Complete guide to earning and redeeming Avianca LifeMiles
While navigating a foreign airline's frequent flyer program may seem daunting, your savings on award travel can be significant. This is particularly true for Colombian airline Avianca and its unique LifeMiles frequent flyer program.
LifeMiles offers appealing redemption rates for Star Alliance awards and additional unique features that make this program worth your attention, though a series of recent devaluations has made the program less valuable than it once was.
Let's delve into everything you need to know about Avianca LifeMiles.
How to earn Avianca LifeMiles
You can earn LifeMiles by crediting flights on Avianca or its Star Alliance partners, such as United Airlines, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Air China and Air New Zealand. The program also partners with Gol Airlines, Iberia and Clic Air.
Cardless has launched two LifeMiles-branded credit cards in the U.S.:
- Avianca Lifemiles American Express® Elite Card: Earn up to 100,000 bonus miles — 60,000 miles are awarded after spending $4,500 in the first 90 days, and an additional 40,000 miles are awarded after spending $25,000 in the first 365 days. Earn 3 LifeMiles per dollar spent on Avianca purchases, 2 LifeMiles per dollar spent on dining and non-Avianca travel and 1 LifeMile per dollar spent on all other purchases. Other benefits include a 10% award redemption discount on Star Alliance flights, 500 bonus LifeMiles each month, a 25%-off award redemption discount on Avianca flights and Star Alliance Silver status for as long as you have the card. This card has an annual fee of $249 (see rates and fees).
- Avianca Lifemiles American Express® Card: Earn a bonus of up to 40,000 LifeMiles after spending $3,000 with the card in the first 90 days. Earn 2 LifeMiles per dollar spent on Avianca purchases, groceries and restaurants, and 1 LifeMile per dollar spent on all other purchases. Other benefits include Star Alliance Silver status for as long as you have the card. This card has an annual fee of $99 (see rates and fees).
You can also transfer your American Express Membership Rewards points, Capital One miles, Bilt Rewards Points, Wells Fargo Rewards points and Citi ThankYou Rewards points to your LifeMiles account at a 1:1 ratio. These transferable rewards programs sometimes offer transfer bonuses.
Additionally, you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio. Unlike with most major programs, you won't receive the 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer; LifeMiles was one of the programs that lost this feature in 2022.
Beyond credit cards, Avianca often offers regular discounts on LifeMiles purchases. In the past, we have seen prices drop as low as 1.2 cents per mile, although the typical sale price ranges from 1.3 to 1.35 cents per mile. These rates are significantly lower than TPG's February 2025 valuation of LifeMiles at 1.6 cents each. While buying points speculatively is generally not recommended, these sales can be a good option if you have a specific redemption in mind.
If you frequently travel on paid tickets with Star Alliance carriers, it might be worth considering crediting your miles to Avianca. This can be advisable if you find more value in the LifeMiles program than in other options like United MileagePlus or Air Canada Aeroplan. Crediting your miles to Avianca is also beneficial if you don't travel enough to earn elite status but still want to maximize your redemption opportunities.
LifeMiles+ World subscription program
LifeMiles offers a paid subscription program called LifeMiles+ World.
This program is optional for members and offers four membership levels: Lite, Basic, Pro and Max. Lite is free for Avianca LifeMiles Elite American Express Card members, and cardmembers can receive a discount on Basic, Pro and Max memberships.
Members receive various benefits based on their membership tier, including monthly bonus miles and additional miles per dollar spent on Avianca-branded American Express cards. A minimum six-month membership is required, so for non-Amex cardmembers, this would be at least a $120 investment.
Most importantly, it offers 10% off the mileage cost of many redemptions, so if you are looking at a more than 200,000-mile redemption, perhaps for your family, this could be a wise investment.
LifeMiles+ World subscriptions must be paid by credit card.
How to redeem Avianca LifeMiles
As a member of Star Alliance, Avianca allows you to use your LifeMiles for flights on the carrier or any of its partners. Additionally, Avianca has partnerships with Gol Airlines, Clic Air and Iberia, providing opportunities to earn and redeem LifeMiles on select flights operated by these airlines.
LifeMiles follows a standard zone-based award chart for most flights, divided by partner. However, flights within the U.S. sometimes deviate from the standard award chart and can occasionally be a few thousand miles cheaper than the award chart shows.
Redeeming LifeMiles is typically straightforward. You log in to the LifeMiles website and search for your desired award flight.
However, it is important to note that while Avianca should technically have access to the same Star Alliance award availability as United MileagePlus and Air Canada Aeroplan, LifeMiles doesn't seem to show as many seats as other programs, and the carrier's information technology is also known to have limitations. This can result in phantom award space, where seats appear online but are not bookable.
Conversely, Avianca may not always display available award space in United and Air Canada's loyalty programs. Therefore, it is advisable to double-check your search using another Star Alliance search engine or tools like ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG's parent company, Red Ventures) before transferring points to Avianca. This ensures you have accurate and up-to-date information before proceeding with your redemption.
