reasonable redemption costs, and frequent miles sales. There are some solid redemption options within Lifemiles.

For example, for just 40,000 Lifemiles (one way) you can fly in style - business class - between the Japan and Oceania on All Nippon Airways. That's incredible value.

Or if you're keen on seeing Europe, you could fly Lufthansa first class, from the US to Frankfurt, for 87,000 Lifemiles.

Conclusion 

If you plan to take advantage of this 15% transfer bonus between Amex and Avianca you have until the February 28, 2025 to do so.

Feel free to share your favorite Lifemiles redemption ideas in the comments!