Avianca LifeMiles American Express Elite Card
Affiliate link, we may earn a commission. Terms, rates, and sign-up bonuses are set by the issuer and can change. See the issuer site and our advertiser disclosure.
Affiliate link, we may earn a commission. Terms, rates, and sign-up bonuses are set by the issuer and can change. See the issuer site and our advertiser disclosure.
Earning Rates
Earning rates
7- 3xflights
Earn 3x LifeMiles per $1 on Avianca Airlines and LifeMiles purchases (Cardless product page: '3x On all avianca airlines and lifemiles purchases'); this is the card's top airline-spend multiplier and is the explicit step-up vs. the $99 Standard card, which earns only 2x in the same category
- 2xdining
Earn 2x LifeMiles per $1 on travel and restaurants (Cardless product page: '2x On travel and restaurants'); note that the Elite rates page bundles 'travel' (a broader category than just Avianca) with 'restaurants' for the 2x tier — the Standard card's 2x category, by contrast, is 'groceries and restaurants'
- 1xeverything else
Earn 1x LifeMiles per $1 on all other eligible purchases (Cardless product page: '1x Everything else')
- 3xdining
Monthly LifeMiles double-up: 'Automatically double your miles Up to 1,000 miles per month' (Cardless product page) — every month that you put eligible spend on the card, Cardless automatically doubles the LifeMiles you earn up to a cap of 1,000 bonus LifeMiles per month, which works out to up to 12,000 bonus LifeMiles per year and rebalances the effective earn rates to 3x->6x on Avianca/LifeMiles, 2x->4x on travel/dining, and 1x->2x on everything else for the spend covered under the cap
- 6xdining
Effective earn rates with the monthly doubler active: up to 6x LifeMiles per $1 on Avianca and LifeMiles purchases, up to 4x LifeMiles per $1 on travel and restaurants, and up to 2x LifeMiles per $1 on all other purchases — Cardless renders this on the product page as '3x -> 6x', '2x -> 4x', '1x -> 2x' under the 'Automatically double your miles' callout, with the same 1,000-mile-per-month cap applying across all categories combined
- 5xflights
Up to 25% redemption discount on Avianca Airlines flights booked with LifeMiles through lifemiles.com (Cardless product page: 'Up to 25% redemption discount on avianca airlines flights' under the 'With a complimentary lifemiles+ membership' header); this is a redemption-side discount applied to Avianca-operated award flights and is a 5x step-up from the Standard card's flat 5% Avianca redemption discount
- 6x
Avianca LifeMiles point valuation: ~1.5 cents per mile (the project's standard valuation for the LifeMiles currency); the 'up to 100,000 miles' Elite welcome is therefore worth roughly $1,500 at the project valuation if the full tiered welcome is unlocked, and the 6x/4x/2x effective earn rates after the monthly doubler translate to roughly 9.0¢ / 6.0¢ / 3.0¢ of value per dollar spent at the project's LifeMiles valuation (within the 1,000-mile-per-month doubler cap)
Transfer partners
1Perks & memberships
12- Card networkIssued 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 networkCard runs on the American Express payment network (verified directly on the Cardless product page: branded throughout as the 'avianca lifemiles American Express Elite Card', with the 'With American Express' card-art callout); it is NOT a Visa or Mastercard product and acceptance follows Amex's U.S. footprint
- Award discountUp to 40% more LifeMiles on LifeMiles Hotels bookings (Cardless product page: 'Up to 40% more miles on lifemiles hotels and lifemiles cars') — Elite cardholders earn a category-level uplift when booking hotels through the LifeMiles travel portal vs. the Standard card's base portal earn
- Award discountUp to 10% discount on LifeMiles Cars (Cardless product page: 'Up to 10% discount on lifemiles cars') — Elite cardholders get a published rental discount when booking cars through the LifeMiles travel portal
- Lounge accessAutomatic Avianca LifeMiles Silver status while you hold an active Elite card (Cardless product page: 'Get silver status With access to travel benefits like lounge access, priority boarding, and more. Each year your status will automatically renew if you maintain an active avianca lifemiles card'); note: the Cardless Elite product page currently labels the bundled status as Silver (matching the Standard tier's Silver grant), and any 'LifeMiles Gold' branding cardholders may see in third-party write-ups should be cross-checked against the live Cardless page and the Cardholder Agreement before being relied on
- Lounge accessSilver-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')
- Lounge accessLounge access on Avianca-operated flights is delivered through the bundled LifeMiles Silver status's lounge benefit rather than as a direct cardholder lounge-pass allotment; cardholders should consult the live LifeMiles Silver benefits page for the current list of Avianca / partner lounges where Silver-tier access applies and any guest-policy limitations
- Airline perkPriority 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)
- Airline perkFree checked bag(s) on Avianca are 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 Elite product page does not advertise a standalone card-printed free-checked-bag benefit independent of LifeMiles Silver
- Points longevityLifeMiles 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, and at the Elite price point the no-expiration shield protects a much larger expected LifeMiles balance
- No foreign feesNo 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 and for Star Alliance partner trips where the card is used abroad
- Award discountTarget customer is a U.S.-based Latin America and Star Alliance traveler who flies Avianca often enough to value 3x earn on Avianca spend, the up-to-25% Avianca award discount, and the 10%-back on Star Alliance partner awards — and who can absorb the $249 annual fee against the LifeMiles+ bundle, the up-to-12,000 LifeMiles-per-year monthly doubler, and the Silver-status travel benefits
Travel & purchase protections
1- American Express benefit programs (Amex Offers eligibility, Global Assist, Purchase Protection, Extended Warranty, Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance, Travel Accident Insurance, etc.) on this card are governed by the Cardless / First Electronic Bank Cardholder Agreement linked from the product page rather than by the consumer-facing Amex-direct 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
More benefits & fine print (3)ShowHide
- Best LifeMiles redemption sweet spots (program-level, not card-specific): Star Alliance partner business-class awards from the U.S. to Europe (United, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels, TAP, LOT, etc.), Star Alliance partner business-class awards to Asia (ANA, EVA, Singapore, Turkish), and short-haul intra-Latin-America awards on Avianca itself; LifeMiles' published Star Alliance partner award chart plus the Elite's 10%-back and 25%-off discounts compound to make these the strongest cents-per-mile use cases
- Digital wallet support at approval: Cardless lets you add the Avianca LifeMiles Elite 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
- Affiliate / availability note: this is a Cardless-issued product applied for at cardless.com/cards/avianca/lifemiles-elite (not through Avianca directly, not through Amex.com); approvals are decisioned by First Electronic Bank and the card is delivered through Cardless's mobile-first servicing app, with no Amex Membership Rewards account linkage
How we verified this card (3 sources)ShowHide
Spotted something off? Report an issue. Read our verification methodology.
See the Current Offer
Earn
View OfferAffiliate link, we may earn a commission. Terms, rates, and sign-up bonuses are set by the issuer and can change. See the issuer site and our advertiser disclosure.
