Where to fly with aa miles
Best Ways to Earn and Burn Miles on American Airlines | To The Point | Ep 23
- American Airlines is one of the big three legacy carriers
in the United States.
As a result, many times you're gonna be forced to fly them,
even if you don't want to.
Fortunately, there are a ton of ways you can earn
American miles and redeem them for valuable rewards.
The first and easiest way to earn American miles
is by actually flying with American.
Now it's worth pointing out that American awards miles
based on how much you spend with them.
If you have Elite status you'll earn bonus miles
on each one of those purchases.
You can also earn miles by flying one of American's
One World Alliance partners, as well as other partner
airlines that aren't officially part of One World.
Like, Etihad or Alaska.
Now this is where things get a little complicated,
so buckle up.
Just about every airline that American partners with
has it's own award chart,
with percentages, with fare classes,
with distances flown.
It gets a little confusing.
As a result, if you're trying to earn American miles
by flying a partner airline, you definitely want
to look at the specific charts so there aren't
any nasty surprises when you log into your account
after completing the flight.
Another great way to earn American miles
is by using credit cards.
American actually has two different issuers
that they partner with.
City and Barclays.
By opening and leveraging some of these cards,
you can take home tens of thousands of miles
in sign-up bonuses,
but also get great perks.
Like prechecked bags, discounts on in-flight purchases.
Even Admirals Club membership by carrying their
top tier City Platinum card.
American also has many other partners.
Both inside the travel world and outside of it.
Things like the American Airline shopping portal.
The Advantage eShopping portal allows you to earn
bonus miles on many purchases at retailers
that you're already making.
The site will even offer you certain bonuses,
like 500, 1000, even 2000 miles for hitting certain
thresholds of spending in a given time frame.
Now that you've earned all of these American miles,
how do you actually redeem them?
Well the single best way to use your American miles
is for travel.
- I'd like a ticket for Tulsa, Oklahoma, one way.
- Not just on American,
but also some of it's partner airlines.
- Now I'm gonna let you in on a little secret.
Do not rely on AA.com to find all available awards seats.
Not every partner airline shows up on AA.com.
For example, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific.
Some of American's best partners cannot be booked online.
As a result, you'll want to use additional websites,
like BritishAirways.com or Qantas
to help find that award space.
Another great option for using your American miles,
still involves flights, but involves various discounts
you can utilize.
American makes reduced mileage awards available
if you hold certain co-branded credit cards.
You can also look at off-peak dates,
where American will actually discount awards
flying to certain destinations, like Europe.
Instead of paying 60,000 miles,
you're just gonna pay 45,000 miles for the exact same flight
as long as it falls during one of those off-peak dates.
Another great tip when it comes time to use your
American miles is to leverage one
of the best travel tools out there.
And that is Expert Flyer.
American makes all of it's award and upgrade space
searchable using the Expert Flyer tools.
Finally, you can use your American miles in a variety
of different ways outside of flights.
But do not do it.
You'll almost always get better value redeeming
your American miles for flights.
Not only on American, but also on it's myriad
of partner airlines.
Both in the One World Alliance and outside of it.
(airplane engine running)
To learn more about the American Airlines Advantage program,
head to the pointsguy.com.
And make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel
for more videos.
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