Lifemiles are back on sale from now till 28 Feb with members getting up to a 135% bonus on purchased miles.
As usual, the promotion is tiered, and the more miles you buy, the larger the bonus you get.
It appears that the 135% bonus is only available to targeted accounts. My account was targeted, but there are reports of other accounts only getting a 125% bonus.
Here’s the math (assuming a 135% bonus)
- Buy 1,000-50,000 miles-1. 57 US cpm
- Buy 51,000-100,000 miles- 1.47 US cpm
- Buy 101,000- 200,000 miles- 1.4 US cpm
And for the inevitable question: is this a good time to jump in? It’s certainly not the best sale I’ve seen. Lifemiles have been offered with a 140% bonus, which brings the average cost down to 1.375 US cents per mile. Here’s a reminder of the recent sales
- December 2016- 140%
- November 2016- 140%
- September 2016- 140%
- May 2016- 135%
If you don’t need miles now, I’d recommend holding off for a while. But if you absolutely need to fly now and have been targeted for 135%, I see no reason not to jump in.
Someone recently asked me why I think Lifemiles are a good deal despite it being possible to buy Krisflyer miles for 2 SG cents each (assuming you sign up for the OCBC Voyage card and pay $10K for 500,000 KF miles)
(1) No fuel surcharges on Lifemiles awards
(2) The ability to try first and business class products on other *A carriers (eg ANA and Eva) for fewer miles than what it’d cost you to redeem via SQ (assuming you value LM and KF miles the same)
(3) The existence of sweet spots on the Lifemiles award chart, like flying from Singapore to Hawaii for 51,000 miles in business class (one-way)
You should not be buying Lifemiles if your goal is to fly with SQ.ย This is because
(1) Lifemiles (and other *A partner programs) does not have access to SQ’s long haul First and Business class space. You will at best be able to book SQ’s regional business class seats on the A330
(2) SQ awards are cheaper to redeem through the Krisflyer program than via Lifemiles
The maximum number of Lifemiles you can buy (pre-bonus) each year is 200,000.
Lifemiles purchases will code as airline and online transactions, so you’d earn 4 mpd using your HSBC Advance Card, DBS Woman’s World Card and 3 mpd using your DBS Altitude AMEX/Visa.
I was targeted as well, and I guess it’s a Valentine’s offer for this time of year. I’ll wait for something better, but I’m glad you reminded that the new annual pre-bonus miles purchase limit is now at 200K.
Hi Aaron!
Salute to you sir for being a leading authority in travel hacking in SG.
Btw, I’ve been trying to search for award space on Star Alliance and the interwebs seem to recommend United/ANA/Aeroplan’s sites to search for award flights, instead of Lifemiles.
In your experience, any recommendations on which site is best in terms of accuracy? (I’ve generally found Lifetime’s UI and speed to be quite wanting)
so this is where i reveal my noobness in that i tell you i have never needed anything other than the lifemiles engine. in any case if you find something on United/ANA/Aeroplan but can’t find it on LM you wont be able to book it through LM. At most you will be able to call up sq and ask them to book it via a star alliance partner award. i’ve used ANA a couple of times but not any time recently. the rest i have no experience using so can’t really comment.
Thanks for noting what Singapore credit cards is recommended to make purchase!
Do you know where can the award chart of life miles be located?
Thanks
https://www.lifemiles.com/eng/inc/starredawards.aspx
Are there other sweet spots from SG besides Hawaii?
Are there any sweet spots in general?
40,000 miles one way business from singapore to australia/NZ is fantastic IF you can find award space.
I’ve found Wellington as a good option from award space availability standpoint. SQ flies it’s regional J class on this route.
ah yes. the capital express. SQ’s regional J is a terrible hard product for such a long flight though.
if we use the UOB preferred platinum visa for lifemiles purchase, would it qualify for 4mpd (online purchase)?
it will code as an airline purchase and will not get 4mpd. uob ppv doesnt give 4mpd for all online, only selected categories.
Thanks. If I won’t be able to get any of the recommended credit cards approved in time, is the UOB prvi miles amex card my best bet? Would this qualify as an overseas spending (2.4miles mpd)?
yes, overseas spending @ 2.4mpd.
which is the best card to use for the purchase of AAdvantage miles? Thanks!
hsbc advance. or woman’s world
thanks! how about using the dbs altitude card? is the earn rate 3mpd for AAdvantage, or alaska mileage plan for that matter?