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If it seems that American Airlines always has a mileage sale, you aren't wrong. American Airlines has virtually stopped doing periodic buy miles promotions — only offering one actual sale all year. Instead, it now offers an ongoing base discount of up to 35%. Along with this, American Airlines also increased the base price of buying AAdvantage miles. So, this discount only drops the purchase rate as low as 2.45¢ per mile.
When Should You Buy AA Miles?
As with other loyalty programs, we don’t recommend jumping on every American Airlines buy-miles promotion that comes along. Award programs can devalue with little notice, so you are almost always better off holding cash.
With that said, there are a couple of cases where it does make sense to buy AAdvantage miles. For instance, if you only need a few more miles to complete a specific redemption, purchasing AA miles might be the fastest and most cost-effective route — since AA is only a transfer partner of Bilt Rewards.
Additionally, if you're going to consider paying cash for a premium ticket, you may want to consider buying miles instead, since the cost for the required mileage could be considerably cheaper than paying for the product outright.
Some travelers may decide to buy AA miles to extend the expiration date. However, there are plenty of other options to extend your AAdvantage account.
Read more: How to Earn American Airlines Miles
AA Buy Miles Offer Details
- Unknown ending date for this promotion
- You must buy at least 5,000 miles to receive any bonus (10% discount in this tier)
- Buy at least 150,000 miles to receive the maximum 35% discount
- You can buy up to a maximum of 150,000 miles
- AA accounts must be older than 30 days to purchase miles
- Purchased miles are non-refundable and non-reversible
- Miles purchased, transferred, or received as a gift do not count towards elite status qualification or AAdvantage Million Miler status
Where to Find the Best Value
American Airlines buy miles promotions aren't known for their transparent pricing. And this promotion is another example of this. You'll need to enter a mileage amount to see the discount and calculate the effective purchase rate.
Buy miles offers can be either a discount or a bonus. The current promotion falls into the first category. In this case, the cheapest rate is found when you buy at least 150,000 miles. Purchases of 150,000 miles cost 2.45¢ per mile.
Pay Less When You Buy AAdvantage Miles
We've posted about some of the best sweet spots in the AAdvantage program or amazing promotions like AA “Web Special” offerings. Let's pick a few of these redemptions and compare the typical cash price with the cost to purchase American Airlines miles under the terms of this promotion.
Los Angeles — Johannesburg in Qatar QSuite
- Mileage Rate: 75,000 miles one way
- Typical Cash Price: $3,971
- Redemption Rate: 5.29 cents per mile
- Cost of buying 75,000 AAdvantage miles at 3.2¢ per mile (15% discount tier): $2,398.60 one way
- Cost of buying 150,000 AAdvantage miles at 2.45¢ per mile (35% discount tier): $3,668.44 round-trip
Los Angeles — Sydney in Qantas Business Class
- Mileage Rate: 80,000 miles one way
- Typical Cash Price: $6,662
- Redemption Rate: 8.32 cents per mile
- Cost to buy 80,000 AAdvantage miles at 3.01¢ per mile (20% discount tier): $2,408 one way
Abu Dhabi — Singapore in Etihad First Class
- Mileage Rate: 50,000 miles one way
- Typical Cash Price: $4,089
- Redemption Rate: 8.2 cents per mile
- Cost to buy 50,000 AAdvantage miles at 3.2¢ per mile (15% discount tier): $1,599
- Cost to buy 100,000 AAdvantage miles at 3.01¢ per mile (20% discount tier): $3,010
Boston — Sao Paulo in AA First Class (an AA Web Special)
- Mileage Rate: 60,500 miles*
- Typical Cash Price: $2,167
- Redemption Rate: 3.57 cents per mile
- Cost of buying 61,000 AAdvantage miles at 3.2¢ per mile (15% discount tier): $1,950.86 one way
- Cost of buying 121,000 AAdvantage miles at 2.82¢ per mile (25% discount tier): $3,414.47 round-trip
*Like all Web Specials, this price isn't published on AA's award chart and is subject to availability.
Buy AA Miles with the Right Card to Maximize Your Rewards
When you buy American Airlines miles, your purchase will code as airfare because AA processes these transactions directly. This is great news because it means you'll be eligible for the travel category bonus on many credit cards. Some of the best cards to use would be:
- The Platinum Card® from American Express — 5X Membership Rewards Points (on up to $500,000 of airfare purchases per calendar year booked directly with airlines)
- Citi Prestige® Card — 5X ThankYou Points
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® — 3X Ultimate Rewards Points
- Citi Premier® Card — 3X ThankYou Points
- American Express® Gold Card — 3X Membership Rewards Points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card — 2X Ultimate Rewards Points
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Enjoy benefits such as a $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining and 2x on all other travel purchases, plus more.
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
- 5X points on Lyft rides through March 2022
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Other Ways to Earn AA Miles
For those who have Bilt Rewards points, you can transfer these to American Airlines at a 1:1 ratio. Transfers should be instant.
If you're not in a hurry, another way to beef up your AAdvantage stash is through a sign-up bonus on a co-branded credit card. For example, the AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Business Mastercard® is currently offering the chance to earn up to 70,000 bonus AAdvantage miles: Earn 60,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first 90 days, and earn 10,000 bonus miles after a purchase is made on an employee card. Some of the other options include:
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
- AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
- American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp®
- Free checked bags for you and up to 4 companions on domestic itineraries
- Priority boarding to help you win the race for overhead bin space
- A 25% discount on inflight food, beverage, and Wi-Fi 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
Final Thoughts
Despite the appealing-sounding 35% discount, this sale's 2.45¢ per mile purchase rate is an uninspiring price for buying American Airlines miles. We always recommend that you wait until you have an immediate need before buying AA miles — especially since it's been a while since AA has not run a buy miles promotion.
Do you see any reason to buy AA miles at 2.45¢ a piece?
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Súper bien explicado la conveniencia de comprar millas . Parece altamente recomendable hacerlo pero como lo explican no para todos los casos
Sadly this is already outdated but so glad this is here because I thought I was going crazy. Last week I checked my AA account to buy miles and they were at the rate listed in the article. Today I checked and the first tier, for 10% off starts at 15,000 – 29,000. There is now no more 15% discount and instead, tier 2 is 20% but requires a purchase of 30,000 to 104,000. When I checked last week, it was worth me topping up points to pay for my flight but not this week 🙁
So if these code as airfare and I used a citibank advantage card will i get the credit card bonus miles for buying AA tickets?
Momento de comprar, me convencieron
Thanks to share this useful information to help assessing when it make sense to enter a buy-miles promotion. Are there tips to make american airlines miles more performant for Latam to Europe trips?
How do I find out how many miles I have accumulated?
Kaye: You’ll need to log into your AAdvantage account to see your current balance. Unfortunately, there’s no ability to see the number of AA miles you’ve accumulated over the lifetime of your account.
From Argentina it is possible to access the discount?
I don’t see anything in the terms that says it’s limited to certain countries.
Is the mileage discount available for all AAdvantge accounts, or only for those based in the US?
Mariano – I don’t see anything in the terms saying there are location restrictions – https://www.aa.com/aadvantage-program/buy-gift-transfer/en_US/home/buy
The truth is that this type of bonus is very important to improve the loyalty program and helps to travel…
Solo resulta ventajoso si tenes muchas millas en tu cuenta y queres completar un aereo , en mi caso con 14000 millas no me resulta atractivo porque tengo que adquirir muchas para canjear un aereo
I think that the purchase of miles in AA is expensive but it is a good option to travel in my country. Even more so when Banco Santander canceled its AAdvantage program
Es una buena oportunidad para hacerse de millas si hacen faltan para el destino, pero de otro modo, no creo que valga la pena. No es una gran oferta.
American Airlines has a great program. It’s such a pity that Banco Santader discontinued the program.
I consider that the purchase of miles in AA is expensive and that there is not much offer. I think the only reason it would be worth buying is if the miles on the account are about to expire.
It’s reasonably good price for an expat in the Gulf like me.. feel tempted to purchase, but I already have about 40K in my account and am afraid of any upcoming devaluation (like dynamic pricing etc.)
