Your Guide To Avianca LifeMiles

If you’re familiar with the popular LifeMiles program, you probably know that you can earn miles by flying with any participating airline. We’ll take a look at Avianca’s spin on the loyalty reward program so you know the best ways to earn miles (and use them) while gaining status unique to an Avianca membership.

Key Takeaways

• LifeMiles is the official loyalty program of Avianca, the largest airline in Colombia.
• LifeMiles can be earned on other Star Alliance airlines and redeemed on flights, hotels, car rentals, and more.
• LifeMiles are worth approximately 2.4 cents CAD each.
• The fastest way to earn LifeMiles is to fly with Avianca and Star Alliance airlines.

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What are Avianca LifeMiles?

LifeMiles is the official loyalty program of Avianca, the largest airline in Colombia and the second largest in South America.

Because Avianca is a Star Alliance member, you can earn LifeMiles (LM) with 24 partner airlines, including Air Canada, Lufthansa, and United. The more LifeMiles you collect, the higher your Elite status and the more rewards you can afford, such as flights, car rentals, experiences, and more.

Overview

Currency: LifeMiles (LM)

Redemption options: Avianca flights, Car rentals, Charity, Experiences, Hotels, Lounges, Partner flights, and Upgrades

Pros:

• 75+ destinations and 130+ aircraft in the Avianca network
• 27 partner airlines awarding LifeMiles
• 8 ways to redeem miles
• 7 ways to earn miles
• 4 Elite status tiers with advanced earning rates
• 4 subscription plans with exclusive benefits and LM bonuses
• Miles worth up to 20+ cents CAD each
• Free membership
• Miles can be bought, multiplied, gifted, pooled, and transferred

Cons:

• Miles worth as little as 0.74 cents CAD each
• No co-branded credit cards available in Canada
• Buggy website and long customer service wait times can make redemptions frustrating
• Limited earning opportunities for Canadians
• Miles expire after 12 months with no new earning activity
• No awards flight chart available

Avianca Elite status

Avianca’s advanced membership system is quite simple: the more LifeMiles (LM) you earn, the more Qualifying Miles (QM) you collect, and the higher your status. LM convert to QM at different rates depending on how you earned them.

You must collect at least 6,500 QM and fly at least 5,200 miles with Avianca within a single year to qualify for Red Plus, the lowest Elite status tier.

All Avianca Elite status members enjoy:

• Advanced LM earning rates
• Discounts on LM+ subscriptions
• Miles expire after 24 months with no new earning activity, not 12
• The ability to pool LM with family

As your miles stack up, so do your perks, which include:

^{* Does not apply to basic or light fares}

Unfortunately, you must collect the same number of LM and miles flown with Avianca each year to maintain Elite status. Your benefits and upgrades expire with your status, so use them quickly!

All Elite status members can request a 1-year extension of their membership as an Elite Maternity benefit.

What are LifeMiles worth?

LifeMiles offers 8 redemption options, giving members a value of 0.74 – 20+ Cents Per Mile (CPM).

Value of reward in CAD / cost of reward in miles x 100 = value in cents per mile

Naturally, the best rewards are flights, which can yield over 20 CPM. We advise steering clear of Car rentals, hotels, and experiences, all of which provide less than 1 CPM.

How to earn Avianca LifeMiles

There are 7 ways to earn LifeMiles:

• Book Avianca flights
• Buy, convert, pool, or transfer miles
• Book partner flights
• Shop with partners
• Subscribe to LM+
• Travel with partners
• Use a LifeMiles credit or debit card

Unfortunately, most methods are unavailable to Canadians. To maximize your miles, focus on the following methods.

Book Avianca flights

Spending money on Avianca flights will boost your miles at different rates, depending on your fare. You’ll get:

• 3 LM per $1 USD spent on Basic or Light fares and services
• 6 LM per $1 USD spent on Classic fares and services
• 8 LM per $1 USD spent on Flex fares and services
• 10 LM per $1 USD spent on Business or INSIGNIA fares and services
• 5 LM per $1 USD spent on services such as lounge access, seat selection, cabin upgrades, priority boarding, etc.

