By Sarah Cash
When planning to book your next award flight, Avianca LifeMiles may not be the first airline loyalty program that comes to mind. But Colombia’s largest airline program has some quirks that absolutely work in your favor. In that vein, I’ve planned a few dream trips I want to take in the second half of 2025, and they’re all bookable using Avianca LifeMiles.
Key Points:
- Mixed-cabin bookings can significantly reduce award costs by factoring economy airtime into pricing
- Business class flights to Europe from the US start at 69,000 miles each way with low taxes and fees
- Many domestic US flights start at 6,500 miles one-way in economy.
- US to Central America flights can be found under 3,000 miles one way!
- African destinations like Cairo and Kenya offer excellent business class value at 78,000-80,000 miles
- Buy miles during sales at 1.2-1.4 cents per point for maximum value
Getting Started with Avianca LifeMiles
There are a few things you should know about Avianca LifeMiles before we dive in. The easiest way to accumulate LifeMiles would be to transfer points from most US credit card programs, like American Express, Citi and Capital One, to Avianca LifeMiles, especially during a transfer bonus. Avianca also regularly sells its miles at a large discount, often from 1.2 – 1.4 cents per point. If you find a premium cabin ticket for an overseas flight, it may be worth it to buy the miles rather than transferring your hard-earned points. There’s no wrong answer here; simply do the math and see what makes the most sense for you before purchasing your ticket!
The Mixed-Cabin Booking Strategy
Another way to reduce the total cost of an Avianca LifeMiles award booking is to book one leg in economy, and one leg in business class. Essentially, by booking a mixed-cabin ticket- where all the flights are not in the same cabin- you lower the total cost of the ticket because Avianca discounts the award rate by factoring in how much of the airtime is spent in economy. So as long as you’re fine with one leg in economy, this could be a great way to experience premium seats for fewer points.
Stroll through London: Concerts and Business Class
London has incredible concerts and festivals. From Stevie Wonder to Sabrina Carpenter, you can rock out to artists from every genre. And London in particular is a great place to use points and miles, since you have so many options. If you book through LifeMiles, you can fly to London for 69,000 miles in business class each way. While there are cheaper award options out there via Air France/KLM’s Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, the taxes and fees are generally low when you book with Avianca. For example,Virgin Atlantic charges upwards of $585 in taxes for a business class flight to London, while Avianca is charging $46 – $56 for the same route. And if you bought LifeMiles during a sale, this could be a great way to spend fewer miles and taxes.
Domestic US Flights
Avianca LifeMiles is not only a great program to book international flights, but has strong pricing for certain regional and domestic routes as well. For example, I could fly to North Carolina for an upcoming bachelorette party for 10,000 miles in economy one-way. If you wanted to check out Detroit’s evolving art scene, you could also fly there for 10,000 miles one-way. Thankfully, these flights will typically have low fees as well, though Avianca does charge a $25 booking fee, as well as change and cancellation fees. You should also compare these award rates to the cash cost of these tickets to ensure you’re getting the most from your points. Often, I will set a cash limit for what I’m willing to spend on tickets, and if the price rises above that threshold, I’ll book using points as long as it makes sense.
African Adventures: Cairo and Kenya
For Thanksgiving, let’s fly to the impressive new Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, in Cairo with views of Giza and the pyramids. You can get to and from Cairo in business class seats for 80,000 LifeMiles each way. But why stop there? From Cairo, you can take a short flight to another country in Africa and return home, all using Avianca LifeMiles. You could hop over to Kenya and go on a safari in the capital of Nairobi, or drive to other Kenyan hotspots like coastal Mombasa or the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve. And your return home comes to a cool 78,000 miles in business class. It really doesn’t get better than that for a premium experience in the sky!
The Bottom Line: Your Multi-Continent Adventure
Let’s pause for a moment and see how we’ve fared. For the first trip to London, your total cost comes to 138k miles for roundtrip business class. Both domestic economy tickets were 20k miles roundtrip, which adds up to 40k miles total. The trip to Cairo and return from Kenya in business class costs 158k miles. That means, for 336k miles, you’ve visited 3 continents, with all overseas flights in business class. And all your domestic flights add up to roughly the cost of one economy ticket to Europe. Not too shabby! The takeaway: when you go to book your next trip, check out Avianca LifeMiles for great award rates for partner flights.
Booking tip
Find the perfect flight on PointsYeah but cant seem to find it on the LifeMiles website? Try adjusting the dropdown menu shown below.
Typically we see this needed when booking partner award flights. The Smart Search will cover most searches but in the rare case you dont see your flight, try manually adjusting this dropdown to the operating carrier you want to fly.
