Over the last few years, American Airlines AAdvantage miles have been discounted, but you can still get a lot out of it.
It could be the right time to do so. In recent months, American has made several changes that are consumer friendly. Adding six months to the mileage expired policy is one of the major changes. There are a few things to keep in mind when you switch airlines.
Would you like to enroll in the program? The ins and outs of earning and burning AAdvantage miles will be shown here. It's your one-stop shop for everything.
Let's start.
You can get more TPG news, deals and points tips in our daily newsletter.
The Oneworld alliance allows you to earn and redeem miles with a number of international partners.
American elite status members will have some privileges with these airlines. Extra baggage allowance and lounge access are perks. The perks you receive depend on your status with American, so don't worry, we'll discuss this more in-depth later on.
The American Oneworld partners are listed.
Outside of Oneworld, the airline has partnerships with a number of airlines. These are included.
You can sign up for our newsletter.
American Airlines earns miles on car rentals through partnerships with major car rental companies. You can find information on how many points you'll earn on the airline's partner page. Some people with elite status or an American Airlines credit card earn more points than others.
You can earn AAdvantage miles when you stay in a hotel.
Some Globalist members were recently awarded American Airlines Executive Platinum status. The benefits go both ways if you are an American Airlines Concierge Key member.
There are four levels of elite status in American.
It is possible to earn Concierge Key by spending at least $50,000 on flights in a year. This number hasn't been published.
The requirements for earning elite status were reduced because of the swine flu. There was a complete redesign of how you earn American Airlines elite status. You care about a single metric: loyalty points.
You can earn Loyalty Points by flying on American, spending with a co branded credit card or earning with many of its partners. One loyalty point is equal to one base mile earned. If you earn 500 miles on an American flight, you'll get 500 Loyalty Points. 1,000 loyalty points can be earned by spending $1,000 on an American co branded credit card.
You need to earn a certain number of Loyalty Points.
| Status | Loyalty Points |
|---|---|
| Gold | 30,000. |
| Platinum | 75,000. |
| Platinum Pro | 125,000. |
| Executive Platinum | 200,000. |
AAdvantage Gold members get perks like priority check-in, security and boarding, and more. You can get Main Cabin Extra seats at check-in.
Platinum members get a 48 hour upgrade window, a 60 percent elite mileage bonus, complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats, and two free checked bags.
The upgrade process for elite members was simpler this year. Instead of using limited number of upgrade stickers to upgrade on longer flights, these passengers are now automatically added to the upgrade lsit. Your ability to upgrade depends on the number of travelers in front of you on the waiting list.
Platinum Pro is an upgrade of Platinum status. An 80% elite mileage bonus, complimentary Main Cabin Extra and preferred seats, and three free checked bags are given to these members. You can get a choice of one Loyalty Choice Reward when you qualify for this status.
Executive Platinum is the top tier. Executive Platinum Loyalty members will receive a 120% elite mileage bonus, complimentary same day flight changes, and 100 hour clearance for upgrade.
Executive Platinum members are able to earn additional Loyalty Points during the year.
Oneworld elite status is assigned to each tier. The elite status member of each tier gets benefits on partner airlines.
The breakdown is listed here.
American Airlines elite status is worth something.
You can earn AAdvantage miles by flying on American Airlines flights or partner flights, opening a co branded credit card, and spending through dining programs. There are a number of ways you can earn AAdvantagemiles.
If you fly on American Airlines, you will earn miles based on the base price of your ticket, without taxes or fees. Depending on your elite status, the amount of miles you earn can vary. Your status affects the number of miles you will earn.
Here's how many miles each tier earns.
If you book a round-trip American Airlines ticket from Philadelphia to Los Angeles that costs $192 plus $20 in taxes, you will earn 960 miles as an AAdvantage member without elite status.
If you were an Executive Platinum member, you would get 2, 112 AAdvantage miles.
If you fly with American's partners, you can earn A miles. You can earn miles by booking a ticket on a partner's website and adding your AAdvantage number.
Depending on how long your flight is, you can earn miles and loyalty points. The earning rate is dependent on the fare class of your ticket. The earning chart for British Airways flights can be found here.
The lower economy fare classes earn less miles than the premium class fares. If you look at your ticket or call the airline, you can see the class you're in. Bonus miles are earned based on status tier. You can earn bonus miles on your partner tickets with Executive Platinum.
An example is provided. If you are an Executive Platinum elite, you can fly British Airways from New York-JFK to London-Heathrow in premium economy. You would earn 3,451 base miles if you took the flight for 3,450 miles. You would get a 120% bonus with your elite status for a total of 7,593 miles.
