Lifemiles 145% Cyber Monday sale plus discounted Star Alliance awards ex-SIN

Lifemiles remains one of the best options available to Singapore-based flyers who want to buy business and first class tickets at a significant discount to retail prices, plus have sufficient flexibility with regards to dates and connections. Have a read of all our past Lifemiles coverage to get yourself up to speed.

To mark Cyber Monday, Lifemiles is offering two big promotions (the promo landing page is temperamental and sometimes does not load properly, but if you log into your account you’ll see the bonus reflected)

Buy Lifemiles at a 145% bonus (1.347 US cents each)

The best bonus I’ve seen offered on Lifemiles is 140%, which allows you to buy miles at 1.375 US cents each. Typically, enjoying this offer means having to buy in excess of 101,000 miles at one go, although we have seen this minimum purchase requirement waived for some (targeted) promotions.

For Cyber Monday, Lifemiles is offering a 145% bonus for sales between 20-27 November with no minimum purchase needed. 145% means buying miles at 1.347 US Cents each, which is the biggest discount in recent memory. The lack of a minimum purchase requirement means it can be useful for topping off an account.

If you log into your account and go to the purchase miles section you’ll see the 145% bonus reflected:

Lifemiles give you access to Star Alliance award space, although you won’t be able to access “blocked” cabins like SQ’s long haul first and business class products.

Couldn’t you buy unlimited miles from UOB PRVI at 2 Singapore cents each and still redeem for the same Star Alliance flights, you ask? Yes, but remember that with PRVI you’re buying Krisflyer miles and therefore pay based on Krisflyer’s partner award chart, which is generally (there are exceptions) more expensive than Lifemiles’ (and will get worse in the future).

Here’s some ideas of where you can fly to and how much it’d cost at 1.347 US cents per mile (all prices one-way):

• Singapore to North America
  • First- 99,000 (US$1333)
  • Business-78,000 (US$1,050)

• Singapore to Hawaii
  • First- 75,000 (US$1,010)
  • Business- 51,000 (US$687)
• Singapore to Australia
  • First- 75,000 (US$1,010)
  • Business- 50,000 (US$674)
• Singapore to Europe
  • First- 102,000 (US$1,374)
  • Business-  78,000 (US$1,051)
• Singapore to Japan
  • First-50,000 (US$674)
  • Business- 36,000 (US$485)

Star Alliance Mileage Discounts

In addition to the mileage sale, Lifemiles is also offering discounted Star Alliance partner redemptions booked between 24 November and 20 December 2017 (although your actual travel dates can be anytime up to the maximum booking window).

Here is the full list of city pairings on discount, and here are the discounts for flights originating in Singapore. For ease of reference, I’ve included what SQ charges via Krisflyer too:

General observation is that these rates are better than SQ’s in most cases. The drawback is that these largely aren’t for premium cabins, so do the math for yourself and decide if it makes sense.

Note that these promotions are not reversible, i.e. they price differently in different directions, eg SIN-HKG prices at 12,500 but HKG-SIN prices at 9,000 under this promotion.

Reminders

The maximum miles you can buy in a calendar year pre-bonuses is 200,000. However, there’s nothing stopping you from opening a second account if you max out your first one, because you can redeem an award ticket in anyone’s name.

Lifemiles spending will code as airfare spend, so to maximise your miles you can use the following:

• DBS Woman’s World Card (4 mpd, first $2,000 per month)
• DBS Altitude Card (3 mpd, first $5,000 per month)
• Standard Chartered Visa Infinite (3 mpd, assuming you spend more than $2,000 in a month)

Alternatively, you can use whatever card you’re trying to hit a minimum spend amount on for the purposes of earning a sign up bonus.

Lifemiles tickets can be cancelled for a fee, but this involves calling up the call centre which may or may not be a harrowing experience, plus cancellation fees have increased recently.

If you go in expecting to find availability and connectivity that matches revenue tickets, you’re going to be disappointed. Always remember that award tickets require you to have a certain degree of flexibility in terms of routings and dates of travel. Occasionally you may get lucky, but this really is a method more for those who are willing to trade flexibility for the purpose of scoring a luxurious trip for a fraction of the cost.

Otherwise, happy shopping!