American Airlines AAdvantage Guide to Earning and Redeeming Miles | LendingTree (2024)

Dan Miller

Robin Ratcliff

The simplest way to earn American Airlines miles is to buy flights on American Airlines or one of the carrier’s partners.

The airline uses a revenue-based miles earning system, which means you earn miles based on how much you spend. This is in contrast to a distance-based system, which awards points for every physical mile you fly.

If you’re a new AAdvantage member and don’t have elite status, you’ll have a base earning rate of 5 miles per dollar on plane tickets.

There are a few ways that you can increase the number of miles you earn per dollar:

• Earn elite status. This takes time, and it’s only feasible if you travel more than 15 times per year. To get status, you’ll also have to be OK with consolidating your flights to one airline and sacrificing the freedom to shop among carriers for the lowest fare.
• Buy tickets in business class or first class. The more expensive the cabin, the higher the bonus miles. First-class fares and some business-class fares earn a 100% bonus, which is definitely worth noting.
• Pay for American Airlines flights with one of the airline’s co-branded credit cards. The pros and cons of using this method to earn miles are discussed below.

The example below illustrates how a $1,000 fare earns vastly different award miles depending on its fare class:

You’ll earn miles when you fly with American Airlines, but you can also earn miles when you fly with its oneworld airline partners. The number of miles varies depending on the airline and the fare class you select.

When you fly on a partner airline, such as British Airways, you typically earn miles based on the number of miles flown with an added cabin bonus for first class, business class and premium economy fares.

The American Airlines partners page can tell you everything you need to know about earning miles with each oneworld partner. Be aware that this changes frequently, so you should check back before you book to find out how many miles you can expect to earn.

Second to earning miles with paid flights, the most effective and consistent way to earn AAdvantage miles is to open an American Airlines credit card and use it for your everyday purchases.

You’ll earn at least 1 mile per dollar on every purchase you make. Premium cards earn 2 miles per dollar on American Airlines purchases, and some cards will also earn 2 miles per dollar in bonus categories like gas, groceries and restaurants.

The credit cards with the most attractive rewards rates have annual fees that range from $95 to $450 per year, so they may not be the best option if you’re a moderate spender. However, these cards do let you earn a big sign-up bonus that could be enough for a few free flights in your first year.

Another way to earn points for your everyday purchases is to sign up for AAdvantage Dining. This program allows you to earn miles for every qualifying purchase you make at an affiliated restaurant. You can check for restaurants in your area at the AAdvantage Dining website.

To join AAdvantage Dining, all you have to do is sign up for an account and link your debit and credit cards. You’ll automatically earn miles each time you spend at an eligible restaurant at the following rate:

• Regular members: 1 mile per dollar
• Members who sign up for AAdvantage Dining emails: 3 miles per dollar
• Members who have completed 11 transactions in a calendar year: 5 miles per dollar

AAdvantage members can get extra miles for online shopping by making purchases through the AAdvantage eShopping portal. Through the portal, you can shop at hundreds of hotels, booking companies, clothing companies and other retailers, earning miles on each purchase. There are also one-time bonus offers that reward you with a few thousand miles for making a purchase at a select retailer.

Savvy traveler tip: If you want to earn miles for shopping without going to the portal, you can install the American Airlines browser extension. The extension will automatically alert you when there are miles available on a website.

You can also rack up miles when you book other types of travel with American Airlines. Partners include select rental car partners and hotel brands like Hertz, Avis, Hyatt, Marriott and Best Western.

The number of miles varies depending on the travel you book, but it’s possible to earn up to 500 miles or more per car rental or 500 miles or more per hotel stay.

You can book entire vacation packages through American Airlines, and you’ll earn bonus miles and Loyalty Points when you do. The deals change all the time, but you could earn 20,000 miles (or more) for purchasing a vacation package with hotel and airfare included. You can frequently score special discounts or upgrades in these packages, so make sure to check them often.

You can earn AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points when you book select cruises through the American AAdvantage program. All the major cruise lines are available, including brands like Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

Buying miles should be a last resort option, as purchased miles are often priced unfavorably.

On the American Airlines website, you can buy up to 150,000 miles. Keep in mind that they don’t come cheap: The current going rate for 10,000 miles is $376.25 (3.76 cents per mile). American Airlines does occasionally run promotions on buying points, where you can buy miles at a discount or get bonus miles with your purchase. If you are looking to buy American Airlines miles, try to time your purchase for one of these promotion periods.

American has over 1,000 partners that can help you earn miles. These companies offer goods and services in a range of categories, including business products, financial services, home, health and even charities. You can earn anywhere from a few hundred miles for taking a survey to tens of thousands of miles for buying a house.

