Buy Avianca LifeMiles Cyber Week Promotion with 140% Bonus [expired]

Avianca LifeMiles is running a Cyber Week promotion for buying LifeMiles with a 140% bonus. The promotion is running from November 20 to November 26, and the 140% bonus is on all purchases.

Usually, LifeMiles has different bonuses for a certain amount of miles bought, but with this promotion, it’s a flat 140% bonus on all miles purchased making it valuable for any amount of miles you buy. Here is the link directly to the promotion.

With the 140% bonus, you are purchasing the miles at 1.37 cents each. I personally think this is a pretty good deal since previous promotions LifeMiles ran always limited you to buying a certain amount to get that valuation with 140% bonus.

LifeMiles limits how many miles can be purchased within a calendar year to 150,000 miles purchased. Luckily, LifeMiles doesn’t count the bonus miles, only the base miles you buy.


What can I do with Avianca LifeMiles?

Avianca LifeMiles is one of my favorite programs to redeem without fuel surcharges for Star Alliance premium cabin award tickets. LifeMiles sometimes has award space missing for their partner and specific routings might not work. However, LifeMiles can be very valuable if it works for you.

My favorite use of LifeMiles is crossing the Atlantic or Pacific in first or business class on one-way redemptions.

  • Fly Asiana or ANA in first class from the US to North Asia for $1,254 (90,000 miles)
  • Fly in business class from the US to North Asia for $1,056 (75,000 miles)
  • Fly in Asiana or ANA first class from the US to Southeast Asia for $1,386 (99,000 miles)
  • Fly in business class from the US to Southeast Asia for $1,089 (78,000 miles)
  • Fly Lufthansa in first class from the US to Europe for $1,221 (87,000 miles)
  • Fly in business class from the US to Europe for $891 (63,000 miles)
ANA 777-300ER first class

All without those pesky fuel surcharges, which can save you 100s of dollars.

If you’re outside of the US and find yourself in Asia, then one could fly Thai Airways 747 in first class from North Asia to Southeast Asia for $693 (50,000 miles) and have a fantastic ground experience.

LifeMiles certainly has some good redemptions for multiple different regions, which make the program still worthwhile outside the US.

Buying miles during promotions like this one can result in cheap first and business class tickets. For certain itineraries, it’s easy to find significant savings when buying miles and redeeming them instead of outright buying the revenue fare.

For example, Chicago to Tokyo flying ANA first class one-way is $13,443 or round-trip is $20,369.

If you ended up buying LifeMiles during this promotion for a round-trip award ticket to Tokyo from the US it would only be $2,475 (180,000 miles) which is a steal!


What credit card should I use to buy Avianca LifeMiles?

The great thing about buying Avianca LifeMiles is that it codes as airfare. That means you will earn 5x points per dollar spent when using the American Express Platinum Card to buy miles.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, American Express Gold Card, or the Citi Premier Card will earn 3x points per dollar spent.

I would personally use the American Express Platinum Card earning 5x points per dollar resulting in an 8.5% return when valuing Membership Reward points at 1.7 cents each.


Final word

I have been pleased the times I have redeemed LifeMiles for premium cabin tickets. If you’re in the market to fly first or business class, then this promotion might work out in your favor.

Citi Offering 25% Transfer Bonus to Avianca LifeMiles

Citi ThankYou Points is offering a 25% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through December 12, 2018. If you’re in the market for premium cabin award tickets, LifeMiles could be an excellent choice since they offer a good award chart with no imposed fuel surcharges.

Citi and American Express are both transfer partners for Avianca at a 1:1 ratio making it relatively easy to collect the miles. Soon Capital One will add Avianca as a transfer partner at a 2:1.5 ratio. With this 25% promotion, it makes it Citi’s transfer ratio go to 1:1.25.

LifeMiles regularly runs promotions to buy miles at around 1.375 cents per mile, which gives you 140% extra miles compared to the standard buying rate of 3.3 cents per mile.

What can you do with Avianca LifeMiles?

Avianca LifeMiles is one of my favorite programs to redeem without fuel surcharges for Star Alliance premium cabin award tickets. LifeMiles sometimes has award space missing for their partner and specific routings might not work. However, LifeMiles can be very valuable if it works for you.

