avianca lifemiles Card Reviews
avianca lifemiles released two credit cards in the US in partnership with Cardless. The avianca lifemiles American Express® Card has a $99 annual fee and the American Express® Elite Card has a $249 annual fee. Both cards come with plenty of perks to compensate for these annual fees. If you fly avianca a lot or like to redeem points for Star Alliance awards, then you should give these cards a look. Our avianca lifemiles card reviews cover the welcome offers, the earning structure and benefits for both avianca co-branded credit cards.
*The links in this article are ToP team member referrals and were collected independently by Travel on Point(s).
Current Welcome Offer
The avianca lifemiles American Express® Card has the following welcome offer:
- Earn 40,000 miles after spending $3,000 within the first 3 months from account opening
- The card has an annual fee of $99
This card's welcome offer isn't mind blowing by any means, but it's nice to see a minimum spend requirement below the $4,000 threshold.
The avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card has a two-tiered welcome offer:
- Earn 60,000 miles after spending $4,500 within the first 3 months from account opening, plus another 40,000 miles after spending a total of $25,000 in the first 365 days
- The card has an annual fee of $249
The first part of the welcome offer is a decent return for $4,500 in spend. But the second part is a much heavier lift with a much smaller reward. Unfortunately, the card's earning structure isn't good enough to entice most cardholders to spend $25,000 on the card in the first year. But looking under the hood, we see that when paired with the card's perks, the welcome offer can be more appealing than at first glance.
As we show below, one of the card's perks is the ability to double your miles on purchases up to 1,000 bonus miles per month. This means you can earn up to 12,000 bonus miles in one year. Assuming you meet the $25,000 spend earning 1x, that's 52,000 bonus miles after spending $25,000 in the first year (slightly over 2x per dollar). If you meet the spend on any of the 2x or 3x categories, then you'll earn even more bonus miles. So at the very least, you'll earn 112,000 miles after spending $25,000 in the first year.
If approved, cardholders enjoy instant digital card delivery via the Cardless app for both cards. As soon as I was approved for my avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card, I downloaded the Cardless app, created my log in account, and had access to my digital card.
Application Rules You Should Keep in Mind
Even though these are American Express credit cards, applications are directly through Cardless rather than Amex. This means that neither card should be subject to the typical Amex application rules.
avianca lifemiles Card Reviews: Earning Rate
The cards have nearly identical earning rates. The avianca lifemiles American Express® Card has the following earning structure:
- 2x on all avianca airlines and lifemiles purchases
- 2x on travel and restaurants
- 1x on all other purchases
The avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card has the following reward structure:
- 3x on all avianca airlines and lifemiles purchases
- 2x on travel and restaurants
- 1x on all other purchases
The Elite card also offers double miles on all purchases, up to 1,000 bonus miles per month. (More on this below.)
avianca lifemiles are subject to expiration, but your miles will not expire as long as you use your avianca lifemiles card. It's interesting that avianca requires you to actually use your card to keep miles alive. Merely holding the card without using it will not prevent your miles from expiring.
Neither card has any foreign transaction fees.
avianca lifemiles Card Benefits
Card benefits and perks is where both cards shine. For starters, both cards come with complimentary avianca silver elite status. Benefits of avianca silver status include five complimentary lounge passes to avianca lounges and two companion passes, 30% bonus miles on avianca flights, priority check-in and boarding, and Star Alliance Silver Status.
In addition, the avianca lifemiles card comes with a 5% redemption discount on avianca airlines flights (compared to the 25% discount of the Elite card, below).
avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card Additional Perks
The avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card a complimentary subscription to lifemiles+ lite plan (which otherwise costs $20 per month). Cardholders also receive a $20 per month discount to the basic, pro, and max tiers of lifemiles+ subscriptions.
The lifemiles+ lite plan alone can be worth the card's $249 annual fee if you leverage its benefits enough.
avianca lifemiles+ lite includes the following benefits:
- 10% rebate on Star Alliance flight redemptions
- 25% redemption discount on avianca airlines flights
- 500 bonus miles each month
- double miles on purchases made with a lifemiles credit card (up to 1,000 bonus miles per month)
Keep in mind that the Star Alliance benefit is a rebate, meaning you need to have enough miles in your lifemiles account to book the award flight at full price to then receive 10% of the miles back. In contrast, the avianca airlines benefit is a 25% discount, meaning you need 25% fewer miles for a redemption with avianca. Neither perk has a published limit.
ToP Analysis: Which avianca lifemiles Card Is Right for You?
I must recognize the creativity behind these avianca lifemiles credit cards and all of their perks. Transferable currency credit cards have become so valuable with such high welcome offers that it makes it tough for co-branded cards to compete. But here, Cardless and avianca took an admirable approach and tied almost all of the cards' value to their perks. Also, the cards don't reinvent the wheel. The perks offered are mostly through complimentary membership to existing membership programs, namely lifemiles elite membership and lifemiles+.
If you fly avianca a lot, then having silver elite status with the airline can be really helpful. Between lounge access, priority services, and extra baggage allowance, you can get good value out of the basic card's $99 annual fee. Or if you have a need for Star Alliance silver status, it's yours for $99 per year with this card.
If you redeem your points for a lot of Star Alliance flights, then you should give the avianca lifemiles American Express® Elite Card a serious look. Having a 10% rebate on Star Alliance redemptions and 25% discount on avianca awards alone can make the $249 annual fee worth it. For example, with the 10% rebate, you can fly Lufthansa first class to Europe for under 80,000 lifemiles one-way!
Meanwhile, neither card should attract much spend from cardholders, but instead will make themselves useful with their perks.
avianca lifemiles Card Reviews: ToP Thoughts
Avianca's two credit card offerings in partnership with Cardless come with some creative benefits to compensate for their $99 and $249 annual fees. Whether you travel a lot with avianca or redeem for a lot of Star Alliance awards, these cards deserve your attention. Neither their welcome offers nor their earning structure will blow you away, but their perks is where their strength lies.
What are your thoughts on the avianca lifemiles credit cards? Join the discussion in our Facebook group!
