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American Airlines miles have been a favorite of mine for some time, and not just because American Airlines is the main carrier at my airport. The AAdvantage® program utilizes a mostly-region-based award chart to determine award costs for travel on its global airline partners. This article will highlight some of the best uses of AA miles that AAdvantage members have.
Whether you're looking to fly economy, business, or first class and are heading to the next state or the opposite side of the world, there are valuable sweet spots with American Airlines miles to help you get there.
Page Contents
- Earning American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
- Dynamic Award Pricing on American Airlines
- Sweet Spots Using American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
- Middle East to Asia (40K in business class/ 50K in first class)
- U.S. to Middle East/Indian Subcontinent (70K in business class)
- U.S. to Africa (75K in business class)
- Europe to the Middle East/Indian Subcontinent (42.5K in business class)
- U.S. to Asia 1 (80K in first class)
- Europe to the Middle East/Indian Subcontinent (62.5K in first class)
- Intra-Australia flights (10K in economy/20K in business)
- Final Thoughts
Earning American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
Travelers looking to take advantage of all of these sweet spots will want a healthy stash of AAdvantage miles. Luckily, American offers many ways to earn miles.
Earning AAdvantage miles via credit cards
One of the best opportunities at the moment is the offer for 60,000 bonus miles with the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®.
With these perks, it's easy to justify the annual fee of $99, waived for first 12 months.
- 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 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
In addition to the bonus on the AA Platinum Select, AAdvantage members can earn miles on purchases through the AAdvantage eShopping portal or by paying with one of the other Barclays or Citi AA co-branded credit cards. You also can earn miles on flights, with hotel and car rental partners, and even by eating at your favorite restaurant through the AAdvantage Dining program.
Transferring points into AAdvantage
If you find yourself a bit short of the miles needed for a redemption, don't forget that Marriott Bonvoy points transfer at a 3:1 rate to American Airlines. That means that Marriott co-branded credit card offerings can boost your stash of AAdvantage miles.
Just note that converting at least 60,000 Bonvoy points no longer triggers a 5,000-mile bonus for transfers to AAdvantage. Unfortunately, no other transferable points currencies offer a direct way to convert to American miles.
Dynamic Award Pricing on American Airlines
We have written about several especially great deals, like short-haul routes from 5,000 miles or mileage discounts on round-trip awards. Domestic trips might be the most widely used way to book AA, but international journeys are also dynamically priced now. My favorite way to explore American Airlines AAdvantage possibilities is to utilize American Airlines’ Award Map Tool. Just choose your travel dates and make sure to specify a mileage price.
Say you want to head to Europe for Oktoberfest, but award flights to Munich are too expensive. On the new American Airlines award chart, economy award flights between the United States and Europe start at 25,000 American miles each way. However, those can be hard to find if you're looking for a specific route.
That's where the Award Map Tool can help. By searching for round-trip awards and setting your budget for just 50,000 AAdvantage miles, you'll find awards to nearby Frankfurt for 54k miles round-trip, which is close enough.
Related: A Complete Guide to American Airlines Award Travel Rules
Sweet Spots Using American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
Middle East to Asia (40K in business class/ 50K in first class)
Perhaps my favorite sweet spot using American Airlines miles is redeeming 40,000 AAdvantage miles in business class — or better yet, 50,000 miles in first class — between the Middle East and Asia. There's no shortage of Oneworld airline members, such as Qatar Airways or Japan Airlines, flying between the two regions.
American Airlines includes the following countries in the Middle East region: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
If you can find award availability between one of these countries and Doha flying in first class, you'll get access to the amazing Al Sawfa first class lounge in Doha before continuing your journey to Asia.
U.S. to Middle East/Indian Subcontinent (70K in business class)
Is there a better international business class product than Qatar Airways' Qsuite? All U.S. gateways to Doha now offer Qsuite, meaning you can fly between the U.S. and Doha, Qatar in Qsuite business class for just 70,000 miles each way.
Even better, travelers can continue onward from Doha to other destinations in the Middle East or into the Indian Subcontinent for the same amount of miles. Whether you’re seeking some R&R in the tropical sun of the Maldives or trekking into the mountains of Nepal, you'll only need 70,000 American miles each way to make the journey in award-winning comfort and style.
