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Avianca is Colombia's flag carrier and one of the largest airlines in South America. LifeMiles, the airline's loyalty program, has become quite popular among points and miles enthusiasts due to its numerous sweet spots.
As a member of Star Alliance, Avianca lets you redeem LifeMiles for travel on any alliance member airline to destinations around the globe. Combine that with how easy it is to earn LifeMiles and the lack of carrier-imposed surcharges, and the program can be a strong option for booking both domestic and international award travel.
Here's everything to know about Avianca LifeMiles award pricing and some of the best LifeMiles redemptions.
How To Earn Avianca LifeMiles
Thanks to partnerships with a wide range of companies, from airlines to retailers, there are dozens of ways to earn Avianca LifeMiles. For example, you can earn LifeMiles on Avianca and Star Alliance flights or even credit stays at IHG properties to your LifeMiles account.
However, there are even easier ways to amass a significant stash of Avianca LifeMiles.
Transfer flexible rewards points to LifeMiles
Avianca partners with several rewards programs, allowing members to transfer points to their LifeMiles account:
These partnerships make LifeMiles one of the more accessible airline currencies and create opportunities to combine points from multiple programs to book an award flight.
$95Rates & Fees
- 10X on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Restaurants
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Supermarkets
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Gas and EV Charging Stations
- 1X – Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
$95
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
$325Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 4X Membership Rewards® points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. (on up to $50,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 5X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com
- 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid car rentals booked through amextravel.com
- 2X Membership Rewards® points on cruises booked and paid through amextravel.com
- 1X on other eligible purchases
Related: How to Consolidate Transferable Points for an Award Ticket
Buy Avianca LifeMiles (sometimes with a bonus)
Avianca runs some pretty lucrative buy LifeMiles promotions, often offering large bonuses that can significantly boost your balance. While these offers pop up throughout the year, you can purchase LifeMiles at any time, even without a promotion.
If you’re planning to buy miles, it’s probably worth waiting. Avianca sometimes offers bonuses of up to 200%, which can dramatically lower your cost per mile.
Without a promotion, LifeMiles typically cost around 3.3 cents each. It's a steep price compared to what you would pay during a bonus sale.
Sign up for a co-branded Avianca LifeMiles credit card
An easy way to earn LifeMiles without transferring points is to apply for a co-branded Avianca credit card. Avianca offers two credit cards for U.S. applicants, each with a generous sign-up bonus. Here's a quick overview of their welcome offers and respective earning rates.
- avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card
- Sign-up bonus: Get up to 100,000 Welcome bonus miles* — 60,000 miles after spending $4,500 in the first 90 days plus an additional 40,000 miles after spending $25,000 in the first 365 days.
- Earning rates: 3X on Avianca and LifeMiles purchases, 2X on travel and restaurant purchases, and 1X on all other purchases.
- Annual fee: $249
- Extra perks: Complimentary Silver elite status and LifeMiles+ subscription
- Rates & Fees
- avianca lifemiles American Express® Card
- Sign-up bonus: Get 40,000 Welcome bonus miles* after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days
- Earning rates: 2X on Avianca and LifeMiles purchases, 2X on groceries and restaurant purchases, and 1X on all other purchases.
- Annual fee: $99
- Extra perks: Complimentary Silver elite status and LifeMiles+ subscription
- Rates & Fees
$249
- Earn 3x miles on avianca or lifemiles purchases
- Earn 2x miles on restaurant and other travel purchases
- Earn 1x on all other eligible purchases
$99
- 2x miles on avianca or lifemiles purchases
- 2x miles on groceries and restaurant purchases
- 1x on all other eligible purchases
Avianca LifeMiles Award Charts
Major devaluations — including three in just over a year — have left LifeMiles a shadow of what it used to be. While a few solid redemption opportunities remain, the days of reliably finding outsized value are largely gone. However, with more than two dozen partner airlines, it's still a program worth looking into.
Avianca award flights are priced dynamically, while partner awards seem to follow a loose set of pricing bands rather than a traditional award chart. In practice, pricing can vary dramatically between similar routes, making it difficult to predict what an award will cost without searching.
However, travelers with a LifeMiles+ subscription can get a discount of up to 25% off on Avianca-operated flights and up to 10% off on Star Alliance flights. This helps bring prices back down to earth, even when devaluations have made pricing more variable.