Nice. Just used my entire stash of 70k on a flight from Vietnam to the US on Jal. United was 2x, Delta was 3x for similar redemptions
Not having an immediate use of the miles I’ll pass this promo.
I will see in the future in case of another good promo.
I’m close to having enough points for a flight. Buying a few miles is worth it in this situation.
Without flying for many months, this would be a good option to renew miles. Thanks
This is really tempting but I’m glad you preface every points bonus sale article with recommending only buying with a specific need (I’m a hoarder) which keeps me from buying them to stash…
American Airlines ofrece regularmente estas ofertas y son convenientes para completar un faltante al querer canjear millas por un pasaje.
Esta promoción es muy interesante, pero sólo si es para canjear las millas por un pasaje en este momento.
Great opportunity to buy up to that next award level for travel in the front of the plane….thanks AA! AA is great to fly to Europe and not bad to Asia with Cathay Pacific and JAL as partners in OneWorld.
Tempting, since on occasion AA has good mileage deals for tickets. But still kind of expensive.
Argentina entró con restricciones de cambio para la adquisición de pasajes al exterior en cuotas. Entiendo que para este tipo de operación de adquirir millas a través de una tarjeta internacional no deberían existir inconvenientes ni impedimentos
Hello everyone, I want to know if this promo applies for Argentina. The second question is if I buy miles, is renewed the expiration date of my old miles?
Thanks American for the offer, but I think this is only useful if the miles are needed for a certain flight or only a few miles to go. In my opinion it is not a great opportunity.
It is a good alternative to get the missing miles for my next trip. Is it possible to buy miles for an account that is not in my name?
Thank you for the summary. I was looking at purchasing some points to keep my reward points active and bring me up to a free ticket, but by the sound of your Final Thoughts, I should probably hold out for a better deal. Fortunately I have a few months for Holiday sales to surface.
This is a great promotion. Just booked Qatar from YUl to KTM!! on business. Great deal!
I miss the old rates and prices – the 2010s were really the haydays in redeeming miles for luxury cabins after that it only went downhill. Nowadays availability is just too low to buy miles as an investment.
For example, the qantas cross-pacific option looks nice, but even pre-Covid, award space was almost non existent, particular with their own QF FF members getting access 30 days earlier.
This is a great article! Every time I visit the AA website I see the advertisement that they have this discount promotion…
I’m surprised there are so many successful buy points/miles offers right now. With travel not a sure bet yet, I don’t think buying points is usually worth it unless you need a few for an immediate trip.
Muy buena la alternativa. Voy a aprovechar para comprar unas millas que faltan para un pasaje de mi próximo viaje! Gracias por la información.
Excelent article!! I was many time tentated to buy miles as a away to save money but it seems you should be conscious that it is not always a great deal. Thanks for the article, will keep an eye on the AA promotions to buy miles
Thankfully they didn’t devalue the AAdvantage program as was rumored, but I’m still not a buyer 🙂
These are excellent news for me, since my miles are close to expiration date, and I would need to buy some, in order to extend the duration of my miles.
Excelente noticia, pronto voy a comprar millas para poder viajar a Miami desde Buenos Aires.
Only if you need miles for a certain flight, but it is not a big discount
Thanks for the information. It is good to know as it can serve to add some miles, renew the expiration with a good discount.
Definitely not worth buying 100% the miles needed for a given trip, but if you already have miles and are only a few away to redeem a trip then it’s worth. Buy the minimum necessary to make your redemption.
Sólo vale la pena comprar millas para canjearlas por un pasaje de premio si te faltan unas pocas. Cuesta menos comprar un pasaje con dinero que con millas. Y así sumás millas.
No conviene comprar millas salvo para completar las necesarias para canjearlas por un pasaje de premio.
probably aa is testing the market. there is a lot of anticipation surrounding the resumption of post-covid tourism. it is up to us, our clients, to make it clear to the company that the offer is far from being a good option.
Muy clara la explicación y como siempre confusa la aplicación.
Soy miembro del programa AMERICAN AIRLINE ADVANTGE desde 1991 y considero a la aerolinea como una de las mejores del mercado, en relacion a los servicios que presta, la atencion a sus pasajeros y la forma de fidelizar a sus pasajeros
Siempre ofreciendo nuevas alternativas para poder aprovechar las millas ganadas viajando por American Ailrines
BRAVO
I´ve just tried to buy 20000 miles and the price is 550 USD. I think that this kind of promotions must be more affordable. Let´s hope AA can make an effort to offer more interesting promotions for third world countries like Argentina.
unless you need a few, i don’t think buying miles is a good deal.
Thank you for this information! I am a AwardWallet premium member and I really love your product
35% discount – not quite as favourable as the old Grand Slam promotions!
Excelente información, muy util. Muchas gracias Awardwallet.
An excellent way to increase the amount of miles to redeem for future flights !! I love American Airlines
No me parece tentadora la oferta, ya que para obtener ese 35% hay que comprar 100.000 millas en adelante.
Sin embargo, es una buena opcion que ayuda cuando las millas no alcanzan .
Gracias por la informacion.
Muy buena opción para adquirir las millas faltantes. Después hay que analizar si conviene o no. Los felicito
I can’t wait to fly Q-Suites using AA miles.
Good opportunity to add miles just when pandemic is slowing down arround the world
buenisima la posibilidad de compra de millas. Tenemos bastantes pero aun hacen falta un póquito para poder obtener un pasaje gratis par poder viajar prontito….si la pandemia lo permite. Gracias por la info.
This is an excellent article! A similar rewards redemption program helped me a few years ago with one leg of travel for a vacation to South America, so i can easily vouch for travelers considering that approach for planning a trip!
I think a great partner to use on is air Tahiti Nui
Nice – thanks for the heads up! I’m looking at future travel plans [whatever that means these days!], and having bonus options like this REALLY helps!!!
Very interesting post. Unfortunately we are not able to travel at this time, I hope they keep this promotion next year. Thak you for the helpful information.
This is very helpful information. It’s always good to know the best way to optimize or extend your AAdvantage miles. Thanks!
It is a pity that Santander doesn’t support AAdvantage anymore in Argentina…I have been earning miles for many years.
I have tried to buy some miles to keep my miles, but the minimum is 1000 miles….a big number for Argentina in these days. It will be nice if they change that
With the high prices for the latest american airlines miles and the impending talked about devaluation, I would give this a hard pass.
On a quick glance, it is not as attractive as the United offers.
A very good opportunity to move the expiration of the AA miles another 18 months forward and at the same time to increase the mileage account for the next travel plans after COVID-19.
Very good article, thanks for the information.
What’s the lowest that AA usually sells miles for?
Great overview and food for thought!!
Is it really worth buying miles? I don’t think it’s a good idea to buy miles, but AA offers sometimes make me hesitate and make me want to buy.
Will keep watching the promotions. Unfortunately, still pretty expensive if you need less than 7500 miles to reach your target. Much better if you are looking for a cash alternative.
Now that the US is opening up to visitors from the EU it is definitely worth looking at this offer. US here I come…..after November.
Back in the old US Air days, it could sometimes pay off to buy miles. They sold them at a lower price much as Lifemiles does and you could redeem them for RT business to Europe off-peak for 60k per person.
Indeed, those were the days, but they are unfortunately not returning.
I’m generally not a fan of buying miles, but AA miles are amongst the most useful. It is a shame there isn’t a promotion that allows some of what you buy to count towards Million Miler. Even if it was only 5% or 10% it wild penalty be enough to encourage me to buy.
It MIGHT make sense if you plan to visit Europe in the summer of 2022.
That’s good to know that buying AA miles is an effective workaround to get premium cabin tickets at cheap cash prices. I bought miles years ago to extend the expiration (in the Dark Ages before discovering points blogs), and was sure I’d never do so again.
It DOES make sense! Need to travel to South America pretty soon and surely I will take advantage of the offer to pile up the extra needed miles…
I would like to transer miles from my advantage card to my wife’s, Rita, account.
Interesting article. Would love to be able to fly with AA at the moment, but could do with some more miles. Will take your recommendation and wait before buying till we are able to cross the pond. Hopefully a decent offer will be available then.
promoción excelente
great bonus but would only buy miles if I confirm my trip to US. Otherwise I wouldn´t buy any miles. Still, I like to follow this blog to know about these promotions. Otherwise, I wouldn´t learn about them.
