2 new airline cards launch in the US, including 1 with an up-to-100,000-mile bonus

If you live in the U.S., you may not be familiar with Avianca and its LifeMiles frequent flyer program. But if you like to fly on Star Alliance carriers — such as United Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa — you really should familiarize yourself with Avianca LifeMiles, even if your travels don’t frequently take you to the airline’s home country of Colombia.

In addition to its array of airline alliance partners, Avianca has a partnership with Cardless, making it possible for those in the U.S. to get an Avianca cobranded credit card for the first time in a few years. Through the airline’s partnership with Cardless, U.S. travelers will have their pick of two exciting new Avianca cards.

These new cards could be a good match for travelers who frequently fly between the U.S. and Latin America or those looking to capitalize on great award redemptions on Star Alliance partners, as one of the cards will take the often quite impressive LifeMiles award redemption rates and make them even better via a 10% mileage rebate.

Let’s jump into the details of the new Avianca cards.

Annual fee: $249 (see rates and fees)

Welcome bonus

Avianca LifeMiles Elite American Express Card: Earn up to 100,000 bonus miles — 60,000 miles awarded after $4,500 spent in the first 90 days and an additional 40,000 miles after $25,000 spent in the first 365 days.

TPG values this full bonus at up to $1,700 and places it among the most valuable credit card welcome offers available right now.

Earning rates

• 3 LifeMiles per dollar spent on Avianca purchases
• 2 LifeMiles per dollar spent on dining and non-Avianca travel
• 1 LifeMile per dollar spent on all other purchases

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Additionally, LifeMiles earned from card spending count 2-for-1 for qualifying miles in the LifeMiles elite status program. So, for every 2 miles earned from card spending, you earn 1 qualifying elite mile.

Those with the Avianca LifeMiles Elite card can also double the number of LifeMiles earned with the card each statement cycle, up to 1,000 extra LifeMiles per cycle, via the LifeMiles+ program.

So, for example, if you normally would have earned 850 LifeMiles that month by using the card, you’ll actually get 1,700 total LifeMiles thanks to that program. Again, that bonus match is capped at 1,000 extra LifeMiles awarded per month.

On top of that, those in the LifeMiles+ program, which this card provides access to, also get 500 LifeMiles added to their account each month. That translates to an additional 6,000 LifeMiles per year, which is a pretty unusual perk and exciting in the world of airline credit cards.

Card benefits

• With this card, you’ll enjoy a complimentary monthly subscription to LifeMiles+, a new monthly subscription product in the U.S.
• LifeMiles+ comes with a 10% award redemption discount on Star Alliance flights, 500 bonus LifeMiles each month and a 25%-off award redemption discount on Avianca flights. On bookings made through lifemiles.com, cardholders will also get up to 40% more miles on LifeMiles Hotels bookings and up to a 10% redemption discount on LifeMiles Cars reservations.
• LifeMiles+ also conveys access to exclusive reduced-mileage promotions.
• Enjoy LifeMiles Silver status for as long as you have the card, which also grants you Star Alliance Silver status. We’ll dive into this more in a bit.

Why we like it

While you can transfer earnings to Avianca LifeMiles from programs such as American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards, having a card that directly earns LifeMiles is convenient because it removes the transferring step.

LifeMiles are incredibly valuable to me, as I have redeemed 20,000 LifeMiles four different times to fly from Newark to various European destinations on Star Alliance partners.

And if you want to really upgrade the way you travel, with this full 100,000-mile bonus, you could fly from the U.S. to Europe on a Star Alliance partner like Lufthansa from 63,000 miles in business class or 87,000 miles in its iconic first class, plus around $171 in taxes and fees.

Admittedly, availability is tough to get (especially close-in for Lufthansa first class), but it does exist.

If you can find it, with the 10% mileage rebate this card provides, it would cost just 78,300 miles (plus taxes and fees) for Lufthansa first class. That’s a seat that routinely sells for well over $10,000, and you could get it with just the miles earned from this one welcome bonus.

And, if your travel takes you on routes operated by Avianca to destinations such as Cartagena and Medellin in Colombia and well beyond, you can save 25% on the Avianca-operated award redemption prices with this card.

