Buy Avianca LifeMiles With a 160% Bonus — When Buying LifeMiles for 1.27¢ is a Savvy Deal

This buy LifeMiles promotion has ended. However, you can still buy LifeMiles here.

Avianca is back with one of its larger LifeMiles sales, offering up to a 160% bonus on purchased miles through May 30, 2025. That brings the effective cost down to just 1.27¢ per mile, approaching the best rate we've seen. But with multiple recent devaluations and a history of surprise program changes, is this deal too good to pass up — or too risky to pounce on?

Let’s dive into the details and explore some times when buying LifeMiles during this promotion could make sense.

Buy LifeMiles Key Terms

• This promotion is valid through May 30, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. CST
• Members can buy LifeMiles in increments of 1,000 LifeMiles.
• We are seeing three bonus tiers for this promotion.
• You'll earn the maximum bonus with a purchase of as little as 1,000 LifeMiles (160%).
• You can buy a maximum of 520,000 miles annually — including the bonus.

While the terms and conditions state that purchased LifeMiles can take up to 72 hours to land in your account, data points from AwardWallet users show that LifeMiles purchases typically post within 12 hours on average.

Credit: LifeMiles

LifeMiles isn't publishing the bonus tiers for this bonus points promotion, but we've found that the 160% bonus applies at every purchase level:

• 1,000–200,000 LifeMiles: 160% bonus (1.27¢ each)

Because of the 520k total mile cutoff, the maximum number of LifeMiles you can purchase with a bonus in one transaction is 200,000 miles — which will set you back $6,600. After the 160% bonus, you'll get a total of 520,000 LifeMiles (200,000 base + 320,000 bonus) for $6,600. That nets a purchase rate of 1.27¢ per LifeMile.

Credit: Avianca LifeMiles

A Note on Buying Miles

We generally don't recommend buying miles unless there's a discount/bonus and you have a solid plan to use them. For most miles and points currencies, you're better off building your stash through credit card earnings and transfer partners.

There are a couple of exceptions, though. When you can buy miles with a bonus or discount, it can make sense if you can book a lucrative award redemption instead of paying the expensive cash price for a ticket. Moreover, if you only need a few more miles to complete your next great redemption, purchasing miles can be the quickest, simplest way. Just make sure you do the math ahead of time to ensure you get more value than you're spending.

When Does Buying Avianca LifeMiles Make Sense?

Thanks to a reasonable award chart (despite a late 2024 devaluation and another devaluation in February 2025), minimal booking fees, and no fuel surcharges, LifeMiles has been among our favorite airline currencies for premium-class redemptions across the globe.

As the currency of Avianca — Colombia's flagship carrier — LifeMiles can be used for award bookings on any of the airline's Star Alliance and non-alliance partners. Great partners with fabulous premium products include Lufthansa, All Nippon Airways (ANA), and EVA.

Let's take a look at some of our favorite Avianca LifeMiles sweet spots to demonstrate the kind of value possible when buying LifeMiles for 1.27¢ apiece.

Buy LifeMiles for United flights to Canada

Perhaps one of the best uses of LifeMiles for many travelers is simply getting a decent mileage price on United flights to Canada. These routes typically can get up there in price, so this would be a wise use of your LifeMiles if you're in need of a trip to our northern neighbor.

Credit: United Airlines

• Mileage rate: From 10,000 LifeMiles + $27.80 taxes each way
• Cost to purchase 10,400 LifeMiles (after a 160% bonus): $132
• One-way cost of exactly 10,000 LifeMiles at 1.27¢ each: $127

Credit: Avianca

Chicago–Tokyo in ANA first class

One of our favorite sweet spots is Chicago to Tokyo in ANA first class. Flying from the Midwest to Japan stretches this premium experience for about as long as you can, making it a prime candidate for our favorite ANA award flight — especially when you consider the sheer class of the first-class cabin on ANA aircraft!

Unfortunately, recent devaluations have skyrocketed the mileage rate you'll pay. But you can still get a deal by buying LifeMiles during this promotion.

Credit: ANA

• Mileage rate: 160,000 LifeMiles + $28.50 taxes each way
• Typical cash price: $24,155 round-trip
• Redemption rate: 7.53¢ per LifeMile (based on a round-trip booking, after taxes)
• Cost to purchase 161,200 LifeMiles (after a 160% bonus): $2,046
• One-way cost of exactly 160,000 LifeMiles at 1.27¢ each: $2,032

Credit: Avianca

New York–Zurich in SWISS business class

Looking to fly SWISS business class, which has a fantastic product that doesn't receive the attention it deserves? You can experience this product from multiple U.S. airports. Best of all, you won't pay the massive fuel surcharges that SWISS levies when you book through LifeMiles.