As great as this offer seems I can’t bring myself to spend money on reward points. When I look at the redemption of AA flights with points, you need soo many points. For that price, you’d be better off buying the flight after waiting for a price drop/major sale. And then there are the restrictions, on-peak points surcharge, etc. I’d rather take a survey or earn points with CC spending or something I was gonna spend money on anyway for free.
Does purchasing miles with AA reset the 18m clock on expiry?
I would love to take this offer, but unfortunately we are not able to travel in a near future.
Hope AA keep promoting more offers in the future, after this pandemic is over.
Currently, you can also buy Alaska miles for 1.84c/mile. You can redeem and fly from US east coast to Asia1 (Japan, Korea, China) via JAL first class for 70k miles instead of 80K using AA miles.
The example of the route New York — Sydney in Qantas Business Class its Amazing, I hope it will operate soon,
I would not buy miles through the offer, I would rather get it thru credit card rewards which would cost less than buying the miles.
That’s true, although if you were going to buy a business class ticket with cash, sometimes buying the miles instead can work out cheaper.
Nice to see AA improved the offer from last month’s!
It would even be better if the miles purchased would count toward elite-status qualification or Million Miler status.
I think many are still not ready to buy miles now when international long haul travel is still very restricted.
Great opportunity to top off your balance for that next big trip when the time comes….AA & partners have some great flights at decent prices if you want to fly overseas in business class to Europe (just avoid BA and their hideous surcharges) and especially Asia. Flying AA metal to Europe is not a bad deal….I’ve flown myself and several family members on many a great trip to Europe on AA with AAdvantage miles.
I generally do not buy miles. But the Bask Bank deal is great and earns easy mileage.
Buy AA miles with up to a 75% bonus is a very interesting offer to pass up.
“This promo has ended” 🙁
So sad.
The offer is valid though August 31, 2021.
Buenas Tardes:
¿Esta promoción aun esta vigente, o fue extendida?
Saludos
It is a great news because in these times of pandemic it was very difficult to travel often and accumulate miles
Amazing Info, Great article, complete and the information was very useful to me. I will keep it in mind for my next American Airlines redemption.
This is available in Latin America?
It sure is! All AAdvantage members should be able to buy points through this promotion. The only “catch”: you have to buy using US dollars.
It is very important to be attentive to these types of promotions. For small purchases it would be very useful.
Hi
If I buy a ticket with miles, and flight is with a stop in a connecting airport, can I stay in that city a couple of days?
Thanks
Most frequent-flyer programs define a stopover as a connection of more than 24 hours for international routes or more than 4 hours for domestic routes. American doesn’t allow a free stopover on any award tickets (they charge you the miles for each segment separately). A fair number of programs let you do a stopover on a round trip. Alaska is one of the only programs that allows them on a one-way award. More info here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/beginners-guide-stopover-open-jaw/
Def. willing to purchase AA miles at the price of 1.72 cent, but not more than that.
I think 2.02¢ per mile is expensive, I’ll wait for another promotion cheaper.
AA should make these miles count towards elite status and MillionMiler. This would make 2 cents/mile much more attractive.
Is this offer available for all countries?
or only for US?
Any AAdvantage member can buy AAdvantage miles. Miles are priced in USD for all transactions though.
I am looking forward to taking up these offers when more international destinations open , I have had some great trips using AA miles.
Some of my best trips on memories were in AA miles. Australia to ME/Europe was such a great deal, flying business class through pints for the price of economy. Hoping we’ll see lots of award seats once borders opening up.
An extremely attractive proposition from American Airlines despite the pandemic.
Good article thanks – are there any sweet spots for travel from / to Chile with AA miles? Thanks for the help.
Just the info I was looking for. Thanks!
It is an excellent option to be able to save up to 40% by purchasing miles from the American Airlines Advantage program.
Thanks for the tip!
Not worth it to buy for future redemption since travel restrictions keep changing fast. Though might be worth it if you had a redemption flight in mind.
Great post! It’s good to think about buying miles instead of buying the regular fare. Helps us to open our minds. Thanks for this information!
I think American usually launches these proposals but it is never clear what is the level were is better to buy miles or just a ticket…Someone knows?
Have never understood “buying” miles but this helps that idea make a bit more sense. Seeing the nice business class/first class setups for some of these flights also is an impetus to book something soon! Haven’t gotten to enjoy such a comfy setup like that yet on a flight.
Great info. I am planning to travel US with my spouse, again n September 2021, to do some annual sport activities, suspended in 2020 due pandemics, and this article suits my needs of information very well. Many thanks.
I think its still on the expensive end with little upside when purchasing few miles.
Excelente oportunidad para adquirir las millas faltantes . gracias!!
Thanks for this post. I’m new to the travel hacks world, but I have always wonder is it worth the cost to pay for miles instead of paying the regular fare. I’m learning.
Very interesting article thank you – definitely a good alternative for those looking to extend the 18 month expiry period!
I have never thought that buying miles is a good idea
Muy buena noticia. Voy a tratar de aprovecharla al maximo. gracias
Will keep watching the promotions. Unfortunately, still pretty expensive if you need less than 7500 miles to reach your target. Much better if you are looking for a cash alternative.
What is the actual value of an AAdvantage Mile?
Totally depends on the use! I’ve seen redemptions worth fractions of a penny and other redemptions worth over 10 cents per mile. But, of course, value is what you make of it. Some folks would be thrilled to pay $2200 to buy enough miles to fly Cathay Pacific First. But, if you wouldn’t pay $22k for the cash flight, it’s not actually worth 10 cents per mile.
Personally, I value AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each.
Bought one of the bonus deals for the first time a few years back when I discovered it was a far cheaper over a cash booking for J-class seats for a long haul flight eg Oz-US-Oz. I think it worked out at a little less than 2 cents per mile. This deal is still reasonable though being cheaper than a cash booking.
Not a super promotion to invite me to participate.
Maybe next time.
compared to previous promos, this seems like a pretty lousy offer. Hard pass.
While it’s generally better to earn miles through travel, credit card signups, etc. this is one of the best promos for buying miles direct from AA that I’ve seen in a long time. If you have travel coming up and are running short of miles to pay for a full trip, it may be best to buy the difference and top it up directly from AA.
This is definitely one option to extend the expiration date of your AAdvantage account as it requires at least one activity every 18 months.
Thanks for the explanation on when it could make sense to buy miles. I had always thought it was better to hold cash in every instance, but the comparison of buying a premium seat versus buying miles to get that upgrade makes sense.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like AAdvantage has many alternative uses for miles, beyond airfare, partner airfare, rental cars and possibly magazine subscriptions. When I have a small amount of miles, I’d rather blow it on giftcard or some other promotion than keep track.
No, I won’t be buying with this promo. If you buy from 15K to 24K miles, the bonus is only 10%. Also don’t know when I will be traveling again.
These are great news since I’m planning a trip later this year and need some extra miles. Also the analysis of the typical flight cost vs miles with and without discount is very detailed and very welcome. I’ll do my own calculations and buy some miles. Thanks. Andrea
With the UK about to lift some foreign travel restrictions it will be interesting to see how passengers can get value from air mile awards and American’s web specials. I’ll definitely be investigating the options as we get back in the skies.
Planning to buy miles but still working on feasible dates to travel
Gran promocion para adquirir millas, sacar un pasaje o también para renovar las millas de american Airlines que estén próximas a vencer extendiendo su vencimiento por 18 meses
This is a good way to get cheaper flying, but you need to keep the calculator with you, you can buy them when you need them or you can also accumulate them in your account not a bad deal
Good opportunity to fill the gap I have to get the ticket I want with miles !! Great news
This is an ongoing promo with some tweaks on the rate per mile. At this point, there is also some rumors that you cant book on partner airlines as they are being blocked so I would check first if you can book these international flights being mentioned in this article.
Am considering buying a ticket with additional purchased miles, so I can end up with a changeable ticket, with better change fees options (than purchasing outright).
It is a shame they don’t run an offer giving you some Elite Qualifying Miles (or Million Miler miles) when you purchase award miles. I think Finnar did something like this recently with their scheme.