If you have Elite status, don’t forget to add the corresponding bonus to your total miles. Let’s say you’re a Silver Elite member and you fly from Bogotá to Miami in Economy Flex for $300 USD and pay $30 USD for a premium seat:

($300 USD x 8 LM) + ($30 USD x 5 LM) + 20% Silver Elite bonus = 3,060 LM

You’d also earn 2,575 QM – 2550 for the flight and seat selection and 25 for your Elite bonus. Just remember that Elite bonuses don’t apply to Basic and Light fares.

Book partner flights

Because Avianca is a member of Star Alliance, you can earn LM and QM with 24 partner airlines – including Air Canada, United, and Lufthansa – and get travel perks based on your Elite status. The amount of LM earned primarily depends on the airline, the distance flown, and your fare class.

You can also earn LM with GOL, Iberia, and Clic, but not all flights will contribute to your QM balance.

To earn LM and QM with a partner airline, be sure to provide your LifeMiles membership number during checkout. You should receive your LM within 60 days of travelling.

Travel with partners

Start your next vacation by heading to the LifeMiles website, where the "Travel" tab can help you earn LM on hotels, car rentals, cruises, experiences, and deals from around the world. You can also book directly with LifeMiles’ partners and provide your membership number during checkout.

LifeMiles Cars, Cruises, Hotels, and Experiences bookings award 1 QM per 2 LM earned on bookings (before taxes and fees) and 1 QM per 20 LM earned in bonuses. Plus, LifeMiles Club members, Elite status members, and credit cardholders can get up to 40% bonus miles by booking on the LifeMiles Hotels and Cars platforms.

Subscribe to LM+

LifeMiles offers 4 LM+ subscription plans to top up your LifeMiles from month to month, which can help prevent your entire account balance from expiring. LifeMiles+ (also known as the LifeMiles Club) membership carries a few extra benefits to sweeten the deal:

• Up to 40% bonus LM on bookings with Lifemiles Cars and Hotels
• 10 – 25% off reward flights from Avianca
• 10% off reward flights from Star Alliance, Iberia, and GOL airlines on the LifeMiles website
• 10% off reward rentals and stays from LifeMiles Cars and Hotels
• 2x the miles on purchases with LifeMiles credit cards

For all other perks, peep the plans below:

Buy, convert, pool, or transfer miles

Buying points or miles isn’t usually recommended, but users report getting good value from LifeMiles on sale.

For example, the usual rate is 1,000 LM for just under $50 CAD, or 5 cents per mile. At the time of writing, purchasing 1,000 – 10,000 LM nets you a 140% bonus, or 2 cents per mile. Packs of 11,000 – 200,000 LM get a 150% bonus, dropping the price to 1.9 cents per mile.

With the right deal, multiplying your LifeMiles with a one-time payment can also be lucrative. If there’s no sale, don’t buy. Instead, consider pooling LifeMiles with up to 6 other members (1 over the age of 18 and up to 5 minors) if you have Elite Silver status or higher.

Finally, you can transfer LM between accounts or convert other points to LM. Transferring LifeMiles costs $15 USD per block of 1,000 LM, but converting points from other rewards programs is free.

You can also change your Marriott Bonvoy account preferences from earning points to miles. Unfortunately, there are no Canadian credit cards offering to convert rewards points to LifeMiles, but American Amex cardholders can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio.

Shop with partners

Members can earn up to 5 LM per $1 USD spent on 100+ LifeMiles shopping partners in Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Although there are plenty of international companies on the list – such as Adidas, Bath & Bodyworks, and The North Face – you must shop or use the LifeMiles mobile app in a participating country for it to work.

The same goes for LifeMiles restaurant partners, which provide up to 2 LM per $1 USD spent.

