Avianca LifeMiles American Express Card

Earning Rates

Key Benefits

All Benefits

• $99 annual fee for the Avianca LifeMiles American Express Card (the standard, lower-tier Cardless-issued Avianca product; a separate Avianca LifeMiles American Express Elite Card sits above at a $249 annual fee with richer perks)
• Issued by First Electronic Bank, Member FDIC, on the American Express network and powered by Cardless (a fintech program manager, not a bank); confirmed in the Cardless product-page footer ('Issued by First Electronic Bank, Member FDIC') and the 'With American Express' callout ('Use your avianca lifemiles card with the safety and security of American Express')
• Card runs on the American Express payment network (verified directly on the Cardless product page: branded throughout as the 'avianca lifemiles American Express Card', with the 'With American Express' card-art callout); it is NOT a Visa or Mastercard product
• Welcome offer: earn 40,000 LifeMiles after spending $3,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of Card Membership (current public offer rendered as 'Special welcome offer Earn 40,000 miles ... After spending $3,000 in the first 90 days' on the Cardless product page; subject to credit approval and offer terms)
• Earn 2x LifeMiles per $1 on all Avianca Airlines and LifeMiles purchases (this is the card's top airline-spend multiplier; note that this is 2x, NOT 3x — the Elite tier earns 3x on Avianca/LifeMiles spend, while the $99 Standard card tops out at 2x in this category per the Cardless 'Earn lifemiles with every purchase, and 2 x per dollar with avianca airlines' product copy)
• Earn 2x LifeMiles per $1 on groceries and restaurants (combined 2x bonus category on the Cardless rates page; note that gas is NOT a published 2x category on the Cardless product page — earn copy specifically calls out 'groceries and restaurants', not gas)
• Earn 1x LifeMiles per $1 on all other eligible purchases (base 'Everything else' rate)
• 5% redemption discount on Avianca Airlines flights booked with LifeMiles through lifemiles.com (verified on the Cardless product page as 'Get a 5% redemption discount on avianca airlines flights booked through lifemiles.com'); this is a redemption-side discount on Avianca-operated award flights, not a 20% Star Alliance partner discount (the broader 'up to 25% Avianca redemption discount' and 'up to 10% back on Star Alliance redemptions' belong to the Elite tier, not the $99 Standard card)
• Automatic Avianca LifeMiles Silver elite status while you hold an active card; Silver status is granted on enrollment and renews each year that you maintain an active Avianca LifeMiles American Express Card ('Get silver status ... Each year your status will automatically renew if you maintain an active avianca lifemiles card' per the Cardless product page)
• Silver-status travel benefits delivered through Avianca LifeMiles (not as direct card perks): lounge access where Silver applies, premium seat selection, additional checked bags, and priority boarding on Avianca-operated flights (Cardless product page: 'Benefits available from lifemiles with your avianca lifemiles card' followed by Lounge access / Premium seat selection / Additional checked bags / Priority boarding)
• Priority boarding on Avianca is delivered via the bundled LifeMiles Silver status rather than as a separate cardholder benefit (so the perk is contingent on Avianca's Silver-tier boarding policy at the gate, not a card-only perk that survives if the Silver tie-in changes)
• Free first checked bag on Avianca is delivered via the bundled LifeMiles Silver status's 'Additional checked bags' benefit rather than as a card-direct '$0 first checked bag' perk like the Delta SkyMiles Amex line; the Cardless page does NOT advertise a card-printed free-checked-bag benefit independent of LifeMiles Silver
• LifeMiles do not expire for as long as you keep using your card (Cardless product page: 'Miles do not expire for as long as you use your card'); this is a meaningful retention perk because LifeMiles otherwise expire after 24 months of inactivity for non-cardholders
• No foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside the United States (Cardless product page: 'No foreign transaction fee †'); useful for Avianca's Latin America-heavy route network