I’ve bought AA miles once in the past (long before I knew about Awardwallet & the points game), but this is good information to keep in my pocket when paying a cash fare in the future. It’s always better to have every option on the table.
Buying AA miles without a specific plan for their use is unwise. The value can only be determined by how they are used. If you are sure to use them this deal is competitive.
I wonder when the next time they’re offering the 100% bonus on points again.
Any suggestion regarding the lowest European destination cost using this 1.93c/mile offer from San Francisco? SF-CDG? SF-AMS? Sounds like European countries will be open to US travelers this summer before other countries.
I am under 21 yet my AA Airmiles are set to expire in three months’ time. I have read that they shouldn’t expire if you’re under 21.
AA know this because I can’t apply for a credit card through the site, or rent a car etc. That also makes it much harder for me to add miles and keep the account active, especially during the pandemic.
The various Airmiles programmes do feel very complicated to use at times.
Since you replied to this topic if you added your AA advantage info into your account you will get some miles to extend the expire date with 18 months.
Your post should extend your the expiration date of your balance with a 5-mile deposit. 🙂
Es una opción a tener en cuenta, si tiene millas a punto de vencer, de otro modo no se si vale la pena.
Gracias por la información.
Muchas gracias. Es una excelente oportunidad para utilizar para completar millas para sacar un pasaje o también para renovar las millas de american Airlines que estén próximas a vencer extendiendo su vencimiento por 18 meses.
It’s really interesting to see the price per mile as it makes comparing buying a flight outright or buying miles to prop up existing mileage to exchange for a flight that bit easier.
Antes de comprar millas, siempre es bueno esperar este tipo de promociones que son muy convenientes. Se ahorra mucho dinero.
it’s convenient? I ‘m not sure…
Not so great opportunity
I want to buy miles, but is it really convenient?
Who doesn’t love buying discounted miles? I always take advantage of these opportunities!
Keeping in touch with offers like this through AwardWallet helps keeps our hopes alive that we will soon be able to travel again and access a ‘deal’ to bump up our AA airmiles balance ready to visit family, but for the time being I think we’ll just hang out for another offer. Here’s hoping it’s going to be sooner rather than later.
Esta es una excelente opción mantener o incrementar las millas de AA que están por vencer, la aerolínea suele lanzar estas promociones esporádicamente y hay que estar atentos a ellas ya que al comprar en cantidad se ahorra mucho dinero. Gracias por la información.
Es una excelente oferta si las millas están cerca de vencer, AA lanza a menudo estas promociones que ayudan a mantener o incrementar millas de vuelo. Gracias por la información actualizada.
I’m not sure this would work with the Amex Platinum travel credit, as I’m sure airfare is not an allowed use of the credit.
Yeah, this offer is basically a dime a dozen right now.
I will not be buying any AA miles at this time. Pre-COVID I tried for two years to find two business saver award seats from Chicago to Sydney without success. I finally gave up and went to Auckland.
Acording to the post, if you make a purchase of miles you can extend the expiration date of your miles. But its eeems not be true. The purchase of miles isn´t extend the expiration date acording with AAdvantage’s general conditions.
We have quite a bit of evidence that buying AAdvantage miles extends the expiration date. But, you are correct that the AAdvantage T&C isn’t clear on this. I reached out to AA to see if they can confirm and then clarify in the T&C.
Juan: I wanted to follow-up to note that I confirmed with an American Airlines representative that “buying/gifting/transferring miles are all activities that reset the clock on mileage expiration”. He’s going to inquire if the T&C can be updated to clearly reflect this.
Seems I just missed this offer, but it sounds like it wasn’t the best one anyway and so I’ll look out for the next one. How often do the new AA offers generally get published?
Pretty much every time one ends something new replaces it. Sadly they’ve gone for quantity over quality lately.
They might come up with a better offer next month. 🙂
Hello, great info. Just wondering if there is any way to know if Advantage program will be linked to any Argentinian Bank’s Credit Card. We have recently loose the program in Santander Bank.
Hi Emilio, We don’t have any knowledge of a new partnership coming. However, we generally do not get advance notice about this sort of thing.
I looked into buying the 2,000 miles for an upcoming redepemption and was surprised to see the cost come out to 3.5+ cpm. Definitely not worth it for me.
I appreciate the information and the insight that word wallet gives especially regarding buying miles. Great post!
It is not worth buying 262.500 miles for 2,15 cents each one of them.
Just redeemed 70k AA that I bought during the last promotion for a flight on Qatar. QSuites is a phenomenal value and my favorite business class product right now. 2.15 cents/mile is a bit high, though.
The promotion looked interesting. I really appreciated the “Final Thought” comment suggesting that I wait for a better promo.
I will not be taking advantage of this offer. With the lack of premium international travel due to COVID-19 it’s simply not worth it. When redeeming for domestic award travel you seem to get approximately one cent per mile.
JFK to SYD seems reasonable cost-wise on the mileage basis, except QF isn’t running that route presently — Additionally the two weeks mandatory quarantine in Australia at present, an additional $3k to the cost of travel dissuades one from considering travel to Australia.
Hopefully, one day soon, I can fly again.
AA have ran a buy miles offer almost every other month it feels like
I typically love the AAdvantage program, but this deal is a poor value. I don’t know why any program bothers to run a special offer these days without the possibility of 100% bonus miles at some level of spend.
Totally agree. Seems they try to capture people who just need to top up their award balance to redeem flights.
I think it is wise to wait when airlines need to raise cash while I cannot really travel.
Yeah, even right now this is a no go.
it is a new promotion from American Airlines, not de best rate, but I think it’s a good time to buy miles…
Pay less with more miles. Good posting. Thanks.
Thanks for posting, I’m hopeful we can start using points again this year!
Hi Patrick, with the future of business travel up in the air (no pun intended), do you see airlines offering more or fewer promotions like this in the future? Thanks!
Hi Luke,
AA has made a habit of offering a promotion like this practically every month, so it’ll probably continue to do so (albeit at varying degrees of generosity).
As for other airlines, I tend to expect even more promotions like this in the coming months. Selling miles is a quick and easy way for airlines to generate cash flow when sales are down (like they are now). These promotions create an incentive for frequent flyers to invest money in their future travel with the airline.
Me sorprende que American ofrezca una promoción tan poco conveniente. En especial por la situación terrible que estamos viviendo.
I think it’s worth just to complete the balance to make a specific redemption. otherwise, I don’t think it’s worth much.
I love AA bonuses, it´s a nice opportunity. I hope we can all still continuing traveling this 2021!
Es conveniente si solo faltan unas pocas millas para obtener premio o si las millas están por vencer.
Muy buena informacion,
Muy completa.
Gracias.
Excelente! Necesitaba comprar millas para rebovar vencimiento. ? gracias
It really is every month. Early January again.
Some other airlines are offering 100% bonus so I guess we’ll wait for a better deal next time!
It does not look like that the situation will be normalized in 2021, so I think I will pass for the moment.
It’s a pity people must buy at least 10.000 miles to pay only 1,75 cents per mile.
Excelente dica para ganhar pontos bonus na American Airlines. Muito obrigada!
This would be great if I had any trips planned. Can’t wait for this ordeal to be over so we can start jetting around the world again.
Ditto, good opportunity to top up our accounts if we had a specific reward redemption in mind. Though not many, if any, of those these days.
With the appearance of the new vaccines for COVID, it seems to me that it is time to take advantage of this promotion and buy the miles that I need to for the ticket.
Will the new Qatar award mileage requirements make it cheaper to redeem the LAX – JNB suite award with Q-miles?
I agree, buying miles is not usually a good idea. But there are exceptions. I referred a friend to Amex Platinum during a recent promotion in October, 2020, and for the next 3 months, I get 3X bonus points on everything I charge on my Amex Platinum, plus the regular points (in addition to the 30,000 referral points). So in this case, I will get 5X points for buying miles (codes as an airline), plus 3X bonus for a total of 8X points. For this reason, I will be maxing this AA offer out for 300,000 miles, which will cost me $5,250, but I will net 5,250 points X 8, which will bank me 42,000 Amex points, worth $420-$840 depending on how I use them. So, for me anyway, this is worth every penny because I will likely transfer those 42,000 AMEX points over to another airline for even more miles. The net result? 342,000 airline miles for $5,250, or 1.53 cents per mile vs. 1.75 cents per mile.
