Late last month, we reported that Avianca LifeMiles quietly removed free changes and cancellations from the benefits of LifeMiles Plus Basic and above. There was no notice or notification given to members or subscribers, but rather LifeMiles simply added some fine print indicating that those members who were subscribed to Basic or higher as of June 26th, 2026, would enjoy free changes or cancellations “for 12 months”.
Update: As pointed out by reader Mark in the comments, it is possible to find the number of months you have left in your current subscription term with the Lifemiles app. Details in the post below.
If you interpreted that to mean 12 months starting from June 26th, 2026, it seems you may be in for disappointment, at least according to a member of our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group, who was told that the 12-month clock begins on the date when they subscribed to LifeMiles Plus Basic. In other words, if you subscribed in July of 2026, it is possible that you no longer have free changes and cancellations, or if you subscribed in August or September, your free changes and cancellations may be ending soon (12 months from the date you started your Basic subscription or higher). That is obviously an incredibly important distinction that might make the difference as to whether or not you choose to continue your subscription.
LifeMiles Plus is a subscription service offered by Avianca LifeMiles whereby you pay a monthly fee, and in exchange, you receive a monthly allotment of miles and some additional benefits, including 10% off of award redemptions (even when redeeming for Star Alliance flights) and additional miles based on spend if you have an Avianca LifeMiles credit card.
Until late June 2026, one of the marquee benefits of the Basic plan was the ability to make free award changes and cancellations. To be clear, free changes and cancellations only applied to the Basic plan, which cost $50 per month, and higher plans. LifeMiles Plus also offers a “Lite” subscription for $20 per month that includes the 10% award discount, but has never included free changes and cancellations.
I had written this year about deciding to subscribe to LifeMiles Plus Basic, then about changing an award as a subscriber, and then just last week I canceled a LifeMiles award for no fee. However, until today, I had assumed that I would have free changes and cancellations through June of 2027 so long as I continued my LifeMiles Plus subscription. I wasn’t sure whether I would keep the subscription now that the award I had booked was canceled, but I had been contemplating keeping it for a year because I now have a sizable chunk of LifeMiles that I will probably use for another award redemption at some point in the coming year.
However, a reader in our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group reports calling to cancel an award today and being told that there would be a fee of $150 per passenger. When the reader pushed back about being a Life Miles Plus subscriber, the agent said that free changes and cancellations were only available for a year from the date they had subscribed. The agent claimed that our Facebook group member had subscribed in August 2025 and thus still had free changes and cancellations until August 2026 after all, but it is unclear whether or not that was correct. It may just be that the agent could only see statements going back as far as August of 2025. See the post for more details:
I’ve personally been a Life MilesPlus subscriber for the last couple of years, but I upgraded from “Lite” to the Basic plan about six months ago in order to get free changes and cancellations for an award booking that would have been coming up in the next couple of weeks. I already had to change that award once and then unfortunately had to cancel it. Since I had five passengers on that itinerary, it has been well worth the $50 per month that I’ve paid for the past six months. For a total of $300 out of pocket, I’ve earned 24,000 Avianca LifeMiles and was able to change the itinerary for five passengers once and then cancel the itinerary for five passengers. If I divide that $300 by the five passengers on the itinerary, I could look at it as a cancellation fee of $60 per passenger, plus I also got a free change and I’m 24,000 miles ahead. I certainly can’t complain about that.
However, I was pretty unhappy when they removed the change and cancellation benefit, and I am even less impressed if members are left to figure out exactly when they began or upgraded to LifeMiles Plus. In my own case, this looks like I may only have free changes and cancellations until approximately February of 2028. I certainly won’t want to continue my LifeMiles Plus Basic subscription beyond the date when I lose the free changes and cancellations. I don’t value the miles highly enough to subscribe to buying them every month, and if I wanted the 10% award discount in the future, I could always resubscribe.
Unfortunately, I don’t see any way in my account to verify when the benefit will end for me. I suspect you’ll be at the mercy of a phone agent to both recognize that you qualify for a free change or cancellation and to be able to tell you when you no longer will. It is certainly worth being aware lest you count on a free change or cancellation that doesn’t turn out to be free.
Update: Reader Mark points out that it is possible to figure out where you are in your Lifemiles+ subscription year by logging in to the Lifemiles app and finding the “Lifemiles+” button on the left side around the middle (below the purple ad in the screenshot below).
On the next page, it shows the number of months you have been subscribed to Lifemiles+ Basic.
As you can see above, my subscription shows 2 months subscribed. I upgraded to Basic around February 2026, so that isn’t based on the date when I upgraded. My best guess is that this is based on when I originally subscribed to Lifemiles+ (the “lite” plan in my case). From commenters, it seems that Lifemiles thinks of your subscription in 12-month terms, even though you can end your subscription at any time (Lifemiles+ terms indicate that you need to keep your subscription for a minimum of 6 months initially, but then you are theoretically free to cancel at any time). My guess is that my original subscription probably began in May or June of 2024 of a couple of years ago. This should be helpful in terms of figuring out when your subscription may be up.
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In the second paragraph, did you mean to say “If you subscribed in July 2025,” instead of 2026?
glad I have a quarter of a million miles stuck in this program… ugh
There’s a LifeMiles Plus button on the left side of the home page in the app and if you go the that page there’s a graphic with the number of months elapsed in your current subscription, and at least in my case it is accurate. I won’t be renewing.
So helpful. Thank you!
Thanks for this – I’ve been subscribed for at least a year-18 months but it only shows 2 months.. weird
Its because you are automatically re-enrolled for a 12 month term after each 12 months is up. So in your case, if you have been a member for 14 months, you are 2 months into your most recent 12 months subscription
Lifemiles continues to be my favorite programs I absolutely hate.
Avianca and Lifemiles being jank as usual 🙁