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Interest rates are dropping. While that's good news for borrowers, it's undoubtedly bad news for savers. As of April 18, 2025, Bask Bank decreased the interest rate on its Interest Savings Account for the fifth time since October 1, 2024. Unfortunately, Bask also dropped the earning rate on the Bask Mileage Savings Account to 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 saved per year as of November 1, 2024.
That makes now a great time to revisit the decision on whether it's better to earn 2 AAdvantage® miles or 4.2% APY interest.
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The Case for Earning American Airlines AAdvantage® Miles
If you're a longtime reader of AwardWallet, you'll know we've written about this topic many times. Last year, we made a case for why earning AAdvantage® miles beats earning interest for those who know the AAdvantage® program well.
This arguably still holds true — even after today's earning rate drop. When you consider the value of AAdvantage® miles and the tax implications of earning miles versus interest, it's still going to make more sense for certain travelers to earn miles.
This isn't a theoretical decision for me. My wife and I still hold most of our cash savings in Bask Bank — in a mixture of Bask Mileage Savings Account and Interest Savings Account accounts. And we've easily saved more than 2 cents per mile on average when using our AAdvantage® miles.
For example, we recently redeemed 70,000 AAdvantage® miles to book a Qatar business class award from the Maldives to Los Angeles. That redemption gave us more than 20 hours in Qatar business class — mostly in Qatar Qsuite. And I can confirm that this award-winning business-class product doesn't get old!
🎫Qatar Airways QR739
🗺️Doha (DOH) to Los Angeles (LAX)
🛋️Al Mourjan (Qatar biz ticket)
✈️Airbus A350-1000 (A7-ANC)
💺Qatar Qsuite
🖥️21.5″
🔌Universal outlet + USB-A
💰70,000 AAdvantage miles + $174 taxes/fees MLE-DOH-LAX in biz
💳Chase Sapphire Preferred
📶$10 full flight pass… pic.twitter.com/wpP10Fv1MI— JT Genter (@JTGenter) September 12, 2024
But, it's not just international premium cabins where you can get a good redemption. I also redeemed just 9,500 AAdvantage® miles to book an award from Colorado Springs to Atlanta during President's Day Weekend. Due to the holiday, cash rates were over $300 each way. That means I saved at least 3 cents per mile on this simple domestic redemption.
And it's these kinds of dynamically priced that show that American Airlines' dynamically priced awards aren't always bad.
For example, per American Airlines' old award chart, ultra-premium flights between New York and Los Angeles should cost 32,500 miles one-way in Flagship Business or a whopping 57,500 miles each way in Flagship First. Yet, you can sometimes redeem as few as 26,500 miles for business class and 39,000 miles for first class.
The Case for Earning Cash Interest
Earning airline miles isn't right for everyone — and AAdvantage® miles are no exception. Travelers who know how to use the AAdvantage® award chart can put their miles to use at a higher value than the cash they'd earn from interest.
However, you may not have the time or desire to stay up-to-date with the best redemptions in the AAdvantage® program. Or, you may not want to dig for award availability. In either case, the simplicity of earning cash interest may be more appealing.
Also, to put it diplomatically, American Airlines isn't everyone's favorite airline. While you can also use AAdvantage® miles to book 20 partner airlines, most of these partners are international. If you're sticking to domestic flights and don't want to fly American Airlines or Alaska Airlines, earning cash is clearly the better choice.
American Airlines' presence at your home airport may also significantly impact your strategy. If one of American’s domestic competitors offers more nonstop destinations, earning interest and paying cash for a direct flight could make more sense rather than accumulating miles that often require a connection.
Lastly, it's possible to have more AAdvantage® miles than you can put to use in the short term. If you’re already earning lots of miles through business travel (or one of the many other ways to earn AAdvantage® miles), it’s a good idea to consider whether your current balance will cover your needs for the foreseeable future. If so, you can put your savings to work earning cash interest that you can spend on other types of travel expenses.
