How to Maximize the Avianca Lifemiles Rewards Program

If you fly within South America, you're probably familiar with Avianca, a Star Alliance airline member. The airline operates the Lifemiles rewards program, which allows you to earn miles for flights, travel services, and merchandise. Unlike many rewards programs, Avianca doesn't allow Canadians to earn rewards through a specific airline credit card.

Even though you can max out your miles by using a credit card, you still have unique ways to earn miles. We'll also show you how to redeem your Lifemiles for the most value and compare it to other airline reward programs, so you can decide if you want to become a Lifemiles collector.

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.

As a Lifemiles member, you can also earn miles for purchases you make with a qualifying credit card. And, you can subscribe to a miles membership. For a monthly fee, you'll get Avianca Lifemiles automatically credited to your account.

Avianca Lifemiles overview

Currency: Lifemiles

Reward categories: Flights, travel extras and upgrades, hotels, car rentals, experiences, merchandise, airport lounge access, transfer miles, charitable donation

Pros:

• 200+ retail partners
• 100+ banks partnered with Lifemiles
• 25 partner airlines awarding Lifemiles
• 9 redemption options
• Wide variety of ways to earn miles
• 4 membership tiers with elite perks
• No blackout dates for reward flights
• Miles worth up to 6.3 cents per mile
• Free membership
• Miles can be bought, multiplied, gifted, pooled, and transferred

Cons:

• Points worth as little as 0.75 cents per mile
• No co-branded credit cards available in Canada
• Limited earning opportunities for Canadians
• Poor customer service
• Consistent technology issues

What are Lifemiles worth?

Since you have flexible redemption options, the value of your Lifemiles varies. To maximize your miles, play around with the Rewards Points Calculator.

Cost of reward in $ / cost of reward in Lifemiles x 100 = value in cents per mile (CPM)

Reward flights are at the top of the list, with Avianca flights giving you an average 2.4 CPM. Unfortunately, Avianca doesn't have a fixed reward chart, so you'll have to log in and search for travel to see your exact reward value.

Generally, when booking flights, select shoulder or off-peak tourist seasons to get the most out of your miles.

Here's a quick rundown of your Avianca redemption options, from most to least valuable:

Avianca Lifemiles calculator

Since Avianca doesn't publish a fixed reward chart for using your Lifemiles, you'll have to choose wisely when redeeming them. Ideally, you want to choose high-value redemption options that use as few Lifemiles as possible.

To help you compare redemption opportunities, we analyzed each option to find how many cents per point you'll get from your Lifemiles. The higher the CPP, the more valuable the reward.

Value of reward in CAD / cost of reward in points x 100 = value in cents per point (CPP)

You can also play around with our Avianca Lifemiles reward calculator to easily see all the redemption values.

How to earn

You'll earn steady Lifemiles by flying with Avianca, but if you pair flights with other earning options, you'll maximize your miles. Here are all the ways you can rack up the Lifemiles.

Book flights and flight-related services

Avianca rewards loyalty, so if you purchase flights or travel upgrades and services with the airline or one of its Star Alliance partners, you'll get a jump on earning Lifemiles.

Here are all the flight and flight-related purchases that qualify for Lifemiles:

When booking with a Star Alliance partner, be sure to provide your Lifemiles membership number during checkout. You should receive your LM within 60 days of travelling.

To maximize your earnings: Become an elite member (by earning qualifying miles) to earn 10% to 80% more Lifemiles per flight.

Book travel through the Avianca travel portal

Avianca operates separate platforms for booking rental cars and hotels. So, if you're planning a big trip, don't just book your flight with Avianca or a Star Alliance partner – book your transportation and hotel through them as well to earn even more Lifemiles.

You can earn up to 14,000 Lifemiles per day when booking a rental car and up to 15,000 miles per night when you stay at a hotel you booked through Avianca.

If you're looking to book a cruise or unique experience, book your next trip with the Lifemiles website, where the "Travel" tab can help you earn miles. You can also book directly with Lifemiles partners and provide your membership number during checkout.

