Buying miles & points strategically can represent a great value, especially for first and business class travel. The avianca lifemiles program has just launched its newest promotion on purchased miles (the program has offers more often than not).
Note that nowadays lifemiles promotions are generally targeted, so different members may see different offers, and on top of that, some members may not see any offers at all.
I find lifemiles to be one of the more useful frequent flyer programs for redeeming miles, thanks to the ability to redeem for long haul premium cabin Star Alliance awards. However, let me emphasize that the program doesn’t always have access to the same award space as other Star Alliance programs, so you’ll want to do your own research, based on the travel you’re trying to plan.
I’d only consider buying miles with a very specific use in mind. For what it’s worth, I don’t get any sort of kickback if you buy miles — I just want to make OMAAT readers aware of the deals that are available.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased lifemiles
Through Monday, September 29, 2025, the avianca lifemiles program is offering a bonus on purchased miles. Different members may be targeted for different offers, though it appears the standard offer is for a bonus of up to 155%. The offer appears to be tiered, as follows:
- Buy 1,000-20,000 miles, receive a 135% bonus
- Buy 21,000-50,000 miles, receive a 145% bonus
- Buy 51,000-200,000 miles, receive a 155% bonus
You’ll of course want to check your account to see what offer you’re targeted for, as it could be different.
How much does it cost to buy lifemiles?
Ordinarily you can buy avianca lifemiles for 3.3 cents each, before any discounts or bonuses. That means that if you purchased 200,000 lifemiles (pre-bonus) with a 155% bonus, you’d receive a total of 510,000 lifemiles for $6,600, which is a cost of 1.25 cents per mile.
How many lifemiles can you buy?
The lifemiles program lets members purchase up to 200,000 miles per account per calendar year, before factoring in any bonuses.
Which credit card should you buy lifemiles with?
Mileage purchases are processed directly by avianca lifemiles, which means the purchase of miles does qualify as airfare spending. Therefore you’ll want to consider using one of the below cards for your purchase, since you’d earn bonus points for airfare purchases.
The Platinum Card® from American Express
American Express® Gold Card
Is buying lifemiles worth it?
For context, avianca is in the Star Alliance, which means you can redeem lifemiles on all Star Alliance airlines without any fuel surcharges. Really this is the core value proposition of buying lifemiles, since this is a great way to book Star Alliance premium cabin seats at a huge discount. Check out my guide on how to redeem lifemiles for ideas on how to redeem these miles.
With a specific use in mind, this lifemiles promotion can be a great value, whether you’re looking at traveling first class on All Nippon Airways or Lufthansa, or are looking at traveling in business class on a countless number of airlines.
Everyone has to crunch the numbers for themselves and decide whether this makes sense or not.
Let me again emphasize that in some cases, lifemiles doesn’t have access to the same award availability as Star Alliance partners, for better or worse. Sometimes lifemiles doesn’t have access to partner awards that other programs do have access to, and other times the inverse is true.
That’s why I always recommend doing some “dummy” award searches before buying miles, so you can get a sense of how award availability lines up with your needs. Keep in mind that you can get even more value from the program with a lifemiles+ subscription, and lifemiles’ credit cards offer a discount on that. 
How much are lifemiles worth?
Everyone will value mileage currencies differently, but personally I value lifemiles at ~1.4 cents each. That’s based on the redemption values on Star Alliance partners, as there’s tons of value to be had. I tend to value miles very conservatively, so if you’re maximizing miles you should be able to get way more value than that.
Do lifemiles expire?
Miles with the lifemiles program don’t expire as long as you accrue some miles at least once every 12 months. Any mileage earning activity, including buying miles, will extend the expiration of your miles. However, redeeming miles as such doesn’t extend the expiration of your miles.
How else can you earn lifemiles?
If you’re looking to earn lifemiles, the good news is that there are lots of options beyond outright buying them. Specifically, avianca lifemiles is partners with several bank currencies, including Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Citi ThankYou, so there are lots of ways to pick up these miles.
Bottom line
The avianca lifemiles program is offering a promotion on purchased miles. Different members may be eligible for different offers, though it appears that the standard offer is for up to a 155% bonus, which is an opportunity to acquire miles for 1.29 cents each. This has the potential to represent a solid value, though I’d only recommend buying miles with a specific, short term use in mind.
Do you plan on buying lifemiles with a bonus?
Ben, can you list out all of your recent Lifemiles award redemptions and compare the cost and hassle involved versus the next best alternative? I really want to understand why you even bother posting about them anymore.
Between the lousy website and curtailed award inventory access on partners, I seriously hate Lifemiles. And this is before their $25 ticketing fee, higher-than-everyone-else's taxes and fees calculation, and one year expiration on miles.
@ john -- I exclusively use Lifemiles for tickets bookable directly online. So to answer your question, my most recent redemption was for Avianca business class from Miami to Bogota to Paris, which cost 94,450 miles, and wouldn't have been bookable through other programs.
Prior to that, I redeemed for ANA first class from San Francisco to Tokyo for 108,000 miles, and that award wasn't bookable through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (which offers the best...
@ john -- I exclusively use Lifemiles for tickets bookable directly online. So to answer your question, my most recent redemption was for Avianca business class from Miami to Bogota to Paris, which cost 94,450 miles, and wouldn't have been bookable through other programs.
Prior to that, I redeemed for ANA first class from San Francisco to Tokyo for 108,000 miles, and that award wasn't bookable through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (which offers the best rates).
Prior to that, it was a Lufthansa first class redemption from Athens to Frankfurt to Chicago.
None of these had any hassle, as they were all bookable online, and $20 in extra fees isn't going to be the deciding factor as to whether or not I book something (for that matter, Aeroplan also has a partner booking fee).
So I agree Lifemiles has its challenges, but there are plenty of situations where redemptions are a good value, in my opinion.
@john, you're also forgetting that some of us do fly AV (gasp!) and LM can be very useful. My latest redemptions are, as expected, less luxurious than @Ben's. But, for the sake of an example, about 2 months ago I redeemed 7,080 (seven thousand and eighty) LM to fly UIO-BOG-YYZ in coach (gasp!!). This fare included seat selection, checked baggage, and a carry-on. I have status with AV, so they upgraded me to J on the BOG-YYZ segment.
Why was the SFO-TYO F award not bookable with Virgin Atlantic?
@ Weymar Osborne -- Annoyingly, Flying Club seems to block ANA awards within 14 days of departure, at least for most US routes.
If you think Hilton is the devalue king, you haven't checked out Avianca.
Nooooooo nooooooo nooooooo. AVOID!