Note: The AMEX referral promotion of getting 3x points added to every purchase on top of the regular points you normally receive appears to have ended.
Thanks Award Wallet for bringing this to our attention.
waiting for borders reopening
I think this a great deal for travelers looking for opportunities to fly business class! Not a great deal for economy class travelers.
Siempre las ofertas de AAdvantege favorecen al que compra muchas millas. Si te faltan 10000 millas, el descuento es muy escaso.
Es una oferta conveniente! Gracias por la información.
Great gift for the coming winter!!!
I have been in the American Advantage program for many years. I hope that American maintains good prices on its flights to once again encourage travelers to continue in this wonderful adventure of traveling and learning about cultures, which enriches us all to achieve a better society. Many times you do not value what you have, until you realize that in other parts of the world they do not have what you have. This knowledge and feeling can make us better people.
Great gift for the coming holidays!!!
I guess it is a perfect time to buy AA miles since they offer bonus miles.
With overcome COVID19, I’d like to go oversee countries without contagious situation.
I hope it will be better situation next year.
Then I am thinking of buying some miles….
AA miles are easy to earn but buying does not seem as an intelligent choice, they are expensive even taking into account the discount.
Es una oferta conveniente! La analizaré. En este contexto, todo suma. Gracias por la información.
I do find AA miles better than the other oneworld alternatives in terms of options and availability so I put a slight premium on their value for that reason. That said, important to remember when comparing miles against cash that redemption tickets don’t earn miles. That has to be factored in. Still there are some great bargains, and fantastic for “topping up” an account.
As it is said in the article 2.33 c per mile doesn’t represent a good offer.
Better to wait for another one.
I’m going to use this great option to extend my miles from expiring.
Hi Marisol, if you track your American account with AwardWallet, you’ll get 5 miles just for commenting on the blog while logged in to your AwardWallet account. That will also reset your expiration. Details here https://awardwallet.com/blog/earn-bonus-miles-for-commenting/
I think buying miles should be used only when you are near to use it because they will expire, having a bank account with adwardwallet is morenefective because your miles are renewed every momth and you earn some miles anually
Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately not going to bite this time – would be great if AA would offer the 50% bonus at lower point levels to help with topping off the account.
I think it is a good opportunity for my family that want to buy some miles to extend AA miles.
Because of 18 months expiration term, I need to check it regularly.
I hope COVID19 is not exist anywhere~
Then my family can visit home without hesitation.
I am heading to buy some AA miles~
Alguien consiguió precios mas bajos que 1.75 ¢ por milla?
I think this is a great option to prevent your miles from expiring.
The movement in our accounts is little because COVID does not allow us to travel normally
i never buy miles unless i am few miles short of bonus .
I like how youve showed us some options on how to use these miles although I am not yet comfortable using them right now during this pandemic. My personal favorite is to use them to fly Cathay Pacific business or first class.
A little off topic but wondering when the next Marriott Bonvoy to AAdvantage transfer bonus will come along?
I really miss those bonuses too, BUT AA has been cutting transfer partnerships lately.
Thankyou for sharing this info. Needing a few more miles for a planned trip so def worth considering.
Great gift! Can’t wait for the borders reopening
If they offered EQMs it would make it more interesting. Finnair recently did the equivalent in their own FF program.
Great offer. I bought 70,000 AA miles for an upcoming QR J redemption. Far cheaper than paying cash and a great value given how much I enjoy QSuites.
Does anyone know if there is a summary of AA miles offers/promotions so that we can see trends? This current offer does not look very appealing.
Nice opportunity for people that want buy a lot of miles. The discount is really good especially if your miles are going to expire soon. The expiration term is a constant problem. We are all time expecting a reasonable ofert.
I was expecting better from AA for this Black Friday. In 2020 they were worth 1.6 ¢ per mile and at least I wanted that value to think about buying.
Definitely, at 1.75 ¢ I will not buy.
Is a good offer, but you have to buy 65.000 or more milles to get 50% discount. It is OK to buy less milles to reach the total amount for a trip, I would have preferred more discount in lover milles band.
i dont want to buy miles right now but i hope they bring back this deal later on after vaccine
Totally understandable! We wanted to share this deal for those that are ready to start booking now.
Appreciate the examples given of how to use those miles. Was not thinking about buying AA miles. Those examples got me wanting to buy.
This is a good promotion AAdvantage is offering. I would buy miles now.
Comprar millas es siempre más caro que juntarlas con los consumos de las tarjetas de crédito, aún con los descuentos ofrecidos cada tanto por la línea aérea. Yo lo reservo para el momento de canjearlas por un viaje en caso de que me faltaran unas pocas para el total.
Interesante promoción tanto desde el punto de vista económico como desde el punto de vista de alargar el vencimiento de las millas.
Pero tampoco es una ganga. Quizás en estos tiempos las ofertas tendrían que ser más agresivas, para incentivar el turismo a lugares seguros.
That’s very important to save extra costs, and also to update the expiration date of the miles!
Interesting post — I had always used a mental heuristic of $0.01/mile as a breakeven point for cost vs. value, and it seemed like exchange rates (i.e., what kinds of flights you can get for a given number of miles (e.g. 25K for domestic RT)) had been getting slightly worse over time. I don’t think I would ever pay 2.28c/mile, but these sample web specials look pretty awesome! I wonder how much I could count on something like those being available when I need to buy a specific flight, though…. Anyway, very useful, thanks.
With the current pandemic situation everyone is checking miles expiration dates and browsing travel destinations for the future when all this is over. This is a perfect opportunity for an airline to increase loyalty. But after reading this post, I feel really disappointed with American Airlines because I would have expected the airline to have their best promotion ever on “buy miles”. After all, the airline is currently selling less tickets due to the pandemic situation and one would expect them to need money, therefore an interesting “buy miles” promotion would certainly create good sales.
This blog contains very usefull information specially now when our travel activities are seriously affected by the pandemia. I was planning to travel by october and use my millages but Its not possible. I think that the expiration dates should be suspended until we have a normality situation worldwide
Irrespective of the offer I find very enlightening the fact that it may be cheaper to buy though miles instead of direct cash. I’ve always looked at the rewards programs as get one ticket for free once I’ve got the miles, but this is a very interesting new way (at least for me) to use the programs even if you don’t actually have the miles.
Better to leave a comment here and “buy” them for $0 🙂
No creo que sea una oferta tentadora el precio con el descuento de las millas se pueden conseguir mejores precios.
Never pay more than 1.5 cents per mile! Especially with possible devaluations.
Es una oferta nada excepcional, de cualquier manera AA debería hacer como otras aerolíneas (United), eliminar el vencimiento de millas.
2.28¢ per mile???? Absolutely NO way
Haha that was my reaction too! The promotions so far this year have been reliably under 2¢ per mile. So, I have no idea what they were thinking with this promotion.
Perhaps I’m confusing it with a different program, but weren’t there large scale changes in the AA miles program recently? Is there an FAQ somewhere that I can review?
Thanks in advance!
Perhaps this post would be helpful:
https://awardwallet.com/blog/american-airlines-miles-expire/
I tried a different way of extending my expiration date, but it didn’t work. I used AAdvantage shopping to go buy some Kind bars, but I don’t see that I ever got miles, even after months. It didn’t feel worth the trouble to track down the problem with customer service, so I can’t say for sure what went wrong. I just thought I’d mention it.
You need to make sure you are on the AA shopping portal and logged in to them, then click through to vendor. I have the browser extensions for AA, Alaska, Southwest, Rakuten and mypoints dot com. Whenever I click to make a purchase I get the popups from the ones that offer points for that transaction and decide which one I want to earn points from. I have earned literally tens of thousands of miles through shopping portals over the years and they DO WORK as long as you do it right but I’ve found mostly over time that if it doesn’t work, an email with a copy of your purchase receipt will get them credited.
Looking at the expiry date it may be that there’s a new promo on Black Friday November 27th – or around then.