Here are a few more ways to pump up the balance in your AAdvantage account:

1. Buy or sell your home. Join American HomeMiles and earn 5,000 AAdvantage miles for every $25,000 of the purchase price when you buy or sell a home and get 1,250 miles for every $10,000 financed on a house.
2. Park at the airport. You may also need airport parking, and you can earn 1 mile per $1 spent on airport parking with PreFlight Airport Parking.
3. Stay at a hotel. A partnership between American and Hyatt means that elite AAdvantage members can earn AAdvantage miles and bonus Hyatt points by staying at Hyatt hotels. Get started by linking your AAdvantage account with your World of Hyatt account to start earning Hyatt points on flights and American miles on hotel stays.
4. Send flowers. Brighten someone’s day and earn AAdvantage miles through the AAdvantage eShopping portal when you order from Teleflora, 1-800-FLOWERS or FTD.
5. Sound off about a product or service. Everyone’s got an opinion, and you can earn miles for voicing your thoughts about products and services. Join Miles for Opinions, a community just for AAdvantage members, and start earning today.
6. Donate to charity. If you want to donate to a good cause or honor someone you know who’s battling cancer, you can earn 10 American Airlines AAdvantage miles for every dollar you give on a donation of $25 or more to Stand Up to Cancer, an organization that funds cancer research.

Of course, it only makes sense to buy or sign up for a product or service if it actually will benefit you. But if you’re in the market for one of these items or already thinking of making a purchase anyway, it may make sense to rack up AAdvantage miles at the same time.

One of the most valuable options for redeeming miles is on American Airlines tickets. You can do this online at American Airlines’ award booking portal. American Airlines no longer has a published fixed award chart — instead, the number of miles needed for a flight redemption changes depending on time of year, cabin and destination.

Since American Airlines now uses dynamic pricing, the number of miles for a flight varies depending on time of year, cabin and destination. American does have somewhat of an award chart, but lists the prices on its award chart as “starting from.” Examples include:

• Main Cabin within the Contiguous 48 U.S. states + Canada — starting at 7,500 miles
• Business / First to Asia + Middle East + South Pacific — starting at 95,000 miles

However, it’s not uncommon for the actual cost in miles to be several times those amounts, depending on where and when you’re looking to fly. It’s also possible to see domestic economy flights as low as 6,000 miles one way.

To redeem American miles on a partner airline, you can’t actually transfer your miles from AAdvantage to that partner. Rather, you redeem your miles through the American Airlines AAdvantage program for a flight on the partner airline. Not all partners are searchable on AA.com, so you may need to search the partner site to find the flight then call AAdvantage customer service at 800-882-8880 to book. Using AA miles to book on partner airlines can be a good source to find outstanding value for your miles.

On most American Airlines flights, you can use your miles to move up to the next cabin. However, American Airlines upgrades may or may not be a good value depending on the itinerary you book and the normal cash price. Here is the cost to upgrade with miles:

• For domestic flights within the 48 contiguous states, an upgrade from discount economy to premium economy will cost 15,000 AAdvantage miles plus $75.
• On long international flights, that same discount-to-premium economy upgrade could cost you 25,000 miles plus $550.
• Award tickets and basic economy fare tickets can not be upgraded.

Make sure to compare the full cash price of a flight and the cost of upgrading later before you select this option.

• You can redeem your miles for an Admirals Club membership, which lets you enter American Airlines elite lounges when you fly with the airline. An individual new membership will currently set you back up to 85,000 miles. Since the cash price for a membership is $850, this nets you 1 cent per AAdvantage mile — a low value for your miles. Note, there are discounts on the cost of Admirals Club membership if you have AAdvantage elite status.
• Luxury experiences including expedited check in and transfer, priority boarding and lounge access.
• You can also redeem miles for car rentals, hotels and vacation packages.
• Charitable donation through various partner organizations that have been expertly curated by the airline

The American Airlines AAdvantage program is free to join.

You can find your American AAdvantage number by logging into your American AAdvantage account. Your AAdvantage number is made up of a combination of letters and numbers and it will be listed prominently on the home page under your name.

The American AAdvantage program is a frequent flier program that awards its members with miles when they fly or make qualifying purchases. You can redeem your miles for free flights, flight upgrades, vacation packages, charitable contributions and more.

You can add a past flight to your AAdvantage account on American’s website as long as it’s been at least three days since your flight. You just need to add your AAdvantage number and the 13-digit ticket number from your flight.

Yes, you can transfer AAdvantage miles from one account to another, but it comes with a cost. It costs $15 per 1,000 miles to transfer AAdvantage miles to another account.

Yes, American AAdvantage miles expire after 24 months of inactivity on your account. So make sure to have at least some amount of earning or redeeming miles within that period to keep your account active.

To sign up for the American AAdvantage program, all you have to do is head to the AA.com website and select the option to create a new account. From there, you’ll provide basic information like your name, address, birthdate, gender and contact information. You’ll also answer some security questions that’ll be used to protect your account information and your miles.