Use a LifeMiles credit or debit card

As you may have guessed, there are no LifeMiles credit cards or debit cards available in Canada, otherwise we would have ranked this option higher. You must be a citizen of El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador, or the Dominican Republic to earn LM on everyday purchases.

That said, Canadians with an American mailing address may qualify for one of two Avianca LifeMiles American Express credit cards: the regular red or the black Elite. The former provides 40,000 LM on sign-up for $99 USD per year while the latter earns up to 3 LM per $1 USD spent and includes automatic Silver Elite status and a complimentary LM+ Lite subscription.

How to redeem LifeMiles

We’ve finally reached the most exciting part: how to spend all those LifeMiles you’ve been saving up. As you may recall, you have 8 redemption options:

• Avianca flights
• Car rentals
• Charity
• Experiences
• Hotels
• Lounges
• Partner flights
• Upgrades

Choose wisely, and you should get at least 2 CPM per reward. We’ll cover every method from best to worst below.

Avianca flights

Average value: 2.4 CPM

Categories: Business and Economy flights

Best option: A last-minute, one-way Economy flight in March from Toronto (YYZ) to Mexico City (MEX) for $1,542.02 USD or 29,820 LM + $85.49 USD (7.03 CPM)

Although LifeMiles charges a flat rate for reward flights, Avianca has declined to publish a chart for itself or its partners. Instead, you must log into the Avianca or LifeMiles website to search for flights and calculate rates on the fly.

The "Deals" button (on the far right on the “Travel” page of the LifeMiles website) provides a good starting point, with routes starting from 5,000 LM. However, since LifeMiles charges a fixed rate, expensive, last-minute Economy flights or peak travel dates usually provide the best value.

Because the LifeMiles website is prone to glitching, veteran members recommend taking a photo or screenshot of the confirmation code after you submit your payment. If your booking doesn’t go through, you’ll have to provide this code to Avianca’s customer service to resolve the issue.

Be aware: Redeeming your LifeMiles for Avianca flights is a notoriously glitchy process. Online users report sudden devaluations, vanishing flights, and frustrating conversations with customer service, which may frustrate people looking for an easy redemption process.

Partner flights

Average value: 6.3 CPM

Categories: GOL, Iberia, and Star Alliance

Best option: A last-minute, one-way Economy flight in March from Vancouver (YVR) to Seoul (GMP) on ANA for $8,602.17 CAD or 47,000 LM + $67.13 CAD (26.15 CPM)

Speaking of last-minute flights, you’ll find few reward flights on partner airlines more than a month in advance. Partner flights are subject to blackouts and can suddenly lose (or gain) availability, making them unsuitable for inflexible travellers.

It was easiest to find Air Canada flights on the LifeMiles website, but at the time of writing, we had a lot of difficulty finding domestic flights within the US, or flights to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, or Asia. Flight values ranged from 1.04 – 20+ CPM – which is why we advise taking the calculated average with a grain of salt.

Partner reward flights are subject to an additional $25 USD booking fee during checkout.

Lounges

Average value: 3 CPM

Locations: Barranquilla, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, El Salvador, and Medellín

Best option: Entry to the Avianca Lounges in Bogotá and Medellín for $168,000 COP or 1,800 LM (3.27 CPM)

Redeeming LifeMiles for entry to an Avianca Lounge provides at least 2.39 CPM and a delightful start to your flight. The lounges in Bogotá and Medellín offer unlimited complimentary food, snacks, drinks, and alcoholic beverages, plus showers and Wi-Fi – we just wish there were more locations.

To access a lounge, click "Manage your reservation" when checking in online, or buy access from the LifeMiles or Avianca website under “Lounges.” You can also pay at the counter.

Charity

Average value: 2.4 CPM

Categories: Banco de millas

The "Banco de Millas" is a LifeMiles account that turns donated and accrued miles into commercial tickets for a variety of social causes. These tickets may support health programs, the delivery of humanitarian aid, environmental projects, or travel for people facing economic and other barriers.

