American Airlines is one of the most popular airlines, and all because of some very good reasons. The airline never fails to walk an extra mile for the convenience and satisfaction of its customers. The American Airlines Mileage Plan is one of the initiatives by the airline through which the customers can draw maximum benefits from the services of the airline.
The American Airlines Mileage programme is an initiative about which if you have complete details, and you know how to use it, then you can utilise it to your advantage and avail the most out of the services of the airline. If you are keen to know all about how the American Airlines Mileage programme works, how you can earn miles, how you can redeem them and use them for your advantage, then this article is going to be a perfect guide for you. Read the entire article to acquaint yourself well with the details of the American Airlines Mileage programme.
How can you earn AAdvantage miles?
There are a variety of ways through which you can earn the American Airlines AAdvantage miles. We will discuss some of the most common ways to earn miles. After reading this section, you will come to know that there is not just one, but there are multiple ways through which you can earn AAdvantage miles. Let’s read about all the ways through which one can earn AAdvantage miles.
Fly via American Airlines To Earn AAdvantage miles
One of the most popular ways through which you can earn AAdvantage miles is to fly via American Airlines. When you are flying via an American marketed flight, you will get miles depending on the price of your ticket. The price of the ticket will be the base and not the final one, which means that without taxes and fees. Also, how many miles you will get depends on your AAdvantage elite status as well. The higher your status, the more miles you will earn. Here are the details of how much miles you will earn depending on your status:
If you have no status, you will be earning 5 miles.
People who have Gold status will be earning 7 miles.
People with Platinum status will be earning 8 miles.
People who have the status of Platinum Pro will be earning 9 miles.
People who have the highest status of Executive Platinum will be earning 11 miles.
While travelling through some flights of the American Airlines, you will earn miles on the basis of fare class and distance as “special fares”. You are eligible for earning miles under “special fares” under some special cases like when you make reservations in bulk, when you book cruise fares, when you book consolidator fares, when you book discounted or inclusive tour packages, AA vacation packages or make other bookings where the fare is not revealed.
Fly via partner airlines To Earn AAdvantage Miles
You are eligible for earning AAdvantage miles when you choose to travel through flights which are marketed by the partners of American Airlines. In most cases, the number of miles you earn depends on the flight distance. However, the exact rate of earning miles is dependent on the fare class of the ticket you hold. On the basis of the status tier, the ones at the top will earn the most and vice versa.
To have more details about how much you can earn, you can go to the AAdvantage partner-earning page and check the details of the airline and fare class you are planning to fly in.
American Airlines credit cards
This is considered to be one of the simplest ways to earn AAdvantage miles. There are many cards available like:
Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®
AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®
American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card
AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Business Mastercard®
All of these cards offer sign up bonuses as well, which are different for every card. The earning rate of every card is also different. You can check out the website for more accurate details.
AAdvantage shopping portal
Another way to earn miles is to use the AAdvantage shopping portal. All you have to do is click on the AAdvantage shopping portal while shopping online from select online merchants, and you will earn some extra miles.
If you are new to this portal and don’t know how to use it, then here is a guide to let you know how can you use this portal:
The first step is to sign up for an account.
You then have to click through the portal to the merchant of your choice before you shop online.
Instead of directly going to the merchant, if you click through the AAdvantage shopping portal, you will be rewarded with American miles and Loyalty points apart from the earnings you will receive for making the purchase on a rewards credit card.
AAdvantage Dining
Quite similar to the AAdvantage shopping portal, AAdvantage Dining can make you earn miles for having a meal. All you have to do is sign up to create an account and link the cards for dining. As you do this, you will be getting miles when you eat at the participating restaurants.
If you are a VIP member, you will be earning 5 AAdvantage miles for every dollar spent. Similarly, if you are a select member, you will be earning 3 AAdvantage miles for every dollar you spend and if you are a basic member, you will be earning 1 AAdvantage mile per dollar.
If you are wondering how you can become eligible to be a select member or a VIP member, then we are going to let you know that as well. You have to opt for email communications from AAdvantage Dining to become a select member. To qualify for VIP status, you will have to dine under this programme at least 11 times in a year.
