17 Best Ways to Earn Lots of Avianca LifeMiles
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LifeMiles is the frequent flyer program that Avianca S.A. launched in 2011, and it replaced their old program, which was named AviancaPlus. Using Avianca LifeMiles is actually one of the best ways to redeem points and miles in the Star Alliance.
There are tons of quick and unique ways to earn LifeMiles. We have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started.
Table of contents
Table of Contents
Sign Up for an Avianca LifeMiles Account
Avianca LifeMiles function a bit differently than other frequent flyer programs. For example, the United MileagePlus program is directly tied to United Airlines meaning you access both directly from United.com.
The same can’t be said for Avianca LifeMiles. You must visit the separate LifeMiles website in order to make award bookings and create a LifeMiles account.
LifeMiles also has a redesigned website, which is a significant upgrade over its predecessor.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make an Avianca LifeMiles account:
- Visit the LifeMiles website
- The default language is Spanish, so you’ll want to click on the flag icon in the top right corner to change your language
- Click the blue button in the middle of the page that says Join LifeMiles for free
- Create your login information by typing in your email and a password. Click Next
- Type in your information, along with your driver’s license or ID number
- Follow all the prompts and create your LifeMiles account
Your LifeMiles account will be crucial in earning LifeMiles, whether it’s from purchasing miles at one of their great sales, eating out, or booking hotel rooms.
After you create your LifeMiles account, write down your LifeMiles number and get ready to earn a lot of miles!
Earn Avianca LifeMiles With Credit Cards
Using credit cards to earn Avianca LifeMiles is now easier than ever with the addition of American Express Membership Rewards and Capital One Rewards.
There are tons of different options to earn Avianca LifeMiles, whether it’s transferring from flexible currencies or earning LifeMiles from the co-branded Banco Popular credit card.
We have lots of options here, so let’s get to the ways to earn LifeMiles with credit cards.
Citi ThankYou Rewards Credit Cards (Best Option)
In our opinion, transferring Citi ThankYou Rewards points is the best way to earn Avianca LifeMiles quickly.
You can transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio and you can often get huge transfer bonuses. These bonuses can bring the transfer ratio up to 25%, simply by transferring ThankYou points.
In order to accrue Citi ThankYou points, you’ll need to have a credit card that’s linked to the ThankYou Rewards program. Similar to Chase Ultimate Rewards, you must have a ThankYou-points-earning card that allows for points transfers.
For example, having the Citi ThankYou® Preferred or Citi Rewards+℠ Card will not make you eligible to transfer ThankYou points to travel partners. Instead, you can only use your points for gift cards or statement credits at a 1 cent per point value. (The ThankYou Preferred card has been discontinued.)
If you have a Citi Prestige or Citi Premier℠ card, you can transfer Citi ThankYou points to Avianca LifeMiles.
Although the portfolio of Citi ThankYou-points-earning cards is smaller than American Express, you’ll find that there are a lot of spending categories that allow you to earn bonus points.
With a wide variety of points-earning categories, you can earn points faster with a Citi card than other credit cards.
These cards also often come with large welcome bonuses that can kickstart your journey to earn lots of Avianca LifeMiles.
Here are the bonus categories that allow you to earn points quickly:
Category | Applicable Credit Cards | Bonus Points |
Dining | Prestige Card | 5x |
Preferred Card | 2x | |
Premier Card | 2x | |
Supermarkets | Rewards+ Card | 2x |
Gas stations | Premier Card | 3x |
Rewards+ Card | 2x | |
Entertainment | Preferred Card | 2x |
Premier Card | 2x | |
Prestige Card | 2x (through 8/31/19) | |
Hotels | Prestige Card | 3x |
Cruise Lines | Prestige Card | 3x |
All other purchases | Prestige Card | 1x |
Rewards+ Card | 1x | |
Premier Card | 1x |
Though the Citi Preferred card has been discontinued, we’ve included its point-earning structure here for your information.
There are tons of ways you can optimize your spending to put the right purchases on the right credit cards and earn the maximum amount of points.
Hot Tip: Check out how you’re able to earn 100,000+ Citi ThankYou Rewards points in just 90 days!
American Express Membership Rewards Credit Cards
American Express Membership Rewards are an extremely competitive points currency to have in your arsenal. It’s arguably one of the best flexible points currencies due to the frequent transfer bonuses and ease of earning points.
Amex also has many transfer partners, giving you the ability to use your points how you want to.