Members can make a non-tax-deductible LifeMiles donation online for about the same value as Avianca flights, plus the satisfaction of doing a good deed.

Car rentals

Average value: 0.94 CPM

Categories: Avis, Alamo, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, Sixt, and more

Best option: A 7-day Intermediate rental in London (LHR) from Budget for $689.05 CAD or 20,423 LM (4.68 CPM)

The LifeMiles Cars platform offers an easy way to book car rentals around the world for an average value of 0.94 CPM, which jumps to 1.33 CPM with an Elite discount. To be eligible for the Elite discount, you must have a LifeMiles Elite credit card, an active LM+ subscription, or Elite membership status.

Hotels

Average value: 0.86 CPM

Categories: Marriott Bonvoy, IHG, Wyndham, Best Western, and more

Best option: 7 nights for two in an Adults-Only resort in Punta Cana (PUJ) for $16,195.36 CAD or 1,325,000 LM (1.69 CPM)

Like cars, it pays to have Elite status when booking on the LifeMiles Hotels website. A LifeMiles Elite credit card, LM+ subscription, or Elite membership status brings the average value from 0.86 CPM to 1.19 CPM at over half a million hotels worldwide.

Experiences

Average value: 0.75 CPM

Best option: A boat tour in Biscayne Bay for $180 USD or 7,400 LM (3.5 CPM)

Unfortunately, there’s no Elite discount for LifeMiles Experiences, leaving the average value at a disappointing 0.75 CPM. The website is also buggy and failed to load no matter what combination of dates and destinations we entered; we used several published promotions as the basis for our calculations, which may not reflect the website’s usual rate of exchange.

Upgrades

Value: N/A

As with flights, Avianca doesn’t publish the exchange rate used when redeeming LifeMiles for upgrades to Business Class. To upgrade a ticket, you must either call customer service (for Avianca flights) or request an upgrade online (for Star Alliance flights).

What we do know is that it costs between 15,000 – 60,000 LM to upgrade from Economy to Business Class on a Star Alliance flight depending on your origin and destination. You also can’t use LM to upgrade reward flights, only tickets paid in cash.

How to maximize your LifeMiles

The LifeMiles program offers tantalizingly valuable rewards at the cost of some frustrating quirks. We recommend joining a different loyalty program if you aren’t willing to:

• Book mixed-cabin reward flights for much fewer miles than flights with both legs in Business or First Class
• Buy or multiply LM on sale
• Double-check your travel dates, because reward changes and cancellations can cost $30 – $210 USD per ticket
• Keep your travel dates flexible
• Redeem LifeMiles for last-minute, Economy flights
• Research "sweet spots" online to make the most of your miles
• Resign yourself to dealing with bugs and customer service at some point
• Screenshot and save confirmation screens for safety
• Search often for last-minute deals
• Subscribe to LM+ for bonuses and reward discounts
• Try to reach Elite status as soon as possible

• Avoid converting other points or transferring miles between members
• Avoid redeeming LM for cars, hotels, and experiences

FAQ

How can I see my LifeMiles?

To see how many miles you’ve earned, just log into your Avianca LifeMiles account and access your profile. You should see your miles and the trips you’ve taken.

What airlines work with LifeMiles?

Avianca is a member of the Star Alliance, so you can earn and redeem miles with any of the 24 other airlines.

How can you redeem your LifeMiles with Avianca?

Book flights in Central America, South America, and select European cities with Avianca, or use your miles to fly with Star Alliance partners. You can also redeem miles for hotel stays and car rentals.

How many Avianca LifeMiles do you need for a free flight?

The number of LifeMiles you need for a free flight depends on where you want to fly. If you’re looking for flights that require the fewest miles, you’re probably looking at a short-haul flight between a few Central or South American cities operated by Avianca.