SimplyMiles
Under the American Airlines Mileage programme, using SimplyMiles is another way to earn miles while shopping online as well as offline. The procedure remains the same. You first need to sign up for SimplyMiles. You are then required to link cards to your profile and then browse through the offers available.
When you use the Mastercard to make an eligible purchase at the merchant for which you have enrolled in an offer, you will be rewarded with some miles.
Book via AAdvantage travel partners
The American Airlines has partnered with several rental car companies so that its travellers can earn miles on rental cars as well. Furthermore, you can also earn AAdvantage miles on hotel stays and by booking vacation packages as well.
Earn by opening savings account
Opening a bank account in Bask Bank is a new way to earn miles. Opening a savings account in Bask Bank offers you the opportunity to earn AAdvantage miles instead of earning cash as interest. Before you get too excited, we would like to inform you that the miles you earn by opening a savings account in Bask Bank do not qualify to be counted as loyalty points.
Other ways to earn AAdvantage miles
There are some other methods as well to earn miles under the American Airlines Mileage programme. You can take surveys with Miles for Opinions. When you take surveys, the airline will get useful insights to improve its services, and you will receive miles in return. So it will be a win-win situation for you as well as the airline.
Another option through which you can earn miles is to donate to Stand Up To Cancer. If the donated amount is $25 or more, you will receive 10 miles per dollar donated.
The last option available to you is to purchase miles. You need to be attentive and look out for promotions that will allow you to buy miles with a bonus or a discount.
Now that you have read all about earning miles, the question that arises is how can you redeem them. Let’s know how these miles can be redeemed and used under the ‘American Airlines Mileage Plan.
How to redeem AAdvantage miles?
The AAdvantage miles can be redeemed for car rentals, hotel stays, award flights, vacations, upgrades, Admirals Club airport lounge access and a lot more! The AAdvantage miles can be redeemed for the American Airlines flights or its partners in the Oneworld alliance. Mostly, you can redeem these points by simply booking through the American Airlines Website. If you face any problem while redeeming the miles, then you can contact aa customer support team. You can choose to make your payment completely by miles or by a combination of miles and cash.
American Airlines’ Partners
We have mentioned multiple times in the article that American Airlines has several partners because it is a part of the Oneworld alliance. This means that you can earn miles while travelling with the partner airlines as well. Currently, American Airlines has the following Oneworld partners:
Qantas.
Qatar Airways.
Royal Air Maroc.
Royal Jordanian Airlines.
SriLankan Airlines.
Finnair.
Iberia.
Japan Airlines.
Malaysia Airlines.
Alaska Airlines.
Apart from the Oneworld partners, the airline has some outside partners as well, which include:
Gol Airlines.
Hawaiian Airlines.
IndiGo.
JetBlue.
Silver Airways.
Air Tahiti Nui.
The American Airlines Mileage programme is too good to be true. If you are perfectly familiar with all its aspects, then you can derive maximum value from it. If you plan to earn miles through the AAdvantage programme, then applying for an American Airlines credit card would be a great option. Having a credit card would give you the opportunity to earn miles through sign up bonuses and with daily spending.
This was all that you needed to know about the American Airlines Mileage programme. If there is anything that leaves you in doubt, then you can visit the official website for more details. If you are facing any issue or are not able to understand anything, then you can always reach out to the customer support team of the airline. You will be directed to a customer support executive who will listen to all your queries and will help you in resolving the issue. For instance, if you have doubts regarding American airlines booking, American Airlines cancellation policy, American Airlines change flight, then you can contact the customer support executive to get your issues resolved.
The airline keeps coming up with interesting offers and deals which enable you to travel on a budget. So we would recommend keeping an eye on those deals to make your AA flight reservations at amazingly low prices. So go checkout the website today! Who knows, you might get some attractive deal, and you might end up making travel plans with your friends and family?
If travelling is on your mind, then you should definitely check out the American Airlines website!