For years, American AAdvantage miles have been the gold standard among mileage currencies at the “big three” US carriers.
American deserves huge credit for its AAdvantage program, and I’d argue it’s one of the main areas where the airline has a competitive advantage over Delta and United. For that matter, I think AAdvantage leadership has generally done a good job trying to preserve the value of the program, to the best of their ability.
However, as time has gone on, I can’t help but feel like AAdvantage miles have become less valuable, and it’s arguably not even the carrier’s fault. I’d like to talk a bit about that trend, and also discuss what’s perhaps the new sweet spot of redemptions.
In this post:
The American AAdvantage partner award availability problem
American AAdvantage continues to deserve credit for publishing an award chart for travel on partner airlines, and for offering excellent redemption rates for first and business class travel on partner airlines on long haul flights.
The issue is, American’s partner airlines keep restricting award availability, and it makes it increasingly difficult to actually extract value. Let me be clear, this is in no way American’s fault, as the airline doesn’t have control over the award availability that other airlines release, though it definitely does impact the value of miles:
- Qatar Airways used to release a ton of business class award space to partner programs, but that has changed massively over the years; at this point most availability is limited to Privilege Club members, and even there the number of award seats is limited
- Etihad Airways first class and business class awards have equally been restricted, and at this point you can at best hope for award seats at the last minute
- Cathay Pacific first class and business class awards on long haul flights through partner programs are virtually non-existent nowadays
- Japan Airlines first class and business class awards through partner programs are like winning the lottery nowadays, and actually finding long haul award space to and from the United States isn’t easy
What I struggle with is that if you can actually find award availability, the redemption values are incredible. The question is just how useful the availability actually is. Like, want to fly from Abu Dhabi to Tokyo tonight in Etihad’s A380 first class? It’s available for 50,000 miles. That’s basically a gift… if that route is at all useful to you.
Want to fly from Bangkok to Tokyo in a couple of days in Japan Airlines’ 777 first class? That’s available for 40,000 miles, which is an incredible deal.
But again, it gets at redemptions that are aspirational because of the products, vs. ones that are actually useful in getting members to and from where they need to go.
What about other partner award redemptions? Yes, there’s a fair bit of British Airways award space, but that comes with huge carrier imposed surcharges. You’ll also find a smattering of award seats on carriers like Aer Lingus, Finnair, Iberia, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, etc., but again, availability to and from the United States often leaves a lot to be desired.
The point is that virtually every one of the redemptions that has historically made AAdvantage miles so valuable has gone from something that’s relatively attainable, to something that’s more like winning a lottery. Again, none of this is American’s fault — it all just reflects the changing industry dynamics, and the way airlines have changed how they release award space.
Historically I’ve valued AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each, though I am wondering if it might be time to adjust that down slightly, to reflect all these updates?
AAdvantage now shines for redemptions on American metal
It’s not as shiny or glamorous as long haul premium cabin awards, but AAdvantage deserves credit for having reasonably priced award tickets for travel on American metal. This is particularly true domestically and for short haul international flights, but also for long haul international flights. As I see it:
- On balance, American has better domestic economy and first class award pricing than Delta and United
- Even when there’s not saver award availability, American’s dynamic award pricing on long haul flights tends to be more attractive than that of Delta and United, on average
The issue is twofold:
- When American does have saver award space, you’ll still typically get better value redeeming Alaska Atmos Rewards points; American has started cutting off partner award space six days before departure, which limits the usefulness of this for last minute tickets
- American’s actual long haul route network is quite limited, so that’s useful if you want to travel to Seoul, Shanghai, or Tokyo (for example), but this is where American’s huge long haul network gap compared to carriers like United is really felt
In a separate post, I covered how MileagePlus miles are becoming more valuable, simply for redemptions on United metal, given how that space has otherwise been restricted. But the key advantage that United has over American is its network, as it’s so much more global. Of course if you’re redeeming to El Paso or Grand Cayman or Lima, it’s a different story. But if you’re trying to get to Cape Town, or Nice, or Tahiti, or Singapore, there’s a pretty obvious winner.