To help set expectations, we've summarized common pricing patterns based on recent searches. These aren't official award rates, and you may occasionally find prices that fall outside the ranges shown below.
LifeMiles pricing to/from the contiguous United States
Award pricing tends to fall within certain ranges depending on the destination region. However, recent searches show considerably more variation than we've been accustomed to seeing.
For example, economy awards between the U.S. and Europe price anywhere from 44,000 to 58,000 LifeMiles, while flights to Asia fall between 54,000 and 65,000 miles. Business-class pricing can vary even more dramatically (if you can even find availability) depending on the routing and destination.
LifeMiles award chart for U.S. domestic flights
Domestic United awards illustrate just how much LifeMiles pricing has changed. While some short-haul flights still price at 7,500 LifeMiles, these bargains are far less common than they once were. AwardWallet's analysis of 1,225 domestic United routes found just 140 routes pricing at 7,500 miles and only a single route still available for 6,500 miles after the 2025 devaluation. Meanwhile, more than half of the routes analyzed priced at 15,000 miles each way.
The challenge is that pricing no longer appears to follow a consistent pattern. Similar routes can price very differently, making it difficult to estimate award costs without running a search.
LifeMiles awards outside the U.S.
While not the absolute best Star Alliance carrier award chart in this category, LifeMiles still features some decent redemptions. Additionally, the lack of carrier-imposed surcharges makes these sweet spots even … sweeter. There are some redemptions where LifeMiles may not have the lowest price in terms of miles, but using the currency may save you hundreds of dollars in fees.
Additionally, Avianca-operated flights can provide surprisingly good value. While Avianca uses dynamic pricing rather than a traditional award chart, booking well in advance can unlock attractive redemption rates throughout Latin America and on the airline's long-haul routes.
As for partner awards, one of the biggest drawbacks is availability. LifeMiles doesn't always display the same Star Alliance award space as programs such as Air Canada Aeroplan or United MileagePlus. Before transferring points, it's worth comparing availability across multiple programs to confirm that the flights you want are actually bookable through LifeMiles.
Related: How To Find Partner Airline Award Availability
Best Value Avianca LifeMiles Sweet Spots
While LifeMiles pricing can be inconsistent, a handful of awards stand out for their relatively low mileage requirements. Here are some of the best values when redeeming LifeMiles.
Domestic United awards
While the days of booking United domestic routes for just 6,500 LifeMiles are effectively over, Avianca LifeMiles can still offer solid value on domestic United awards. AwardWallet found around 140 routes pricing at 7,500 LifeMiles each way instead, including some short-haul and connecting itineraries.
However, these 7,500-mile awards can be a bit quirky. AwardWallet found routes pricing at 7,500 miles across a surprisingly wide range of distances — from just 290 miles all the way up to 2,100 miles flown — which means pricing doesn't always follow a logical distance-based pattern.
For instance, you can fly from Salt Lake City (SLC) to Grand Junction (GJT) via Denver (DEN) for just 7,500 LifeMiles on United, or just 6,750 LifeMiles if you have a LifeMiles+ subscription.
Meanwhile, the same United-operated flight booked through MileagePlus would cost double — 15,000 miles each way, even when booking a saver award. That said, taxes and fees on United are just $5.60, while they run around $58 via LifeMiles.
If you're flexible and willing to dig around, you can still stumble across some excellent domestic United redemptions for far fewer miles than United MileagePlus would charge for the same flight.
West Coast to Hawaii in economy from 18,150 LifeMiles
Who doesn't love the idea of taking a trip to Hawaii? Generally, LifeMiles isn't one of the best ways to fly to Hawaii using miles. However, we found that prices from the West Coast run 18,150 LifeMiles, and if you time it with an Avianca transfer bonus, a mediocre redemption becomes a little more appealing.
While there can be better ways to book these same awards, LifeMiles is a decent option during a LifeMiles transfer bonus or buy LifeMiles sale.
U.S. to South America, starting at 14,150 LifeMiles in economy
Avianca offers solid redemptions on its partner carriers to South America, especially Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Keep in mind that Avianca redemptions for its own flights can sometimes be poor value, but decent options do pop up. For example, this flight from Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Bogota (BOG) is just 14,150 LifeMiles in economy.