American Express has only recently added Avianca LifeMiles as a transfer partner, so we’ve yet to see a transfer bonus as we’ve seen with Citi ThankYou Rewards. As of now, American Express Membership Rewards transfers at a 1:1 ratio.
The advantage of American Express is that they have many credit cards that earn American Express Membership Rewards points, which means you have tons of options to get extra points from bonus categories and earn sign-up bonuses.
Recommended American Express Cards (Personal)
The Platinum Card® from American Express - There's currently a new welcome bonus offer of This is our #1 card for accessing 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide (including Priority Pass). We leverage ~$3,000+ in benefits and perks from the card every year. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, click here. |
American Express® Gold Card - This card has a new welcome bonus of We love using this card as it earns 4x points at Restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery, plus, earn 4X points for Uber Eats purchases too, and 4x points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 per calendar year; then 1x. Terms Apply). There's no better card in our opinion if you eat out and/or shop at supermarkets regularly; and you'll have access to many benefits and perks. For rates and fees of the Amex Gold, click here. |
Recommended American Express Cards (Business)
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express - Right now, there's a new welcome bonus of See how we get $4,000+ in value per year by leveraging many of the benefits & perks, including access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide. For rates & fees of the Business Platinum, click here. |
American Express® Business Gold Card - one of our favorite Amex business cards because we earn 4x points across the top 2 select categories that we spend the most money in each month, such as Facebook or Google ads. The 4x points applies to the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these 2 categories each calendar year. After that, you earn 1x. Terms Apply. The current welcome bonus is 70,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. You can also earn up to $300 in statement credits on eligible U.S. advertising and U.S. shipping purchases. Terms and cap apply. For rates and fees of the Business Gold Card, click here. |
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express - A super simple, no annual fee card that earns you 2x points on everyday business purchase, up to $50,000 annually. After that, then 1x. That makes for an easy 100,000 points per year. For rates and fees of the Blue Business Plus, click here. |
The bonus categories for American Express cards are quite complicated and are difficult to illustrate in a table; check out our guide on the best ways to earn American Express points to learn more.
Capital One Rewards Credit Cards
Capital One recently came out with their transferable rewards system, which is a welcome addition to traditional giants such as American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Although their transfer ratio isn’t as good as the 1:1 ratio from American Express, Chase, and Citi, the ratio is still solid, at 2:1.5. This means that if you transfer 2,000 Capital One Miles, you’ll receive 1,500 Avianca LifeMiles.
Recommended Capital One Cards That Earn Miles (Personal)
Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card - This card is packed with lots of benefits and perks. Earn 100,000 bonus miles when you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening, or still earn 50,000 mile sign up bonus once you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. We recommend this as a no-brainer card if you even semi-regularly stay at hotels. |
Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card - This is an excellent card for those looking to earn 1.25x miles per $1 on every purchase. With a 20,000 mile sign up bonus (worth $200 toward travel) after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months and no annual fee, it's a strong choice. |
The biggest selling point of Capital One is the simple earning structure:
Credit Card | Bonus Miles |
VentureOne | 1.25x |
Venture | 2x |
Spark® Miles For Business | 2x |
Spark® Miles Select For Business | 1.5x |
Hot Tip: Check out some of the best ways to redeem Capital One Miles, including many business and first class options!
Banco Popular Avianca Vuela Co-Branded Credit Cards
You can even earn Avianca LifeMiles directly, instead of transferring points from a partner. Currently, the Puerto Rican bank Banco Popular has two co-branded Visa credit cards that offer the ability to earn LifeMiles.
With these cards, you can earn LifeMiles directly, and you can also nab a solid sign-up bonus to boost your LifeMiles!
The Avianca Vida Visa® Card comes with a 20,000 LifeMiles sign-up bonus after your first card use and a $59 annual fee. Sometimes, the Vida card offers a bonus welcome offer as well!
The Avianca Vuela Visa® Card comes with a 40,000 LifeMiles sign-up bonus after your first card use and a $149 annual fee. With the Avianca Vuela Visa® Card, you get a free additional piece of baggage for travel between the U.S. and Central America. Similar to the Avianca Vida card, the Vuela card can offer an additional welcome bonus.
Furthermore, if you spend $12,000 in one year, you’ll receive a 50% discount on an award ticket that can be redeemed for travel to Central America or Colombia from the U.S. If you spend another $12,000 you’ll get an additional half-off award ticket.