Bottom line
American AAdvantage is in my opinion the best of the “big three” frequent flyer programs, and I’m a fan of the value offered. I think AAdvantage leadership is doing a good job on balance doing what they can to make the program rewarding and lucrative.
Historically, the great value with AAdvantage miles has been the attractive redemption rates for travel on partner airlines. However, the general industry trend is that we’re increasingly seeing airlines limit partner award availability, and I’d argue that has hit AAdvantage especially hard.
Want to fly out of the US in a premium cabin on Cathay Pacific, Etihad Airways, Japan Airlines, or Qatar Airways? Well, it at times almost feels like buying a lottery ticket, while back in the day, it wasn’t difficult at all.
With these changes, I’d argue that nowadays the best use of AAdvantage miles is for partner awards that don’t even touch the United States (where availability is often better), or otherwise for awards on American metal.
What do you make of this trend with AAdvantage miles, and how do you think their value has changed over the years?
I want to offer a counterpoint to the other comments here (along with some datapoints). In the past 8 months, I’ve been able to book the following with AA miles:
2 J seats from LAX-HND on JAL A350 for 60k miles each (I realize I won the lottery here, but what a treat!)
2 PE seats from HND-LAX on AA metal for 50k miles each (J ended up coming down to 110k each but I...
I want to offer a counterpoint to the other comments here (along with some datapoints). In the past 8 months, I’ve been able to book the following with AA miles:
2 J seats from LAX-HND on JAL A350 for 60k miles each (I realize I won the lottery here, but what a treat!)
2 PE seats from HND-LAX on AA metal for 50k miles each (J ended up coming down to 110k each but I didn’t bit the bullet. PE wasn’t great but it was tolerable)
2 J seats from LAX-CDG on Air Tahiti Nui for 57.5k miles each (terrible product, but at the end of the day a lie flat seat is a lie flat seat)
2 J/F seats from NCE-LAX (via PHL) on AA metal for 85k miles each (above the published award chart rate, but still way cheaper than DL or UA)
On top of these flights, I’ve booked multiple Y fares from LAX to Asia and Europe at the published award chart rate.
Finding premium cabin deals at award chart pricing (and without crazy fuel surcharges on BA/IB) is tough, but with a little bit of tenacity and luck you can get outsized value (especially compared to DL and UA).
Definitely still finding value in spots. That being said, TATL has taken a nosedive in value. On AA metal (which, if one is at an AA hub is what pops up), J is 300-400k round trip, which is absurd. BA availability is okay, but those carrier added fees really kill the redemption value.
@ Ben -- The simplest way for American to increase the value of its miles is to make redemptions on their metal eligible to earn Loyalty Points. Is American so desperate for cash that they can't reward customers for taking liability off the books for distressed inventory? Delta and United apparently find this useful, so how is American different?
I suppose we will next be seeing a post about Delta SkyMiles becoming MORE valuable (they...
@ Ben -- The simplest way for American to increase the value of its miles is to make redemptions on their metal eligible to earn Loyalty Points. Is American so desperate for cash that they can't reward customers for taking liability off the books for distressed inventory? Delta and United apparently find this useful, so how is American different?
I suppose we will next be seeing a post about Delta SkyMiles becoming MORE valuable (they definitely are!). There should also be one about Atmos rewards becoming less valuable. After all, folks might be getting outsized value from 4.5k/9.0k single-segment, short haul AA awards, but that barely moves the needle on the average value. Most Atmos redemption prices that I see are absurdly high. Anyway, I hope this series of (two so far) posts is leading up to an entire refreshed valuation table from you!
I like to plan trips way out in advance. As I the day the schedule opens up. You used to be able to find tons of award space on long haul flights under 100K miles. Those days are long gone now occasionally you will see some cheaper ones a few months out, but buying in advance to get a deal is non existent not. That's where I am seeing it thr most
Im so confused by this piece. The sweet spot is American metal? An award from Japan or Australia to the US is always minimumum 300k miles. To fly the worst business class on those routes.
