Avianca has made a positive change to their award chart by offering short haul awards within the U.S. Previously all economy tickets were 12,500 one way. Now Avianca has split U.S. into three regions:
- United States 1:Â Â Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, North Carolina, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington DC
- United States 2:Â Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, South Dakota, Wisconsin
- United States 3:Â Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
The following award chart is then applied:
As you can see the maximum you’ll pay is still 12,500 miles (as before) but flights between the same region are now 7,500 miles one way. Travel between United States 1 and 2 will also be discounted at 10,000 miles one way. Definitely makes the 60,000 Avianca credit card bonus seem more attractive.
Hat tip to One Mile At A Time
is it still possible to get the 60k bonus? I’m looking to apply but wouldn’t ant to miss the extra 20k
I’m assuming West Virginia is US 1, but man, nice to feel noticed.
Anyone know what region Hawaii is in? Can’t be “other”. Never considered it oceania. Hnl-akl would be awesome in same zone.
US 1 to Europe 1 is now only 20,000 miles in economy! Russia is in Europe 1 so you can fly across the Pacific instead to Khabarovsk and “stopover” in Korea or Japan. 😉 Not bad spending 20,000 miles to fly nearly 10,000.
Very astute observation!
But will the lifemiles website actually price this out?
Would be great if they included Canada…
Avianca rewards are pretty good for flights within Central and South America. Online availability between North America to Central and South America is limited from my experience.
Probably calling into their call center will provide more reward options available when nothing shows up online (similar to using Avios on partner airlines).
How hard is it to get this card? Also, anyone MS’g to add points to their account. Just wondering if that is an option.
It was pretty easy for me, and it’s my highest CL card. I think when I was approved my credit score was around 725. Pulled EQ. A few but not a ton of recent accounts or inquiries when I was approved though (it was one of my first points cards).
As for MS, it will always decline purchases from grocery stores for $500+, but a $450 VGC and a few days’ worth of groceries will do the trick every time. I haven’t tried Simon or anything like that.
Hi ketchup,
If you call and notify the bank before large purchases, $500+ will normally go through smoothly.
I’ll have to try that. It works fine for large purchases that aren’t from a grocery store (I’ve done at least one $7xx transaction and two over $1000, all organic spend).
Glad to see Avianca becoming more useful. For me it was good only for few StarAlliance partner route to Asia; now it definitely deserve more attention.
does credit card app still allow you to put in promo code?
I didn’t see any field for a promo code anymore when I tried applying several weeks ago…
What airlines would be bookable in the US short hauls with Avianca?
Hey Sam,
Since it’s a Star Alliance carrier, you should be able to book United flights within the US, so a lot of options. From what I’ve seen, only the Saver United flights show up on the LifeMiles search engine, and it can be a little tricky to get all of them — but persistence does seem to pay off.
Also, something to keep in mind is that LifeMiles makes you search by exact airport, so you have to run separate searches for JFK, LGA, EWR, etc. instead of a catch-all NYC. My recommendation would be to search first on Aeroplan or United and then check in LifeMiles.
I hope that helps!
That was helpful, thank you!
That was my question too, thanks! I live in Florida and noticed I could fly to Montana on a “short haul” flight-lol. Yellowstone is looking pretty good right now!
I know they charge $25 award booking fee and there’s no close in ticketing fee. I tried ORD-JFK a month out and it’s showing $55 taxes & fees on UL.
I was under the impression that they do’t have any fuel surcharges either. I have tried other city pairs too – still seeing the $55 fee. Just can’t figure out what that extra $35 is for. Any ideas?