Lifemiles Credit Cards With Big Bonuses, Valuable Perks

I’m a big fan of the avianca lifemiles program, and find it to be a valuable frequent flyer program for Star Alliance award redemptions. While there are lots of ways to acquire lifemiles, the ability to earn with co-branded credit cards in the United States is one of the easiest.

Earn up to 100,000 bonus miles with the avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card

The avianca lifemiles program has two co-branded credit cards in the United States, and I’d argue that the premium one may prove to be most lucrative for a majority of OMAAT readers in terms of the welcome offer, benefits, and more. I wanted to talk a bit more about why you should consider applying for this card. 

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avianca lifemiles elite card welcome bonus

The avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card is offering 60,000 bonus miles after spending $4,500 in the first 90 days. On top of that, you can earn an additional 40,000 bonus miles after spending a total of $25,000 in the first 365 days. 

Note that while American Express is the processing network for the card, this isn’t a traditional American Express card, in the sense that it wouldn’t have the same application restrictions as you’d usually find on Amex cards (in other words, it wouldn’t count toward the Amex five credit card limit, or any other traditional Amex card restriction).

This is a great welcome offer, and those miles can score you some awesome travel, as I’ll talk more about below. 

avianca lifemiles elite card rewards structure

With the avianca elite card, miles are earned as follows:

• 3x miles on avianca or lifemiles purchases
• 2x miles at restaurants
• 2x miles on other travel, which has a broad definition, and includes purchases classified as passenger railways, cruise lines, air carriers, airlines, airports, airport terminals, travel agencies and tour operators, direct marketplace – travel related arrangement services, timeshares, car rental operators, hotel, motel, bus lines, transit, or taxi
• 1x miles for each $1 spent on other eligible purchases

avianca lifemiles elite card perks & benefits

As an avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite card cardholder, you will receive lifemiles Silver status. That’s helpful for those who fly avianca regularly, but it’s the other main perk of the card that is most interesting to me.

The elite card offers a complimentary lifemiles+ lite membership, which ordinarily costs $20 per month. This offers:

• 500 bonus miles per month
• Double miles on purchases (up to 1,000 miles monthly)
• A 10% redemption discount on Star Alliance flights (with no limit)
• Up to a 25% redemption discount on avianca lifemiles

As you can see, this would score you 6,000 bonus miles per year, and on top of that, the 10% redemption discount on Star Alliance awards could come in handy as well. To me, this largely helps justify the $249 annual fee on the card.

Another opportunity worth being aware of is that if you have this card, you can upgrade to a lifemiles+ basic subscription. This ordinarily costs $50 per month, but if you’re a cardmember, that price drops to $30 per month (essentially the $20 cost of a lifemiles+ lite membership is applied toward this). This offers:

• 2,000 bonus miles per month
• Double miles on purchases (up to 2,000 miles monthly)
• A 10% redemption discount on Star Alliance flights (with no limit)
• Up to a 25% redemption discount on avianca lifemiles
• No change or cancelation fees on lifemiles award tickets

Given that lifemiles ordinarily charges up to $200 to redeposit award tickets, I think there’s huge value to a lifemiles+ basic subscription for those who redeem through the program with any frequency. The 2,000 bonus miles per month are the icing on the cake.

Earn 50,000 bonus miles with the avianca lifemiles American Express® Card

For a lower annual fee alternative, lifemiles also offers a more “basic” card, that mainly makes sense for those who fly avianca with any frequency. 

avianca lifemiles card welcome bonus

The avianca lifemiles American Express® Card is offering 40,000 bonus miles upon spending $3,000 in the first 90 days.

avianca lifemiles card rewards structure

With this avianca lifemiles card, miles are earned as follows:

• 2x miles on avianca or lifemiles purchases
• 2x miles at restaurants
• 2x miles at supermarkets/groceries
• 1x miles for each $1 spent on other eligible purchases

avianca lifemiles card perks & benefits

With the $99 annual fee you still get lifemiles Silver status, which unlocks preferred and premium seat selection, extra economy baggage allowances, priority boarding, and even lounge access in Colombia and El Salvador That’s a solid deal for a $99 annual fee card.

