Is it time to consider a brief career as a DoorDasher?
In this post:
Earn AAdvantage Loyalty Points as a DoorDasher
With the American AAdvantage Loyalty Points system, you can earn points that qualify toward status in a variety of ways, ranging from flying, to credit card spending. There’s also the American AAdvantage eShopping portal, where you can earn both redeemable miles and Loyalty Points for purchases and other qualifying activity with a variety of companies.
So here’s a funny example of that. OMAAT reader Brandon shares with me how you can be rewarded through AAdvantage eShopping by becoming a DoorDash driver. You ordinarily earn 2,900 AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points, while currently you can earn 5,900 AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points.
Personally, I value AAdvantage miles at around 1.5 cents each, so the miles as such are worth nearly $90 to me, and that says nothing of the value of the Loyalty Points.
Keep in mind that it potentially gets even better than that. With the AAdvantage Loyalty Point Rewards program, if you pass 100,000 Loyalty Points in a year, you receive a 30% bonus on AAdvantage eShopping transactions, meaning you could earn 7,670 Loyalty Points.
This is only available for new DoorDash drivers, and you earn that reward after your first completed delivery.
How complicated is it to become a DoorDash driver?
While I certainly don’t think there will be widespread appeal to becoming a one-time DoorDasher in order to earn Loyalty Points, I also suspect a not-insignificant number of people may consider taking advantage of this. After all, it’s a decent number of Loyalty Points, especially if you’re trying to complete some sort of a status challenge (like the American & Hyatt status challenge). The redeemable miles are also worth quite a bit.
So to OMAAT readers who may be DoorDashers, any insights? Based on some quick online research, it seems that it just takes a few minutes to complete the sign-up process, but then it can take several days (or longer) for a background check to be complete, at which point you can complete your own delivery.
I order from DoorDash more than I should, so I’ve gotta say, I’m kind of interested in doing this out of curiosity, if nothing else, to see what it’s like on the “other side” of the delivery.
Bottom line
At the moment, you can earn 5,900 American AAdvantage Loyalty Points and redeemable miles if you become a DoorDasher and complete your first delivery. It potentially gets even better than that, if you qualify for the 30% AAdvantage eShopping bonus. I’ve gotta say, I’m sort of tempted…
So, any fellow aspiring DoorDashers out there? 😉
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.
In the words so commonly used by the resident trolls …. exceedingly dumb comment CSR, the boggle minds!
I did it! Was super easy, but I can't see the miles tracked anywhere, hopefully I actually get them...
Seriously?
Whatever next?
Y'all have convinced me! I'm the newest DoorDasher, coming to a Miami residence near you!
Can't wait for this amazing LP earning content!
I wonder who the target audience of this AA promo is...
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...
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!
Wow - thank goodness you are here to advise Ben - bullet dodged and crisis averted! LOL
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.
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.
Please tell me this is a joke account...
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!
Does Ford need a Starbucks delivery anytime soon that you could snag as a driver?
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
lol I did this two weeks ago. Very humbling. Points still haven’t posted, and I’m sure I’ll have to call in.
I did this back in May when it was only 2900 points. Heck yeah
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...
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.
Make one delivery to your home ; )
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.
Maybe you could even deliver to your own house?
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...
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...
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.
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?!
7k for $260 is way more than any seat-in flight for $260 gets you so... go for it?
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.
@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...
@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?
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...
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).
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.
The hotel offers you're talking are NOT through the eShopping portal, right?
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.
AA EXPs delivering food to a AAdvantage Member. Road warriors take on a new meaning.