The Avianca Vuela Card and the Avianca Vida Card get you a 15% discount on purchases of miles with Multiply Your Miles.
You can multiply your LifeMiles by using the bonus categories below:
Category | Applicable Credit Cards | Bonus |
Avianca purchases | Vuela Card | 3x |
Vida Card | 2x | |
Gas stations | Vuela Card | 2x |
Grocery stores | Vuela Card | 2x |
All other purchases | Vuela Card | 1x |
Vida Card | 1x |
Hot Tip: Check out our complete guide on the best ways to redeem LifeMiles.
Marriott Credit Cards
Marriott has the most flexible rewards currency out there. With 40+ transfer partners, you have a lot of options on how you use your points. Avianca LifeMiles is no exception.
However, there are much better and more effective ways to use your Marriott points, which is why this isn’t at the top of our list.
Marriott to LifeMiles transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred. In other words, if you transfer 60,000 Marriott points, you’ll receive 20,000 LifeMiles plus a 5,000 bonus, bringing up your total to 25,000 LifeMiles.
You can earn Marriott points from cards offered by both Chase and American Express:
Recommended Marriott Cards
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card - Earn 75,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Get automatic silver elite status each account anniversary year; and a free night award (valued up to 35,000 points) every year after account anniversary. Plus, earn 6X points per $1 at over 7,000 participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, and 2X points per $1 on all other purchases. Annual Fee is $95. |
Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ Credit Card - Earn 30,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. Earn 3X points per $1 at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, earn 2X on other travel purchases, then 1x on all other purchases. A solid card for Marriott loyalists looking for a no-annual-fee card offering Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status. |
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card - Earn 75,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points after you use your new Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Earn 6x per $1 at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels plus 3x at U.S. restaurants and flights booked directly with airlines. Annual fee is $450. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Bonvoy Brilliant card, click here. |
Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card - earn 75,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points after you use your new Card to make $3,000 of eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Plus, earn up to $150 back in statement credits on eligible purchases made on your new Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. A solid card for business owners who will get complimentary Marriott Bonvoy silver elite status. Annual fee is $125. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, click here. |
Refer a Friend for Bonus Miles
Citi recently rolled out a referral program for the Citi Premier card, which adds another 10,000 ThankYou points for each approved referral. You can get points for up to 5 referrals in 12 months. This is a great way to involve your friends and family in points and also get a nice bonus.
American Express also offers a refer a friend program. With this program, you’re able to refer your friend to virtually any card in the American Express portfolio.
You’re restricted to referring a personal card from a personal card and a business card from a business card. Log in to your American Express online account to refer friends.
Neither Capital One nor Banco Popular currently offers a publicly available referral system.
Earn Miles Through Shopping and Dining
Earning LifeMiles doesn’t have to involve credit card applications and spending. Although it’s the best feasible way to earn a gigantic chunk of LifeMiles in a short period of time, you can still do great by earning LifeMiles via shopping and dining.
LifeMiles Shopping and Dining Partners
LifeMiles has a whole slew of shopping and dining partners. Although most of the companies are South American, there are quite a few American companies on the list.
Some neat examples of companies where you can earn LifeMiles are Harley Davidson, Steve Madden, Vans, Tumi, Golds Gym, L’Occitane, Armani, and American Eagle.
To start earning LifeMiles with shopping partners, follow these instructions:
- Visit the LifeMiles shopping portal
- Click Find commercial partners
- Change the filter at the top left from Colombia to all countries
- Select the partner where you want to shop

Keep in mind that you can only earn LifeMiles at specific locations, such as shops in Colombia, Costa Rica, or San Salvador.
You can earn up to 5 LifeMiles per dollar spent with these partners, so it’s a great way to earn miles.
Once you’ve selected your partner, the following page will provide you with directions on how to earn bonus LifeMiles, which can vary from company to company.
LifeMiles Restaurant Partners
Avianca LifeMiles has a variety of restaurant partners, in addition to their shopping partners. You’ll only earn LifeMiles when dining at specific locations.
You can earn up to 5 LifeMiles per $1 spent at restaurant partners. Some examples of restaurant partners are P.F. Chang’s, 9 Hundred Pizza, and Chifa Express.
Remember that earning LifeMiles with partners is subject to the specific terms and conditions, which can vary from partner to partner.
Earn Miles Through Travel
You can earn a lot of LifeMiles for paid flights, hotel stays, and more! This section will be dedicated to travel-related purchases and using them to grow your LifeMiles balance.
