I just (very briefly) became a DoorDasher to earn American AAdvantage redeemable miles and Loyalty Points, and I’ve gotta say, I kind of enjoyed the whole process. I first wrote about this promotion a couple of days ago, and now want to report back with my experience.
Continue reading: I Became A DoorDash Driver To Earn American Loyalty Points: No Regrets
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
AA EXPs delivering food to a AAdvantage Member. Road warriors take on a new meaning.
LOL. Other comments online suggest that they had to follow up with the portal after they completed the delivery 3 weeks later to actually get the points, but they did get the points...
While it's a good ROI, not sure it's a good ROI for your sense of self worth...
Especially when booking with AA hotels for all of one night can, in many instances, get you a substantial amount of base miles/LPs with a 30% LP bonus!
@ Peter -- I'm curious, how good are some of the AAdvantage Hotels offers you're seeing nowadays for one night stays? Just pulled up some properties in Miami, and didn't see anything too exciting. I am kind of desperate to get back to oneworld Emerald, so maybe I should consider a shortcut, heh...
Crazy easy to drive for doordash. You are free to take or not take whatever orders you want. You can decline anything that comes up that you don't like. Just wait for what you consider a short/easy offer and accept that one , do it, and then done, just don't turn on the app again if you never want to do it again.
It's not worth it.
My son, who is very focused, is a Dasher and he spent a lot of time figuring out how to make the most of his Dashing time given that the "best" orders go to those Dashers who have "paid their dues" and worked their way up by taking the least desirable orders over a span of time.
From a strictly monetary point of view, consider that the IRS standard mileage rate for 2025 is $0.70 per mile, so if you take only one order and it's a significant distance, that will take a big chunk out of your estimated $90 return.
Likely a bigger issue is using personal auto insurance while Dashing - while DoorDash have liability insurance for its Dashers while they are dashing, Dashers must maintain primary auto insurance coverage and Dashers, rather than DoorDash, are responsible for damage to their own vehicles while Dashing. There are also the issues property damage, etc. and I sure wouldn't want to have to deal with my insurance company if they find out that I was using my car for business while having only a personal policy.
It's a lot better internationally than domestically in my experience, although can be OK domestically.
Just did a one night stay in Zurich a few weeks ago for 10k miles/LPs (was in the 20% bonus then so 12k LPs) and was same price as if booking direct. (Was ~$500 and used AA exec so that's another 500LPs and 5,000 miles)
Have a 2 night stay coming up in London and getting 11,500 miles/LPs and with the bonus (now in the 30%) it's almost 15k LPs. Plus 10x on the spend with AA Exec (in this case it's another ~8750 miles / 875 LPs). Paying $40 more than if I booked direct ($20 a night) in this case.
Just anecdotes of course.
FWIW, I just stayed in Seoul at a decent property offering 9,800 LPs. We stayed 3 nights, but I think the offer was available even for one. As Peter said, international seems to be better than domestic but there are some deals to be had with some effort.
lol I did this two weeks ago. Very humbling. Points still haven’t posted, and I’m sure I’ll have to call in.
How about $260 for 7k (9.1k LPs in the 30% bonus) at the Mayfair House Hotel in Coconut Grove / Miami next week (on August 20)?
Or 9.3k (~12k LPs in the 30% bonus) at the Ritz Coconut Grove, same date? That's $577 though!
Haven't compared against direct bookings but there are miles to be had! If you can get the night away with two very young kids, more power to you... it's a research trip, right?!
Living in NYC these mostly happen on bike/foot... I could probably do this quicker than doing a mileage run! Probably even quicker than the J train ride out to JFK, actually
@Peter I'm confused - I'm looking at AA Hotels at a random hotel and see that it specifically calls out "*AAdvantage® bonus miles are non-refundable and don't count toward AAdvantage® status qualification". Am I just looking at a hotel offer that doesn't include the LP bonus? I also checked out that specific Mayfair House Coconut Grove hotel on the date you said and do not see anything near the offer you quoted. Do I need specific status or CC in order to get these offers?
