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American Airlines is one of the world’s largest carriers, and AAdvantage® miles are pretty valuable, so you might wonder which points and miles transfer to AA. Unfortunately, the list of transfer partners is short — and the options aren’t great. Here’s what you need to know about transferring points to AA and some better ways to earn miles instead.
Does American Airlines Have Transfer Partners?
One of the most common award travel questions we get is whether American Airlines has transfer partners. After all, transferring credit card points is one of the best ways to maximize your hard-earned rewards, and AAdvantage has some great sweet spots, so it makes sense to want to accumulate as many AAdvantage miles as you can.
The answer is yes — but again, your options aren’t very good.
Credit card transfer partners
American Airlines currently has no credit card transfer partners. This means you can’t transfer points like American Express Membership Rewards or Capital One miles to AAdvantage. While you can still use credit card points to book AA flights — such as through a card issuer’s travel portal at a fixed rate (usually one cent per point) — you can’t transfer them directly to your AAdvantage account.
But if you want to book AA flights with credit card points at a non-fixed value, you can leverage other programs that offer access to American Airlines award space — such as British Airways Club, Iberia Plus, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Etihad Guest, and more. Better yet, you can use these currencies to book AA flights, and these programs are all common credit card transfer partners.
In the past, Bilt Rewards points transferred to AA at a 1:1 ratio, but this partnership ended in June 2024. There’s also speculation that Citi ThankYou® Points could become transferable to AA once Citi becomes the sole issuer of American Airlines co-branded credit cards, but neither Citi nor AA have confirmed this.
Hotel transfer partners
American Airlines has two hotel transfer partners: Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt. If you can’t (or don’t want to) use your hotel points for free nights, you can transfer them to AAdvantage. But given poor transfer ratios, we don't recommend this.
Of the two options, converting Marriott points to airline miles can make sense in one specific situation — and we’ll spell it out. Marriott points transfer to AA at a 3:1 ratio, but unlike other Marriott airline partners, you won’t get a 5,000-mile bonus for transferring 60,000 points. And with an extensive credit card lineup, it's pretty easy to rack up a meaningful amount of points.
AwardWallet users, on average, redeem Marriott points at 0.94¢ apiece. So if you can get at least three times that value from your AAdvantage miles, the transfer becomes easier to justify. But just keep in mind these transfers aren’t instant — they can take up to a few days to process.
Other Ways to Earn American Airlines Miles
There are plenty of reasons to earn American Airlines miles, and while AA doesn’t have many transfer partners, you still have plenty of ways to earn them.
Applying for an American Airlines co-branded card and meeting the minimum spending requirement to earn the welcome bonus is the best (and fastest) way to earn tens of thousands of valuable miles.
Cards like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® and Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® usually have a competitive welcome bonus, and while it's still open to new applicants, the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® routinely offers 50,000 bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.
- Earn 2X miles on American Airlines purchases
- Earn 1X miles on all other purchases
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent at restaurants
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent at gas stations
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
- Earn 1X mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on cable and satellite providers
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent at gas stations
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on select telecommunications merchants
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on car rentals
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
- Earn 1X mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
Beyond credit cards, here are some other ways to earn AA miles:
- Fly American Airlines or its extensive list of partner carriers.
- Open a Bask Mileage Savings Account and earn AA miles on your savings.
- Click through the American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping portal and earn miles (and elite status-qualifying Loyalty Points) on purchases with hundreds of retailers.
- Book cruises or other travel through American Airlines channels.
Related: When Do American Airlines Miles Expire?
Final Thoughts
There are several ways to earn American Airlines miles, but some of the best ones don’t involve transferring points to AAdvantage. AA currently doesn’t have credit card transfer partners, and its hotel transfer options don’t offer great value. If you want to grow your balance of valuable miles, your best bets are opening an American Airlines co-branded credit card, shopping online, or booking AA or partner flights.
Show me how
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