U.S. to Africa (75K in business class)
What's better than one long Qsuite flight? Two long Qsuite flights! Getting to the Middle East in business class for 70,000 miles already represents a great deal. Using an extra 5,000 miles to continue onward to anywhere in Africa is absolutely fantastic.
If your journey begins somewhere like Los Angeles, connecting through Doha on your way to Cape Town, 75,000 American miles buys you over 24 hours in Qsuite! American Airlines and its partners do not offer any direct flights from the U.S. to Africa. Even if they did, I would choose to extend the journey to experience Qsuite for as long as possible.
Europe to the Middle East/Indian Subcontinent (42.5K in business class)
Another way to experience Qatar Airways business class at a huge discount is to fly between Europe and the Middle East or Indian Subcontinent. A business-class award will set you back just 42,500 miles each way:
That means you can fly from London to the Maldives in business class for just 42,500 miles one-way. And since this route doesn't touch the U.S., award availability is often wide-open. Even more, Qatar Airways isn't the only option here. You also could fly Etihad, which has a great business class.
Related: 20 Airlines You Can Book Using American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
U.S. to Asia 1 (80K in first class)
Not every American Airlines sweet spot relies on Qsuite routes. Other partner airlines, such as Japan Airlines, offer fantastic hard and soft products and operate routes that represent great value for the miles.
One-way flights between the United States and “Asia 1” — which consists of Japan and South Korea — cost only 35,000 miles in economy or 60,000 in business class. Both of these options might look tempting, but bumping up to first class for 80,000 miles potentially unlocks even more value.
Europe to the Middle East/Indian Subcontinent (62.5K in first class)
One of the most luxurious and exclusive commercial airline experiences is showering in the sky. Fortunately, American Airlines miles can make this a possibility. Etihad Airways — a non-alliance partner with American — offers showers for first-class passengers on its A380 planes.
Etihad is slowly bringing its A380s back into service. Right now, Etihad flies the A380 with the Apartment between Abu Dhabi (AUH) and London Heathrow (LHR) or New York City (JFK). The seven-hour flight to London (LHR) costs 62,500 AAdvantage miles for Etihad first class. That jumps to 115,000 miles per person on the route to JFK.
The downside is that Etihad award availability isn't always available on AA.com. So, you'll need to find saver award availability through Etihad's own program or through Aeroplan. Then, call AA to book this AAdvantage award using your miles.
Related: Etihad Restricting Premium Awards With Partners
Intra-Australia flights (10K in economy/20K in business)
Another AAdvantage sweet spot that doesn't touch the U.S. is intra-Australia flights on Qantas. No matter where you fly in Australia, you'll only need to pay 10,000 AAdvantage miles in economy or 20,000 miles in business class.
For short hops between Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, these award prices are pretty good. But the real value is found on longer flights and flights to more expensive destinations.
For example, you can spend over five hours in Qantas business class from Sydney or Brisbane to Perth for just 20,000 AAdvantage miles.
Another option: Book a flight to the center of Australia to visit Uluru for just 10,000 AAdvantage miles. Despite lasting under four hours, the tourism demand for this flight can push prices over $300 each way. Your AAdvantage miles can save you quite a bit.
Final Thoughts
Without a doubt, each traveler has their own idea of the “best” redemption. These are just some of the many valuable award flight opportunities available through the AAdvantage program. Ultimately, the sweetest redemptions are the ones that allow you to achieve your travel goals, regardless of origin and destination.
To meet those travel goals, explore the various co-branded credit cards available from American Airlines. Credit cards like the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® and American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Cardallow travelers to build up a mileage balance quickly via its sign-up bonus and continue to earn miles by spending on the card.
For Marriott loyalists, consider investigating transfers from the Marriott Bonvoy program as well. Marriott Bonvoy lets members transfer points to other members of their household at no cost. Pooling points can be a great option when redeeming miles with travel companions, and you have the option to move these points to AA for award bookings.
If you have a favorite AAdvantage redemption not included above, let us know in the comments!
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