LifeMiles is a frequent flyer program of Avianca, Colombia’s biggest and oldest airline. Avianca is one of the Star Alliance member airlines so when you earn or redeem LifeMiles, you have access to the biggest airline alliance in the world and its extensive networks. Theoretically, you can get anywhere in the world with LifeMiles. 

The program has lots of fans, but it’s not the easiest to use. Airlines don’t grant all of their partners the same access to award space, and LifeMiles’ website also leaves a lot to be desired.

Citi ThankYou Points are almost an afterthought for many points and miles collectors. However, if you are ignoring ThankYou Points, you are doing yourself a disservice.

A trip to Greece has been on my to do list for a long time, but, I must admit, I was a bit put off by pictures of crowded beaches and tourist overrun islands. But when I learned that Greece is one of the first European countries to open to U.S.

Avianca’s frequent flyer program, LifeMiles, is a program many people love to hate. Yes, there is a somewhat quirky web interface, hard to reach customer service and often the program doesn’t show the same award space as other Star Alliance partners.

Many travelers have Australia on their bucket list. There really is something for everyone, from the snorkeling and diving at the Great Barrier Reef to wineries, cool cities and spectacular beaches. 

The competition for the very limited number of award seats to get there, however, is fierce. Airlines’ frequent miler programs certainly don’t make it easy and finding award space on the nonstop flights from the U.S. could be quite a challenge.

Avianca has a co-branded credit card issued by Banco Popular called the Avianca Vuela Visa that comes with 40,000 Avianca LifeMiles after your first purchase on the card and a $149 annual fee.

Avianca LifeMiles is offering a bonus of up to 145% on purchased miles through November 27, 2017 (this Monday). You'll need to sign into your Avianca account to view the sale. You can buy up to 200,000 LifeMiles during the sale and get up to 290,000 bonus miles (for a max total of 490,000 miles). This is nearly as cheap as it gets. The cheapest I’ve ever seen LifeMiles was 1.32 cents each. But what sets this sale apart and makes it better than past sales is that bonus is not tiered.

Citi ThankYou Points have added Avianca LifeMiles as a 1:1 transfer partner.

This is amazing news because Avianca LifeMiles can be used to book Star Alliance award space--the world's most available--without fuel surcharges at fair award prices--often much better than the prices offered by United MileagePlus for the same awards.

To transfer ThankYou Points to LifeMiles, sign into your citi.com account, and choose ThankYou Rewards under Rewards & Benefits.

Then select Points Transfer under More Ways to Redeem.

ThankYou Points can be transferred in increments of 1,000 points.

Avianca LifeMiles has introduced new (cheaper) award prices to fly shorthaul flights within the continental United States on United. Before, Avianca's domestic award prices were market standard--12,500 miles one way from anywhere to anywhere.

Your secret weapon for Business Class award space to Europe this summer is United's daily seasonal flight from Newark to Hamburg. It has two Business Class award seats most days from now through the middle of August. You can get to Newark in United First Class for zero extra miles and connect in Europe via plane or train to your final destination.

You can book this flat bed for 55,000 Aeroplan miles, 57,500 United miles, or 63,000 LifeMiles.