Another point this article misses is the devaluation of partner awards that happened by integrating new programs within the AA program. I used to be able to fly from the US to Fiji for fantastic prices on FJ. Now...
Im so confused by this piece. The sweet spot is American metal? An award from Japan or Australia to the US is always minimumum 300k miles. To fly the worst business class on those routes.
Another point this article misses is the devaluation of partner awards that happened by integrating new programs within the AA program. I used to be able to fly from the US to Fiji for fantastic prices on FJ. Now the price is....300k or more.
This is very unfortunate, since reasonable award prices are/were the only thing giving AA any competitive advantage.
It's incredibly frustrating, since we know there's good values there but they're almost exclusively unavailable or over subscribed.
Americans own awards are ridiculously overpriced now, eg 300,000 mi for one way medium haul or something equally dumb.
Those last minute awards that Ben quotes are certainly juicy, but unless you just missed a flight, who's making long-haul international plans for tomorrow??
I agree that the value of Aadvantage miles is rapidly declining, if, for no other reason, other than the absurd number of miles AA itself is asking for long haul international business class flights on its own planes. We're flying from LA to Tokyo next year, and round trip business class AA flights are running 750,000 miles, give or take. That's crazy.
Given that using mileage to upgrade international flights is now off the...
I agree that the value of Aadvantage miles is rapidly declining, if, for no other reason, other than the absurd number of miles AA itself is asking for long haul international business class flights on its own planes. We're flying from LA to Tokyo next year, and round trip business class AA flights are running 750,000 miles, give or take. That's crazy.
Given that using mileage to upgrade international flights is now off the table, why should I continue to go through all sort of shenanigans to try to amass AA miles? Long gone are the days where 150,000 miles, or even 250,000 miles will regularly get you a round trip international business class ticket.
2 realities here:
1-Of course miles will lose value. Embrace the s*ck.
2-Fixed rebate programs, like SWA, are a good option.
OF1944ATX -- Fixed? Are you totally unaware that SWA has reduced that fixed rate multiple times? That is the most blatant form of devaluation because no one can say it has anything to do with rising ticket prices. Instead, it is flat out THEFT.
AA isn't innocent on this. IIRC they started restricting awards to partners first (via web specials). This happened before CX and QR returned the favor.
Ben, I respectfully, but strongly, disagree with you about this not being AA's fault. To me, it is a failure to manage their partners and to drive standards for award availability across Oneworld. AA's leadership needs to see this as a problem. With fewer routes, less reliable service, and a smaller presence in key business markets, AAdvantage is how it stays competitive. As soon as members believe that premium redemptions are not available, they will...
Ben, I respectfully, but strongly, disagree with you about this not being AA's fault. To me, it is a failure to manage their partners and to drive standards for award availability across Oneworld. AA's leadership needs to see this as a problem. With fewer routes, less reliable service, and a smaller presence in key business markets, AAdvantage is how it stays competitive. As soon as members believe that premium redemptions are not available, they will look to fly (and put their credit card spend) elsewhere. As for me, I just booked a $10K RT paid business class ticket on United. I could have found a way to make American work, but it wasn't worth going through the hoops to do so as I can't redeem for JL, CX, QR, or QF F awards.
I have been able to find saver transatlantic J award space for two trips in the past ~9 months, purely by being flexible with the flight origin and being willing to position myself for those origin flights. Even taking into account the cost of positioning flights and incremental lodging expenses, these are still outsized value.
Note that these redemptions have been on AA metal; I’ve been discouraged by not finding more Finnair J space...
I have been able to find saver transatlantic J award space for two trips in the past ~9 months, purely by being flexible with the flight origin and being willing to position myself for those origin flights. Even taking into account the cost of positioning flights and incremental lodging expenses, these are still outsized value.
