Citi has added Avianca LifeMiles as a ThankYou points transfer partner at a rate of 1:1. Avianca is a member of Star Alliance and they do not charge fuel surcharges making it an attractive option. They often have sales on points where you can purchase them for 1.5¢. You can also transfer SPG points to Avianca at a 1:1 rate and you get 5,000 bonus miles when you transfer 20,000 points. Citi has been continually adding transfer partners with Turkish Airlines & Jet Airways being added recently.
The current list of Citi ThankYou point transfer partners is as follows:
| Emirates | EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | Malaysia Airlines Enrich |
| AirFrance-KLM Flying Blue | Etihad Guest | Qatar Airways Privilege Club |
| Asia Miles | Accor Hotels (1:0.5) | Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | Qantas |
| JetBlue (1:0.8 rate, 0.5 with Preferred) | Sears SYWRP (1:12) | Jet Airways JetPrivilege |
| Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles | Avianca LifeMiles | Club Premier Aeromexico |
| Choice Hotels (1:2) | Leading Hotels of the World (5:1) |
Citi also sometimes offer transfer bonuses for some of their travel partners. I suspect at some stage in the future they will offer a bonus for Avianca LifeMiles, but that’s really just a guess based on gut feeling. You can see the transfer bonuses they’ve had for other travel partners by clicking here. LifeMiles also recently added shorthaul award flights starting at 7,500 miles. You can view the full award chart here. More options is always a good thing and Avianca LifeMiles can be very useful, so it’s great to see this development. Especially considering their CFO recently stated they were moving away from rewards due to the competitive heat. The best sign up bonus is for Citi ThankYou point earning cards is 50,000 points on the Citi ThankYou premier.
1 hour and mile arrive in my LM account, super fast
The other great thing about Avianca is that it’s Citi TYP’s first alliance partner with a deferrable expiration policy, so it’s a place you can safely “park” points if you need to (say, if cancelling a Citi TYP card, which will cause points earned on that card, even if transferred to another card, to expire in 60 days). Most of Citi TYP partners have horrid “hard expiration” policies (no way to extend expiration), but Avianca expiration can be extended with earning or redeeming (but I’m not sure if transferring in from Citi TYP counts as earning or not).
wow, makes Chase look like a dead fish.
I recall DP’s from about a year ago that it was practically impossible to use Avianca miles on UA-operated domestic flights. Any info if that’s still the case?
Also, any routine task requiring contact with Avianca is likely to be a nightmare.
Really good news added a lot value to TYP. Avianca charges $25 award fee per ticket.
Can you work your contacts and find out if this transfers instantly?