Credit: SWISS

• Mileage rate: 55,000 LifeMiles + $28.50 taxes each way
• Typical cash price: $6,573 round-trip
• Redemption rate: 5.92¢ per LifeMile (based on a round-trip booking, after taxes)
• Cost to purchase 57,200 LifeMiles (after a 160% bonus): $726
• One-way cost of exactly 55,000 LifeMiles at 1.27¢ each: $699

Credit: Avianca

New York–Cairo in Egypt Air business class

Egypt Air sometimes flies under the radar in the points and miles world, but if you want to get to the North African nation, they have some pretty sweet deals for their new 787 Dreamliner business-class cabin. The food is wonderful and the seats are comfortable to make this long-haul journey much more enjoyable.

Credit: Egypt Air

• Mileage rate: 80,000 LifeMiles + $30.49 taxes each way
• Typical cash price: $4,792 round-trip
• Redemption rate: 2.96¢ per LifeMile (based on a round-trip booking, after taxes)
• Cost to purchase 80,600 LifeMiles (after a 160% bonus): $1,023
• One-way cost of exactly 80,000 LifeMiles at 1.27¢ each: $1,016

Credit: Avianca

Newark–São Paulo in United business class

If you've ever wanted to spend Carnaval in Brazil or simply just play football on one of Brazil's thousands of stunning beaches, now you can grab a flight from Newark to São Paulo in United business class for a very reasonable rate. United has one of the more solid business-class cabins around, so kick off your shoes, sit back, and relax on this 9.5-hour direct flight on a Boeing 777!

Credit: United

• Mileage rate: 100,000 LifeMiles + $28.50 taxes each way
• Typical cash price: $6,207 round-trip
• Redemption rate: 3.08¢ per LifeMile (based on a round-trip booking, after taxes)
• Cost to purchase 101,400 LifeMiles (after a 160% bonus): $1,287
• One-way cost of exactly 100,000 LifeMiles at 1.27¢ each: $1,270

Credit: Avianca

Avianca Buy LifeMiles History

We have compiled a list of former promotions for buying LifeMiles. As you can see, the cost-per-LifeMile rate of 1.27¢ apiece is one of the best bonuses offered by Avianca:

Maximize Your LifeMiles Purchase

At one point, you were required to purchase LifeMiles directly from the airline — meaning it coded as an airfare purchase on most credit cards. This provided an excellent opportunity to use a card with bonus earnings on travel purchases. However, this is no longer the case.

LifeMiles now sells miles through Points.com. This means buying LifeMiles will trigger the “other” spending category on your credit card. If you choose to buy LifeMiles, your best options are these:

• Use a credit card for which you're working on a sign-up bonus. These are the best welcome offers available right now.
• Use a credit card with perks you can unlock from spending, such as hotel free night awards, hotel elite status, or airline elite status.
• Use your best credit card for everyday spending, such as the Citi Double Cash^® Card or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Learn More

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Annual Fee$95

Welcome Offer 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.

Show more

Why We Like ItHighlightsEarning Rates

Following the revamp of Capital One's rewards program and the addition of airline transfer partners, the Capital One Venture has catapulted into our list of top travel rewards cards. The ability to earn at least 2X miles on every purchase provides a decent return on spending. Plus the card offers some great perks.

• Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
• 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 2X miles on all other purchase
• Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔^® (up to $120)
• No foreign transaction fees
• $95 annual fee

• 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
• 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases

Related: Which Credit Card Should You Use to Buy Points and Miles?

Other Ways To Earn Avianca LifeMiles

While cheap miles are great, an even cheaper way to grow your LifeMiles balance is converting bank points. Avianca partners with multiple transferable currencies:

Note that Marriott Bonvoy ended its longstanding 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred to LifeMiles in October 2022.

Another way of accumulating LifeMiles is through Club LifeMiles. This subscription service lets LifeMiles members effectively buy LifeMiles monthly at a rate of as little as 1.41¢ per LifeMile — or even better if you have a LifeMiles credit card. Plus, you'll get benefits like a 10% discount on Avianca award flights.

Related: Get a Discount if You Book Avianca LifeMiles Awards in Advance

Final Thoughts

This LifeMiles sale offers a compelling price — 1.27¢ per mile and is one of the better rates we’ve seen. But that doesn't necessarily make it a buy. If you have a high-value redemption in mind, you could come out well ahead by locking in this sale, especially for premium cabin Star Alliance awards.

However, LifeMiles has shown time and again that it's willing to make unannounced changes to its award chart. LifeMiles has devalued awards twice in the past year, and sitting miles are vulnerable to sudden shifts.

Ultimately, this promotion can unlock great value, but it’s not for casual collectors. Run the numbers, check award space, and make sure you’re comfortable with the risks before you buy.

Are you taking advantage of this sale, or are you holding off given recent devaluations?

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