All of the redemptions mentioned represent a great value that will often likely meet or exceed TPG’s valuation of LifeMiles at 1.7 cents per mile.

Related: Tips for redeeming Avianca LifeMiles

The second new LifeMiles card is an entry-level card that caters to less frequent travelers. It still has some solid benefits for a card with an annual fee below $100.

Annual fee: $99 (see rates and fees)

Welcome bonus

Avianca LifeMiles American Express Card — Earn a bonus of up to 40,000 LifeMiles after spending $3,000 with the card in the first 90 days. TPG values this bonus at $680.

Earning rates

• 2 LifeMiles per dollar spent on Avianca purchases, groceries and restaurants
• 1 LifeMile per dollar spent on all other purchases

Card benefits

• Benefit from LifeMiles Silver status for as long as you have the card. Again, as with the Elite card, this grants you Star Alliance Silver status, which gets you perks such as Group 2 boarding on United Airlines.

Why we like it

With a low annual fee, a decent earning rate on dining and Avianca purchases, and a solid welcome bonus, this card is a great way to earn and redeem LifeMiles. An added bonus is that holding this card means you can qualify for LifeMiles Silver elite status.

Also, while this welcome bonus is obviously lower than that of the Elite card, even having just 40,000-50,000 LifeMiles to use can be a big deal since LifeMiles has so many sweet spots.

For example, if you wanted to, you could actually fly business class on Star Alliance partner All Nippon Airways all the way from Hawaii to Japan for just 48,000 miles and minimal taxes and fees.

Or, fly from the Lower 48 to Hawaii and back on United in economy for 35,000 miles and minimal taxes and fees.

What LifeMiles Silver elite status gets you

As we mentioned, upon approval, both of these new cards grant LifeMiles Silver elite status, which can elevate your travel experience.

LifeMiles Silver status benefits include:

• A 30% bonus for miles accrued from Avianca flights (applies to Classic, Flex and Business fares)
• Priority check-in, boarding, call center service and baggage handling
• Five complimentary lounge passes and two companion pass lounge entries to Avianca’s 12 VIP lounges
• One additional checked bag weighing up to 23 kilograms (50 pounds) on an economy fare
• A 10% discount on premium-seat purchases on avianca.com
• Various Star Alliance Silver status benefits, including access to a priority reservations waitlist and priority standby on eligible Star Alliance flights, such as those operated by United Airlines

The real highlight of LifeMiles Silver elite status is that you’ll enjoy access to Avianca lounges. Most other airline loyalty programs don’t grant any access to lounges until you reach a higher tier.

Both the Avianca LifeMiles Elite American Express Card and Avianca LifeMiles American Express Card are on the trusted American Express network, have no foreign transaction fees and are very interesting new rewards credit card prospects. If you fly Avianca or even other Star Alliance partners at least a couple of times a year, one of these cards can absolutely be worth adding to your wallet. Benefits like LifeMiles Silver elite status and access to LifeMiles+ for the Elite card can easily help offset the annual fees.

If you are after a larger welcome bonus, the Avianca LifeMiles Elite Amex card provides the best value and most benefits, but if you just want to get into the LifeMiles ecosystem, the Avianca LifeMiles Amex is a great entry point.

Both options provide instant digital card delivery via the Cardless app, so either card can make sense to get if you have some big expenses coming up. Signing up for the card before making a large purchase can help you get a head start on hitting the minimum spending requirement without waiting for the physical card to arrive in the mail.

It is exciting to see Avianca launch two new credit cards in the U.S. Both cards have generous welcome bonuses (up to a really impressive 100,000 miles via the Elite card), decent earning rates and reasonable annual fees.

In addition to the bonus, we are especially excited by some ongoing perks, such as the 10% rebate on Star Alliance award bookings, 25% rebate on Avianca-operated award bookings and up to 1,000 matched bonus miles each month with the Elite card.

If you’re in the market for a cobranded airline credit card and like the Star Alliance network, the new Avianca cards are ones to consider, especially if you occasionally travel to Latin America or really enjoy Star Alliance award redemptions.