That’s what I’m thinking too!
Great deal, i will buy, thanks for sharing.
Ouch, 2.28¢ per mile is still steeper than I’d hope for from an AA sale!
Although this being a good deal (considering that LATAM left OW and so there is no other way to buy cheap miles), AA should remove the expiration date form their miles. Legacy carriers are going that way, AA should not be the exception.
It goes without saying that buying miles in AA is not the most effective way to get miles.
Not the best promotion out there !
I just logged into Award Wallet for the first time in a while (you know, 2020 and not traveling much…) and realized my AA miles are set to expire in 30 days! Uggh, need to get them extended, so this may be a viable option…
I have a couple pieces of good news for you. First, AA paused expiration of miles through 12/31/2020 (https://awardwallet.com/blog/american-airlines-miles-expire/). Also, if you log back into your AwardWallet account, you’ll connect your account to this comment and earn 5 miles. So, no purchase necessary! https://awardwallet.com/blog/earn-bonus-miles-for-commenting/
This seems like a terrible promotion by AA. Guess they need the cash.
AAs flavour of the month is hardly enticing.
I wonder what kind of low target AA has set for it latest promotion.
I agree that the only time to buy miles is if you need to top up to get an award immediately. Aside from that it is unwise to do so.
Buena oferta, coincido con un comentario anterior respecto a que el programa Aadvantage debe eliminar el vencimiento de las millas
Muy buena oferta, de igual manera el programa Aadvantage debe mejorar mucho, empezando por el vencimiento, ya muchas Aerolíneas sacaron esto.
Mmm not really a good deal… it’ll be better to wait for a big discount
Doesn’t look like they are doing the promo anymore? No extra miles applied when I try to buy 150k miles :/
It’s still working for me.
Would you mind sharing screen shot or link?
SS1: https://www.loom.com/i/f6d136087aa24e35a6180dd32158a6a3
SS2: https://www.loom.com/i/7b4e1a19f80e42a89f4f9e51fa6e7453
I already bought miles this year, so I can’t do the 150k – is that the only mile qty that isn’t showing a bonus for you?
I’m not sure why…It says I can buy 150k miles. I haven’t purchased anything for a while.
It’s showing this
https://ibb.co/KqsdT51
Also no information on bonuses. Usually they show a chart
Ah shoot. I’m guessing you may have caught them right between promotions. I’d be curious to see if you see a discount now.
I just got a note from Award Wallet about expiring AA miles. I had not heard from them in a long time, and so I logged in an re-visited the website. There is a lot more going on than I expected, given that this is the worst travel dip since 9/11, and lots of regular travelers, including me, are not planning to go anywhere soon.
When I joined Award Wallet, the airlines didn’t do a good job at all of keeping members of their frequent flyer clubs aware of their mileage status, and checking each manually was a pain. Award Wallet provided a real service, both to travelers but also to the airlines. I have never understood why the airlines objected to Award Wallet, and why the airlines didn’t participate in a way that would provide the best to their customers. No one’s interest was served when an airline objected to Award Wallet’s activities.
Keep up the good work, Award Wallet
This sounds a good deal especially now that many people have miles expiring and can´t travel to renovate the expiration date. Good for AA.
I’m a physician and I love to travel. While I take the pandemic quite seriously, I am convinced that there are many daily activities that put us all at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 than air travel. I’m ready to enjoy traveling again and this is a good opportunity to top off my AA miles for an upcoming trip. Let’s all take advantage of the great airfare specials!
Awesome! This is worldwide?
It should be! The terms just note that all AA mileage sales are all priced in US dollars.
Given all the crazy sales airlines are doing to generate revenue at the moment, I think it’s best to hold off on this one until something better comes along.
.Good offer. This promotion is really interesting. I hope to travel in christmas.
1.82¢ per mile is not a good price. I think I will wait a bit more
As tempting as this offer is to me, I am going to pass. Until this pandemic passes, I am holding off on adding a ton of miles to my accounts.
I wonder if AA will continue having these deals since they leveraged the Advantage program? I am getting rid of my Barclay AA card since I’m not flying right now. I think that AA and Citi might have to make some changes to make me want to get a Citi AA card anytime soon.
Normally I never buy airlines miles, but I think this is a really good opportunity. Thanks!
Never thought buying miles with AA would be worth it, but those web special deals are incredible. Definitely have to hunt for those though. Thanks!
Would buying miles be another way to extend your expiration period if you’re in risk of reaching that point?
Thank you for this very informative post. I have some miles banked but maybe not quite enough for a trip I would like to take so this could help with gaining some more miles at some point. I am not sure when AA will start flying back to New Zealand, I can not see it until the border restrictions are relaxed. There is not many ways in NZ to earn AA miles unfortunately, I assume that as long as you have some activity on your account the 18 months can keep rolling?
You get 5 miles just for submitting a comment which keeps the account alive for another 18 months.
It seems like we have looked into buying miles different times and it never seems like it is worth it for our situations. however, I guess I’ve learned from this article that there are times that it might and I should keep checking.
Lastima que aca nos suman el 30% por ser de Peronia
This is definitely one of the best deals on the market at this moment!! Thank you for the hint!
Thanks for this unbiased blog post, describing both pros and cons. Also the comments are very useful, specially with this COVID worldwide situation that impacts international travel so drastically…
In my case I have a lot of miles expiring soon with no travel plans at least till year-end, so reading here about other means of postponing the expiration date other than buying miles is incredibly spot-on !
In a situation where buying AA miles is cheaper than the cash price of the ticket, then obviously it makes sense to buy them, -especially when using one of the high rewards credit cards. However, just buying a ticket (instead of miles) for a cheap price is also a better deal now, since AA (and most other airlines) allow you to change tickets for free (during the pandemic).
I agree that many of these offers are then impossible to redeem due to blackout dates or similar restrictions. If it was tough pre-covid, I can imagine that it will get worse as travel routes diminish and frequencies are reduced to bare minimums, at least for a couple of years. The only possible upside could be that there will be less business travel, so seats up in front could be more available than before. What do you think?
Good offer. I might take advantage of it since my miles are expiring soon.
Good offer, but since I still have no trips planned I think it is better not to buy.
As stated above, miles go on sale a lot and this one is not the best value around. It is like giving money to AA for a future flight. You dont have a fix value for what that flight will cost and if AA goes out of business, your miles are probably worthless.
With the flexibility they´re offering to change plans I think it is better to buy tickets than miles as prices are low and in the event you cannot travel you can change it.
This is a much better promotion than the Hyatt promotion. I can live with this one. The issue is how hard will it be to redeem to good seats like business class and when will travel restrictions be lifted.
I would never buy AA miles. Before Covid-19 I tried for two years without luck to find two business saver award seats from ORD/SYD.
I hope travel restriction is lifted soon! I think this is a great chance to buy miles and I have a spending requirement for my new card.
At this time and due to Covid 19 is more convenient to buy a ticket ? that miles . They are offering flexibility and it’s great.
I know, everyone is offering complete flexibility right now, which is a winning deal for all!
I’m so glad that I heard from AwardWallet as soon after I loaded my American Airlines data I learnt about this excellent promotion which will allow me to fly business this November. Fantastic! I will spend the rest of the afternoon loading all my other programs hoping to find more amazing deals. Thank you!
My AAdvantage Miles are about to expire, I think this promotion si a very interesting way of getting more Miles and renew the expiration date. Do You suggest something else?
Not a bad deal but don’t think I’ll buy at this time with no redemptions in mind.
Lot of offers lately.
I think that considering the current situation it’s almost sure these kind of promotions will be repeated or even improved.
I like the Advantage program, but is imposible to use the miles erned by my children when they traveling with me. They never be able to buy a ticket until they grow up. I think, if I pay the tickets its miles should be added my account. Isn’t it true?
Hi Mariano, miles earned from flying accrue to the account of the passenger. However, if your kids have enough miles for a single flight (even a one-way award), you can use the miles to book travel for yourself (from their account). That way, you don’t have to wait till they grow up to use the points they’re accumulating from the flights you bought.
I believe American will let you add a paid ticket to an award by phone. For example, if you want to fly somewhere with your kid, put an award for yourself on hold on AA.com. Then call up AA to and see if you can add you kid as a paid ticket on the same reservation. Hope that helps.