Avianca also regularly runs award sales on its own flights, so it's worth checking whether your destination is on sale before booking.
U.S. to Europe in business class for around 75,000 LifeMiles (sometimes less)
If you're flying to Europe or flying from the West Coast of the United States, you'll pay around 75,000 miles for business class. Compared to what many carriers charge, this is still a solid deal.
Here is an example itinerary from New York (JFK) to Lisbon (LIS) for 75,080 LifeMiles:
Another example itinerary is Washington, D.C. (DCA) to Frankfurt (FRA) via Toronto (YYZ) in Air Canada business class for 69,000 LifeMiles.
U.S. to Central America on Avianca
Avianca's own flights can provide excellent value. During our searches, we found flights from Houston (IAH) to El Salvador (SAL), available for just 8,050 LifeMiles in economy.
Since Avianca uses dynamic pricing on its own flights, these rates aren't guaranteed. Still, if you're traveling to Central America, it's worth checking Avianca-operated flights before transferring points. Finding an international award for roughly 8,000 LifeMiles is one of the better values available in the program.
Benefits and Pitfalls of the Avianca LifeMiles Program
As with all frequent flyer programs, Avianca has its pros and cons.
Avianca LifeMiles pros
- No fuel surcharges on Star Alliance partner awards.
- The majority of Star Alliance partner awards can be booked online with relative ease.
- No close-in booking fees.
- Can split flights with connections into business and economy, which often saves miles.
- Buy up to 60% of the miles required for an award via LifeMiles + Cash.
- LifeMiles won’t expire if you have qualifying activity in your account within 12 months of the last mile earned. Additionally, transferring points from another program typically counts as a qualifying activity.
- Regular bonuses on purchased miles allow you to buy miles for less than 1.3 cents per mile.
Avianca LifeMiles cons
- Contacting customer service to handle reservations is difficult and can be an unpleasant experience.
- Flat $25 booking fee across most awards, which is not displayed until checkout.
- High award change ($30 to $250 depending on fare and destination) and cancellation fees ($30 to $100 depending on the fare).
- Avianca doesn’t allow stopovers or open jaws on award flights.
Avianca’s call center is challenging to deal with if you need to book an award over the phone. The $25 booking fee is unfortunate and annoying for LifeMiles awards on domestic United itineraries, which otherwise incur no fees other than the required TSA fee.
That said, it is bearable given the lack of other fees on award tickets. Conversely, the change and cancellation fees are on the higher side compared to other programs.
Bottom Line
Avianca LifeMiles isn't the powerhouse loyalty program it once was. Multiple devaluations have eliminated many of the program's best sweet spots, and award pricing is far less predictable than it used to be.
That said, LifeMiles can still be worth considering in the right circumstances. The program's extensive transfer partnerships, frequent mileage sales, and lack of carrier-imposed surcharges make it easy to acquire and potentially valuable for select redemptions. Travelers willing to compare prices, search multiple dates, and remain flexible may still uncover solid value on domestic United flights, Avianca-operated routes, and some international award tickets.
LifeMiles is no longer a program worth blindly transferring points to, but it's a useful tool to have in your award-travel arsenal.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees), American Express® Gold Card (Rates & Fees), avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card (Rates & Fees), and avianca lifemiles American Express® Card (Rates & Fees)
That awards chart is outdated.
Economy from North America to North Asia (LAX to MNL) is now 47000 miles, not 35000 miles.
Thanks for flagging this. We’ve assigned a full fact-check and update of this post.
Is abyone getting an error message when they sign into their lifemiles account?? I’ve been getting a 403 error message for weeks now and have over 100K points in my acct that I want to use for an upcoming trip. What’s going on?
Try Chrome. It hasn’t worked on Firefox for a week or two; for some reason Chrome is fine.
I have heard decent things about Avianca Lifemiles so I decided to see what their costs were.
On their results for a r/t flight, it showed:
M (the letter M , I believe) 168,778 + USD 1,869
Does that mean it costs 168,778 miles plus $1,869 for this trip (DSM – MFE)?
