There are countless ways to earn airline miles and points, from credit cards with lucrative welcome offers to airline shopping portals. But let’s say you’re just a few thousand miles short of booking that dream award ticket. You just found award space and don’t have enough miles or points. How can you get miles ASAP? Many airlines give frequent flyers the option of buying miles or points outright.
Whether you’re an experienced traveler looking to top off your account ahead of your next vacation or a newcomer getting started with frequent flyer programs, buying airline miles or points may be a smart move. However, more often than not, you will be overpaying when purchasing miles or points outright.
Buying miles can make sense in very specific situations, but most of the time you’re overpaying unless there’s a strong promotion.
- Best time to buy miles: During promos offering large bonuses (often 50%–100%+).
- Best use case: Topping off an account for a specific, high-value redemption.
- Usually a bad deal: Buying a large amount at standard pricing (cost per mile exceeds realistic value).
- Rule of thumb: If you need to buy ~50% or more of the miles required, it rarely pencils out.
Should You Ever Buy Points or Miles?
Yes, but only when the math works out and you have a specific redemption in mind.
The short answer is: it depends on your specific situation. If you’re only a few thousand miles short of booking an award flight, topping off your account by purchasing miles can be a reasonable way to close the gap. If you’re still far from the required amount — let’s say, 50% or more — it usually doesn’t make sense to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars buying miles.
A business class flight from Boston (BOS) to London Heathrow (LHR) priced at $1,783 required 108,000 AAdvantage miles. With 75,000 miles in your account, you’d need to buy 33,000 miles for $1,055.39. Once you account for the value of the 75,000 miles you already have, you’d effectively be “paying” more than the cash fare.
Key takeaway: Buying miles only works when the all-in cost (miles you already have + miles you buy) is meaningfully lower than paying cash.
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Airlines That Let You Buy Points and Miles
Most major airlines let you buy miles or points, but a surprising number do not.
There are over 5,000 airlines registered with ICAO, but the number that allow you to buy miles is relatively small by comparison. Most of the airlines that don’t offer the option to purchase miles or points are smaller carriers with a limited route network. However, even some major airlines, like Japan Airlines (JAL), currently do not allow members to buy miles or points.
Fortunately, these airlines are exceptions rather than the norm. Most major carriers provide the option to top off your account by purchasing miles or points.
List of Airlines That Let You Buy Points or Miles
| Airline | Program | Conditions | Link to Portal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada | Aeroplan | Purchase Aeroplan points in increments of 1,000. Up to 500,000 points can be purchased in a calendar year. | Buy Air Canada Aeroplan Points |
| Air France-KLM | Flying Blue | Buy Air France Flying Blue miles in increments of 2,000. Purchase up to 100,000 miles in a calendar year not including any promotional bonus. | Buy Flying Blue Miles |
| Alaska Airlines | Atmos | Buy Alaska Airlines Atmos in increments of 1,000. Purchase up to 1,000 points per transaction. Members without status can purchase up to 150,000 points in a calendar year. Members with elite status have no limit on the number of miles that can be purchased. | Buy Alaska Airlines Atmos Points |
| American Airlines | AAdvantage | Buy AAdvantage miles starting at 2,000 miles. Miles can be purchased in 1,000 mile increments. Up to 150,000 miles can be purchased in a calendar year not including promotional bonuses. | Buy AAdvantage Miles |
| British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus | Various Programs (Avios) | Buy British Airways Avios starting at 2,000 Avios. Must have at least 1 Avios in your account to purchase Avios. Buy up to 200,000 Avios in a calendar year. | Buy Avios |
| Delta Air Lines | SkyMiles | Buy Delta SkyMiles starting at 2,000 miles. Buy SkyMiles in increments of 2,000 up to 60,000 miles in a calendar year. | Buy Delta SkyMiles |
| Emirates | Skywards | Buy Emirates Skywards miles in increments of 1,000. Maximum miles that can be purchased in a calendar year varies depending on status tier. | Buy Emirates Skywards Miles |
| Etihad Airways | Etihad Guest | Buy Etihad Guest Miles in increments of 1,000. Purchase up to 100,000 miles in a calendar year or 150,000 miles if you are a Platinum member. | Buy Etihad Guest Miles |
| JetBlue | TrueBlue | Buy JetBlue TrueBlue points in increments of 1,000 points up to 150,000 points per transaction. Up to 200,000 points can be purchased in a calendar year. | Buy JetBlue TrueBlue Points |
| Lufthansa (All Lufthansa Group Airlines + Miles & More partners) | Miles & More | Miles can be purchased through Bundle&Go program. | Buy Miles & More Miles |
| Qatar Airways | Privilege Club (Avios) | Buy Qatar Avios starting at 1,000 Avios. Must have at least 1,000 Avios in your account to purchase Avios. Buy up to 250,000 Avios in a calendar year. | Buy Qatar Airways Avios |
| Southwest Airlines | Rapid Rewards | Buy Southwest Rapid Rewards points in 1,000 point increments with a minimum of 2,000 points. Up to 60,0000 points a day can be purchased with no annual maximum. | Buy Southwest Points |
| Turkish Airlines | Miles & Smiles | Buy Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles miles in increments of 1,000. Purchase up to 99,999 miles in a single transaction and calendar year. | Buy Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles |
| United Airlines | MileagePlus | Buy United MileagePlus Miles starting at 2,000 miles. Purchase miles in increments of 1,000 up to 200,000 per transaction and calendar year. | Buy United Miles |
| Virgin Atlantic | Flying Club | Buy Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points in increments of 1,000. Purchase up to 200,000 points not including promotional bonuses per transaction and calendar year. | Buy Virgin Flying Club Points |
Note: Some airlines allow “top-off” miles during checkout when booking an award. That’s different from buying miles outright and is not included in the list above.