Note that these redemptions have been on AA metal; I’ve been discouraged by not finding more Finnair J space since their hard product is IMO one of the best in the world.
So I don’t think AA miles are truly worth less than they were if you are willing to put in the work to find value, but for the general public, maybe so.
Yeah.... On AA metal. Not exactly the aspirational use of these miles.
Better than flying in coach, sure, but not what I was looking for.
It’s not the best product for sure. But if we’re talking about value for miles in terms of cpp, it’s still there.
(One of those flights for me was on the 787-9P and I snagged one of the larger suites in row 1…that actually did feel like a decently aspirational redemption at 57.5k miles)
I have ~120K AA miles and they're basically useless for this reason. Japan Airlines flights are impossible to come by.
My experience is that you need to be flexible. Too many people first schedule the time then go looking for availability. Often at peak times as many want to go to warm climate during the holidays.
I've always gotten excellent use out of my AAdvantage miles although other than a trip last summer to SYD I've been banking them for retirement coming up in 2-3 years.
You have to be flexible... do you think people have the entire year put down or something? u want to attend an event that's occurring at a specific time, do u tell the event organizers to be flexible and hold the event when u have found a ticket? family to take care of and multiple other reasons why that old trope of "be flexible" is not realistic for many.
First off, I love your blog and appreciate your insights. However, this is a big issue for me.
The question is not whether you should change your valuation, it’s why you haven’t already.
Same issue with Hyatt, you report well on a devaluation, but how can you maintain the same valuation if you believe that it’s been devalued?
Your blog is great, but your valuations are suspect. I believe your intentions are always good, but...
First off, I love your blog and appreciate your insights. However, this is a big issue for me.
The question is not whether you should change your valuation, it’s why you haven’t already.
Same issue with Hyatt, you report well on a devaluation, but how can you maintain the same valuation if you believe that it’s been devalued?
Your blog is great, but your valuations are suspect. I believe your intentions are always good, but obviously lowering the value is bad for the credit card referral business. I think you may develop a credibility issue that you should address to maintain your reputation as independent of the referral bonuses you may get from the financial institutions whose products you report on.
In my experience, 1.5c/point for Hyatt is already too low, although I acknowledge that I have more flexibility in my schedule than most which may make it easier to maximise my cpp.
Also worth noting that Hyatt's changes weren't a strict devaluation - categories 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, B and C all charge fewer points at the low end than they did previously.
The problem isnt overall availability.
its international flights to and from the US like you eluded to. ONce ur out of the US, you can easily find flight between europe, asia, africa easily among one world partners.
Good Day Ben: As I reported to you a couple of months ago it looks like AA is not always abiding by their published chart when it comes to Air Tahiti Nui business class seating . When available the cost of a seat beween LAX/US airports and CDG is 57.500 miles + $5.60.
At this time close to departure date those redemptions are available (+ or -) however further away in the future on...
Good Day Ben: As I reported to you a couple of months ago it looks like AA is not always abiding by their published chart when it comes to Air Tahiti Nui business class seating . When available the cost of a seat beween LAX/US airports and CDG is 57.500 miles + $5.60.
At this time close to departure date those redemptions are available (+ or -) however further away in the future on the same itinerary Air Tahiti Nui make the seats available for 260.000 miles and more. So it looks like you can have access to this partner's seats well in advance if you are willing to redeem well over the published redemption rate.
Finnair used to have a lot of direct business class seating availibility between Helsinki and the US but not so much any more at ay time. Consistently British Airways business seating is available with absurd carrier surchages rates. Alternatively business seating is available in advance when one is able to take flights with 2 or 3 connection without the class of service selected being available on all the flights.
Now the availibility in economy is very good both international and domestic although all direct economy flights require a lot more miles than connection flights...
For exemple you can get a PHX to LHR economy flight for 80.000 miles while connecting flights itineraries can be as low as 21.000 miles.