Does Ford need a Starbucks delivery anytime soon that you could snag as a driver?
You should absolutely do this for a few weeks. It would be pure gold: You could blaze the way among travel bloggers by doing this, the shared perspectives would be invaluable, and you could show the other side of the system. And there’s miles plus LP’s. Go for it!
Why WOULDN'T you do it, just to be able to write about it? Take lots of photos. Chronicle following up to get the points to post.
Yes, you should do it. In addition to reviews, the core of this blog is/was giving advice about earning miles the easy way.
I think a blog post about your DoorDash experience is a value-add.
Y'all have convinced me! I'm the newest DoorDasher, coming to a Miami residence near you!
Any AA status = 5x the offer. Any AA credit card (even $0 fee ones) = 5x the offer. Have both it's 5+5=10x the offer. (you can see all of this on the AA Hotels homepage; in my case I have AA status and the AA executive card.)
When you go to book there is often then add-on offer like "add 1,000 bonus miles for $X". Bonus miles do not count toward LP. Base miles do.
In addition to the AA hotels mileage offer, paying with the AA executive card earns 10x miles on AA hotels spend. 1x of those 10x miles is a base mile and earns LPs and the other 9 are bonus miles and do not earn LPs. So pay $500 with AA hotels on AA exec card and it's 500 LPs and 5,000 miles (500 base, 4500 bonus).
I did it! Was super easy, but I can't see the miles tracked anywhere, hopefully I actually get them...
This is so funny! Can't wait to hear it.
This gave me an idea - would be fun for you to have a recurring post on good mileage earning opportunities like this. I use the shopping portals but I don't regularly dig through them to find opportunities like this, that would be really useful.
Some of us can’t wait for some serious international airlines editorial content once again. Click bait might well keep Ben in beanie hats and the small people in jelly beans. The resident trolls love it too of course as it gives them a platform to worship at the alter of Father Tim Dunn. However, a serious aviation blog is what this was, but now it is just a forum for wannabe international air travellers who value sliders served cold in coach.
Surely it is time to get a grip Ben!
In the words so commonly used by the resident trolls …. exceedingly dumb comment CSR, the boggle minds!
7k for $260 is way more than any seat-in flight for $260 gets you so... go for it?
@ AeroB13a,
Wow, you sure know how to have fun.
Even this year, with so many life events, Ben has posted by far the best content of any travel blogger.
Plus, I’d personally be excited to read a post about Lucky becoming a Doordasher for a day!
Hope you do it, Lucky!
No. Aadvantagehotels.
You can also book hotels through eshopping. But that’s different.
@Ben I just did a little staycation last week in West Palm Beach at The Ben (which I know you reviewed awhile back). Was nice to escape the Miami noise/traffic and the hotel/service was incredible.
Even better, it was just $750 total for three nights, earning 19.5k LPs and 22.5k miles. I'm sure there are better deals like Peter has outlined, but I wanted that hotel/location specifically and was surprised at the return on cost it generated.
Wow - thank goodness you are here to advise Ben - bullet dodged and crisis averted! LOL
Las Vegas "can be" pretty good-especially with the 30% bonus. Times are tough in Vegas now so the 'deals" are improving. BTW-"ghost bookings" are OK.
Not sure I follow your thought on the IRS mileage rate. The $90 (or 5900 miles) isn't really taxable; AA owns the miles. The only tax he'll pay will be on delivery fee & tip from he gets from DD & customer - let's say it's $10. He can use the IRS mileage rate to deduct his expenses (e.g., if it's a 10 mile delivery, he can deduct $7 in expenses). He'll pay income tax on $3. What am I missing?
Same here, would love that kind of content.