My favorite use of LifeMiles is crossing the Atlantic or Pacific in first or business class on one-way redemptions.

  • Fly Asiana or ANA in first class from the US to North Asia for 90,000 miles.
  • Fly in business class from the US to North Asia for 75,000 miles.
  • Fly in Asiana or ANA first class from the US to Southeast Asia for 99,000 miles.
  • Fly in business class from the US to Southeast Asia for 78,000 miles.
  • Fly Lufthansa in first class from the US to Europe for 87,000 miles.
  • Fly in business class from the US to Europe for 63,000 miles.

All without those pesky fuel surcharges, which can save you 100s of dollars.

If you’re outside of the US and find yourself in Asia, then one could fly Thai Airways 747 in first class from North Asia to Southeast Asia for 50,000 miles and have a fantastic ground experience.

LifeMiles certainly has some good redemptions for multiple different regions, which make the program still worthwhile outside the US.

I have been pleased the times I have redeemed LifeMiles for premium cabin tickets. If you’re in the market to fly first or business class, then this deal might work out in your favor.

Avianca LifeMiles Added as Amex Membership Rewards Partner

Some very exciting news was announced today: Avianca LifeMiles has been added as a 1:1 transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards. This is great news as it makes Amex Membership Rewards an even more valuable reward program and makes booking Star Alliance partners even cheaper.


Avianca LifeMiles

Avianca is a member of the Star Alliance which means that you can use their miles to book flights on partners like United, Singapore, Lufthansa, ANA, Thai Airways, and others. Avianca also joined Citi as a transfer partner in November 2017, so now you’ll be able to transfer points to Avianca from two major transfer programs.

Here is what the full list of Amex Membership Rewards partners looks like now:

Airlines partners:

  • Aeromexico 1:1.6
  • Air Canada (Aeroplan) 1:1
  • Air France KLM (Flying Blue) 1:1
  • Alitalia (Millemiglia) 1:1
  • ANA 1:1
  • Avianca (LifeMiles) 1:1
  • Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles) 1:1
  • British Airways 1:1
  • Delta Air Lines (SkyMiles) 1:1
  • El Al Israel Airlines 1,000: 20
  • Emirates 1:1
  • Etihad 1:1
  • Hawaiian Airlines 1:1
  • Iberia Plus 1:1
  • JetBlue Airways 250: 200
  • Singapore Airlines 1:1
  • Virgin Atlantic 1:1

Hotel transfer partners:

  • Choice Privileges Rewards (1:1)
  • Hilton Honors (1:2)
  • Starwood SPG (1000:333)

In my opinion, Amex Membership Rewards is starting to really pull away as the best transfer program when it comes to airlines, especially with the recent loss of Korean Air for Chase Ultimate Rewards.


Avianca LifeMiles strengths

What makes this news so great is that Avianca LifeMiles has:

  • Some pretty competitive redemption rates
  • Allows you to avoid surcharges
  • Allows you to book one-way awards
  • Allows you to make your bookings through their website (though sometimes not all open partner awards show and there’s a $25 booking fee)
  • Allows you to avoid close-in fees

Those are things that make this program standout from many other award programs and why Avianca should be on your radar. 


Avianca award chart

Here are some examples of roundtrip Star Alliance redemptions with this program.

Domestic flights (around the US/Canada)

  • Economy: 25,000
  • Business Class: 50,000

You can book short-haul flights for as low as 7,500 miles one-way with United in economy or 15,000 miles one way in business class. (LifeMiles breaks down the US into three categories based on the states you’re traveling between.)

Mexico and the Caribbean

  • Economy: 35,000
  • Business Class: 60,000

Upper South America : Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

  • Economy: 40,000
  • Business Class: 70,000

These rates to upper South America are pretty good although you can definitely find cheaper routes using Alaska miles and American Airlines, which can be as low as 30,000 roundtrip in economy and 60,000 roundtrip for business class.

Lower South America: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia

  • Economy: 60,000
  • Business Class: 120,000

These rates are bit more competitive than the rates to Upper South America. However, when it comes to business class you can find much better deals. For example, ANA allows you to book Star Alliance partner United in business for only 80,000 roundtrip and only about $87 in fees!

Brazil 

  • Economy: 60,000
  • Business Class: 100,000

That 100,000 roundtrip in business class is one of the best rates out of any airline for getting to Brazil in business class and definitely a nice little sweet spot for this program. 

