Citi ThankYou Points are almost an afterthought for many points and miles collectors. However, if you are ignoring ThankYou Points, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Citi ThankYou Points have added Avianca LifeMiles as a 1:1 transfer partner.

This is amazing news because Avianca LifeMiles can be used to book Star Alliance award space--the world's most available--without fuel surcharges at fair award prices--often much better than the prices offered by United MileagePlus for the same awards.

To transfer ThankYou Points to LifeMiles, sign into your citi.com account, and choose ThankYou Rewards under Rewards & Benefits.

Then select Points Transfer under More Ways to Redeem.

ThankYou Points can be transferred in increments of 1,000 points.

Swiss Airlines is releasing two Business Class award seats during Fall 2017 and Winter 2018 on its American routes, including from the West Coast.

Swiss flies the following routes to Zurich with connections throughout Europe.

You can book this rare award space in a top-notch flat bed for 55,000 Aeroplan miles, 63,000 LifeMiles, or 70,000 United miles. None of those programs collect fuel surcharges on Swiss awards, and all allow connecting United flights free of charge.
The Product
Swiss has a few Business Class products that you can check out on Seat Guru.

Avianca LifeMiles is offering a bonus of up to 125% on purchased miles through December 20, 2016. You can buy up to 150,000 LifeMiles during the sale and get up to 187,500 bonus miles.

LifeMiles cost 3.3 cents each, so with a 125% bonus, you get the miles for 1.47 cents each.

There has been buzz since this summer about Avianca's new co-branded credit card.

Award space is wide open in Business Class on Austrian flights from Los Angeles to Vienna for Spring and Summer 2017 for 2-6 people per flight. Flat bed award space from the West Coast to Europe is rare, so hop on this now!
Product
Austrian Business Class features a staggered layout so that your bed's foot area is under the arm rest of the row in front.

If you act today (June 2, 2016), you can get a 135% bonus on the purchase of Avianca LifeMiles.

You have to register for an extra 10% bonus on top of the automatic 125% bonus by entering your LifeMiles number here.

Updated 1/29/16 to reflect new Aeroplan award prices effective for awards booked 12/15/15 or later.
Updated 10/6/15 to reflect new ANA award prices effective for awards booked 10/15/15 or later.

In the last few weeks, I have published some comparative charts of Star Alliance award charts. I'm putting all of those charts into this post for easier reference.

You can use any type of Star Alliance miles to book almost any Star Alliance flight. (Swiss, Lufthansa, and Singapore hold back some premium cabin award space for their own members.

Avianca LifeMiles are awesome because you can use them to book any Star Alliance carrier with no fuel surcharges at a fair miles price.

I have used LifeMiles to book Europe to the United States in Business Class for 63,000 miles, Japan to Thailand in Business Class for 36,000 miles, and the United States to Cuba for 17,500 miles.

My two main complaints with LifeMiles were:

The only way to get the miles easily is to buy them for 1.32 to 1.5 cents each during frequent sales because there is no credit card that earns a lot

Avianca LifeMiles and Passageiro de Primeira are offering a 150% bonus on purchased miles through December 15, 2015. The minimum purchase is only $66.

LifeMiles cost 3.3 cents each, so with a 150% bonus, you get the miles for 1.32 cents each. For instance, if you purchase 10,000 LifeMiles with a 15,000 mile bonus for 25,000 total miles, it would cost $330 or 1.32 cents each.