Great ways to spend 80,000 avianca lifemiles

While I think there’s a lot of merit to spending on the elite card in order to unlock the full welcome offer of up to 100,000 miles, even 80,000 avianca lifemiles will get you far. As a “worst case,” let’s look at what you can do with the bare minimum miles earned from this offer (and this doesn’t even include the miles you earn from spending).

70,000 miles for one-way Star Alliance business class between the US and Europe

My most frequent use of lifemiles these days is for transatlantic business class awards between the United States and Europe. While other programs can offer compelling prices for more complex itineraries, the bulk of my redemptions here are for straightforward trips, either for my own travels, or for family.

Many transatlantic Star Alliance award flights are available for just 70,000 miles one-way, though in some cases pricing is even better than that. For example, you can fly from Newark to London for just 45,000 miles one-way, which is pretty incredible. 

Keep in mind the elite card also unlocks a 10% discount when you redeem miles for Star Alliance flights,bringing the net price down to 63,000 miles (or in the case of the award for 45,000 miles, you’d get 4,500 miles deducted), excluding any taxes and fees.

80,000 miles for one-way business class between the US and South Pacific 

The lifemiles program offers excellent award pricing to the South Pacific, including to Australia and New Zealand in premium cabins. For example, you can redeem 80,000 lifemiles for a one-way business class ticket between much of the United States and Australia. United has pretty decent award availability in these markets, with some flexibility. 

This pricing is competitive, and in many markets could be a great deal compared to what other programs charge.

35,000 miles for one-way business class between the US and “Northern” South America

The lifemiles program can also offer good value on shorter haul routes, like those to Latin America. Other Star Alliance programs like United MileagePlus or Air Canada Aeroplan would charge at least 38,000 to 40,000 miles for one-way business class on these routes.

Note that pricing can vary significantly when you add avianca flights to the itinerary. This can be a good thing if you’re booking well in advance or during a promo period, when avianca flights can be deeply discounted.

One-way economy awards within the US starting at 6,500 miles

While perhaps not the most aspirational award redemption on earth, lifemiles does offer some attractively priced domestic awards within the United States. For example, you can fly United on a short haul flight starting at just 6,500 miles one-way. So the welcome bonus on the card can potentially get you a lot of travel on United.

Watch for lifemiles flash sales

Lifemiles has run some interesting promotions over time, with significantly discounted lifemiles redemptions on avianca flights if you redeem during the promo period. Economy flights between Miami and Managua were just 3,360 miles each way in their latest sale – about 45% fewer miles than the standard prices.

Earn 40,000 additional lifemiles with $25,000 in spending

Spending the additional $20,500 (subtracting the initial $4,500 spending requirement) in the first year to earn an incremental bonus of 40,000 miles with the elite card will make sense for many, given you’re basically earning a minimum of nearly 2.0 incremental miles per dollar spent, not even including the miles you’d usually earn.

For that $20,500 of spending, you’d receive a minimum of 60,500 miles, and that’s assuming your spending isn’t in any bonus categories. I’d say that’s a worthwhile return on spending. 

I’d view the primary benefit of earning the full bonus as being that you can take a companion with you in business class on a long haul award. For example, for 90,000 lifemiles you could book two one-way business class tickets from Newark to London.

Bottom line

The avianca lifemiles program has two co-branded credit cards, which offer a strong value proposition. If you’re like me and make a lot of redemptions through lifemiles, then the elite card is worth it for these benefits alone. 

I’ve written previously about the tremendous value of the lifemiles+ subscription – 6,000 bonus miles per year and saving 10% on award redemptions on Star Alliance is a great deal for me – and typically costs $240 per year. 

When you add in the great welcome offer, I’d say this is well worth it.