Airfare and Airline Purchases

Unsurprisingly, you can earn a lot of Avianca LifeMiles by flying on Avianca flights. Mileage earning is dependent on the fare class and distance of your ticket. Additionally, the minimum number of miles you can accrue for international flights is 500 miles.
Here’s the award chart for accruing Avianca LifeMiles when flying on Avianca:
Cabin | Fare Family | Fare Classes | Minimum miles accrued | Qualifying Miles Earned | Qualifying Segments Earned |
Economy | Super Promo | U, T, S, W | 500 | 50% | 1 |
Econo | Z, P, O, L, G, E, V, Q | 500 | 100% | 1 | |
Flexi | H, M, B, Y | 500 | 150% | 2 | |
Business | Business Promo | A, D, K | 500 | 150% | 2 |
Business | J, C | 500 | 200% | 2 |
For example, if you fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Bogota (BOG) on a fare class A ticket, you’ll travel a total distance of 3,479 miles. You’ll earn 150% on 3,479 miles, which is 5,219 LifeMiles and 2 segments, which go toward elite status.
If you hold LifeMiles elite status, your miles accrual rate goes up.
Here’s the breakdown of Avianca elite status:
- Silver: 25% mileage bonus
- Gold: 75% mileage bonus
- Diamond: 100% mileage bonus
Let’s take the same example from above, but for someone with an elite status of gold. That person flying from Los Angeles (LAX) to Bogota (BOG) on a fare class A ticket will earn a 75% bonus in addition to the base 5,219 LifeMiles, bringing up the accrued total to 9,132 miles.
Crediting Partner Airlines to LifeMiles
You can accrue LifeMiles from many different airline partners, but each partner has specific accrual rates.
You’ll also be able to accrue LifeMiles for flights on Star Alliance partners, Iberia (a Oneworld airline), and Aeromexico (a SkyTeam airline).
You can find the complete list of partner airlines and LifeMiles accrual rates on the Avianca LifeMiles website.
Hot Tip: For more information, check out this in-depth guide to help you know where to credit your airline miles.
Car Rentals and Other Ground Transportation
You can also earn LifeMiles through car rental partners.
Here’s a list of car rental partners:
Rental Company | Miles | Rental Company | Miles |
Hertz | 50 miles per day | Budget | 500 miles per rental |
Dollar | 50 miles per day | Avis | 500 miles per rental plus 10% discount |
Alamo | 2 miles/$1 | Sixt | 500 miles per rental |
Thrifty | 50 miles per day | National | 2 miles/$1 |
Rentalcars.com | 5 miles/$1 |
Avis has the best deal on earning LifeMiles, so we would suggest utilizing them when possible.
LifeMiles Hotel Partners
Avianca partners with a lot of different hotel brands, so there are many opportunities to top off your LifeMiles by booking hotels.
You can find out all the hotel partners on the LifeMiles website, but check out our consolidated list below:
Hotel | Miles/Stay | Hotel | Miles/Stay |
Barceló Hotels & Resorts | Up to 1 mile/$1 | Best Western | Up to 250 miles per stay |
Hilton | Can only convert Hilton Points to LifeMiles (10,000:1,000) | IHG | Up to 2 miles/$1 |
La Quinta | Up to 250 miles per stay | AccorHotels | Can only convert Le Club AccorHotels points to LifeMiles (2:1) |
Marriott | Up to 2 miles/$1 | Meliá Hotels International | Up to 500 miles per stay |
Wyndham | Up to 2 miles/$1 |
If none of these hotel chains is a good fit for you, there are quite a few booking portals that you can utilize to earn LifeMiles.
LifeMiles Hotel Booking Portals
LifeMiles currently partners with these booking portals:
Booking Portal | Miles Earning | Booking Portal | Miles Earning |
Rocket Travel | Up to 10,000 miles/night | Kaligo.com | Up to 20 miles/$1 |
Booking.com | 2 miles/$1 |
One of the biggest hidden perks of using booking portals is that LifeMiles periodically offers huge bonuses on hotel bookings, but sometimes for only a single day.
These bonuses can actually earn you miles that are more valuable than the booking itself!
LifeMiles Experiences
LifeMiles also offers experiences through Rocket Travel, which is LifeMiles’ partner for LifeMiles Experiences.
You’ll usually earn around 2 to 3 LifeMiles per dollar spent on LifeMiles Experiences.