Europe

  • Economy: 40,000+
  • Business Class: 120,000+

Europe is broken down into three different regions and economy redemptions start at 40,000. 40,000 roundtrip to Europe is great and 60,000 roundtrip to Europe isn’t that bad, although there are options for getting to Europe for 50,000 miles or under.

As for business class, 120,000 miles is a little bit on the expensive side for miles especially since once again, you could use other airlines to get to Europe in business class for much cheaper. For example, ANA only requires 88,000, JAL can be as low as 65,000, Korean Air only requires 80,000, and a few others can be at the 100,000-110,000 mile requirement.

Still, it is worth noting that 120,000 miles is still cheaper than a United partner award (140,000) and with no fuel surcharges, the higher mileage requirement isn’t as bad as it first appears compared to those other airlines.

South Africa

  • Economy: 80,000
  • Business Class: 156,000

The economy rate at 80,000 roundtrip to South Africa is pretty competitive compared to most airlines and wouldn’t be a bad redemption. 156,000 for business class is not exactly on the cheap side although it’s on par with major US airlines like United and American.

Japan (North Asia)

  • Economy: 70,000
  • Business Class: 150,000

70,000 to Japan in economy isn’t terrible but considering how amazing the redemptions on ANA, JAL, Alaska miles can be to get to Japan, I would rather not go with Avianca when getting to Japan. For example, for just 5,000 more miles than what you would use for an economy roundtrip to Japan with Avianca LifeMiles, you could get a roundtrip on ANA in business class (75,000 miles off-peak with very little in fees).

Australia/New Zealand

  • Economy: 90,000
  • Business Class: 162,000

The economy redemption for 90,000 roundtrip is competitive with most other programs, although many programs offer roundtrips for 80,000 miles. The 162,000 for a roundtrip in business class is on par with American Airlines and United (partner redemptions) but business class tickets can be had for much cheaper with ANA or Alaska miles.

You can find their full award chart here


Other strengths of the program

There are a few other strengths of the program as well.

Purchase miles for cheap

Avianca often sells their miles for very cheap. For example, in November of 2017 you could purchase their miles with a 145% bonus which allowed you to buy miles at a rate of 1.35 cents per mile. That’s very cheap considering the value that you could get out of those miles.

In fact, it’s so cheap that if often gives people pause before transferring points to Avianca since it often makes sense to just purchase the miles outright.

Strong credit card offer

There’s also an Avianca credit card that offers a sign-up bonus of 60,000 miles after making only a single purchase (you usually need a promo code for the 60,000 offer). The card is issued by Banco Popular which is a bank based in Puerto Rico, so if you need to give Amex, Chase, and other banks a rest for a while it can be a good option.


A major weakness?

One major potential weakness of this program is that it’s known for offering questionable customer service. Thus, if you have a complex itinerary you’re trying to book you might run into some issues.


Final word

Amex continues to make its program more valuable with new transfer partners and new credit cards. If you’re interested in flying on Star Alliance partners while avoiding fees then this news should make you very happy today!

Citi Adds Avianca LifeMiles As Transfer Partner

Citibank officially has a new 1:1 airline transfer parter: Avianca LifeMiles. Avianca also has a credit card issued by Banco Popular which is a bank based in Puerto Rico that has offered bonuses as high as 60,000. In addition, you can often purchase Avianca miles for cheap (roughly 1.5 cents per point) so being added as a Citi partner means you have even more ways to quickly supplement your Avianca miles.

Avianca’s award chart

Avianca is the flag carrier of Colombia and it has some pretty decent redemption sweet spots, especially for economy. Here’s a look at some of the award chart redemptions for Avianca LifeMiles on Star Alliance partners. Some of these aren’t the best rates available but I’ve still included them for your reference.

All mileage requirements are for roundtrips.

Mexico and the Caribbean

  • Economy: 35,000
  • Business Class: 70,000

These redemption rates aren’t particularly impressive since again you can use Southwest, British Airways Avios, and JetBlue to get down to the Caribbean/Mexico for much cheaper (with miles).  Even with some of the major programs like Flying Blue and American Airlines, you can get down to Mexico or the Caribbean for 25,000 to 30,000 miles. So while the economy rate isn’t horrible, it’s not exactly a sweet spot.

