Ah, the one constant in my life- another Lifemiles sale. Lifemiles, for the uninitiated, is one of the best opportunities to buy Star Alliance premium cabin award tickets at a fraction of their revenue price.
The deal this time is as follows
Buy miles 2 for 1 and get additional early bird bonuses from September 1st to the 10th, 2016. Receive an additional bonus on each purchase level buying from 2,000 miles.
You can buy them by 1,000 miles, for USD33 + Taxes and youยดll receive bonus as follows:
| When you buy between | Receive | Accrue up to | ||||
| LM 2.000 – 50.000 | 2X1 + 5%* in Early Bird | LM 102.500 when buying LM 50.000 |
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| LM 51.000 – 100.000 | 2X1 + 20%* in Early Bird | LM 220.000 when buying LM 100.000 |
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| LM 101.000 – 150.000 | 2X1 + 30%* in Early Bird | LM 345.000 when buying LM 150.000 |
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In simple English, if you max out this promotion you will get a 130% bonus. Lifemiles usually retail at 3.3 cents each, so if you buy with a 130% bonus the cost of each Lifemile is reduced to 1.43 cents each. (all prices here refer to USD)
I bought my Lifemiles about a year ago at a 140% sale, making my price 1.375 cents per mile, and 150% sales are not unheard of (1.32 cents!)
Here’s how historical sales have gone (refers to maximum possible bonus)
- May 2016- 135%
- Dec 2015- 150%
- October 2015- 150%
- September 2015- 145%
- May 2015- 120%
Here are some sample Lifemiles prices for premium cabin redemptions, and how much they’d cost at 1.43 cents per mile (business/first). Remember that Lifemiles does not charge fuel surcharges on any redemptions, and taxes + fees are very minimal (<$100, unless departing from LHR)
All prices one-way
- Singapore to North America ($1,115/$1,416)
- Singapore to Europe ($1,115/$1,460)
- Singapore to Australia ($572/$858)
Remember that Lifemiles does not allow you to book SQ premium cabin space (except on A330 routes), you can cancel your tickets any time for a US$50 fee (but you need to call up the call centre) and you can only book your routes based on what you see on the online search engine.
I love Lifemiles, I really do. It’s how I’m taking the long way to New York tonight. I think there will be better sales than 130% come November/December, but if you urgently need miles now this is a decent price to pull the trigger.
I was about to ask when you’re flying to New York. Enjoy US Open, Aaron! Did you get the SPG Suite experience?
On a related note, does this reflect as 3 MPD for Altitude?
yup! 3mpd for altitude. i got the spg suite, but the price doubled from last year to 50k points. very painful, but it’s the sort of experience that money really can’t buy.
Soooooo jealous! Which days did you take?
Please cheer Rafa for me. Haha! Safe flight – and enjoy the tennis!
i’m just hoping that rafa is even around in week 2. that remains to be seen. i’m going on sun/mon/tues. sun are the good seats, mon and tues are the cheap ones.
Crap no ๐
Hope you were able to watch him today! Unless you took the evening matches…
Thanks for the heads up! I’ve got a few questions, hope you can help. 1. I need to travel SIN-YYZ in March 2017. Exact dates are flexible. For now, I see quite a lot of award availability for that period. Do you think I should buy the miles now and lock in the flights? Or wait till a better sale in Nov/Dec, and take a chance with award availability then? 2. Does LM practise the same redemption/nomination policy as SQ? That is, the LM account is in name. Can I nominate my wife/father/mother/etc and use my miles to redeem tickets… Read more »
hi jon- (1) award availability can be fickle. if you see it now and you’re ok with the price, i’d just lock it in now. (2) you can redeem LM tickets for anyone you wish. you can enter the name when booking. doesn’t need to be any relation.
Agree with Aaron, Jon. Pretty difficult to get a straightforward SIN-YYZ routing (or maybe it’s more difficult in December when I tried it last). Was able to get SIN-FRA-YYZ on LH/AC. Was eyeing the SIN-TPE-YYZ on BR (for the Rimowa kits, of course) but to no avail. So if it’s to your liking, book it! Then replenish miles with this sale ๐
And yes, I’m always able to buy tickets on LifeMiles for my mom using my account.
Thanks for the responses!
One more question. What’s the best way to buy these miles? Does it count as an online transaction? I’m thinking of using the HSBC Advance, since the DBSWWMC has a $2k limit.
Hi Aaron, you are a lifesaver bro! I was about to buy a SIN-LAX ticket when I read your post on LM…..and changed my plans literally….for the better with good savings!
Seriously, can’t thank you more for all your great tips and guidance! Have a good trip!
thanks jo! glad you were able to find a routing that works for you.
hi Aaron, thanks so much for this great tip!
just curious, does using lifemiles to redeem for hotel nights at hilton or their other hotel partners give any value?
thanks for your thoughts