American Airlines has rolled out a new way to redeem AAdvantage miles, which should prove useful for many, especially for those who only collect miles casually. While this rolled out on mainline flights as of this spring, this has now been expanded to regional jets, so let’s cover all the details.
Continue reading: Redeem American AAdvantage Miles For Drinks & Snacks Onboard
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
This is a reason to keep your boarding pass or tear it up.
"members just need to share their boarding pass with a flight attendant, who will scan the pass and pull from the AAdvantage account mileage balance"
So if someone finds your spare boarding pass in the seat pocket, that person can use it to steal 1,000 miles and get a little snack.
Also means if you credit miles to Alaska, you cannot use your boarding pass to redeem your AA miles for a snack.
I’d like to think the technology would align boarding passes with the actual flight. But this being AA, who knows.
You can buy booze if the flight is over 30 minutes, but it has to be over an hour before you can buy snacks?
People in the miles and points hobby “community” will look down on this as a “bad value”, but that’s missing the forest for the trees. Only small segment of the traveling public is ever able or cognizant enough to redeem their accrued miles for a full travel award; and an even smaller segment is even concerned with or able to “maximize” value by redeeming points and miles for premium cabin award travel. This isn’t for you! This is a win-win (probably something the airlines would have done earlier if technologically possible) - it lets “average” people spend their miles, it casually incentivizes signing up for AAdvantage (“I got a free cocktail last time, better remember that number next time I fly American”), and it’s a very cheap way for the airlines to get passengers to spend-down miles - and get them off the books - in ways that are very low cost (just the wholesale cost of the food and drinks) for the airline itself, relative to more expensive redemptions like transfers to partners or cash-equivalent redemptions .
The flight crew already know what seat you’re flying in on their handheld POS device; that’s how they can serve pre-ordered snacks and food, for example, or recognize high-status customers with freebies. The FA’s handheld device (a smartphone) easily validates that the AAdvantage number linked to the boarding pass is being used for that flight, in that seat. The only chance for any confusion might be if someone steals your boarding pass AND your seat, for a flight you’re also on… maybe a teenager who switches seats with a parent? But I can’t imagine a scenario where this is a major problem.
What happens if I'm on a fight I redeemed Alaska miles for on American and want to buy a snack with my very meager American Airlines account balance (that I only have because Basic Economy tickets on American don't earn any Alaska Miles)?
Prepping us for when airlines can have seatback gambling in the air. Gotta get us good and liquored up to put it all on the line.
Guess the next question is if we can place bets with AAdvantage Miles...
Well, it sure beats Delta’s “express service” flights. I don’t drink anymore but sub-500 mile flights on DL you’re limited to coffee, tea, and water in the AM an and certain soft drinks added in the PM. Any other carrier can pull off a full service on a 45-60 minute flight.
Many in the frequent flyer world may see this as a bad redemption option but it isn't. If you fly once a year, earn 5 miles per dollar, and earn 2500 miles per year, it will take 10 years of 100% loyalty to get a free domestic ticket, 20 years if you have 50% loyalty. In contrast, 2500 per year is enough for a snack on next year's flight.
In the late 1980's, there was one year with triple miles. One transcon roundtrip earned 15,000 miles and only 20,000 miles was needed for a domestic award. That means for every round trip, you earned 0.67 round trips. So what now needs 10-12 round trips for an award used to need as little as 1.5 round trips (but usually 5.5 round trips)
Agree that while it may not be a good deal for those that do not frequent AA it could be better than nothing.....
Just took round-trip DL flights LAX - SJC was upgraded to F. Got a bourbon PDB and another once in the air both ways. The biggest surprise was getting the upgrade as a silver and an empty C+ cabin.
So, the real question is...can I use that 1200 miles that's been sitting in my kid's account to get a beer?