Originally Posted by AGSF

I think it is a good offer. Often times friends who've only flown BA once will have thousands of miles sitting in a newly created account that are useless to them. If a friend has the miles you need, it is over 50% cheaper to pay to have them transferred from your friend, rather than buying them from BA. Plus you get a 25% bonus.

EDIT to provide example: I flew with a friend to Europe last year, and he accumulated over 18,000 miles on the trip. He flies BA once every five years. I'm very seriously considering buying those miles for $235, which will give me around 23,000 miles with the bonus. 19,000 miles purchased from BA would cost around $550.