According to this Flyertalk thread Avianca is running a 100% bonus on purchased points through December 31st, and points purchase and full bonus post instantly. Details are here.

For some this could be a reasonable way to purchase discounted business class travel between, say New York or Washington Dulles and South America (e.g. Lima, Caracas).

Though in addition to the miles you’re also going to pay reasonably hefty taxes and fees.

Flyertalk member AdamSouthFL offers the following advice:

Be patient with website, it’s a little delicate and confusing. Buyers outside of Colombia should choose 1 as the Monthly Payments choice (quotas for payment)

On the whole I’m not confident in my knowledge of the program to say I’m pulling the trigger, but the usefulness of the miles should tend to increase rather than decrease as they’re set to join Star Alliance in 2012.

Update: The following may be useful for folks who might consider this deal, passed along by Steve:

Avianca has current partner Air France with solid burning opportunity:
US-Europe 75K Business. At 1.5 cents per mile that yields an Air France business class award for $1125 plus tax.
not bad at all