Specialty Earnings for Avianca LifeMiles
One of the most effective ways to get tons of LifeMiles is by taking advantage of deals that are exclusive to Avianca LifeMiles. As you’ll find out, taking advantage of these deals is extremely easy.
The main thing to watch out for is timing. The best way to illustrate this point is with the example below.
Buy Avianca LifeMiles During Huge Sales
Avianca typically sells LifeMiles at a prohibitively high price of 3.3 cents per mile. We do not recommend purchasing LifeMiles at this price unless you’re in an emergency and need the miles as soon as possible.
Avianca frequently offers gigantic bonuses on purchased miles. And by gigantic, we mean gigantic.
It’s not unusual to see bonuses of 125-150% on purchased miles. In other words, if you buy 1,000 miles during these sales, you’ll get an extra 1,250-1,500 miles for free, bringing your total up to 2,250-2,500 miles.
The maximum number of LifeMiles you can purchase per year is currently 200,000 (before bonuses).
Subscribe to Club LifeMiles
Club LifeMiles is a recently launched subscription service from Avianca LifeMiles that allows you to make recurring purchases for miles.
In addition, the more miles you buy (for a full 12 months), the bigger bonus you get for purchasing miles.
Here’s the breakdown of the subscription levels.
Plan | Total Miles With Bonus (Year Total) | Total Cost (including taxes and fees) | Cents Per Mile (CPM) |
Plan 500 | 8,000 | $131.88 | 1.65 |
Plan 1,000 | 15,000 | $239.88 | 1.60 |
Plan 2,000 | 28,000 | $395.88 | 1.41 |
Plan 3,000 | 42,500 | $599.88 | 1.41 |
Plan 6,000 | 80,000 | $1,115.88 | 1.39 |
Plan 8,000 | 112,000 | $1,559.88 | 1.39 |
Best case scenario? You buy miles at 1.39 cents per point, which means that you can fly on Lufthansa First Class one-way between the U.S. and Europe (87,000 LifeMiles) for $1,209.30 using this subscription.
Considering that Lufthansa often retails for $10,000 or more, you can get tons of value this way.
Hot Tip: LifeMiles processes all purchases directly on Avianca, meaning that you’ll qualify for 5x points with the Platinum® Card from American Express.
Multiply Your Miles
The very last way that we’ll discuss for earning a lot of LifeMiles is through a program called Multiply Your Miles.
Through this method, you can double and even triple your miles. This is done in these two ways:
- Flying
- Avianca credit card spending
For example, if you earned 2,000 miles from flying and 1,000 miles from Avianca credit card spending, you’re eligible to earn up to 9,000 miles total. Basically, you’ll be able to buy up to 2x the miles for a discounted rate.
If you remember, the Avianca Vuela Visa® Card and Avianca Vida Visa® Card both offer 15% off Multiply Your Miles purchases, which you can use to save even more money!
The overall message of this method is that you’ll be able to buy LifeMiles at a much cheaper price than usual. The catch is it’ll have to be from Avianca-related spending, whether it’s on travel or on their co-branded credit card.
You’ll only be able to buy a relatively small amount compared to the normal miles sales, but you’ll get the miles at a larger discount.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of neat ways to earn Avianca LifeMiles.
Avianca LifeMiles is an extremely versatile frequent flyer program. They never pass on any fuel surcharges to you, they’ve got tons of ways to get lots of points, and there are many great ways to redeem LifeMiles for maximum value!
The information regarding the Avianca Vida Visa® Card, Avianca Vuela Visa® Card, Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi Prestige, Citi Premier℠ card, Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card, and Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of the Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of American Express® Gold Card , click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here.
Hi Stephen,
“Avianca LifeMiles expire after 12 months of inactivity. The only way to extend the miles is to earn more miles.”
In terms of earning more miles, does it count if those miles are from shopping, hotel booking portals, hotel& credit card partners, car rentals and Club Lifemiles subscriptions?
Hey Guy,
All of these count. Thanks for reading!
Stephen, so if I transfer AMEX MR points once a year to Lifemiles, the miles will keep resetting for another year for a max of 2 years or indefinitely?
In essence, as long as I transfer or accrue miles once a year on LifeMiles, the miles will never expire?
Hi Jeff,
Yes!
Check out my guide on frequent flyer miles and hotel points expiration policies:
https://upgradedpoints.com/when-do-my-frequent-flyer-miles-expire