Starwood has added a new airline partner, LifeMiles. LifeMiles is the Star Alliance program of Avianca. It is interesting that with the impending merger of Marriott and SPG planned to be completed tomorrow, that SPG has just added this partner.

Starwood Adds New Airline Partner

Transfer your Starpoints directly to miles with your frequent flyer program. Even better: We’ll add 5,000 bonus Starpoints for every 20,000 you transfer at a time.

Fine Print

Starwood Preferred Guests can transfer up to 79,999 of their Starpoints® per transaction per program within a 24-hour period to the frequent flyer programs listed below.1 Plus, for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred within the same transaction, Starwood will automatically add another 5,000 Starpoints! This means that up to 94,999 Starpoints can be transferred into your frequent flyer account, with most airline partners, making a free flight that much closer.2 Please keep in mind that only one airline transfer transaction per member, per airline program, is permitted within a 24-hour period. Additionally the name must be the same on both accounts.

There is no minimum Starpoint transfer requirement for Platinum members with most airlines. Gold members have a minimum transfer requirement of 1,500 Starpoints, and Preferred members have a minimum transfer requirement of 2,500 Starpoints.

Transfer maximums are based on a combination of member Starpoints and the Starwood Preferred Guest airline transfer transaction bonus. Only one airline transfer transaction per member per program per 24 hour period is allowed; multiple transfer transactions within the same 24 hour period will reject. Both the Starwood Preferred Guest and airline frequent flyer program accounts must have identical member names in order to complete this request; different names will cause the transfer to reject. Airline transfers are one-way, non-reversible, and non-refundable.”

1 Transfer maximums and exchange ratios vary by airline.

2 Transfer ratios, minimum and maximums transfer requirements vary by airlines. Transfer maximums are a combination of member Starpoints and the airline transaction bonus. The following airlines transfers vary in maximum and ratios: United and VARIG, each have a maximum transfer amount per transaction of 94,998 Starpoints (79,998 from member plus 15,000 transfer bonus) for a maximum of 47,449 miles due to their 2:1 transfer ratios. Air New Zealand has a maximum transfer amount per transaction of 39,975 Starpoints (34,975 from member plus 5,000 transfer bonus) for a maximum of 615 Air Points due to its 65:1 transfer ratio.

Bottom Line

You can now transfer your SPG points to LifeMiles. If you are looking to rack up some Starpoints, consider earning them with the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and the Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express.