| Update: It has now been confirmed that this deal has ended, as there was always the clause about the deal being subject to “availability of bonus miles.” American Airlines has also stated the following about this offer: “The SimplyMiles 5X promotion has reached its cap due to an overwhelming customer response. We are in discussions with Mastercard to ensure our customers receive all the promotional miles offered.” It has also been confirmed that this deal will be honored, which is great news. |
It seems that this promotion is legitimate, or at least as legitimate as a promotion this lucrative can be. You can potentially earn up to 240 AAdvantage miles per dollar spent while donating to charity, which is the equivalent of acquiring AAdvantage miles for ~0.42 cents each.
SimplyMiles offering 5x bonus AAdvantage miles
I’ve written in the past about the American AAdvantage SimplyMiles program. This is essentially an opportunity to earn bonus miles with select retails when using your eligible Mastercard. You can browse the offers available on the SimplyMiles website, then you can activate the offers, and then when you make a purchase with your linked card, you’ll automatically earn bonus miles according to the offer you registered for.
Think of it kind of like an online shopping portal, except it’s based on using a linked credit card, rather than shopping through a specific link.
As noted by Frequent Miler, at the moment SimplyMiles has a special promotion (you’ll see this after logging into your account) — through December 27, 2021, you can earn an additional 5x American AAdvantage bonus miles on every purchase with participating merchants. The terms also state that this is available “for a limited time and is subject to availability of bonus miles,” which is open to interpretation.
With this promotion, you’re not earning an additional five AAdvantage miles per dollar spent, but rather you’re earning an additional 5x as many AAdvantage miles as you’d usually earn (for a total of 6x miles). This interpretation is also supported by the emails that many members are receiving, which state:
As a special holiday bonus, through December 27 or while supplies last, earn an additional 5x American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles on every offer site-wide. For example, if you earn 100 miles on a purchase of $30 or more, then you will actually earn 100 miles + 500 bonus miles for a total of 600 miles.
How good of a deal is this?
Looking at the list of SimplyMiles retailers, there are some interesting options (though let me note that all of these offers are targeted, so not everyone will be eligible for each offer — it seems new members aren’t being targeted for the best offers):
- Movie Club is offering 23 miles per dollar spent, so with 5x miles you should earn 138 AAdvantage miles per dollar spent
- Best Buy is offering 1,500 miles on a purchase of $200+, so with 5x miles you should earn 9,000 AAdvantage miles
- Conservation International is offering 40 miles per dollar spent, so with 5x miles you should earn 240 AAdvantage miles per dollar spent
Those are just a few examples. You’ll of course want to check that this is what you see at the time that you make your purchase, make sure you understand how SimplyMiles works, and also be sure that the promotion still shows as active on the SimplyMiles website. I’d also recommend taking screenshots.
American confirms this promotion is legitimate
View from the Wing confirmed with American that “the offer is as described,” and isn’t a mistake. He was told that “this is an offer from Mastercard and it will run until Dec. 27 subject to availability,” and they’re checking on how they will “inform members if the promotion ends before Dec. 27.”
So while there’s admittedly some risk, there has been about as much confirmation of the legitimacy of this offer as we could hope for.
Is this offer worth it?
Would acquiring American AAdvantage miles for 0.42 cents be worth it? Of course it would, at least in my opinion. But admittedly there’s some risk here. On the one hand, this promotion is straightforward and explicit about what the intention is. We’re interpreting this promotion exactly as it’s presented, and American has confirmed that.
At the same time, earning 240 AAdvantage miles per dollar spent probably sounds too good to be true, and I suppose there’s some risk that SimplyMiles argues that “supplies” are no longer available. However, I don’t think that argument could reasonably be made while the offer continues to be promoted on the SimplyMiles website.
Personally I’m giving this a try. I just made a donation to Conservation International. It’s a fantastic cause regardless, and I took lots of screenshots. I’ll report back on my experience (though presumably the offer will be pulled soon, so I’m not sure how valuable my data point will be for those considering this).
Everyone will have to make up their own mind as to what they want to do with this…
Bottom line
SimplyMiles has a promotion offering 5x bonus AAdvantage miles for purchases through December 27, 2021, or for as long as “supplies last.” Given that you can earn up to 40x AAdvantage miles per dollar spent, in theory this means you should be able to earn up to 240 AAdvantage miles per dollar spent.
That certainly sounds too good to be true, but American has confirmed that the offer is as intended. Everyone has to decide for themselves what to do with this offer.
Will you be taking advantage of this SimplyMiles promotion?
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