Example: I shared on a previous post that SoFi is currently offering 30k MR points via Rakuten for opening a new checking account with them. Have also done some $99 Motley Fool memberships for 5-10k LPs in the past when that offer was more lucrative than it is now.
Yeah I was so disappointed when Ben posted about earning a 5,000 Aeroplan point voucher for having a CSR. Was completely devastated when I got an email today saying it had been added to my account. Can't believe there are people here who are interested in all sorts of ways of acquiring miles and points! The shock!
Things can be more than one thing at once. This post may be a form of click bait, but it's literally click bait about earning miles and points. This is exactly relevant to this community. It's not a post about "so and so misbehaved on a flight and let's all do some virtual rubbernecking."
Do it! I Doordashed a bit for some extra money and to get out of the house during covid. Cruise around for a bit, listen to music or podcasts, make a few deliveries. Once you know an area it’s fairly simple to focus on times and locations that pay the most and have the simplest orders.
Signup and getting on the road was surprisingly simple, if I remember it was a few minutes in the app, and then an email when ready to go. It was also nice to see how it all works as someone who orders DoorDash once in a while.
To get the 10x, do I need to have status and an AA credit card at time of booking or at time of hotel stay? Was going to do an instant status match to platinum pro in a few weeks and this might end up being the way to extend my status beyond the initial 4 months I had counted on.....
DoorDash is a terrible, unethical company. It is one of the biggest donors to Andrew Cuomo Super PAC and treats its drivers in a disposable, slave like manner.
Shame on you Ben to be supporting a company that supports a known sexual predator, Epstein supporter and Zionist extremist. And that treats its workers like trash.
Let people live dude. DoorDash doesn’t own drivers - they’re there on their own accord. Sometimes even in their own accord.
How on earth are you all getting such good deals. I tried a few cities in US and Europe where I'm planning to travel soon and nothing exceeds 600 miles per booking :/
Putting aside the ethics rant and in addition to what Sel, D. said, isn't this literally the opposite of supporting them?
You have to deliver a grand total of one order in exchange for 5,900 AA miles. That means DoorDash is paying AA eShopping "something" for them to offer that consideration, right? And all they are getting in return is the delivery of one order? Feels like a bad deal for DoorDash - they'll clearly lose money on the overall transaction.
Not that $50 or whatever is moving the needle one way or another for DoorDash, but if you really don't like them (and add them to the list of "large companies that only do fantastic things for everyone!"), shouldn't you want Ben to "take AAdvantage" of them?
(See what I did there? AAdvantage instead of advantage? Ha ha ha.)
I would think it's at the time of booking - if the system tags you as a status member and having a card, you're going to get the elevated offers. Good strategy.
Glad to hear that you are curious about DoorDash. Most Dashers don’t have the luxury of being curious; they need it to make ends meet. Let me spoil your curiosity: it sucks and no one in the richest country in the world should have to do it. Have fun doing it to fly first class more and stay at more 5 star hotels.
I think it's more complicated than that, as most things in America are.
My last Dasher showed up in a Mercedes E-Class and didn't look very destitute or desperate. I drive a Honda CRV. I put myself through college as a delivery guy before apps and online ordering. I was rolling in dough for a person with few financial commitments. I was buying my friends drinks every weekend. It was tough work, fun work, good days and bad. Dry times and gold rushes.
No one in the richest country in the world should live without a guaranteed safety net (health care, unemployment insurance, disability/welfare with provided justification) but that doesn't mean we should eliminate the gig economy. For some people, it works amazingly well.
People are complicated. Some aren't cut out for certain types of work. I remember an Roman-native Indian immigrant in a cherry-red Tesla who drove me home in Manhattan once, punctuating his rant with Italian-language vehemence.
"If people can't adapt to the job, the job is not for them. F*** them. I am not going to wake up tomorrow and pretend to be a baker."
I think this is very clever because people are talking about it and it could get more Dashers as a result. I guess many people do it for a short while so the company is always in need of more Dashers. I wonder what the company's deal with American Advantage is.