Thanks Erik. I appreciate yout comment but I think the Advantage program has a logical mistake in this case. Children can not buy a ticket or travel alone. They always travel with the authorization of their parents until they are 18 depending on the country. Who pays tickets often are parents. So miles should be added to who buy the tickets or the AA program should allow transfer this miles for free to parents. I think is more fair and finnaly it reduces calls and administrative procedures for both AA and passengers
I understand your point and agree. That’s not how it works, but you can use your kid’s miles for yourself. So I don’t see any reason it matters that the miles are in their account. Just log in to their account and book a ticket for an adult.
Hay alguna forma de sumas millas en AA desde Argentina actualmente?
We’re working on updates for our post on ways to earn AA miles. I think the options are probably pretty limited if you’re based in Argentina. But there may be some online merchants that offer AA miles through the eShopping portal. Here’s our post on that: https://awardwallet.com/blog/aadvantage-eshopping/
Santander bank (Argentinean branch) is no longer associated to AAdvantage, then we users with years of earning miles are abandoned. No news about if another bank will take the program. I found this site with good ideas regarding how to earn some miles in order to avoid expiration.
Muy interesante propuesta, mas en la situación actual que aun no están claras las cosas, y uno tiene millas por vencer, es una buena oportunidad para renovar por 18 meses el vencimiento de las millas acumuladas, tiempo suficiente para que uno pueda tener mas en claro el panorama para hacer un viaje y gastar las millas.
This promotion is really interesting. I will definitely take it into account and start planning my next trip. Thanks a Lot!!
A good opportunity to buy miles to take advantage of good exchanges
Its really interesting to see the miles cost v’s the financial comparison, for some this would be a great way to get that coveted “first class” seat at a great rate!
It seems to be a good deal and even better if you make the purchase with a co-branded AAdvantage credit card… but I’m afraid that the miles will be devalued
Speculatively purchasing miles now in anticipation of getting outsized value in the future is likely not a good plan. Airlines will be much smaller and frequencies fewer for those “sweet spot” redemptions. International travel will be the last to recover with a 3 to 4 year horizon. I can see many premium fare deals going forward that will earn miles and status making miles purchase less desireable and efficient.
Putting a CPM value on redeemed miles only applies to those that would actually pay out of pocket for the fare which is virtually no one. That is misleading, the true value is much less. I would never pay $59xx to fly one way LAX-DOH-JNB in QSuites. I wouldn’t even pay $2000. I would, however, pay $850 each way on ARN-DOH-CPT and credit to AS when they join OW later this year.
A QF F redemption in the “sweet spot” example is a pipe dream. QF only has F service on the A380. The entire A380 fleet is on vacation in the Majove desert untill at least 2023. Most of the 787 Fleet will be joining them soon.
The EY F Apartment was a let down, QF F is at best meh! QR QSuites are definitely nice and worth the redemption if you already have all or most of the miles you need.
I rarely purchase business & never buy First. Those I enjoy regularly by flying Premium and earning RDM. The status is a byproduct. If I were to have $5900 now to lend AA for a non-promise of future value, I would earn AA Executive Platinum and all the extras that come with it and still have a $3K in my pocket.
Of course, it will be attractive to some. Everyone has different goals.
James
Hey James, thanks for sharing. It’s a challenge to keep up content aligned with which products are in service; your point about some aircraft and cabin configs. being off the table is well taken. I hope you’re right about cheap premium fares and terribly wrong about the timeline for international travel.
Hello Eric,
My apologies, I meant to say International Business travel will be the last to recover. With a loss of “last minute” expensive business travel, I can see airlines monetizing more of their premium cabin space in line with a leisure group that will upgrade with dollars if the differential is favourable. If RM can dynamically find sweet spots to maximize cabin revenue on a new “normal” passenger demographic sans business travelers, it should be a win-win for both parties, at least initially.
One thing the pandemic has shown is that virtual business meetings can be effective and that travel budgets can be severely curtailed or even eliminated.
Even the IATA has pushed back their forecast for a pre pandemic recovery to 2024 from 2023.
James
Indeep a great opportunity to buy cheaper miles to complete my next travel
This information was a life saver. It allowed me to buy miles at an affordable rate to get me to my next reward ticket!
I purchased AA miles and used them to fly first class from Australia to Europe via a private First Class suite. The miles cost me around 3,500AUD compared to 16,000AUD had I purchased the tickets retail. That equates to pretty good value to me!
Your example again shows how unattractive the Qantas program is.
The same happens to me! I am waiting to know that another bank will continue with the program!?
I’ll wait till the end of July if I find a good use of miles before buying the miles.
It’s a good offer in my opinion, of course it’s necessary to find how to use the miles!
Is buying miles really worth it. I looked and to purchase 2000 miles even with sale is $80 dollars. Seems very expensive
Indeep a great opportunity to buy cheaper miles to complete my next travel
Wow I didn’t know it could actually get this cheap by buying miles instead of the normal ticket. The LA – Johannesburg route for 1,5K seems like a very good price! Will definitely check on the promo and see if I can get a good deal. Thanks for the info!
A better idea to prevent your miles from expiration. bank up your miles and use them later.
Just be aware of any devaluations when stock piling miles/points.
Purchasing these discounted points make a lot of sense if you’re going to be short on an upcoming trip. However, I still believe using an AAdvantage credit card to earn these miles still makes more sense in the long run. Earning points through flight is going to be much more challenging in the near term with possible restrictions due to covid-19.
He comprado millas con anterioridad y creo que ésta es una buena promocion. Esperemos poder volver a viajar muy pronto !
The rate is not bad, but I would not buy 150,000 miles to get that rate.
Normally I never buy airlines miles, but I think this is a really good opportunity
A discount is always nice, but right now I think its best to only buy if you have a specific redemption in mind.
Excelente oportunidad de acumular millas y utilizarlas cuando podamos volar, es una forma de planificar nuestros viajes
In Argentina we hope it will be another bank since it was a good way to collect miles, not many cards have this option.
We will keep waiting and we will gather when offers like this discount come out
Un Argentina, Unfortunatelly they announced this week hat they will not continue with the program
What has happened to the AAdvantage program in Argentina?
hi. im argentinian. only with banks. 🙁
sadly.
Muy buena oferta y buen programa de millas, lastima que Santader dejo su alianza con AA en Argentina.
Vale la pena comprar millas ahora solo para acumular?
The standard awards for domestic travel sometimes make this a decent deal. 50k miles = one coast to coast RT first class ticket, so it can be a good deal.
I purchased AA miles with a specific trip in mind and managed to score first class tickets for what amounted to 20% of retail price!
Very good since you do not need to buy more miles to get what you need, although the discount is not the same for all ranges of number of miles.
I hope I can buy mine.
It is hard to get the mileages not.expiring and buy mileages just because are close to expire is too expensive. This is. A good way to refresh. And allow continue using AA airline.
Esta es una gran noticia para los viajeros y miembros de AAdvantage. Me parece muy bien todas las ofertas que hay disponibles para los miembros. Voy a tenerlo presente para programar un viaje cuando esto se termine. También voy a evaluar la posibilidad de tener una tarjeta de crédito Visa o Master con beneficio de millas en compras. Muchas gracias.
It is never a good idea to buy miles unless you have a travel coming up in the near future. Now is definitely not the time to hoard up on miles.
muy buena nota! voy aprovechar el descuento para llegar a un pasaje. gracias!
Useful tool if few miles are needed. I used an AAdvantage associated credit card (for Citibank, first, then from Santander Rio in Argentina who purchased local Citi branch). Unfortunately they discontinued the program this year. It would be good that AAdvantage associated with other Argentinean bank to change to that bank credit cards. I´ve been earning AAdventages miles through credit card purchases for almost 20 years, I would like to continue doing so even if I need to change to other bank credit cards.
The same happens to me! I am waiting to know that another bank will continue with the program!
As mentioned in the blog, I think this only makes sense if you are targeting a trip where you know you will be short on miles to buy. I would not buy unless I has the trip in sight. Too much risk of them devaluing over time otherwise.