To maximize your earnings: Elite members and Lifemiles subscription members earn 40% more miles when booking travel.

Subscribe to a monthly Lifemiles Plus membership

You never have to worry about your Lifemiles expiring if you purchase a Lifemiles Plus subscription. For a monthly fee, Avianca will deposit miles into your account. Although you won't get extra miles for credit card purchases (which are only available to U.S. cardholders), you will enjoy a 10% discount on Star Alliance flights whenever you redeem miles.

Buy or pool miles

We normally wouldn't advise buying miles since it's so easy to earn them in a number of ways. However, if Lifemiles advertises sales or bonuses on miles, it might actually make sense to splash out and buy miles since you can get them at a steep discount.

If Lifemiles doesn't happen to be having a sale, you're better off pooling your miles with friends or family to accomplish your travel goals. Although you have to be an elite status member, you can create a family pool of 7 members (2 over 18 years old and 5 minors). Then, you can transfer miles for free between members as needed.

Shop with Avianca partners

Avianca partners with retailers who provide Lifemiles for qualifying purchases. Here's all you have to do to earn rewards:

1. Find retail partners on the Lifemiles shopping page
2. Shop with a retailer and add merchandise to your cart
3. Enter your Lifemiles number or barcode number from the Lifemiles app on checkout

To maximize your earnings: Regularly check which retailers offer enhanced earning rates. This way, you can earn up to 5 LifeMiles per $1 USD.

You might see Avianca-branded credit cards that earn Lifemiles on everyday purchases. However, we didn't list this as an option since Canadians aren't eligible for these cards.

How to redeem

Reward flights might be your best redemption option, but they're not your only one. Let's take a look at all your redemption choices from best to worst.

Partner flights: 6.3 CPM

Note that our average cents per mile for partner flights spans a really broad range. This is because each partner airline allows you to redeem a different number of Lifemiles for different lengths of travel.

If you're prepared to use your miles for a partner flight, do your homework and check all available flight options on the Lifemiles website. Just be aware that reward flights with partners are subject to blackout dates, so if you're trying to book a flight more than a month in advance, you might not see very many choices.

To get the most out of your miles, try to book during shoulder or off seasons and play around with flying into different airports. You may be able to snag a deal by flying into a nearby airport and taking ground transportation to your ultimate destination.

Airport lounges: 2.17 CPM

Although there aren't as many airport lounges as with other lounge networks, you can get access to a Lifemiles lounge when you book a qualifying flight or you can book directly through the Lifemiles website (depending on the lounge).

Of the lounges that you can purchase access to, here are your options from most valuable to least:

• Barranquilla or Bucaramanga: 1,200 Lifemiles or $26 USD = 2.17 CPM
• Bogota Gold: 1,800 Lifemiles or $35 USD = 1.94 CPM
• Cali or Cartagena: 1,500 Lifemiles or $26 USD = 1.73 CPM
• El Salvador: 1,800 Lifemiles or $28 USD = 1.56 CPM
• Medellin: 1,800 Lifemiles or $36 USD = 1.44 CPM

Avianca flights: 2.4 CPM

Avianca uses a dynamic pricing system for its reward flights. This means there's no reward chart that clearly lays out how many miles you can expect to spend on an Avianca reward flight. When we crunched the numbers for several example flights, we found this option gives an average 2.4 cents per mile, which isn't bad for a redemption option.

When booking an Avianca flight, you can choose economy or business fares, but this also depends on your destination.

Charitable donations: 2.4 CPM

If you'd rather put your Lifemiles towards a good deed, you can donate them to Banco de Millas, which is Avianca's charitable organization. The money in the fund is donated to a variety of social issues that support South Americans.

These initiatives include:

• Health and WASH (a hygiene and sanitation program)
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Humanitarian aid
• Environmental impact

The value of your Lifemiles is on par with using them toward Avianca flights. However, you get the comfort of having done something good for the world.