South America

Upper South America : Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

  • Economy: 40,000
  • Business Class: 80,000

These rates to upper South America are okay although you can definitely find cheaper routes using Alaskan Airlines miles and American Airlines, which can be as low as 30,000 roundtrip in economy and 60,000 roundtrip for business class.

Lower South America: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia

  • Economy: 60,000
  • Business Class: 120,000

These rates are bit more competitive than the rates to Upper South America. However, when it comes to business class you can find much better deals. For example, ANA allows you to book Star Alliance partner United in business for only 80,000 roundtrip and only about $87 in fees! That’s only 20,000 more miles than what’s required by Avianca for economy. You can also find better redemptions with Alaskan Airline miles and many other partners.

The one sweet spot for Avianca miles is getting to Brazil since it has its own redemption rate.

Brazil 

  • Economy: 60,000
  • Business Class: 100,000

That 100,000 roundtrip in business class is one of the best rates out of any airline for getting to Brazil in business class and definitely a nice little sweet spot. 

Overall, the redemptions to South America aren’t horrible, but (Brazil aside) they aren’t exactly among the best, especially since South America is a destination where you can use ANA miles and avoid surcharges.

Europe

  • Economy: 60,000
  • Business Class: 126,000

60,000 roundtrip to Europe isn’t that bad, although there are plenty of options for getting to Europe for 50,000 miles or under. As for business class, 126,000 miles is a little bit on the expensive side for miles especially since once again, you could use other airlines to get to Europe in business class for much cheaper. For example, ANA only requires 88,000, JAL can be as low as 65,000, Korean Air only requires 80,000, Singapore Airlines can be under 100,000, and a few others can be at the 100,000-110,000 mile requirement.

Still, it is worth noting that 126,000 miles is still cheaper than a United partner award (140,000) and with no fuel surcharges, the higher mileage requirement isn’t as bad as it first appears compared to those other airlines.

Thus, overall Avianca might be worth considering for economy but I wouldn’t prioritize a business class award with Avianca to Europe, unless I really wanted to avoid surcharges.

South Africa

  • Economy: 80,000
  • Business Class: 156,000

The economy rate at 80,000 roundtrip to South Africa is pretty competitive compared to most airlines and wouldn’t be a bad redemption. 156,000 for business class is not exactly on the cheap side although it’s on par with major US airlines like United and American. I’d still prefer to look into options like ANA for business class since it can be as low as 104,000 miles roundtrip to South Africa. For more information on sweet spots to South Africa check out my article on the best ways to use miles and points to get to South Africa.

Japan (North Asia)

  • Economy: 70,000
  • Business Class: 150,000

70,000 to Japan in economy isn’t terrible but considering how amazing the redemptions on ANA, JAL, Alaskan Airline miles can be to get to Japan, I would rather not go with Avianca when getting to Japan. For example, for just 5,000 more miles than what you would use for an economy roundtrip to Japan with Avianca LifeMiles, you could get a roundtrip on ANA in business class (75,000 miles off-peak with very little in fees). Also, the 150,000 in business class is way higher than what a lot of different airlines offer, so I wouldn’t use that redemption.

Australia/New Zealand

  • Economy: 90,000
  • Business Class: 162,000

The economy redemption for 90,000 roundtrip is competitive with most other programs, although many programs offer roundtrips for 80,000 miles. The 162,000 for a roundtrip in business class is on par with American Airlines and United (partner redemptions) but business class tickets can be had for much cheaper with ANA or Alaskan miles. In fact roundtrip business class tickets on ANA can be as low as 105,000. Click here to find many cheaper ways to get to Australia with miles and points.

Final word

Overall, this is great news for Citi, as adding a program like Avianca adds real value to their rewards program. While I’m not crazy about all of the redemption rates for Avianca, the lack of surcharges and ease of building up an Avianca balance make a lot of their rewards pretty obtainable.

The 60,000 Avianca Vuela Visa Card: Is It Worth Applying For?

[Offers contained within this article may no longer be available]

Banco Popular has released two new co-branded travel cards with Avianca Airlines. One card offers a 20,000 mile bonus and comes with an annual fee of $59 (not waived) but the card that most people are interested in is the Avianca Vuela Visa Card with its impressive sign-up bonus of 60,000 miles. If you’re thinking about applying for the card, then here are some details about the card and how you might put those miles to use once you earn them.  

