The excellent American Business Extra program is currently offering a great bonus for new members who register and fly within 90 days — fly once and you’ll get enough points for an upgrade within the US.
In this post:
What is American Business Extra?
For those of you not familiar, Business Extra is American Airlines’ small business rewards program. This is run in addition to AAdvantage, meaning you can double dip — you can earn miles with AAdvantage and points with Business Extra for a given flight.
Through this program you earn two points per $10 spent on eligible flights. While you’re not earning as many points as you do with AAdvantage, redemption rates are also much lower. The other cool thing is that you can credit points from multiple people to your Business Extra account, and over time rewards should nicely build up.
You can redeem your Business Extra points for all kinds of things, ranging from free flights, to upgrades, to nominating someone for AAdvantage Gold status, to Admirals Club memberships.
See here for a guide to the program, which is a no brainer to join if eligible.
Earn 650 points for joining Business Extra
As noted by View from the Wing, Business Extra has a great sign-up bonus right now:
- Register for a Business Extra account with the promotion code 21MAR650
- Register by March 31, 2021, and take an American Airlines flight within 90 days of registration
- Earn 650 bonus Business Extra rewards points
Since you ordinarily earn one point for every $5 spent, that’s equivalent to the points you’d usually earn for spending $3,250.
My favorite use of Business Extra points is redeeming them for BXP1s, which require 650 points (the same you’re getting with this bonus). A BXP1 can get you a one segment one cabin upgrade within the US. There are some fare class restrictions, but I find this a great option for securing upgrades on routes where I don’t think I’d clear for a complimentary upgrade.
Bottom line
You can receive 650 bonus Business Extra points when you enroll in the program by March 31, 2021, and fly within 90 days. If you’re not a member but are traveling in the coming months then this could be extremely worthwhile (but it might be worth holding off to register, since you need to fly within 90 days).
Will anyone take advantage of this American Business Extra promotion?
My mistake.
I have an AA Business Extra account.
The dates to redeem a coupon award is different than the travel dates.
Redemption date for the coupons is specific, but then the coupon is valid for a year.
I had Business Extra points that were going to expire in December, so I gave it to a friend.
Turns out it the actual travel dates can be used for a year after the redeeming the coupon.
Keep in mind.
I would encourage all to sign up to AA Business Extra…though be aware of recent changes.
The benefits slowly add up, but they’re great.
I use the the points to award my staff for incentive travel around the world…and crazy cheap upgrades as well.
Does anyone know if the AA flight taken within 90 days of signup needs to be paid in cash or does award travel also count? Usually, there are too many terms and conditions, here it's vague.
My email for the bonus was for 2k business extra points. All the other terms were the same. American says that’s enough for a round trip ticket.
Warning to those who have BusinessExtra award certificates: I lost one worth thousands in December because AA has NOT extended expiration dates, as they have with most other things. I am not happy, but at least they will now let you redeposit the award without a fee if you are proactive.
The BXP1 upgrade award is somewhat difficult to use because it applies only to certain fare classes. If you book an economy class ticket online, you don't know the fare class until the ticket is issued, then you have to call Business Extra to use the upgrade and this often entails paying for a higher fare class.
I'll register, but meh...