American AAdvantage constantly has promotions on purchased miles, and the program has just launched its latest promotion.
American AAdvantage promo on purchased miles
Through Monday, May 31, 2021, American AAdvantage is offering a bonus on purchased miles. The bonus is tiered, and you receive a bigger bonus the more miles you buy, as follows:
- Buy 15,000-24,000 miles, get a 10% bonus
- Buy 25,000-49,000 miles, get a 20% bonus
- Buy 50,00-99,000 miles, get a 25% bonus
- Buy 100,00-124,000 miles, get a 30% bonus
- Buy 125,000-149,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
- Buy 150,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
If you max out this promotion you can purchase a total of 225,000 AAdvantage miles (including the 50% bonus) for $4,837.50, which is a rate of 2.15 cents per AAdvantage mile.
As usual, AAdvantage accounts less than 30 days old aren’t eligible to purchase miles.
As far as American’s bonuses and discounts on purchased miles go, the program usually charges ~1.7-2.3 cents per mile during a promotion. So this is towards the higher end of that pricing spectrum, especially when you consider that you need to buy the full 150,000 miles (pre-bonus) to get the best deal. I’d avoid this deal if at all possible.
Is buying American AAdvantage miles a good deal?
Personally I value American AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each. While American significantly devalued its award chart a few years back, there are still some excellent uses of AAdvantage miles, especially for travel in business class on partner airlines.
As a reminder, here’s the cost of first and business class awards originating in the US under the current program:
| Contiguous 48 U.S. To: | Business Class | First Class |
|---|---|---|
| Contiguous 48 U.S. States | 25,000 | 50,000 |
| Canada & Alaska | 30,000 | 55,000 |
| Hawaii | 40,000 | 65,000 |
| Caribbean | 27,500 | 52,500 |
| Mexico | 27,500 | 52,500 |
| Central America | 27,500 | 52,500 |
| South America Zone 1 | 30,000 | 55,000 |
| South America Zone 2 | 57,500 | 85,000 |
| Europe | 57,500 | 85,000 |
| Middle East / India | 70,000 | 115,000 |
| Africa | 75,000 | 120,000 |
| Asia Zone 1 | 60,000 | 80,000 |
| Asia Zone 2 | 70,000 | 110,000 |
| South Pacific | 80,000 | 110,000 |
Qatar Airways business class continues to be a great use of American miles
I find the cost of business class redemptions to still be reasonable in most cases. There are instances where it could make sense to pick up miles during a promotion with a short term use in mind.
For example, I’ve redeemed 75,000 AAdvantage miles for a one-way Qatar Airways business class ticket from Cape Town to the US, which I consider to be a spectacular value.
Which credit card should you buy miles with?
American processes mileage purchases directly, which means the purchase of miles does qualify as airfare spending. Therefore you’ll want to consider using one of the following cards for your purchase, since you’d earn the following bonuses for airfare:
| Card | Points earned on airfare spend |
|---|---|
| The Platinum Card® from American Express | 5x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent |
| Citi Prestige Card | 5x ThankYou points per dollar spent |
| American Express® Gold Card | 3x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® | 3x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent |
| Citi Premier® Card | 3x ThankYou points per dollar spent |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | 2x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® | 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases |
| CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® | 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® | 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases |
| American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card | 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases |
Redeem American miles for JAL business class
For example, I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so I view that as an 8.5% return on this spending if you use The Platinum Card® from American Express (review).
Other great ways to earn American miles
There are lots of great ways to earn American miles aside from outright buying them. At the moment there are excellent welcome bonuses on co-branded American Airlines AAdvantage Cards, as follows:
On top of that, you can earn AAdvantage miles with a Bask Savings Account.
Bottom line
American AAdvantage has just launched its latest promotion on purchased miles. The program is offering up to a 50% bonus on purchased miles, brining the cost per purchased mile to 2.15 cents. While there are cases where buying AAdvantage miles could represent a good deal, I certainly wouldn’t buy them speculatively at this price, as this is among the higher costs we’ve seen.
Do you plan on buying American miles with this promotion?
Come on.
Cind – are you not enjoying posts about aspirational international first/business class redemptions, given that you can’t… yunno… fly internationally?
Since it is just a (maximum) 50% bonus, would it kill AA on this occasion to drop the tiers and offer a flat 50% bonus irrespective of how many miles one bought?