Thanks
Ed – you likely found a date with ‘view more results’ listings, meaning it didn’t have any award bookings available. That’s essentially showing you options to ‘buy’ (for lack of a better word) flights with your miles. That’s not at all a normal amount of miles to redeem for these flights. You should use a maximum of 25,000 miles for a one-way flight within the US48. However, there are better programs for domestic flights in the US with Star Alliance, such as Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles.
He viajado con Avianca en varias oportunidades desde Argentina a Perú y Colombia. Uno de los inconvenientes que me gustaría que subsanen respecto de la acumulación de puntos, es su vencimiento. Las condiciones económicas y políticas de un país son cambiantes y lo que uno proyecto hacer en los próximos meses puede cambiar drásticamente con medidas del gobierno como por ejemplo ocurre en Argentina con el cepo cambiario (restricciones a la compra de dólares) o impuestos exorbitantes para la compra de divisas extranjeras.
En mi opinión no deberían vencer y eso es un incentivo para seguir adquiriendo productos de la misma compañía. Creo que ambos nos beneficiaríamos con esto. Siempre me ha sido muy placentero viajar con esta aerolínea.
No chance to us lifemiles on Lufthansa business D seat , even I can see plenty of seat on hansa website, does lifemiles blocked partners’ business class ?
Nice way to save some miles and money on business class
Their website is not working. Any flight search comes back as NO flights available. Same thing on their app. They want you to call them and to book it over the phone. Customer service is in Colombia. Enough said.
It has a very good miles redemption program.
Must be one of the best airlines in south america
I have never traveled on Avianca yet, we hope to travel soon.
Yes, Avianca is reliable. Mainly after the separation of the Brazilian side that went bankrupt after that due to the oligopolium and over regulation in this market. We hope that the current government will change that, but for Avianca it arrived late because was already disabled shortly before the change of government that reversed the economy guidelines. Despite the difficulties, the old part of Avianca did better service than the rest of that market.
Como todos los programas, tienen cosas buenas y malas, Entre las que destaco, que las millas vencen a los 12 meses, sin actividad, cuando otras aerolineas son 32 meses y como bueno sus canjes son muy ventajoso, en ejecutiva, el personal muy amable
I am an Avianca silver member, I use Avianca regularly to fly inside South America. Tried to book flights with miles through the page but never could ! I hope it begin to work properly.
Are they reliable?
Great alternative to United MileagePlus
Fuel surcharge is way to hide higher costs and inefficiency. This is not Avianca case definitely.
This article is wrong.
One of the headaches of award travel on Star Alliance carriers is the prevalence of programs that charge hefty fees. Avianca’s award chart is not the most attractive Star Alliance chart out there, but besides United and Copa, LifeMiles is the only program not charging fuel surcharges on any partner awards.”
Eurobonus is not charging fuel surcharges on any partner awards.
Hey Anton, thanks for the heads up. I’ve added SAS to the exceptions.
“The reservations department is difficult to deal with if you need to call an award in by phone”
Spot on! It is nearly impossible to speak to some one who speaks decent English and willing to help there
No fuel surcharges is interesting.
Good program as long as they dont go bankrupt.
Is the award chart in this post still accurate? What I don’t like about LM is the lack of consistency and availability. Would love to see LM’s award prices combined with UA’s routings.
Hey John, Avianca pulled the award chart from their website, so we don’t know how much this reflects the current award pricing. For the most part, the current minimum prices still seem to follow the award chart. Please do share any feedback if you find different prices for specific routes.
I hope they do not bankrupt. I have a flight with them and Avianca is such a great company.
I had status with Avianca when they did a status match, and didn’t really look into their award chart. No fuel surcharges is a big plus!
Great article. Avianca is a great option especially if you fly to and from South America or plan to do so.
Thanks for the useful post and summary. I’ll have to look into Lifemiles now, but am a little bit concerned about the website quality comments.
Can you actually book Lufthansa first using Avianca miles? I thought they blocked access to everyone but Miles and More.
Only in the last couple of weeks before departure, although there are occasional exceptions. The best strategy is to book Biz class further in advance and change to first in the last week.
This provides me with an oppourtunity to maximize my travel to the Carribena, thanks for the article
Makes me happy that Avianca is stepping up to the plate and competing more in the reward travel arena.