Related: The best websites to search for Star Alliance award availability
Avianca LifeMiles sweet spots
In most cases, you are faced with a trade-off between low award rates and high fuel surcharges or spending more miles to avoid extra costs. However, LifeMiles is one of the few programs that excels in both aspects. It offers competitive rates for Star Alliance awards and does not pass on fuel surcharges to LifeMiles members.
As a result, you can expect to pay minimal taxes and fees when redeeming an award ticket.
While LifeMiles previously offered some of the lowest award rates of any program, especially in business and first class, devaluations in 2024 and 2025 have meant that rates are still acceptable, though Air Canada's Aeroplan is now slightly cheaper on many routes.
Business class from the US to Europe
Given the many carriers that fly between the U.S. and Europe, it's easy to find business-class availability using LifeMiles, especially if you are flexible on your departure and arrival cities and dates.
The LifeMiles award chart lists fixed rates regardless of distance, so this could be a particularly good deal if you can find availability from the West Coast to Central and Eastern Europe. The program charges 80,000 miles each way in business class between the U.S. and anywhere in Europe, and no fuel surcharges are added.
Related: On board the first Lufthansa Allegris flight — was the new cabin worth the wait?
Longer domestic coach flights within the US
The LifeMiles award chart for domestic flights operated by United Airlines is complex. The country is divided into three zones, so there are potentially three different prices depending on which states you are flying between or within.
The shortest flights, such as within California, are priced at an OK but not amazing 10,000 miles one-way in economy. However, longer flights, like those from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), are only 15,000 miles in economy each way per person, which is a great price for a flight of around six hours.
Business class from the US to Asia
As expected, award rates from the mainland U.S. to Asia are higher, with one-way flights from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) on EVA Airways costing 55,000 miles and 100,000 miles in economy and business class, respectively.
Nevertheless, this can still be a decent way to reach the continent for fewer miles than you'd see through other programs.
Related: Is EVA Airways business class worth it on the Boeing 787-10?
Business class from the US to Australia
Premium cabin award space to fly Down Under is among the hardest to find of any destination worldwide. Where you can score availability, LifeMiles charges only 100,000 miles in business class, a great deal compared with Delta Air Lines' over 350,000-mile rates.
As Aeroplan sells these awards for 75,000 points, you might consider booking through Air Canada — though if you're buying LifeMiles, it's still a sweet spot worth knowing about.
Economy class from the US to Colombia
Flights operated by Avianca can be astonishingly cheap with LifeMiles. We found flights under 7,000 miles each way from Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, D.C., to Bogota's El Dorado International Airport (BOG), which is an incredible price for a flight of 5 1/2 hours.
Mixed-cabin awards
When traveling in long-haul business or first class, it's common to encounter mixed-cabin awards through LifeMiles. This happens in the following situations:
- When airlines don't offer first class on shorter routes, requiring passengers to connect in business or economy class
- When there isn't award space in your desired cabin
Most loyalty programs determine the award rate based on the highest cabin class of service used. However, LifeMiles takes a different approach. It prices each leg of the journey separately based on the class of service booked, often leading to a discounted rate for mixed-cabin tickets.
In the above example, while business class is unavailable on the longer leg from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), it is available on the shorter HKG-TPE leg.
Some other programs might attempt to charge the entire business-class rate even though most of the journey is in economy, but LifeMiles gives you the option to choose to upgrade to business class on the second leg for only 6,000 miles (a good deal in and of itself) or save your miles and fly economy for the whole journey.
This flexibility and optionality is great to see from a loyalty program.
Problems with Avianca LifeMiles
Despite LifeMiles offering appealing award rates, it might not be your program. The program has a reputation for error-prone information technology and inconsistent customer service.
LifeMiles members often encounter website glitches when redeeming their miles. Additionally, if you reserve an economy award ticket and business class becomes available, LifeMiles requires you to pay a cancellation fee to redeposit your miles. You can then rebook your flight in business class.
While booking with Avianca may save you thousands of miles, canceling your ticket could be tedious and costly. You typically can't cancel award bookings online, and Avianca is slow to issue refunds. The carrier's call center can be difficult to resolve issues with, especially if you cannot speak Spanish.
Bottom line
Avianca LifeMiles is a frequent flyer program that has proven its worth in the award travel world. With its decent redemption rates, lack of fuel surcharges and partnerships with major transferable points and miles programs, LifeMiles offers value and flexibility to its members. While there may be some customer service challenges and quirks to navigate, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for many travelers, though Aeroplan is now proving to be a more valuable program following a series of LifeMiles devaluations.
So, take the time to explore Avianca LifeMiles, delve into its sweet spots and unlock the possibilities it presents for your future travels. With a little research and planning, you can make the most of this program as you consider where to transfer your credit card points and miles.
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