The Case for Earning Both Miles and Cash Interest
Of course, you don't have to decide to only earn AAdvantage® miles or cash interest. You can earn a bit of both! We recently laid out several reasons why it makes sense to sign up for a Bask Mileage Savings Account and a Bask Interest Savings Account, including:
- Easily changing your miles vs. cash strategy
- Earning cash to cover taxes and fees on awards
- Earning enough cash interest to cover taxes on the miles you earn
Let's focus on a few other ways to think about whether to earn miles, cash interest, or both.
Keeping your AAdvantage® Miles from Expiring
The simplest reason that you should open a Bask Mileage Savings Account is to easily keep your American Airlines account active.
American Airlines AAdvantage® miles expire if you don't have activity on your account in the past 24 months. That sets American Airlines apart from other airlines — such as Delta, United, and Southwest — whose miles and points don't expire.
Bask Bank makes it easy to avoid AAdvantage® miles expiration. By depositing just $30 in a Bask Mileage Savings Account, you'll earn around 5 miles per month. That activity will keep your AAdvantage® miles from expiring for as long as you keep your Mileage Savings Account.
Save Toward a Particular Award
Of course, there are many good reasons to keep more than $30 in your Bask Mileage Savings Account. Another strategy for allocating your funds would be to make a specific mileage goal for a future trip.
American Airlines still publishes an award chart with fixed prices from one region to another when you are flying with one of its partner airlines. Although these prices are subject to change, it doesn’t happen very often. And that gives you a great starting point to plan your savings allocation with a partner award flight in mind.
If your travel goal requires flights operated by American Airlines, it can be more difficult to figure out how many miles you’ll need. For American’s own flights, the cost in miles fluctuates with demand — much like the cost of airfare when paying cash. It’s still a great strategy to use your Bask Mileage Savings Account to get closer to your goal. But you’ll want to build in some extra time in case the price in miles goes up.
Flying to the Maldives
Say you want to fly to the Maldives. There's arguably no better way to do so than in Qatar Qsuite. And there's no better program to book Qatar Qsuite to the Maldives than AAdvantage®. A one-way, business-class award will cost you 70,000 AAdvantage® miles.
Say you currently have 115,000 miles in your account. You still need to gather another 25,000 miles to book a round-trip award — or one-way for two passengers.
The easiest way to close that gap would be to earn a credit card sign-up bonus or by transferring 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
However, if you've tapped out those options, you can earn miles through the Bask Mileage Savings Account. How much you'd need to save depends on how soon you want to book the award. Here's approximately how much you'd need to save to earn 25,000 AAdvantage® miles:
- $12,500 for 12 months
- $25,000 for 6 months
- $37,500 for 4 months
- $50,000 for 3 months
Bottom Line
Whether you're saving for a particular award or just trying to avoid mileage expiration, the Bask Mileage Savings Account is an excellent option for earning AAdvantage® miles. For those seeking to earn cash interest instead, you can earn an excellent rate by saving through the Bask Interest Savings Account — which currently earns 4.2% APY.
Terms & Disclosures:
Bask Bank is a division of Texas Capital Bank, Member FDIC.
Mile awards are subject to change at Bask Bank's sole discretion. Please see Terms and Disclosures for details.
American Airlines reserves the right to change the AAdvantage® program and its terms and conditions at any time with or without notice, and to end the AAdvantage® program with six months' notice. Any such changes may affect your ability to use AAdvantage® Rewards and Benefits that you have already accumulated. Unless specified, AAdvantage® miles earned through this promotion/offer do not count toward status qualification. American Airlines is not responsible for products or services offered by other participating companies. All third-party provider terms and conditions apply. For more information on miles and Loyalty Points, visit aa.com/loyaltypoints. For complete details about the AAdvantage® program, visit aa.com/aadvantage. For the AAdvantage® terms and conditions, visit AAdvantage® terms and conditions − AAdvantage® program − American Airlines.
American Airlines, AAdvantage®, the Flight Symbol logo and the Tail Design are marks of American Airlines, Inc.
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