Some of the non-world partner airlines have different earning structures. Here's a picture.
There is a way to earn miles in the AAdvantage program.
Signing up for a sign-up bonus is one of the easiest ways to earn American AAdvantage miles.
There are six American credit cards with different welcome bonuses and points earning abilities.
The Points Guy did not collect the information for the AAdvantage business cards. The card issuers did not review or provide the card details on this page.
Choosing the best credit card is related.
There are online shopping and dining rewards programs that you can participate in.
Bonus miles are awarded for online purchases. Signing up for an account is the easiest way to use the portal.
You can take home bonus miles if you click through this site instead of going directly to the merchant.
Each merchant gives a different amount of miles per dollar spent, so you can get a lot of mileage on your shopping. Spending-based bonuses are occasionally offered by AAdvantage.
It's related to maximizing shopping portals for online purchases.
You can earn AAdvantage miles for your purchases if you link a Mastercard with SimplyMiles.
AA miles can be earned with certain retailers.
You can earn AAdvantage miles through partnerships with several financial services.
The AAdvantage dining portal is similar to the AAdvantage shopping portal. You can earn miles when you dine at a participating restaurant by linking your credit cards.
You can earn 5 AAdvantage miles per dollar spent as a member, 3 AAdvantage miles per dollar spent as a select member and 1 AAdvantage mile per dollar spent as a member.
If you opt in for email communications from AAdvantage Dining, you will be eligible for Select member status. After dining with the program 11 times, you will be eligible for the program's highest tier of honor.
There are programs that reward you for eating out.
You can earn miles on vacations booked at aavacations.com and on cruises booked at bookaacruises.com. You can earn 50 miles on a one-way booking or 100 miles on a round trip when using SuperShuttle.
You can earn AAdvantage miles if you open a savings account with Bask Bank. You can read our analysis of this here. Bask Bank miles are not counted as loyalty points.
You can earn bonus AAdvantage miles if you change providers.
You can get A miles for every survey you take.
If you donate $25 or more, you can earn 10 miles for every $1 you give.
If you're close to a redemption, you can buy American Airlines miles. There are often promotions to buy miles with a bonus or a discount if you check here.
Should you purchase points and miles with a 100% bonus?
One of the easiest ways to get AAdvantage miles is on American flights. Domestic flights are relatively standard in the travel industry.
The award chart for MileSAAver and partner award tickets was kept despite the change to dynamic pricing on some tickets.
There is a way to redeem miles with the AAdvantage program.
There are some redemptions you will want to avoid, but the best ways to spend your miles are discussed below.
A poor rate is usually provided by redemptions such as flight upgrades or hotels.
American miles are usually worth less than 1.77 cents apiece, and the above options are usually much lower.
If you hold the AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard, you will get Admirals Club membership, which is a good thing.
MileSAAver is the airline's version of an award. MileSAAver and partner award tickets are sold by American.
The award chart is broken down by region.
Award charts for each region and even partner awards can be found on American's website. It would fall under South America Region 2 if you wanted to fly from Dallas to Rio. There is no place for Africa. The information for flights to Africa has been pulled over the course of time.
The number of miles shown is for one-way travel and each award is subject to taxes and fees. Three segments are allowed for each one-way award in the US and Canada.
Many of the airlines that American partners with are world- renowned for their excellent business and first class products. You can use your American miles to fly products such as Japan Airlines first-class from New York to Tokyo, or the Qsuite from the Maldives.
Consistency in price is a difference when booking American Airlines partners. You can expect to pay 57,500 miles for a business class flight to Europe. When booking on partner airlines, be aware of carrier imposed fees and surcharges. British Airways tacks on hundreds of dollars in taxes for flights to Europe.
It's related to searching Oneworld availability.
Web Special awards are usually less expensive than the MileSAAver rate. Ultra- cheap domestic awards are available here.
Here is a quick example of some sweet spots. There is a flight from Philadelphia to Charlotte.
Some Web Special tickets are more expensive than others. Sometimes, they're discounted. AAnytime awards are American's "last seat" award tickets, and are more expensive than other awards, but give you more choice in tickets.
The last-minute flight from New York to London doesn't have MileSAAver space. You can get a Web Special award for 78,000 miles or an AAnytime award for 400,000 miles. You can cancel and restore your miles for free, even if you can't change your tickets.
Web Special and AAnytime awards show up in awards searches. You can combine your tickets with MileSAAver tickets.