Working for door dash SUCKS!!!!! The reason why they are worth billions is because they only pay their drivers anywhere from 3.00 an order up to like 15.00 depending what you do and how far you go. And 75% of ppl don’t know how to tip because DD raises the prices so high it’s hard to earn a living from it.
Exactly, I’m a dasher and the company totally sucks!! We as drivers don’t make any money, the company takes it all and we are treated like shit
I just signed up -- the link from the eShopping portal takes you to the DoorDash webpage to signup, which then prompts you to download the Dasher app on your phone to complete the signup process. The AAdvantage eShopping portal is now tracking the visit in "recent store visits" -- but there is no indication in "recent transactions." Does anyone have any experience with this actually successfully getting tracked / miles posting?
Some people will do anything for a dollar or a laugh, what rally was your excuse Ben …. Click bait?
@ Ft. Lauderdale guy -- Aside from the 30% bonus if you've surpassed 100,000 Loyalty Points.
@Santos - I have found that it depends on the city you are in and the time of day. For example, in major metropolitan cities, doordashers on weekdays are more often than not people trying to make ends meet. Meanwhile, this is less true in my experience in smaller cities, especially on weekends. Same thing with Uber. On weekdays I typically get someone driving full time, while weekends (especially not at night), people are typically just doing it for an extra buck.
Good answer Ben …. you’ll do for me as rough as you are! (British military expression and definitely NOT an insult).
OMG, instantly approved by door dash, score! By the way, @Ben, do you get to see how the customer rated you?
Anecdotal evidence is worthless and uselss. Your one example of some guy driving a Mercedes proves nothing.
What percentage of people in the gig economy are doing well?
I don't know why everyone thinks everything is click bait all of a sudden. This type of thing is exactly what these types of blogs are made for. Learning the rules, gaming the system, having fun. I'm thrilled he did this. It's so old school!
I think two things can be true at the same time:
This is an irreverent way to earn some extra miles, and also DoorDash is an exploitative company where doing just one delivery isn’t representative of the poor labor conditions some people are forced into doing.
Ah thanks for the quick reply. I was hoping to keep my status by racking up LPs instead of flying.
@Suzanne Serious question, if you are so unhappy with Doordash is there anything stopping you from working for another company?
Raising the problem (gig workers find it tough to make ends meet) is a lot harder than finding the solution.
Increasing regulation or mandating higher pay has been shown to (1) make people use the platforms less and therefore (2) reduce the number of jobs available. So some are a bit better off, but others are a lot worse off.
We don't live in a magical world where we can simply mandate better pay or hours and expect everything else to stay the same. So while the current system is far from perfect, the alternative has been shown to be worse in cities that have tried it.
@Mark: Actually, it is something to worry about. Most personal auto insurance policies specifically exclude commercial use. Doordash apparently does have liability insurance for drivers - but it won't cover the cost to repair your own car if you get in an accident. See this Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/doordash_drivers/comments/16n833v/doordash_car_insurance_what_i_learned/
I didn't see the mileage/gas used in the delivery ... and am curious as to the price of petrol in MIA ... Curious if there was any tip offered. Very fortunate there was no personal interaction so no worries about dealing with human crap ...
I wouldn't do this for 40,000 miles
Get shot at by a confused homeowner or neighbor or attacked by pit bulls
He## no.I've got LT Executive Platinum status and do just fine earning millions of miles without resorting to becoming a DD or Uber driver.Praise the lord
The craziest thing I've ever done was buying hundreds of boxes of pop tarts decades ago in warehouse clubs, cutting off the coupons for the miles and donating the disgusting pop tarts to homeless shelters.I get the mile addiction but no thanks to delivering bagels unless I am living in my car.
I did the same but for Uber eats and it got me $2,000 off the Bolt EUV at the time. Found that poor people tipped better than rich people for the most part. Interesting experience and the pay per hour from the discount was about $400. May have to give door dash driving a chance
One man’s paranoia is another man’s common sense.
