Points Capital

Avianca has rewritten the rules for earning LifeMiles elite status, and the new setup kicks in on January 1, 2027. The short version: the totals for each tier look friendlier, but every tier now needs half of its qualifying miles from Avianca itself, and miles from credit cards and partner airlines count for a lot less toward status.

If you mostly use LifeMiles to book Star Alliance awards and don’t care about status, you can relax. Nothing in the reports we’ve seen changes award pricing. This one’s for people who chase or hold Red Plus, Silver, Gold, Diamond or Magno.

The new 2027 thresholds

Here’s what you’ll need in 2027 (total qualifying miles, then the minimum that has to come from Avianca), as of November 2026:

• Red Plus: 5,000 total, 2,500 from Avianca
• Silver: 10,000 total, 5,000 from Avianca
• Gold: 20,000 total, 10,000 from Avianca
• Diamond: 40,000 total, 20,000 from Avianca (down from 45,000 total)
• Magno: 90,000 total, 45,000 from Avianca (down from 110,000 total)

One heads-up: the outlets we checked don’t agree on every current 2026 threshold for the lower tiers, so we’re only showing the before-and-after numbers where they match. The 2027 figures above are consistent across every source we found.

How you’ll earn qualifying miles

• Avianca international flights: 5 qualifying miles per US dollar, no matter which fare you buy. Members registered in Colombia get a higher rate on domestic Colombian flights.
• Avianca extras: seat selection, upgrades, lounge access and priority boarding also earn 5 qualifying miles per dollar.
• Co-branded cards, LifeMiles Plus, Star Alliance, GOL and Clic Air: 1 qualifying mile for every 5 redeemable miles you earn. UpgradedPoints reports that’s down from 1 per 2 for cards and Star Alliance.

Redeemable miles change too. On Avianca flights you’ll earn a base of 2 miles per dollar as a regular member, 3 as Red Plus, 5 as Silver, 8 as Gold, 9 as Diamond and 10 as Magno. Classic fares add 1 more per dollar, Flex and Business add 2, and Basic and Light add nothing.

Starting February 1, 2027, Silver and Gold members who earn or renew status get fewer Business Class upgrades on flights within the Americas: 2 for Silver and 4 for Gold, according to UpgradedPoints and Volavi. Reports differ on the Diamond and Magno upgrade counts, so check Avianca’s elite page before you count on a specific number.

What the math looks like

Take Gold. You need 10,000 qualifying miles from Avianca, which at 5 per dollar is about $2,000 in Avianca fares and extras. The other 10,000 can come from partners, but at 1 per 5, that’s 50,000 redeemable miles from cards or partner flights. If you only fly Avianca, it’s roughly $4,000 in spend to hit Gold.

Here’s the catch for a lot of US members: if your plan was to put spending on a LifeMiles credit card and fly United or another Star Alliance airline, the card and partner side gets you only half of any tier, and it takes far more miles than before to get there. You’ll have to spend with Avianca to finish the job.

Who’s affected and what to do

• You fly Avianca a few times a year on cheap fares: you probably come out ahead, since Basic and Light fares now earn the same 5 qualifying miles per dollar as everything else.
• You buy Flex or Business fares: you’ll earn qualifying miles more slowly than you do today.
• You earn status mainly with a card or partner flights: plan for some Avianca flying in 2027, or decide status isn’t worth it.
• You hold Silver or Gold and use international upgrades: expect fewer of them after February 1.

According to El Aéreo, members have until December 31, 2027 to meet the new requirements for their tier. Since details like these can shift before launch, read the terms on Avianca’s elite program page before you plan any status runs.

Our take

This is a good change if you actually fly Avianca and a bad one if you don’t. Avianca clearly wants status to go to people buying its tickets and extras, and the lower Diamond and Magno totals reward exactly those people. But LifeMiles has a big following in the US among folks who rarely set foot on an Avianca plane, and for them, status just got a lot harder to reach through cards and partners. Honestly, if you collect LifeMiles purely for cheap Star Alliance awards, we wouldn’t change a thing. Status was never the reason to be in this program for most US members, and the award side is what still matters.

Related on Points Capital: Avianca Makes Miami–Cali Nonstops Year-Round Starting Dec. 17: How to Book With LifeMiles; British Airways Raises the Bar for Silver and Gold in 2027.

Source: Avianca LifeMiles Elite Program; reporting by UpgradedPoints, Volavi and El Aéreo.