• Avianca LifeMiles point valuation: ~1.5 cents per mile (the project's standard valuation for the LifeMiles currency); the 40,000-mile welcome bonus is therefore worth roughly $600 at the project valuation, and 2x earn on Avianca and 2x on dining/groceries translate to roughly 3.0¢ / dollar of value at the project's LifeMiles valuation
• Best LifeMiles redemption sweet spots (program-level, not card-specific): Star Alliance partner awards in business class (e.g., U.S. to Europe on United, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels, TAP, LOT, etc.) at LifeMiles' published Star Alliance partner award chart, plus intra-Latin-America short-haul awards on Avianca itself — both routinely cited by The Points Guy and One Mile at a Time as the strongest use cases for LifeMiles
• Digital wallet support at approval: Cardless lets you add the Avianca LifeMiles card to Apple Pay / Google Wallet immediately on approval ('Add your avianca lifemiles card to your digital wallet as soon as you're approved'), so the physical card is not required to start earning the welcome-bonus spend
• American Express benefit programs (Amex Offers, American Express Experiences, Global Assist, Purchase Protection, Extended Warranty, Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance, Travel Accident Insurance, etc.) are governed by the Cardless / First Electronic Bank Cardholder Agreement linked from the product page rather than by the standard Amex-direct-issued benefits guide; cardholders should verify the specific Amex-network benefits enabled on this product by reading the linked Cardholder Agreement before relying on any benefit that is standard on Amex-direct-issued cards
• Target customer is a U.S.-based Latin America / Star Alliance traveler who wants a U.S.-issued path to top up Avianca LifeMiles balances at a sub-$100 annual fee, with the Silver-status bundle and 5% award discount as the two most differentiated benefits at this tier
• Step-up positioning vs. the $249 Avianca LifeMiles American Express Elite Card: the Standard card trades down to 2x (not 3x) on Avianca/LifeMiles, 5% (not up to 25%) Avianca redemption discount, no 10%-back on Star Alliance redemptions, no monthly LifeMiles+ bonus (the Elite ships 500 miles/month / 6,000 per year), no complimentary Avianca lounge access beyond what Silver provides, and the lower 40,000-mile welcome offer vs. the Elite's tiered 60,000 + 40,000 welcome offer
• Not offered: any annual statement-credit ecosystem (no Avianca travel credit, no airline-incidental credit, no rideshare credit, no streaming credit) — the $99 Standard Avianca LifeMiles American Express does NOT carry the kind of statement-credit bundle that big-issuer Amex/Chase/Citi co-brands use to defray the annual fee
• Not offered: complimentary Avianca lounge passes as a card-direct benefit (lounge access is contingent on the bundled LifeMiles Silver status's lounge-access rules, and direct Avianca lounge pass allotments are reserved for the Elite tier)
• Not offered: higher-tier LifeMiles redemption discounts (up to 25% on Avianca and up to 10% back on Star Alliance redemptions are Elite-only)
• Not offered: monthly or anniversary LifeMiles bonuses (the 500-miles-per-month / 6,000-per-year LifeMiles+ Lite bonus is an Elite-only benefit)
• Not offered: Membership Rewards / Amex-direct transferable points — the card earns Avianca LifeMiles directly and LifeMiles cannot be transferred onward to other airline programs (this is a single-currency co-brand, not a transferable-points card like the Amex Gold / Platinum)
• Not offered: Centurion Lounge access, Priority Pass Select, Delta Sky Club access, TSA PreCheck / Global Entry application-fee credit, hotel elite status (Hilton/Marriott), or any of the broader Amex-direct premium-card lifestyle benefits — those belong to Amex-direct issued cards (Amex Platinum, Amex Gold, Amex Hilton/Marriott co-brands), not to a Cardless-issued, First Electronic Bank-issued Amex-network product
• Not offered: cell phone protection, trip delay reimbursement at the $300+ tier, primary auto rental CDW, or Premium Global Assist medical transport — cardholders should not assume the full Amex-direct benefits suite; the relevant Amex-network benefits are governed by the Cardless / First Electronic Bank Cardholder Agreement, not the consumer-facing Amex benefits guide