60,000 mile Avianca LifeMiles Visa bonus – great for United and more

There’s a new credit card on the market, and the good news is that even in the days of banks tightening up on approval rules for intro offers, this one is from a fresh bank. The new Avianca Vuela Visa credit card is issued by Banco Popular de Puerto Rico – so you probably don’t have another credit card that is issued by them. 

And it’s offering 60,000 miles after your first card use (no minimum spending requirement) if you use special promotion code AVSPWE when you apply. There’s a $149 annual fee that’s not waived.

Update: there doesn’t appear to be a box to enter the promotion code in the application form anymore, so this deal may be dead.

How to get it

The current best regular offer available on the Avianca Vuela card is for 40,000 LifeMiles, but an email went out to many LifeMiles members with a code to use during your application in order to earn 60,000 miles. Since the same code was given in each email, you should be able to earn the higher bonus even if you didn’t get the email.

In order to earn 60,000 LifeMiles, navigate to this page and select the Avianca Vuela Visa Card. Enter promotion code AVSPWE in the field pictured below in order to be eligible for 60,000 Lifemiles instead of the regular 40,000 when you apply.

Is it a good deal?

In short, there’s a good chance that it is. In the days of banks tightening the ability to earn several sign up bonuses, whether by imposing once-per-lifetime rules like American Express does or approval restrictions like Chase’s 5/24, it is always great to see new banks issuing attractive cards.

Since the Avianca LifeMiles card is issued by a less common bank – Banco Popular de Puerto Rico – it is unlikely that you have any other credit cards from this bank. Assuming that you have a relatively decent credit score and income (Banco Popular may ask you to upload proof of income) this might be a good card to try if you’ve already opened the most lucrative cards from the bigger banks.

60,000 miles is also a pretty large bonus, and LifeMiles are very useful on all the Star Alliance airlines with no fuel surcharges to worry about. 

And these miles are all earned with just first purchase on the credit card within the first 90 days after opening your account. There’s no minimum spend requirement to worry about in order to get your miles, but the $149 annual fee is not waived the first year.

Essentially, you are paying $149 to earn 60,000 miles – a good deal at just under 0.25 cents per mile.

Details about the card

In addition to the 60,000 mile sign up bonus, this card has some decent benefits.

• Earn 3 LifeMiles per dollar spent on Avianca purchases
• Earn 2 LifeMiles per dollar spent at gas stations and grocery stores
• Earn 1 LifeMile per dollar spent on all other purchases
• Up to two 50% discounts on award tickets redeemed, available for travel from the U.S. to Central America or Colombia. Earn one after spending $12,000 within a calendar year and another after spending $12,000 more
• Free additional piece of baggage allowed on travel between the U.S. and Central America
• No foreign transaction fees
• 15% discount on purchases of miles with Multiply Your Miles

What are LifeMiles?

LifeMiles are the frequent flyer mile currency belonging to Avianca, the national airline of Colombia. Avianca is a Star Alliance member, so you can use the miles for trips on airlines like United, Lufthansa, Swiss, ANA, and Thai.

What can you do with 60,000 LifeMiles?

You might not be familiar with LifeMiles redemptions, but they are usually pretty similar in price to what you’d pay with United MileagePlus for the same award flights. Here are a few ideas of trips you could take with your 60,000 LifeMile sign up bonus, from the LifeMiles Star Alliance award chart.

Since LifeMiles lets you book one way flights for half the cost of a roundtrip, they’re great for stretching United miles further. You can use United miles to book one way of your trip, and LifeMiles to book the other direction.

Business Class to Brazil for 50,000 miles one way

Fly United, Air Canada, Avianca, or Copa.

Business Class to Europe for 63,000 miles one way

Fly United, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, SAS, Turkish, or TAP.

Economy to Europe for 60,000 miles roundtrip

Mexico for 35,000 miles roundtrip

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Miles dont expireas long as card is open

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Partner Offer

50,000 bonus points

Intro Offer

$0 introductory annual fee the first year, then $95

Annual Fee

Yes

Foreign Transaction Fee Waived

Yes - transfer to United MileagePlus, Southwest Rapid Rewards, Marriott Rewards, and more

Points Can Transfer to Airline Miles ?