The Avianca Vuela Visa Card offers the following: 

Sign-up bonus

  • 60,000 miles after first purchase! 

This is one of those rare cards that offer you a sign-up bonus (and a large one at that) simply for making a single purchase. NOTE: you have to apply a promo code to get access to the 60,000 offer and that code is: AVSPWE. 

Bonus category earning potential 

  • 3 LifeMiles on Avianca purchases 
  • 2 LifeMiles on groceries and gas 
  • 1 LifeMiles on other purchases 

2X on groceries and gas from an airlines is pretty good and not something you always find on a co-branded airline card. Per The Frequent Miler, there are also additional benefits offered by this card as well including: 

  • 15% discount when purchasing miles with Multiply Your Miles
  • 50% off an award ticket to Colombia or Central America after $12K spend in a year
  • 50% off a second award ticket to Colombia or Central America after $24K spend in a year
  • Free additional bag when flying between the U.S. and Central America

I don’t know if the 50% discounts count for partner award tickets but my guess would be that they do. Also, Avianca is known to offer some nice promos for purchasing miles. If the 15% discount can work in conjunction with those promos, that’s a pretty sweet deal that might be worth looking into. 

Annual Fee 

  • $149 (not waived) 

This is the only true “catch,” as it’s a pretty hefty fee for a co-branded airline card and it’s not waived. 

Hard pulls 

The card is issued by Banco Popular which is a bank based in Puerto Rico. This is nice because it gives you a break from some of the other main banks like Chase, Amex, BOA, etc. so you can mix up your credit card applications. There are also reports that Banco Popular has pulled from TransUnion and Equifax for credit pulls, so it may also be a way to also give your Experian credit report a break (which seems to be hit the hardest).

It seems that some applicants are being asked to verify their income with pay stubs and other forms of proof, so I suggest that you straying away from fudging your income in any way. 

Avianca partner redemptions 

The real value of this card is in the sign-up bonus. 60,000 miles is a lot of miles but how far could those miles get you?

Avianca LifeMiles don’t allow you to book stopovers but they do allow you to book one way awards. Also, they are apparently the only member of the Star Alliance to not charge surcharges on award tickets. Their website’s search engine allows you to pull up partner flights (and even search for specific partners); however, it gave me errors every single time I tried to continue with a booking to sample total fees. Thus, I’m not sure what the fees would come out to for the below redemptions but if they don’t impose fuel surcharges, they should surely be among the lowest. Another thing, I’ve heard the booking process (when you need to call in) can be a PIA so always consider that before jumping on board with the program.  

With that said, let’s take a look at some of the award chart redemptions for Avianca LifeMiles on Star Alliance partners. All mileage requirements are for roundtrips.

Domestic flights (around the US/Canada) 

  • Economy: 25,000 
  • Business Class: 50,000

Overall, these mileage requirements are competitive and about the same required for non-short haul flights around the US from airlines like United, American, etc. So if you were looking to book a roundtrip economy ticket, picking up this card would quickly get you what you needed in terms of miles. 

Just remember that you need to factor in the $149 annual fee into your redemption. With cheap fares from airlines like Southwest and other airlines, sometimes you could pay close to the amount of the $149 annual fee to get where you’re trying to go. Just something to keep in mind. 

Mexico and the Caribbean 

  • Economy: 35,000 
  • Business Class: 70,000

These redemption rates aren’t particularly impressive since again you can use Southwest, British Airways Avios, and JetBlue to get down to the Caribbean/Mexico for much cheaper (with miles).  Even with some of the major programs like Flying Blue and American Airlines, you can get down to Mexico or the Caribbean for 25,000 to 30,000 miles. So while the economy rate isn’t horrible, it’s not exactly a sweet spot. 

South America 

Upper South America : Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

  • Economy: 40,000 
  • Business Class: 80,000

These rates to upper South America are okay although you can definitely find cheaper routes using Alaskan Airlines miles and American Airlines, which can be as low as 30,000 roundtrip in economy and 60,000 roundtrip for business class

Lower South America: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia

  • Economy: 60,000 
  • Business Class: 120,000

These rates are bit more competitive than the rates to Upper South America. However, when it comes to business class you can find much better deals. For example, ANA allows you to book Star Alliance partner United in business for only 80,000 roundtrip and only about $87 in fees! That’s only 20,000 more miles than what’s required by Avianca for economy. You can also find better redemptions with Alaskan Airline miles and many other partners. 