To be clear I am ot complaining but I remember seeing the same happening in the past with United Airlines while until now American Airlines offering was much better.
AA has also drastically raised the dynamic pricing on their own metal and cut off AS and other partner access to more flights, not just the ones within 6 days. Tough times to be an AA flyer when they still aren't up to the quality of UA or DL but eager to match their stinginess.
You start handing out obscene amounts of miles to OPM flyers per trip based on "spend" and inflation happens..... who would've thought!
You are absolutely correct in your assessment. Cathay Pacific's First Class and Business Class award tickets from the U.S. to Hong Kong are non-existent, as are flights on Japan Airlines from the U.S. to Tokyo. Who wants to use miles to fly around in first class domestically?
My experience has been different here. I feel like Ben’s opinion is a year old now, at least my in markets. I was accruing more AA miles to use for domestic flights which have generally been quite a good value, but i’ve noticed that in the last 6-9 months or so AA redemption rates for their domestic tickets have been absolutely abysmal… in my markets.
I feel like there was a screw tightened across...
My experience has been different here. I feel like Ben’s opinion is a year old now, at least my in markets. I was accruing more AA miles to use for domestic flights which have generally been quite a good value, but i’ve noticed that in the last 6-9 months or so AA redemption rates for their domestic tickets have been absolutely abysmal… in my markets.
I feel like there was a screw tightened across all AA first class pricing and mileage redemption earlier this year… it was like they finally realized what they were leaving on the table… and how much below their competitors their pricing and mileage redemptions were.
When you combine this new change, and their awful recovery in spec ops situations it’s lead to me not flying them much at all anymore.
Domestically, not at all. Just used 15,000 miles for a trip in two months that continues to be over $1,000.
From my perspective, AA has been relatively consistent (and a boost in supply has mostly come from the exclusivity of Citi transfers); unlike Delta which has devalued comedically (if searching for J long-haul; 500K? Psh.), and United which, seemingly, has improved, recently. Where things get interesting is using Alaska points on AA metal (if there's availability, there can be outsized value.)
AA DFW-LHR today for 55k AS miles. BCN is 70k. Not sure that six day cutoff is still real.
It works in the opposite direction. Can’t get AA flights with BA or AS miles less than six days out.
For domestic AA flights dynamic pricing has been a godsend. Remember when 25k was the *saver* (well SAAver. RIP) option for first?? On the routes I frequent, I can easily get first for <15k miles one way. Same with economy. Saver used to be 7.5k for flights less than 500 miles. And 12.5k for 500+. You can get nonstop flights for 7k miles very frequently when booked in advance (including longer routes). And the cherry...
For domestic AA flights dynamic pricing has been a godsend. Remember when 25k was the *saver* (well SAAver. RIP) option for first?? On the routes I frequent, I can easily get first for <15k miles one way. Same with economy. Saver used to be 7.5k for flights less than 500 miles. And 12.5k for 500+. You can get nonstop flights for 7k miles very frequently when booked in advance (including longer routes). And the cherry on top is it’s booked into Main and is completely flexible. Sadly the 6k one way economy flights are much less common now… but still!!
This. 100%
I don’t even like AA, but their domestic pricing destroys UA/DL.
I had DL recently adjust the schedule of both flights of my F one-way award through ATL, making it a legal-to-them, but too-tight-for-me connection time. All replacements with more connection time were higher than the 29,600 miles of the original. Canceled it and got an AA flight with a decent connection time (in CLT, though) for 19,000.
I was able to get one way for four of us in November from PUJ to OKC for 8K miles plus around $50 in fees for each of us. Plently of times I can get one way from OKC to LAX and back. That's a great redemption for an almost 3 hour flight
One way to LAX for 8K miles*
I'm still finding usefulness w/ AA miles, but mostly on domestic flights and the occasional long-haul J flights on AA metal. I'm not necessarily getting them at saver level, but it's still a relatively reasonable price, so I'm happy enough with it.