Car rentals: 0.94 CPM

You can use Lifemiles to book rental cars if you use the Lifemiles Cars platform. Unfortunately, the average value for booking a car with Alamo, Avis, Hertz, Sixt, Budget, Thrifty, Dollar, or National, you'll only get around 0.94 cents per mile.

For the most value, earn elite status or purchase a Lifemiles Plus membership. This way, your rental costs 10% less.

Hotels: 0.86 CPM

Use the Lifemiles Hotel platform to search for hotel stays. The value of your Lifemiles really depends on your destination, the hotel, and the date of your stay. That's why the required Lifemiles can range wildly, from 15,000 to 75,000 for one night, in some cases.

To maximize the value of your miles, sign up for a Lifemiles Plus subscription membership or earn status. Doing either of these things gets you a 10% discount.

Experiences: 0.75 CPM

Again, your redemption options for experiences depend on where you're travelling. In addition to museums and walking tours, you can purchase tickets for things like bar crawls, cycling tours, or just private transportation around town.

Lifemiles requirements can range from 500 to 100,000+, so to find the most value, remember our formula: Divide the actual cost of the experience by the required Lifemiles to come up with cents per mile.

Travel upgrades: N/A

We listed this redemption option last since it's hard to find exact details about what's available and how much the upgrades cost. You'll actually have to call Avianca's customer service to request an upgrade on an Avianca flight, or hop online and ask for an upgrade if you're flying with a Star Alliance partner.

That said, a Star Alliance upgrade from economy to business typically costs between 15,000 to 60,000 LifeMiles.

Avianca LifeMiles vs. other programs

Canadians have lots of fantastic options when it comes to choosing an airline rewards program. To help compare it to heavyweights like Aeroplan, WestJet, and VIPorter, consider the average value of each mile or point.

Most airline reward programs have an average return rate of 1.5 to 2 cents per mile or point, so Avianca Lifemiles aren't far off the mark (depending on how you book travel). However, one thing really stands out when comparing the program to its competitors: the ability to earn rewards through a credit card.

Since Avianca doesn't allow Canadians to earn miles with qualifying credit cards, we'd recommend joining Aeroplan. Not only is Aeroplan a member of Star Alliance, but you can credit your flights to Lifemiles when booking. Plus, Aeroplan offers several credit cards to help you earn more rewards.

Is it worth it?

Ultimately, whether or not the Avianca Lifemiles program is right for you depends on how often you fly with the airline. If it's your go-to airline, it makes sense to participate, especially since it's a member of the Star Alliance.

We should warn you that the program is somewhat known for IT issues when it comes to booking flights, and users note problems with contacting customer service (especially if you don't speak Spanish).

FAQ

What are the benefits of joining Lifemiles?

In addition to earning and redeeming Lifemiles, the program confers and raises your elite status the more you travel and earn. You'll have the opportunity to earn miles faster, enjoy personalized customer service 24/7, and be surprised with exclusive perks and benefits.

Do Avianca Lifemiles expire?

Yes, Lifemiles expire if your account is inactive for 12 months. To keep it active, earn points at least once during a 12-month period. U.S. members can use an Avianca-branded credit or debit card and enjoy the fact that their Lifemiles never expire.

What are the main ways to earn Lifemiles besides flying?

In addition to flying, you can pool, buy, or transfer Lifemiles. You can also shop with Lifemiles partners or purchase a Lifemiles membership subscription. Unfortunately, Avianca-branded credit cards that earn Lifemiles are unavailable to Canadians.

What are some good redemptions for Lifemiles?

It probably won't surprise you to learn that reward flights with Avianca or with a partner airline give the best value, especially if you book wisely. You'll also get the most out of your miles if you put them towards airport lounge access.

How do you redeem Lifemiles?

Avianca offers 8 redemption options for your Lifemiles. You can book reward flights with Avianca or with one of the other 24 Star Alliance airlines. You can also book car rentals or hotels, purchase travel upgrades, buy airport lounge access, or donate your miles to charity.