American AAdvantage constantly has promotions on purchased miles. With it now being a new month, the program has launched its latest offer.
In this post:
American AAdvantage promo on purchased miles
Through Thursday, September 30, 2021, American AAdvantage is offering up to a 75% bonus on purchased miles. The bonus is tiered, and you get a bigger percentage bonus the more miles you buy, as follows:
- Buy 2,000-9,000 miles, get a 5% bonus
- Buy 10,000-24,000 miles, get a 10% bonus
- Buy 25,000-59,000 miles, get a 30% bonus
- Buy 60,000-89,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
- Buy 90,000-124,000 miles, get a 60% bonus
- Buy 125,000-150,000 miles, get a 75% bonus
If you max out this promotion you can purchase a total of 262,500 AAdvantage miles (including 112,500 bonus miles) for $4,837.50, which is a rate of 1.84 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 on the lower end of the pricing spectrum — it’s very similar to the deal we saw in August, but is otherwise better than the promotions we saw for most of the spring and summer.
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 United States 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 |
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 |
|---|---|
5x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on airfare purchased directly from airlines or through Amex Travel, on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year | |
5x ThankYou points per dollar spent | |
3x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent | |
3x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent | |
3x ThankYou points per dollar spent | |
2x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent | |
2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases | |
2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases | |
2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases | |
2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases |
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:
- There are excellent welcome bonuses on co-branded American Airlines AAdvantage Cards
- Through November 13, 2021, Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to American AAdvantage, which is a great opportunity
- 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 75% bonus on purchased miles, brining the cost per purchased mile to 1.84 cents. This is among the better promotions we’ve seen from the AAdvantage program in a while, so this promotion could seriously be worth considering with a short term use in mind.
Do you plan on buying American miles with this promotion?
Interesting