Name: American Express® Gold Card
Brand: American Express

Quick summary

Avianca LifeMiles is a frequent flyer program known for competitive redemption rates on Star Alliance awards and minimal taxes and fees.
The program allows earning miles through flights on Avianca, Star Alliance partners and select other airlines, as well as transfers from major transferable rewards programs.
LifeMiles offers a paid subscription option with tiered benefits, including discounts on award redemptions and monthly bonus miles.
Recent devaluations have made some awards less valuable, but the program still features notable sweet spots, especially for business class to Europe, Asia and Australia.

What to consider

LifeMiles does not pass on fuel surcharges, but recent devaluations mean some routes may now be cheaper with other programs.
Award availability can be inconsistent due to IT limitations and phantom space, so it is advisable to verify seats before transferring points.
Mixed-cabin awards are priced per segment, allowing for flexibility and potential savings compared to other loyalty programs.

What you'll miss from the article

A detailed guide to LifeMiles sweet spots, redemption strategies and potential pitfalls when booking award travel through Avianca.

Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.

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

Avianca Airbus A320 Punta Cana Airport PUJ — ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

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.
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.

The information for the Avianca Lifemiles American Express Elite Card and Avianca Lifemiles American Express Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

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.

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.

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.

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.

TPG featured card

American Express® Gold Card

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Terms & restrictions apply. See rates & fees.

Rewards rate

Rewards rate
Rate	Category
4X	Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
4X	Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
5X	Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotel stays booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™.
3X	Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked through AmexTravel.com, the Amex Travel App™, or purchased directly from airlines.
2X	Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid car rentals booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™ and cruises booked and paid through AmexTravel.com.
1X	Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.

Intro offer

As High As 100,000 points. Find Out Your Offer.

Annual fee

$325

Regular APR

See Pay Over Time APR

Recommended credit

Excellent to Good

Pros + cons

Pros

Valuable dining and food-related credits
Flexible rewards with airline and hotel transfer partners
Multiple travel and purchase protections
No foreign transaction fees
Access to Amex Offers for additional savings (enrollment required)

Cons

Not as useful for those living outside the U.S.
Some may have trouble using Uber and other dining credits

More details

You may be eligible for as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted.
Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotel stays booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™.
Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked through AmexTravel.com, the Amex Travel App™, or purchased directly from airlines.
Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid car rentals booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™ and cruises booked and paid through AmexTravel.com.
Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
Pay It® lets you tap in the American Express® App to quickly pay for small purchase amounts throughout the month and still earn rewards the way you usually do. Plan It® gives you the option to split up big purchases into equal monthly payments with a fixed fee. You’ll know upfront exactly how much you’ll pay.
$120 Dining Credit: Earn up to a total of $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the Gold Card at Grubhub (including Seamless), Buffalo Wild Wings, Five Guys, The Cheesecake Factory, and Wonder. This can be an annual savings of up to $120. Enrollment required.
$100 Resy Credit: Get up to $100 in statement credits each calendar year at over 10,000 qualifying U.S. Resy restaurants after you pay for eligible purchases with the American Express® Gold Card. That’s up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
$84 Dunkin' Credit: Earn up to $7 in monthly statement credits after you pay with the American Express® Gold Card at U.S. Dunkin’ locations. Enrollment required.
$120 Uber Cash on Gold: Enjoy up to $120 in Uber Cash annually with your Gold Card. Just add your Card to your Uber account and you'll get $10 in Uber Cash each month to use on orders and rides in the U.S. when you select an Amex Card for your transaction.
Enjoy complimentary Hertz Five Star® Status benefits like skipping the counter at select locations, adding an additional driver at no additional cost*, and vehicle upgrades**. Benefit enrollment and Hertz Gold+ registration are required. *Additional drivers must meet standard rental qualifications and must be a spouse or domestic partner to qualify as complimentary. Other additional drivers subject to fees. **Benefits are subject to availability and vary by location. Additional Hertz program Terms and Conditions including age restrictions apply.
Book two nights or more with The Hotel Collection through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™ and receive a $100* credit towards eligible charges at over 1,400 upscale hotels worldwide. *Eligible charges vary by property.
Book your travel through the Amex Travel App™ with added peace of mind – backed by American Express® service and support. Only for American Express® Card Members.
Whenever you need us, we're here. Our Member Services team will ensure you are taken care of. From lost Card replacement to statement questions, we are available to help 24/7.
No Foreign Transaction Fees.
Annual Fee is $325.
Terms Apply.