Why fly business when you can fly first?
Points transform travel into a world of superlatives, almost to the point where you have to laugh. Why fly business class, when you can enjoy private first class suites for just a few points more. Queue the evil laughter. There’s a really neat opportunity at the moment to lock in ridiculously sophisticated travel at truly reasonable prices using points or cash, thanks to a few limited time opportunities…
Your two opportunities here involve Air China “Forbidden Pavilion” First Class, or even better Asiana’s First Class Suite. Both offer humungous beds and more food than you can eat, but the Asiana option includes doors on the suites making them fully private, in addition to exquisite vintage Champagne like Pol Roger Cuvee Winston Churchill, and some caviar too. Not a bad way to spend 72,000 points, indeed! Either way, you really can’t go wrong – you’re in the pointiest end of the plane.
Citi And LifeMiles
If you have Citi ThankYou Points or Avianca LifeMiles, you’re in the money. If you don’t have either – you’ll just need to spend some (money) to get in the money, errr first class, by buying some. You can convert Citi Thank You Points into Avianca LifeMiles to do this, and right now Avianca is having a hot sale, reducing the number of points required to fly first class on their airline partners like Asiana, Air China and more. Just how many points you ask? 72,000 for one way travel in first class suites between the US and Asia, in either direction, or 144,000 round trip.
It just so happens that Avianca is having a sale on buying LifeMiles points, at the same time of their sale on redeeming them for first class. Talk about timing! If you have no points whatsoever, you can snag this deal for just ~$1200, by buying the 72,000 points needed for a one way. The more you buy, the cheaper the points become, so you could also buy enough for a round trip for around $2100! You’d be hard pressed to find business class tickets at those prices, let alone private first class suites.
First things first, you need a LifeMiles account. They’re free and easy to create, and you can do so right here. It’s only worth buying points, or transferring your Citi Points into LifeMiles if first class seats are available on the dates you need. To search for seats, login to LifeMiles, go to “Use”, then “Airlines” and begin your search. The discounts which bring prices down to 72,000 for one way first class are only available between select cities, like flights between Seoul and New York or Los Angeles, or Beijing and New York or Los Angeles. Unlike many opportunities, points availability is generally excellent for these flights.
These 20% off discounts on the points required for first class via Avianca LifeMiles are valid until September 18th, 2018. You must book by then, but you can travel well after that, even into 2019. The sale on buying Avianca LifeMiles points is also valid until September 18th, but you’ll need to realistically buy before then, if you plan to use them on that important date. To get the best price on Avianca points, you should take advantage of this exclusive bonus for OMAAT readers, which secures a 140% bonus.
This is an extraordinarily good way to use points, especially if you’re sitting on heaps of Citi ThankYou Points and can essentially pull this off for free. Experiencing more than 13 hours of first class in a private suite for under 80,000 points is always something to relish, and the opportunity to join in for around $1200, even if you’re a points heathen makes this a fun offer. Enjoy!
Featured image courtesy of Asiana Airlines.
Hi- any way we can utilise the above ex Uk ? Thanks so much
You could buy LifeMiles and use them for UK routes, just at higher rates. Or you could buy them and use them on the intra-Asia routes included.
If I bought the miles now but held onto them for a few months would this still be a good deal? I can’t commit to a date for a trip yet but I want the miles. Should I do it?
Hey Brian, I can’t say yes really.They’re a good currency to have, but it’s a lot of cash outlay at a time where low fares exist. Normal rates are 90,000 points for these flights, which is still good, but not quite as compelling. It’s a personal decision really.