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Like most, I've got a love-hate relationship with the American Airlines AAdvantage® program. I appreciate the value of AA miles and the program's benefits, but I'm not a huge fan of the Loyalty Points system. It's still a weird concept that you can earn AA elite status without ever stepping on a plane.
But one thing I like about playing the Loyalty Points game is the opportunity to score easy miles and elite status credits with little effort. In this post, I'll show you how to earn about 25,000 miles and Loyalty Points in just a few clicks by leveraging the AAdvantage eShopping portal, SimplyMiles, and your American Airlines credit card.
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Stack AAdvantage eShopping and SimplyMiles Offers Into AA Elite Status and Free Flights
Whether you're chasing American Airlines elite status or just want to stock up on miles, looking for the big-ticket AAdvantage eShopping and SimplyMiles offers is a great place to start. With the right strategy, you can earn a lot of miles and Loyalty Points with minimal spending.
Moreover, leveraging these offers is a more lucrative alternative to booking a mileage run or putting all of your monthly expenses on an AA credit card. The AAdvantage status qualification year ends in February, and this is a tried-and-true way to get over the hump. Yes, it's silly — but it works.
While offers are subject to change at any time, you can consistently score a big sum of valuable miles and elite status credits through meal kit offers and a Motley Fool subscription. Right now, that amounts to 24,960 miles and Loyalty Points or more — depending on your payment method.
Related: Why I'm No Longer Crediting Flights to the American Airlines AAdvantage Program
Blue Apron
At the time of writing, the AAdvantage eShopping portal is offering a whopping 4,500 miles and Loyalty Points for new Blue Apron customers. If you're unfamiliar with Blue Apron, it's a service that'll ship ingredients to your door that you can spin into a meal.
As if 4,500 miles and Loyalty Points weren't good enough, you can earn an additional 1,200 by enrolling in a Blue Apron SimplyMiles offer.
In other words, you can earn 5,700 AA miles and elite status credits by spending at least $50 at Blue Apron and keeping your subscription open for at least 45 days.
And this goes for each service (less Motley Fool) — you don't have to take delivery of a meal kit every week. After you receive your first kit, you can skip individual weeks to avoid paying long-term. However, it's worth noting that each requires you to keep your account open for a specific amount of time. You'll find these terms in the fine print of the eShopping/SimplyMiles offers.
Once you've kept your account open long enough, you can cancel — unless you appreciate the convenience of keeping such a subscription. If you don't follow the terms to a tee, it's likely you'll never receive your miles and status credits, or they'll get clawed back.
HelloFresh
HelloFresh is similar to Blue Apron; after subscribing, you'll get a weekly box of ingredients delivered to your house. And right now, you can get 4,500 miles and Loyalty Points for signing up and keeping your account open for at least 60 days.
Green Chef
And as you might have guessed, Green Chef is remarkably similar to both Blue Apron and HelloFresh — but bends towards healthier alternatives than the two aforementioned meal kit options.
If you've never signed up for Green Chef before, you can collect 4,100 AA miles and Loyalty Points by clicking through AAdvantage eShopping and keeping your account open for at least 60 days.
You can earn a bonus of 1,160 miles and Loyalty Points by adding the Green Chef SimplyMiles offer, too. You'll need to spend at least $35 on your first Green Chef order, but that's reasonable, considering you'll wind up with a total of 5,260 miles and status credits.
Factor 75
Factor 75 is owned by HelloFresh but doesn't ship traditional meal kits. After subscribing, you'll receive a box of pre-prepared meals you can heat up in the microwave or freeze for a rainy day. And the perk of signing up and spending $67 or more is the opportunity to bank 4,500 miles and Loyalty Points.
Like several of the offers above, you'll need to keep your account open for at least 60 days.
Motley Fool
And, finally, the most notorious offer you'll find in the AAdvantage eShopping portal comes courtesy of The Motley Fool. Whether or not you abide by its investing advice is up to you — but you'll earn 5,000 American Airlines miles for enrolling, spending at least $75 on a paid-in-full one-year subscription, and remaining subscribed for at least 60 days.
The subscription will auto-renew at the end of the first year, so be sure to mark the date in your calendar before you forget about it.
Time Your Purchases to Maximize Your Loyalty Point Earnings
Before purchasing any of these, it's worth checking your Loyalty Point balance and any Loyalty Choice Rewards you may have earned. That's because you might earn even more Loyalty Points from these purchases if you've hit certain tiers.
At 60,000 Loyalty Points, AAdvantage members automatically get a 20% Loyalty Point boost on select AAdvantage partners, including AAdvantage eShopping. At 100k Loyalty Points, that Loyalty Point earning boost is increased to 30%.
| Current offer | Base Earnings | With 20% Bonus | With 30% Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Apron | 5,700 | 6,840 | 7,410 |
| HelloFresh | 4,500 | 5,400 | 5,850 |
| Green Chef | 5,260 | 6,312 | 6,838 |
| Factor75 | 4,500 | 5,400 | 5,850 |
| Motley Fool | 5,000 | 6,000 | 6,500 |
| Total Earnings | 24,960 | 29,952 | 32,448 |
If you're close to one of these thresholds, consider earning just enough Loyalty Points to reach that tier. Then, stop to wait for the transaction to post before buying more. Doing so will let you earn even more total Loyalty Points from these stacking opportunities.
Use an AA Credit Card to Maximize Your Purchases
If you take advantage (pun intended) of each of these offers, you'll earn at least 24,960 American Airlines miles and Loyalty Points. But you can earn even more if you pay for your subscriptions/memberships with an American Airlines credit card.
You can take your pick of co-branded credit cards to use to pay for meal kits and/or a Motley Fool subscription. With rare exceptions, you'll likely earn just 1X AA mile and Loyalty Point per $1 you spend, as these purchases don't fall into a bonus category on any card American Airlines offers.
But sometimes, you might luck out and have your meal kit subscription credit as a “grocery store” purchase (the AwardWallet Merchant Category Lookup tool is a great way to confirm). In that case, the American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card is your best bet; you'll earn 2X miles and Loyalty Points for each $1 spent at grocery stores, including grocery delivery services.
- 15,000 AAdvantage® miles after making $500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
- 2X AAdvantage® miles on eligible American Airlines purchases and at grocery stores, including grocery delivery services
- Save 25% on inflight drinks and snacks when you use your card on American Airlines flights
- $0 annual fee
- 2 AAdvantage® miles for each $1 spent at grocery stores, including grocery delivery services
- 2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
- 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 spent on other purchases
But if the mediocre miles per dollar earnings don't pique your interest, consider using a card optimized for everyday spending or one that offers better rewards for online shopping.
Bottom Line
Funnily enough, some of the best ways to earn a lot of American Airlines miles and AAdvantage Loyalty Points don't require getting on an airplane. In reality, it's sitting at your laptop and ordering a meal kit or enrolling in an online stock advisor. Whether that's a game you want to play is up to you — but it's undoubtedly an easy (and cost-effective) way to inch closer to elite status or pad your mileage balance.
And I'll reiterate that the offers mentioned above are subject to change at any time. On any given day, they could be higher, or they could be lower — or they might not even be available at all. But when you're ready to jump on one (or all) of them, make sure the bonus works for you and your purchase abides by the specified terms and conditions. That way, you won't miss out.
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