How Do You Know If You’re Getting a Good Deal?
The core metric is cost per mile (or point). To determine whether or not you’re getting a good deal, you’ll want to compare your cost per mile or point to a realistic valuation.
Generally, buying airline miles or points isn’t a great deal outside of promotions. To evaluate an offer, start by calculating the cost per mile or point.
Cost per mile = Total cost ÷ Total miles received (including any bonus miles)
As an example, let’s consider one a LifeMiles promotion that offered a 150% bonus (and in some cases, a 160% bonus) on purchased miles. To qualify for the 150% bonus, you needed to buy at least 21,000 LifeMiles.
Let’s say you purchase 200,000 LifeMiles. With the promotion, you receive 300,000 bonus miles, for a total of 500,000 miles. The total cost is $6,600. That equates to 1.32 cents per mile.
That’s quite a bit of money. And would it even make sense to spend close to $7,000 during that promotion? To determine if that purchase would make sense, you will need to compare your cost per mile to a reputable valuation.
According to AwardWallet’s latest valuations, based on actual award travel bookings, LifeMiles are valued at 2.91 cents per mile. In this scenario, buying during the promotion could be reasonable because the purchase cost is well below the typical redemption value.
Buying 25,000 AAdvantage miles for $799.54 works out to 3.11 cents per mile, which is far higher than most realistic valuations (often ~1.5–1.7 cents).
In that case, even with a discount, it usually wouldn’t make sense to buy AAdvantage miles.
Current Miles and Points Promotions
If you’re going to buy miles, promotions are where the math can start to work.
Here are some current promotions in which you’ll receive bonus miles or points:
| Program | Promotion | End Date | Link to Promotion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Up to 100% bonus on Aeroplan Miles | December 17, 2025 | Buy Air Canada Aeroplan Points |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Up to 80% on Flying Blue Miles | December 22, 2025 | Buy Flying Blue Miles |
| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan | Earn up to a 100% Bonus on Mileage Plan Miles | December 23, 2025 | Buy Alaska Airlines Atmos Points |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | Up to 40% Off Regular Purchase Price | Not Specified | Buy AAdvantage Miles |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Up to 125% Bonus on LifeMiles | December 16, 2025 | Buy Avianca LifeMiles |
| Emirates Skywards | Up to a 25% Bonus on Skywards Miles Purchases | December 22, 2025 | Buy Emirates Skywards Miles |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | Earn up to 130% Bonus TrueBlue Points | December 31, 2025 | Buy JetBlue TrueBlue Points |
| Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards | Up to 50% Off Regular Purchase Price | December 31, 2025 | Buy Southwest Points |
| United Airlines MileagePlus | Up to 100% Bonus Miles or 50% Off Regular Purchase Price | December 24, 2025 | Buy United Miles |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | Up to 70% Bonus on Flying Club Points | December 31, 2025 | Buy Virgin Flying Club Points |
Double Dipping on Points or Miles Purchases
Sometimes you can earn extra rewards on the purchase itself, but many miles and points purchases are processed by third parties.
Earn 4x AAdvantage Miles When You Buy Miles:
- Use your Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® to earn 4x AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases.
- Buy 100,000 AAdvantage miles for $3,010 and earn an additional 12,040 AAdvantage miles.
When Double Dipping Doesn’t Work: Many airlines process mile purchases via Points.com or similar platforms, which typically codes as a third-party merchant rather than a direct airline purchase.
Will Buying Airline Miles Help You Earn Elite Status?
No—purchased miles do not count toward elite status.
However, co-branded credit cards may allow you to earn status-qualifying progress through credit card spend depending on the program and product.
The Bottom Line
Buying miles can be a useful tool, but only when you’ve done the math and the promotion is strong. If you’re a few miles short of a specific redemption, buying miles can be a quick way to close the gap. In most cases, though, standard pricing is inflated and not cost-effective.
Do you buy miles or points? What’s the best value you’ve received when buying miles?
Agree that it is seldom a good value. Especially want to avoid buying in advance of actually purchasing a ticket, since devaluations happen frequently. And now that some carriers (e.g., United) allow several individuals to pool miles, it is often easier to top off to where you need to be.