The one sweet spot for Avianca miles is getting to Brazil since it has its own redemption rate. 

Brazil 

  • Economy: 60,000 
  • Business Class: 100,000

That 100,000 roundtrip in business class is one of the best rates out of any airline for getting to Brazil in business class and definitely a nice little sweet spot. 

Overall, the redemptions to South America aren’t horrible, but (Brazil aside) they aren’t exactly among the best, especially since South America is a destination where you can use ANA miles and avoid surcharges. 

Europe 

  • Economy: 60,000 
  • Business Class: 126,000

60,000 roundtrip to Europe isn’t that bad, although there are plenty of options for getting to Europe for 50,000 miles or under. As for business class, 126,000 miles is a little bit on the expensive side for miles especially since once again, you could use other airlines to get to Europe in business class for much cheaper. For example, ANA only requires 88,000, JAL can be as low as 65,000, Korean Air only requires 80,000, Singapore Airlines can be under 100,000, and a few others can be at the 100,000-110,000 mile requirement.

Still, it is worth noting that 126,000 miles is still cheaper than a United partner award (140,000) and with no fuel surcharges, the higher mileage requirement isn’t as bad as it first appears compared to those other airlines. 

Thus, overall Avianca might be worth considering for economy but I wouldn’t prioritize a business class award with Avianca to Europe, unless I really wanted to avoid surcharges.  

South Africa 

  • Economy: 80,000 
  • Business Class: 156,000

The economy rate at 80,000 roundtrip to South Africa is pretty competitive compared to most airlines and wouldn’t be a bad redemption. 156,000 for business class is not exactly on the cheap side although it’s on par with major US airlines like United and American. I’d still prefer to look into options like ANA for business class since it can be as low as 104,000 miles roundtrip to South Africa. For more information on sweet spots to South Africa check out my article on the best ways to use miles and points to get to South Africa

Japan (North Asia)

  • Economy: 70,000 
  • Business Class: 150,000

70,000 to Japan in economy isn’t terrible but considering how amazing the redemptions on ANA, JAL, Alaskan Airline miles can be to get to Japan, I would rather not go with Avianca when getting to Japan. For example, for just 5,000 more miles than what you would use for an economy roundtrip to Japan with Avianca LifeMiles, you could get a roundtrip on ANA in business class (75,000 miles off-peak with very little in fees). Also, the 150,000 in business class is way higher than what a lot of different airlines offer, so I wouldn’t use that redemption. 

Australia/New Zealand

  • Economy: 90,000 
  • Business Class: 162,000

The economy redemption for 90,000 roundtrip is competitive with most other programs, although many programs offer roundtrips for 80,000 miles. The 162,000 for a roundtrip in business class is on par with American Airlines and United (partner redemptions) but business class tickets can be had for much cheaper with ANA or Alaskan miles. In fact roundtrip business class tickets on ANA can be as low as 105,000. Click here to find many cheaper ways to get to Australia with miles and points

Thoughts on Avianca’s partner award chart

Overall, I’m not terribly impressed by the Avianca partner award chart. There are a number of decent economy redemptions but many of their business class redemptions are on the higher end compared to others. The one main exception is the business class to Brazil. I do like the fact that you can book one way awards so having access to 60,000 miles can be really helpful if you’re trying to piece together one way awards to certain places. Also, the fact that surcharges aren’t imposed is a big plus that can make up for some of those redemptions that appear to be on the higher side (although you still have to factor in the high $149 annual fee).

Final word

Although I’m not overly impressed with the award chart, I still think the Avianca Vuela Visa Card is worth getting. Being able to book one way awards makes it a lot easier to put those 60,000 miles to use and avoiding fuel surcharges is nice, too. The fact that the bonus only requires a single purchase is very convenient, especially with the way some things are going right now. I don’t like the way the annual fee cuts into the savings but let’s be honest, $149 for what you could get in return for a one-way business class ticket with 60,000 miles is still a nice trade off.