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.
In this post:
Purchase buy on board items with AAdvantage miles
American AAdvantage now lets members redeem their miles to purchase drinks and snacks on all eligible flights. The process is simple — 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 it sounds like a pretty seamless process.
Each AAdvantage mile is worth one cent toward a purchase, and items for purchase range in cost from 500 miles to 1,600 miles. As a reminder, American charges $9-10 for beer, $10 for spirits, and $10-11 for wine. Snacks range in cost from $5-16.
Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase on flights of over 250 miles, while snacks are available for purchase on flights of over 1,100 miles. The ability to pay with miles now works on both American mainline flights and American Eagle regional jet flights.
This is a nice development, and it follows American recently improving its buy on board food and drink selection. However, the airline still has a way to go to catch up with carriers like Alaska and United.
Is redeeming AAdvantage miles onboard worth it?
Personally, I value AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each, while this redemption opportunity only offers 1.0 cents of value per mile. Therefore this isn’t how I’d want to redeem my AAdvantage miles.
That being said, I think this is actually a pretty compelling redemption opportunity for many. Keep in mind that most people only earn miles casually, and might fly an airline once or twice per year.
If you’re not otherwise engaged in a loyalty program, and aren’t using an American co-branded credit card for your spending, then being able to get a free drink or snack is a nice way to get some value out of your miles, and it also provides instant gratification. It’s certainly better than letting miles expire.
Put another way, AAdvantage members earn a minimum of 5x miles per dollar spent. So if you spend $200 on a ticket you’ll earn 1,000 miles, and that’s enough for a free drink on your next flight. That’s better than nothing, I’d say!
Bottom line
American AAdvantage now lets members redeem their miles for onboard food and beverage purchases, at the rate of one cent per mile. With buy on board options costing $5-16, that means you can expect to pay 500-1,600 AAdvantage miles for items.
While this isn’t how I’d choose to redeem my miles, it’s a useful opportunity for those who casually collect AAdvantage miles, and who wouldn’t otherwise earn a meaningful number of rewards. Now if only American would actually improve its selection of buy on board items…
What do you make of redeeming AAdvantage miles for buy on board items?
So, the real question is...can I use that 1200 miles that's been sitting in my kid's account to get a beer?
Agree that while it may not be a good deal for those that do not frequent AA it could be better than nothing.....
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...
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)
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)?
Literally nobody cares lol
lol you cared enough to comment hi waitress
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...
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 .
You can buy booze if the flight is over 30 minutes, but it has to be over an hour before you can buy snacks?
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.
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.
As usual pretty bad use of miles.
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.
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,...
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.