Dropping $2,636.97 to accumulate the best deal seems a bit much, rather sign up for a few credit cards that gives me the miles for free although I guess if you have an expensive flight or flights to book could be worth it…
Oh absolutely the credit card option is better! However, I’ve bought AA miles in the past when my credit card options were tapped out and I was using it for an exceptional flight (Eithad Apartments from Abu Dhabi to JFK for 115k AA miles!)
The ability to earn miles just by commenting on an AwardWallet post is one of the best options to earn. Thank you thank you thank you.
AA is promoting and being the pioneers in the USA that returns to operations and businesses return to work as soon as possible.
I think it is a very good promotion, and I plan to buy some miles.
Regarding the price per miles, I think it is not the best price based on the number of miles, but it is still very good.
Very good for the shared information!
the really nice thing is that just buying even 2k of american airlines miles, will renew the expiration date on your miles. and give you another 18 months with which to use your miles. that’s the real utility.
Agreed, but you don’t need to buy AA miles to accomplish that. If you have your AAdvantage account tied to AwardWallet, you just earned 5 AA miles for commenting!
AA offer very good to get miles at a lower price. Thank for the info!
During part of 2019, I’ve seen great miles offers in some special flights with the Web Economy category. That made having miles accumulated really worth it. Some companies are selling cheaps flights right now after COVID, but the promotion in this article can be very useful if you’re only missing a few thousand miles to complete your trip or if you want to stock miles for the near future. Thanks for the info!
En Argentina el Banco Santander dejara de sumar puntos AA con las tarjetas de credito
I dont think this is the time to buy AA miles when there are rumours that the airline might have to declare bankruptcy.
It may, but it seems that AA is going to be able to skate by this downturn by getting forgivable government loans and additional private loans. The AA mileage program has been appraised at $20-32 billion, so it’s too valuable for them to ruin in a bankruptcy.
This definitely makes award miles more affordable! Thing is not sure when we’ll be able to start travelling again (at least from Argentina). Hope is sooner rather than later being that we have a flight booked for the end of the year. Thanks!
Is buying miles really convenient at this moment?
Good idea, today we should check every month the status of the miles.
One day we have a lot of miles, and on the next day our miles expired.
In Argentina Santander Bank absorved Citi bank and with that the posibility to earn AA miles. Unfortunatelly they announced this week hat they will not continue with the program.
I have always wondered if it it is really worth it to buy miles. They are not cheap and then one has to book trips so much in advance that I really doubt if it is much better to buy a cheap flight instead.
Bit pricey for AA
Good tips. We travel internationally a lot and try to maximize our miles.
All the premium cabin possibilities have me hoping that things get back to normal soon! I’d want the full first class experience for so many miles, not just the low-contact version in the air now.
Whats “Purchased miles are non-refundable and non-reversible” means? If a need in the future to transfer that purchased miles, can i do it?
Thanks!
Yes, you will be able to transfer the miles to other members, but there’s a fee levied on such transfers. You might want to consider booking a flight for another person rather than transferring points to them.
Are there any good credit card sign up offers at the moment?
Thanks for the information, if I access the promotion, will this help me not to expire my miles? I’m interested in buying to complete the miles I need for a ticket
Yes, purchasing miles absolutely extends your expiration date. https://awardwallet.com/blog/american-airlines-miles-expire/
This is great news for us travellers! I’m glad AAdvantage program is having some deals to offer. I shall consider it to get to travel with my family hopefully soon. See you all in the skies!
Miles are certainly going far, however will they be worth anything when people feel comfortable being able to travel again? I certainly think there may be more of a premium now for business on international flights given the greater ability to effectively social distance from other passengers. Interesting times….
Air Canada had a recent promotion that gave 60-100% more miles per mile purchased. I think it ended up being 1 cents per mile. I would only get this AA deal if I have an upcoming trip coming which I want to redeem miles for. You can always wait for a better offer.
I never understood purchasing miles, since the whole point of the travel hacks game is to travel without having to spend extra money or break the bank. But this post has finally answered the question for me of WHY anyone would want to buy miles. It makes sense if the cost of purchasing the miles helps you reach a redeemable value and is less expensive than just covering the difference in cash. Thanks for clearing that up!
Having AA process point purchases directly is a great differential value. I’m a fan of aadvantage.
When will the extra 25% Marriott bonus to AAdvantage return with the 60000-point transfer on top of the regular 25%?
We usually see that promotion in May. However, the transfer bonus was limited to just Hyatt this year: https://awardwallet.com/blog/transfer-bonus-hyatt-points-to-aa/
This isn’t a bad deal for the sweet spots, which is a good way of burning off some existing miles.
Im still not going to buy miles. However there is a double miles earning promotion for those of us who still need to fly for work. So I’ll earn a few extra that way.
Living in northern Europe, this promo doesn’t make much sense to me. It too early to predict the development of the Covid-19 situation in the coming months. That said, I also need a vacation…
Soy socia de AAdvantage hace años y me alegra saber que están trabajando para que todo vuelva a funcionar y así nosotros podremos seguir disfrutando de los beneficios!!
This could be a good oportunity to boost your AAdvantage account for future travel
I need some more miles for my future travel. As I was debating if I should buy miles, I saw that AA has committed to donating one mile to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for every mile purchased. That’s a great incentive! Glad I can be of some help to others while I buy miles for myself.
Buying miles seems to defeat the purpose of this hobby, unless you need a topper for a specific travel plan.
There are actually many who prefer to use lucrative cash back cards instead of points earning cards so they can take advantage of great cash sales just like this for planned redemptions.
Or the odd chance you need activity to keep your points from expiring.
This hobby seems to be about buying points for premium intercontinental award redemptions nowadays.
I’m surprised by the Jacksonville-Tokyo web special. Japan is currently not allowing passengers from the US to land unless they have citizenship or permanent residency. There is no immediate plan to change this, so I’d be wary of such a redemption even if it can technically be changed or refunded.
I’m hopeful that the borders will be open again by February 2021 which is when I booked this award! 🙂
You are atleast in the ball park… next spring might be a target… I’m leaning more towards the end of summer 2021.. but we can hope sooner
The price is not bad when people just are short of just a few thousands towards a ticket redemption.
Would be nice if they counted towards Million Miler status!
Deals are coming in! That’s the only good thing with this Wuhan virus situation. I actually had to buy some points this last year, so a sale is good. I never seem to have enough points.
Can selling miles really help airlines overcome their ongoing financial crisis at all?
Yes, one of the most profitable parts of an airline is their FFS.
Are travel restrictions being lifted soon?
Harvey – very unlikely, and ultimately whether a route flies is dependent upon the airline and all connected destinations. As other post suggest, best to stay nimble and keep an eye on your specific travel locations.
I appreciate your doing the math and finding the best sweet spot. Tempting to use the Platinum card to get over $200 value in Membership Rewards to offset the cost even more. Question though, would using the AA Citi Mastercard, since the purchase goes through AA trigger the double AA miles on an AA purchase?
It *should* and past AA purchases with AA credit cards have triggered the 2X earning rate. And thankfully AA says as much in the T&C
AA Is working hard to get their business going again and for us that seems to be a good thing. Thanks for this information!
I would imagine it’s a full trip, ie origin to destination. Is that a “segment” by definition where it can either be nonstop or with a layover? And a “flight” is every takeoff and landing?
If they counted towards Million Miler status it would be enough to tempt me to buy, but unfortunately they don’t. I suppose those with an AA credit card could ‘double dip’ by using the card to pay thereby earning some additional miles (which would count towards Million Miler).
Thank you so much for you good idea. The idea makes those aspirational awards even more affordable.
Well, This is one of the lowest prices I’ve ever seen!. I’m considering applying for some miles. Hopefully I’ll be able to use them next summer.
Make sure you have a plan to use them quickly. The risk of devaluation is higher than ever right now.
@J – Agreed. And added to that is the instability of travel due to the various border restrictions and mandatory quarantine requirements. A place that one can travel to today, may very well be restricted in some fashion tomorrow.
That’s very true! Short term planning is the name of the game these days.
Tenia tarjeta VISA del Citi asociada al programa AAdvantage, pero lamentablemente el Citi dejo su operatoria en Argentina.