{"id":250845,"date":"2026-03-13T14:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/?p=250845\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:36:21","slug":"redeem-aadvantage-miles-gift-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/american-aadvantage\/redeem-aadvantage-miles-gift-cards\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can Now Redeem American Airlines AAdvantage Miles for Gift Cards \u2014 Here\u2019s Why You Shouldn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I like to say that more ways to use your miles are always a good thing. However, that's not entirely true, as evidenced by American Airlines' <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.aa.com\/news\/news-details\/2026\/American-Airlines-makes-AAdvantage-miles-more-flexible-with-ability-to-redeem-miles-for-gift-cards-AADV-02\/default.aspx?utm_source=News_Alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsroom_Alerts\" rel=\"noopener\">latest announcement<\/a>. You can now use your <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/american-aadvantage\/\" rel=\"noopener\">American Airlines AAdvantage miles<\/a> to purchase gift cards through a dedicated gift card platform.<\/p>\n<p>Here's what you need to know about this new redemption method, including why you should avoid it.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Redeem_Miles_for_Gift_Cards_Through_AAdvantage_Gift_Cards\">Redeem Miles for Gift Cards Through AAdvantage Gift Cards<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aadvantagegiftcards.com\" rel=\"noopener\">AAdvantage Gift Cards platform<\/a> is officially live, giving AAdvantage members the option to redeem miles for gift cards across a variety of merchants. At first glance, this seems like a potentially rewarding option. You can purchase gift cards for merchants that typically don't accept points and miles as payment, such as Airbnb. However, whenever you dig into the fine print, you realize that this isn't a rewarding option at all.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_250850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"750\/333\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-250850 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.40.04-scaled.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of AAdvantage Gift Cards homepage\" width=\"750\" height=\"333\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.40.04-scaled.png 2560w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.40.04-750x332.png 750w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.40.04-900x399.png 900w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.40.04-768x340.png 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.40.04-1536x681.png 1536w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.40.04-2048x908.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><center><em>Screenshot of AAdvantage Gift Cards homepage<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<p>At the time of writing, there were 195 gift cards available through the AAdvantage Gift Cards platform across the following categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Apparel and accessories (54 available)<\/li>\n<li>Digital entertainment (16 available)<\/li>\n<li>Fast casual and food delivery (14 available)<\/li>\n<li>Home stores (27 available)<\/li>\n<li>Kids (9 available)<\/li>\n<li>Multi-merchant (12 available)<\/li>\n<li>Recreation and travel (27 available)<\/li>\n<li>Restaurants and dining (30 available)<\/li>\n<li>Wellness and beauty (6 available)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let's take a look at the average value you'll get from your AAdvantage miles if you choose to redeem them for gift cards. Since you can't use points and miles for Airbnb stays (without jumping through a few hoops), you might choose to use miles to buy an Airbnb gift card. A $25 Airbnb gift card will cost 5,000 AAdvantage miles, giving you a valuation of half a cent per point.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_250849\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"750\/468\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-250849 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.47.14-scaled.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of AAdvantage Gift Cards\" width=\"750\" height=\"468\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.47.14-scaled.png 2560w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.47.14-750x468.png 750w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.47.14-900x562.png 900w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.47.14-768x479.png 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.47.14-1536x959.png 1536w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-12-at-12.47.14-2048x1279.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><center><em>Screenshot of AAdvantage Gift Cards<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<p>For context, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/point-mile-values\/american+airlines\" rel=\"noopener\">AwardWallet users have recently redeemed AAdvantage miles at 2.56\u00a2 apiece<\/a>, on average. At this valuation, 5,000 miles would be worth $128 \u2014 substantially more than a $25 gift card.<\/p>\n<p>All this said, the math changes if you have <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/american-aadvantage\/elite-status\/\" rel=\"noopener\">American Airlines elite status<\/a> and an <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/credit-cards\/american-aadvantage\/american-airlines-credit-card\/\" rel=\"noopener\">AAdvantage credit card<\/a>. For instance, one of our team members is an Executive Platinum member (and credit card holder), and that same $25 Airbnb gift card is available to him for 3,570 miles. That's nearly 30% fewer miles and offers a redemption value of roughly 0.7 cents apiece.<\/p>\n<p>That still doesn't make this a high value redemption. But if you fly (and spend) a lot and have more miles than you know what to do with, you'll benefit incrementally more from redeeming this way as a status holder than you would without status or a co-brand credit card.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_250905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"750\/549\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-250905 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Airbnb-GiftCard.png\" alt=\"AAdvantage Gift Cards Airbnb gift card.\" width=\"750\" height=\"549\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Airbnb-GiftCard.png 2468w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Airbnb-GiftCard-750x549.png 750w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Airbnb-GiftCard-900x659.png 900w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Airbnb-GiftCard-768x563.png 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Airbnb-GiftCard-1536x1125.png 1536w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Airbnb-GiftCard-2048x1500.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><center><em>Screenshot of AAdvantage Gift Cards<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<p>Ultimately, it's up to you how you choose to redeem your miles. However, would you rather use 100,000 AAdvantage miles to take advantage of one of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/american-aadvantage\/best-ways-to-use-american-miles\/\" rel=\"noopener\">American Airlines' sweet spots<\/a> to book a business class seat on a long-haul flight, or potentially use the same number of miles to get a $500 Amazon gift card? For most people, the choice is clear.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/american-aadvantage\/aadvantage-exchange-shopping\/\" rel=\"noopener\">You Can Redeem American Airlines Miles for Items Through the AAdvantage Exchange \u2014 But Please Don\u2019t<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Bottom_Line\">Bottom Line<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately, it doesn't matter which gift card you choose \u2014 you'll get a terrible valuation of your miles with every option. The only time this redemption method makes sense is if you have a ton of AAdvantage miles stranded in your account and you know for a fact that you won't fly American Airlines or book a vacation package through American Airlines ever again. If you want to squeeze as much value from your miles as possible, it's best to stay away from the AAdvantage Gift Cards portal.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ftoc\"><div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"toc_light_blue no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Page Contents<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#Redeem_Miles_for_Gift_Cards_Through_AAdvantage_Gift_Cards\">Redeem Miles for Gift Cards Through AAdvantage Gift Cards<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Bottom_Line\">Bottom Line<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Airlines AAdvantage members can now use miles to purchase gift cards through the AAdvantage Gift Cards portal. However, only do so if you want to devalue your miles as much as possible. Gift card redemptions average half a cent per mile, a far cry from the typical value of AAdvantage miles. Here&#8217;s what to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":242197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12054],"tags":[12776,12629],"coauthors":[36518],"class_list":["post-250845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips","tag-american-aadvantage","tag-using-points"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250845"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251565,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250845\/revisions\/251565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250845"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=250845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}