With regard to close-in saver fares not being available on partners, that's only for domestic itineraries? Because last week I was able to book a long-haul J fare on AA (departing 2...
I'm still finding usefulness w/ AA miles, but mostly on domestic flights and the occasional long-haul J flights on AA metal. I'm not necessarily getting them at saver level, but it's still a relatively reasonable price, so I'm happy enough with it.
With regard to close-in saver fares not being available on partners, that's only for domestic itineraries? Because last week I was able to book a long-haul J fare on AA (departing 2 days out) for my brother and sister-in-law using Atmos points.
Can’t argue with anything said here.
I do enjoy that I can consistently get more value out of AAdvantage for than the other big guys when it comes for redemptions to fly coach on their own metal. Keeps me around.
I don't know why everyone keeps saying that JAL doesn't open first and business awards to partners anymore. They don't appear on Alaska and American because their award window is 330 days. However, for Qantas, Cathay and the Avios programs, you can usually find tons of availability a 330-360 days out.
I still find plenty of value in AA miles. AA does release some premium cabin awards on its own metal. I grabbed 4 TPAC awards tickets (on the same flight) fairly recently. Unfortunately, with proliferation of award search tools, these opportunities disappear very quickly. Partner awards in premium cabins are certainly far fewer than they used to be, not surprisingly. However, JL still seems to favor its AA partnership over its other partner airlines, so...
I still find plenty of value in AA miles. AA does release some premium cabin awards on its own metal. I grabbed 4 TPAC awards tickets (on the same flight) fairly recently. Unfortunately, with proliferation of award search tools, these opportunities disappear very quickly. Partner awards in premium cabins are certainly far fewer than they used to be, not surprisingly. However, JL still seems to favor its AA partnership over its other partner airlines, so JL awards are still available from time to time, albeit often at somewhat elevated prices recently.
I am UK based, so it's probably unsurprising that I have a decent stash of Avios. Some of these have come through BA's "Avios Boost", which is effectively buying them at 0.92p each (about 1.25 cents).
I've often looked at AA's redemption costs (both points and fees) and thought they were worth a lot more than Avios, for much the same reasons as mentioned by Alvin. I even gave brief consideration to buying 500k at...
I am UK based, so it's probably unsurprising that I have a decent stash of Avios. Some of these have come through BA's "Avios Boost", which is effectively buying them at 0.92p each (about 1.25 cents).
I've often looked at AA's redemption costs (both points and fees) and thought they were worth a lot more than Avios, for much the same reasons as mentioned by Alvin. I even gave brief consideration to buying 500k at 1.88 cents each a couple of years back.
In short, I would suggest that your valuation of 1.5 cents used to be overly conservative; given the changes you describe, perhaps 1.5 cents is now a fair valuation?
I think AAdvantage continues to be useful if you're an avgeek that's happy to spend considerable time flying. I'm based in Europe, and generally there's at least one way to get out of any port city in Europe in J/F (and since I live in LHR it's only better if it doesn't originate from LHR anyway, so I avoid paying the premium APD). I usually just lock in whatever's free, and rebook if something else...
I think AAdvantage continues to be useful if you're an avgeek that's happy to spend considerable time flying. I'm based in Europe, and generally there's at least one way to get out of any port city in Europe in J/F (and since I live in LHR it's only better if it doesn't originate from LHR anyway, so I avoid paying the premium APD). I usually just lock in whatever's free, and rebook if something else works better for me.
Meanwhile I'm generally trying to get to southeast Asia, so the "any Asian city" idea also works quite well. Especially in business class, I'd value the points at how much SriLankan/Royal Air Maroc/Royal Jordanian business class normally costs, count myself lucky if I land Qatar, Etihad, Japan Airlines or Oman Air, and only fly BA/whomever else charges carrier-imposed surcharges only if I have to. (Cathay is a bit of a write off for partner awards at this point.)
AA isn’t alone. Name one miles program that hasn’t been devalued over the past few years.