25% Transfer Bonus from Citi ThankYou to Avianca Lifemiles – Best Uses for Domestic & International Flights

I have long stated that LifeMiles is one of my favorite points currencies to use. Sure, their call centers can be a nightmare to use, and they occasionally block access to partner awards. However, there is still a ton of value to be extracted from the program. You can book domestic flights on United for as little as 7,500 miles, with no close-in booking fees. Alternatively, you can redeem them at very reasonable prices for premium cabin on long-haul flights.

More importantly, LifeMiles are extremely easy to come by. They frequently run sales, where you can buy miles for less than 1.5 cents each. You can even pay for a subscription plan that allows you to buy LifeMiles in installments. Joining Club LifeMiles has the added benefit of extending the validity of your miles, since LifeMiles now requires accrual every 12 months for your account to stay active.

Citi is offering a 25% bonus when you transfer ThankYou points to Avianca LifeMiles.

A week ago, American Express added Avianca LifeMiles as a transfer partner. It seems that Citi doesn’t want to have their monopoly thunder stolen. From now until December 12, 2018, they are offering a 25% bonus when transferring Citi ThankYou points to Avianca LifeMiles.

If you value your Citi ThankYou points at 1.5 cents each, for example, transferring to LifeMiles usually doesn’t make much sense. This is because you can easily buy LifeMiles for 1.35 cents each. However, with a 25% bonus, you can get at least 1.69 cents from each ThankYou point based on my valuation. With this promotion, Citi is really just bringing us closer to the reasonable transfer ratio.

Will you be taking advantage of this transfer bonus?