Sweet Spots with American Airlines AAdvantage Awards
Following significant changes to American’s award chart in
2016, sweet spots within Advantage have become harder to find. Similar to
recent overhauls of Delta and United, the 2016 changes saw American raise the
number of miles required across a large number of destinations while reducing a
few awards with modest decreases.
The adjustments to American's award chart and a switch to
revenue based earning across American and partner airlines has made it harder
to extract top value from AA miles. The silver lining is that American Airlines
Customer Service remains a founding member of one world® alliance,
providing Advantage members access to fantastic partner airlines that offer
superior hard products and access to every region of the world.
Earning American
Airlines AAdvantage Miles
American offers many ways to earn AAdvantage Miles. Members
can earn miles on flights and related purchases, via spending and signup
bonuses on co-branded credit cards, promotions, at hotel partners, the
AAdvantage mall and much more.
The fastest way of building a usable balance of AAdvantage
miles is to leverage the AA co-branded credit cards offered by Citi and
Barclaycard. Much like the Hilton co-branded cards provided by Citi and Amex,
having a Citi AA card doesn’t prevent you from acquiring the Barclays AA cards,
opening up earning potential not found in many other programs.
Taking advantage of the limited-time offer on the AA
Executive Card, you could earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $7,500 in the
first three months, and then double down by acquiring the Aviator Red, which
offers 60,000 points when you make the first purchase inside three months. This
would net you 135K AAdvantage Miles, an amazing haul.
An alternative to the Citi and Barclays options is via
Marriott Bonvoy. Points transfer from Marriott to American at a 3:1 ratio, so
you can transfer points earned via cards that earn Marriott Bonvoy points like
the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express or the Marriott
Bonvoy Business™ American Airlines Phone
Number Express® Card.
Unfortunately, Marriott is the only flexible rewards
currency that transfers to American while maintaining any tangible value.
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