#4 Among Airlines
Point Value
1.40 ¢
Hobby Score
7.3
American Airlines is a great utility point system.
American Airlines Miles associated alliance is oneworld Alliance
Visit oneworld Alliance
You can earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles in several ways. The most common and rewarding is by flying with American Airlines or one of its partners. You can also quickly build your balance through AAdvantage credit cards or by transferring Citi ThankYou Points to American Airlines.
You’ll earn 5 miles per dollar spent on flights marketed by American Airlines or select partners. Taxes and fees don’t count toward mileage earnings. Basic Economy fares earn fewer miles—2 per dollar—so keep that in mind if you want to maximize rewards.
AAdvantage elite members earn bonus miles based on their tier level:
Tickets that don’t earn miles include:
When you book flights on partner airlines through American Airlines, you can still earn AAdvantage miles. Earning rates vary by partner, so check the partner page before booking to confirm how many miles you’ll earn for your fare type and cabin class.
The other top way to earn American Airlines miles is through a co-branded credit card. American Airlines partners with both Citi and Barclays to issue AAdvantage miles-earning cards. Each offers varying sign-up bonuses, which provide most of the miles you’ll earn when opening a new card.
American Airlines is a transfer partner of Citi, so opening certain Citi cards lets you transfer points to American to top off your balance or book flights.
Eligible cards include:
If you have any other Citi card, you can’t transfer points to AAdvantage. Citi is the only major credit card issuer that partners with American.
Special Offers Related to American Airlines Miles. Click the arrow to see more.
- Citi Premier MasterCard - Limited Time Offer - 75,000 Points, after spending $4000 in 3 months, $95 Annual fee.
- Citi AAdvantage Platinum - Special Offer - $75,000 AA Miles, after spending $3500 in 4 months, $0 Annual fee for the first year, then $99.
- Chase Sapphire Visa - Limited Time Offer - 80,000 Points, after spending $4000 in 3 months, $95 Annual fee.
- Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard - Limited Time Offer - 70,000 Points, after spending $2000 in 3 months, $89 Annual fee.
Citi has an awesome sign up offer on it's AAdvantage American Airlines Executive World Elite Mastercard. Earn 85,000 bonus miles after spending $6500 in 3 months. And a limited time Admirals Club membership comes with this card - that's up to $650 value to help off-set the $450 annual fee.
AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard has a new limited time offer. Earn 80,000 miles after spending $2000 in 3 months, $95 Annual fee.
AAdvantage Citi card is offering a 60,000 miles sign up bonus after spending $3000 in 3 months with a $0 annual fee for the first year and then $99 after that.
The best way to redeem your American Airlines AAdvantage miles is to book award flights. On the American Airlines home page, check the Redeem miles box when searching.
Discover your points' highest-value redemption options. Use the filters to find the optimal sweet spot for your next trip.
Searching on AA.com doesn’t unveil all partner booking options. Check for saver award space on a partner airline, write down all the flight information, then call American to verify space and price to book the award ticket
British Airways is notorious for high surcharges and fees, so try booking award flights directly on American metal or on Iberia or Finnair instead
American has a very cool feature called the Miles Finder Map that allows you to search for all mileage redemptions from your departure city. It doesn’t show real-time award availability, but it’s a good starting point for finding out what is possible
When searching for award flights, after entering your flight details and clicking “Search,” you can click on the calendar view to view prices by month. This is a fast way to find the lowest prices if you have date flexibility
We rank American Airlines as the top airline loyalty program. AAdvantage miles are for those who fly American regularly and/or live near one of their hubs. The sweet spot redemptions are typically with American’s partner airlines, so it’s important that you have some experience in the points and miles world to be able to maximize your miles.
With a variety of co-branded credit cards offered by two different banks (Citi and Barclays), you can rack up a good amount of miles. And with Citi as a transfer partner of American, options are even better—though Citi only has two cards that have full transfer potential.
Though we think highly of American Airlines miles, this doesn’t mean the program is without faults. While partner awards offer the best value for your miles, finding availability can be time-consuming and often frustrating. It’s not uncommon to find a redemption with a partner that doesn’t show up on American’s site. You’ll then have to call American to verify space and pricing and book the flight.
You’ll find the best deals on premium cabin flights, typically on international routes, but it’s hard to consistently find good redemptions. The addition of Citi as a transfer partner makes collecting miles easier, though.
American Airlines has four tiers of elite status. You must earn Loyalty Points during a 12-month qualification period (March–February) to reach each elite status level for the following year.
You can earn Loyalty Points in a variety of ways, but the most common are:
Each eligible mile you earn also earns one Loyalty Point.
Exceptions include:
Here’s what it takes to qualify for each American Airlines elite status tier—and what you’ll earn along the way
Beyond elite status, you can unlock additional rewards by reaching specific Loyalty Point milestones during the March–February qualification period
Since any points earned are tied to your American Airlines account and not to a specific credit card, canceling a card won’t impact your miles. As long as you have some type of activity on your account, such as redeeming or earning miles through spending or flying, your points will remain active.
If there is no activity on your account for 24 months, your miles will expire.
