Mile and Point Purchase Promos Going On Now – Which Ones Are Valuable?

It is not always a good idea to purchase miles and points since programs tend to devalue over time and there are often sales on revenue options that can beat what you paid for points. But, if you have a trip coming up and are short or you like to redeem for premium cabins, mile and point sales can be a great way to get your balances where they need to be. Here are some of the mile and point purchase promos going on now.

Mile and Point Purchase Promos

Alaska Airlines

• Get up to 50% bonus on purchased miles
• Tiers are targeted – the best tiers are like this:
  • 10,000 – 19,000 = 20% bonus
  • 20,000 – 49,000 = 35% bonus
  • 50,000 – 60,000 = 50% bonus
• Maxing out the bonus (90,000 miles total) would cost $1,773
  • 1.97 cents per mile
• Value Tip: Buying Alaska miles is a great way to fly on partners like Cathay Pacific in business or first for less than the cost of a paid ticket.
• Link

Avianca Lifemiles

Great choice for Star Alliance business/first class redemptions

• The bonus percentage apply as follows:
  • for purchases from 1,000 – 50,000 LifeMiles receive 2×1
  • for purchases from 51,000 – 100,000 LifeMiles receive 2×1 + 15% additional miles
  • for purchases from 101,000 – 200,000 receive 2×1 + 25% additional miles
  • Best value is to purchase over 101,000 miles
• The maximum miles to purchase per transaction during this promotion to receive the bonus established above is 200,000 LifeMiles if the Member has not purchased miles in 2017 or 200,000 LifeMiles minus the miles previously purchased by the Member in 2017
• Maxing out the bonus (450,000 miles total) would cost $6,600
  • 1.46 cents per mile
• Value Tip: Buying Avianca miles is a great way to redeem for Star Alliance partners in premium cabins. They have a generous award calendar and this can be a great deal if you use it the right way.
  • If you redeem for US to Europe in business class, it will cost you $919 for the one way
• Link

Hyatt

• Buy 5,000 or more points and receive a 30% bonus
• Maxing out the bonus (71,500 points total) would cost $1,320
  • 1.84 cents per point
• Value Tip: Best value is for redeeming for category 1 or 7 hotels. This is because you can essentially “buy” the points you need when you make Points+Cash bookings and the cost for most hotels is much cheaper than 1.84 cents.
  • This is also a deal if you want to redeem for hotels that do not have Points+Cash availability
  • If you purchased all the points for a Category 7 (30,000 points), it will cost you $552. While expensive, it can still be cheaper than what some of the Category 7 properties charge.
• Link

United Airlines

• This is a tiered purchase offer
  • Buy 5,000 – 34,000 miles | Get up to 8,500 bonus miles
  • Buy 35,000 – 100,000 miles | Get up to 50,000 bonus miles
• Maxing out the bonus (150,000 miles total) would cost $3,762
  • 2.5 cents per mile
• Promotional offer valid until 11:59 p.m. CT on May 22, 2017
• Value Tip: Unless you absolutely need the miles right now, this is really not that great of a deal. An example would be business class on United for travel from USA – Europe – $1,437 for a one way.
• Link

Any other mile or point purchase promos going on right now? Which ones interest you?