It's related to maximizing redemptions with American Airlines AAdvantage.
The American Airlines Business Extra program allows companies with at least two employees to reward their employees for travel and AAdvantage miles earned.
It is easy to register for this program. You can double dip on Oneworld flights if you sign up. Business Extra members get 1 point for every $5 spent on flights on American, British Airways, Finnair and Qantas.
There are different redemption options in the program. Depending on how many points you have, you might be forced to pick some mid-tier redemptions before your points end.
The admirals club access and elite status are two of the worst redemption values. A full membership costs 3,300 points and requires 300 Business Extra points after spending $16,500.
If you don't have American Airlines elite status, the cash prices are $600 and $500.
The Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard is one of the ways to get into the admirals clubs. You can add the card for free if you want to join the admirals club.
You can redeem 3,200 points for AAdvantage Gold status from Business Extra. You aren't likely to get much value out of this gift for an employee who wouldn't normally qualify on their own.
You can use your Business Extra points for free flights. It is possible to redeem for award travel on some airlines.
Only American metal has the right to upgrade. You need to be booked in a specific fare class to redeem your upgrade, and discounted fare classes are more expensive than full-fare tickets.
There's a guide to earning and burning with American Airlines.
Let's take a closer look at some of the hidden gems.
Asia is divided into three award regions by American Airlines. China and Hong Kong are included in Asia 2.
The flights to the former are more expensive in premium cabins.
| Cabin and region | MileSAAver Off-Peak | MileSAAver | AAnytime Level 1 | AAnytime Level 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main Cabin - Asia Region 1 | 32,500. | 35,000. | 62,500. | 80,000. |
| Main Cabin - Asia Region 2 | 32,500. | 35,000. | 62,500. | 85,000. |
| Premium economy - Asia Region 1 | - | 50,000. | 80,000. | 105,000. |
| Premium economy - Asia Region 2 | - | 50,000. | 85,000. | 115,000. |
| Business class - Asia Region 1 | - | 60,000. | 120,000. | 155,000. |
| Business class - Asia Region 2 | - | 70,000. | 140,000. | 175,000. |
| First class - Asia Region 1 | - | 80,000. | 170,000. | 200,000. |
| First class - Asia Region 2 | - | 110,000. | 180,000. | 210,000. |
American-operated flights to Asia 1 and those on Oneworld partners such as Japan Airlines have lower prices. It's possible to book JAL first class from San Francisco to Tokyo for 80,000 miles.
The ticket for the exact date is close to $12,000, so it is an amazing deal.
There are best sweet spots in the AAdvantage program.
One of my favorite redemptions is the QSuite product fromQatar.
There are awards between the US and the Middle East. You will get to destinations in Africa if you travel seventy-five thousand miles from the U.S.
There is no discussion of American Airlines sweet spots without mentioning that you can take the luxurious Etihad Apartments (first class) from Abu Dhabi to Seoul for just 50,000 miles one-way. You can connect from South Korea to Tokyo-Haneda with Japan Airlines business class for free.
You should consider booking this ticket when the cabins and routes come back to the air.
Off-peak awards are a great way to travel outside the country. Off-peak awards are called MileSAAver. It's possible to save a lot of miles if you can change your dates. Nine regions are eligible for MileSAAver off-peak awards and start at just 12,500 miles each way, but you will have to fly AA metal for almost all regions.
You can use the calendar above to find flights that fall in the same month. It's possible to fly from the U.S. to Turks and Caicos in Main Cabin for just 10,000 miles in October or November.
For 32,500 miles in the Main Cabin, you can either come from Seoul or the contiguous U.S.
Off-peak pricing can be used to save on awards.
While American still has a traditional award chart, a lot of the AAdvantage program consists of variable award pricing. It can work in your favor when there are flights for as low as 5,000 AAdvantage miles.
Premium award availability is also available. I ran a search between airports in New York and Florida. The price of 20,000 miles each way was first seen by me.
Premium Web Specials for 6,000 miles in Main Cabin and 16,000 miles in domestic first class were discovered after scrolling down. The trade-off is to add a connecting flight and fly from a different airport.
There are best sweet spots in the AAdvantage program.
There is a program that is not perfect. Premium seats on American or partner flights can be used to get value.
Applying for an American Airlines credit card is the best way to earn AAdvantage miles. You can get a large amount of miles from the welcome offer if you do that. It's important to research the best ways to use the miles for low-cost domestic and international flights once they're in your account.
Andrew Kunesh reports additional reporting.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