What is the best way to use Avianca miles now ? Las time I’ve spent the miles a few years ago .
We’ve just updated this post. There is a list of our favorite redemptions right in the middle.
Thanks for this very welcome update!
Lets go to Columbia!
Have they improved the website? Never been able to make a points booking online…
Marginally. Still not a very good award search experience in my opinion.
Great info! Thanks!
Good introduction to what they do and don’t offer
no transfers from MR I assume?
Any good ideas for “sweet spots” not from the USA but from Thailand?
You say that it can be a hassle if you have to call and book your flights does this offset the money/miles savings enough? In my mind it doesn’t. It should be easy to book with money or miles with any carrier. I don’t have the time to sit and take forever to book tickets. I know that it could be more miles but I’ll stick with carriers I’m more familiar with. Everyone has a trade off somewhere. We all make that choice.
I am happy to have that choice and the options that ya’ll give are invaluable so I can make a more informed decision.
No fuel surcharges is great. And with Star Alliance you can fly Lufthansa, which is a nice airline.
Avianca has great bargains for miles but flying from Spain and not USA so cant find something attractive to use the points for
I agree with the post. I thinks Lifemiles are still very useful though they were really good in the past.
Most Lifemiles “sweet spots” have been due to Avianca not knowing world geography. In the past, they included Guam as domestic US. And all of Russia as Europe.
Even now, if you look at the award chart above, you can notice that the “United States 1” region includes east coast states and Washington. While I assume they mean Washington DC and not Washington state, “United States 3,” the US west region, includes all the continental western states except Washington. Could you book Seattle to Newark for “United States 1”?
Haha wow that’s a great observation. Would be interested to know if that works.
I went into ur post highly suspicious of the claim that an airline doesn’t know geography. And, I was going to push back on Guam, since they’re American citizens. But, then Russia. And finally, Washington? LOL
Regardless it still makes for a nice redemption
If only their website worked most of the time and one was actually able to book any of these…
Good info! Two things to be aware of:
1) Their website is so broken, half the flights I’ve tried to book didn’t work online and then when I called I got it done but just barely, their reps are not much better than the broken website!
2) I added in 1,000 Thank You Points to my account because they were expiring and at first I thought it didn’t work, but the next day it updated with the new expiration date luckily! 🙂
So what are the other airlines that dont charge for fuel? It said avisnka was 1 0f 3
Few years ago I’ve flight on Turkish and Asiana from VKO to SEL via IST in biz class . It was a best way to spend Avianca miles . I took a flight VKO-KHV via SEL ( domestic Russia ) and leave in Seoul . It was much cheaper tHan VKO -SEL , even in economy .
Hope Avian doesn’t read this!
Their miles have been constantly “on sale” for as long as I can remember, so I find it difficult to believe Avianca has any illusions about the workings of their program, nor do I think Avianca is too going to be too concerned about one more post about how best to use their miles to redeem awards.
Lifemiles used to have a fully functioning web booking interface. That has been severely buffed. A typical booking would error out after pax info is typed in.
And, Banco Popular would be light in most folks credit card supply.
IMHO Lifemiles doesn’t have good sweet spots anymore after they killed all the boomers.
It’s just a decent overall program, which is not too bad but also not really outstanding.
It is part of a multi pronged strategy
In general I find the LifeMiles programme very interesting.
Both the earning rate and the miles required for the rewards are quite good compared to other programmes.
Moreover, LifeMiles doesn’t add fuel surcharge on award tickets.
The only concern is its financial situation.
Maybe someone knows something more about this.
This writeup is fantastic and is why I subscribe. Please keep them coming! 🙂
Lifemiles is much devalued from what it was. I would definitely narrow down the “sweet spots” to Lufthansa and any other airline whose surcharges are otherwise unavoidable. Otherwise you’re mostly paying more miles than other ffps.
That is interesting re Lufthansa, as they have an intersting network but I have always been put off by they high charges.
I have flown Avianca numerous times, both internal (Colombia) flights and external – internationally. I have generally been pleased, though the last time it seemed their quality had slipped. Come to think of it, it may have been only because it was an internal flight. Those seem to have lower standards.
Thanks for the great info. This program is new to me, so I am excited to give it a try and hopefully save some $$/miles!!