The denial of reality is simply not a reason to poo-poo the comment from Saif.
Better than even chance this will require follow up with the good people at Cartera, a Rakuten company!
I guess there are no antitrust issues with one company controlling Rakuten, the shopping programs of Alaska, Delta, United, AA, Southwest... USAA and Barclays plus Amex Offers, something with Google Pay... where's the competition! Chase?
Have stayed at a number of hotels domestically through AA Hotels at highly attractive returns - generally in major cities. although havent done it in last 6 months, so unsure if things changed. for example have received 10k LPs for $400 1-night stays in Chicago at 4-5 star hotels. Note, believe highest earning rate for EPs with credit card.
Haha, I feel the same way with Hertz AI scanner. It is easier to just stay away and aviod months of potential agrivation. Sometimes the juice isnt worth the squeeze.
Will you also be delivering straight to a seat on an airplane at MIA airport?
https://onemileatatime.com/news/doordash-driver-chicago-ohare-taxiway/
It's impossible for this to NOT be a joke account.
Either it's an imposter - and thus a joke.
Or it's actually Gary - and again, a joke.
I just did my first dash today. It was fun and I’m weighing doing it a couple more times just to see what I get rated. You have to get RATED five times, not do five deliveries, so I imagine it might take a few more outings.
Can you shed any info on who to talk to and how to follow up to ensure the miles are credited? Are they trying to scam and hedge somehow to say you didn’t complete the offer’s requirements?
I did my dash a month ago, nothing showed up and I am trying to submit a ticket to AA eShopping but there is no 'receipt', so I just attached a screenshot of my first delivery. Doordash did send me a welcome kit though, which is a large red bag and the red card.
Very interesting. What do you think the goal of this promo is and who are its target demographics?
Thanks for posting.
Just checked my account tonight and saw 5900 miles/points pending as of 8/18, the day I first Dashed. This activity was not there last time I checked 5-6 days ago.
Still going to go back to try to get 5 reviews and see how I did overall!
I signed up last week and decided to Dash last Friday afternoon. For those who know the Chicago area, got a ping to pick up at Ann Sarther in Lakeview, and deliver to Norwood Park. Would have taken me 35-40 minutes to drive there (plus at least that long to drive back). I said hell no. And got unassigned from the dash. First of all, why is someone offering bacon, hashbrowns, and cinnamon rolls that far away?? I did another Dash from Dash mart on Saturday. No tip. Asshole. I agree it is a terrible way to make a living. I have a lot more compassion for anyone doing that type of work and will always leave a nice tip!
Did anyone actually get their miles for this? How? Did you have to call AA and complain? Doesn't seem like anyone is gettin their miles organically from going through the AA shopping portal.
Ever get the points? I submitted a dispute and they asked again for email receipt of order - replied that door dash doesn’t give receipts and sent a screenshot of the dasher app showing the first delivery details, waiting on a response
Submitted complaint through the eShopping Portal about missing 5,900 LP's. You have to wait at least 15 days after you made the delivery before you can complain. The form is set up to address "missing orders," although Doordash signup is not really an order in itself. So for "order number," I used my Doordash Dasher ID. I submitted a screen shot of my completed delivery from the Dasher app. I also referenced my Dasher ID # in the free text comments, as well as my AA FF #. I received a response from customer service within the 2 business day turnaround promised by the complaint process. The CSR asked me to upload the email I received when I was approved to be a Dasher. I did that, and one day later received a response from the same CSR that my 5,900 reward is now in process in a "pending" process and that I will see it posted within 3-5 business days. I just checked the portal again without waiting the 3-5 days and do see the 5,900 LP's as a recent transaction with Pending status; prior to this, the Recent Transaction tab was empty. So I assume the Pending will become final, especially since it follows exactly what the CSR said. I hope this helps everyone.