American Airlines AAdvantage rewards program guide

If you’re looking for an airline that can take you where you want to go, there’s a good chance American Airlines or one of its partners offers the itinerary you’re looking for. American Airlines offers an average of nearly 6,700 daily flights, making it one of the largest airlines in the world. It’s also a founding member of the oneworld Alliance, which allows you to seamlessly fly to more than 900 destinations and 170 territories around the world with top airlines.

Flying with American Airlines can be improved by joining its loyalty program, AAdvantage. Applying for an American Airlines credit card can also help you score frequent flyer benefits and rack up airline miles for every trip you take. If you’re interested in the American AAdvantage program, wondering how to sign up or trying to figure out if you should, read on for an overview of this program and how it works.

Who is American Airlines AAdvantage best for?

AAdvantage is best for travelers who fly with American Airlines or any of its partners. Although those who travel frequently will benefit more from the program and have the chance to qualify for elite status, those who travel infrequently can still benefit from the program since it’s free to join.

How to join American Airlines AAdvantage

Once you sign up for AAdvantage, you’ll earn miles and Loyalty Points whenever you travel or shop with American Airlines and its partners. Miles can be used for flights around the world, premium cabin upgrades and other types of travel like vacation packages, car rentals and hotels. Loyalty Points will help you reach AAdvantage elite status, which comes with more travel perks.

To join and use this program, you’ll need to:

Step 1: Create an account: You’ll do this by providing basic information like your name, date of birth, address, email and phone number.

Step 2: Find your frequent flyer number: This ID is made up of a combination of letters and numbers and will be assigned to you after you verify your account. You’ll receive this number via email after you join the program, and you’ll find it within your online loyalty account.

Step 3: Use it when booking flights: When you book flights with American Airlines or its partners, you’ll be able to input your frequent flyer number, which will then allow you to earn rewards for that flight.

How much are American Airlines miles worth?

American AAdvantage miles are worth about 1.0 cents each, according to Bankrate’s latest points and miles valuations. However they can easily be worth more or less depending on how you redeem them.

How do AAdvantage miles compare to other programs?

AAdvantage mile valuations are roughly comparable to those from other airline loyalty programs. Take a look at how AAdvantage miles compare to miles in programs from other major airlines: 

How to earn American Airlines miles

Earning miles with the American Airlines AAdvantage program is easy. Here are all the ways you can rack up miles with this frequent flyer program:

• Fly with American Airlines or its partners

  You’ll earn miles whenever you fly with American or with partner airlines like British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Iberia. Note that all AAdvantage members earn a minimum rate of 5 base miles per dollar on flights marketed by American, but that AAdvantage elite flyers earn more miles for each dollar spent.

• Earn miles when you book other travel

  You can also earn miles by booking other travel — such as hotels, car rentals, vacation packages and cruises — through American or with American Airlines partners.

• Use American Airlines credit cards

  If you sign up for a co-branded credit card from American Airlines, you can earn a generous welcome bonus, as well as miles for each dollar you spend on your card.

• Shop online or with partner merchants

  You can earn miles through partner merchant offers, which you can get by shopping with programs like SimplyMiles. This program for Mastercard users sends you personalized offers from partner merchants like Petco, Amazon and Best Buy.

  You can also use the AAdvantage eShopping portal, which lets you earn miles when you shop with participating retailers.This portal makes it easy to earn miles quickly since hundreds of retailers participate, and since all you have to do is log into your account and “click through” the portal before you shop.

• Join the dining club

  Another option is using AAdvantage Dining, which lets you earn airline miles when you dine with participating restaurants in your area and pay with a linked credit or debit card. The program currently offers a promotion of 500 bonus miles in your first 30 days when you meet minimum requirements..

• Earn miles when you donate to charity

  You can also earn miles whenever you make a donation to an eligible charity. For example, you can earn 10 AAdvantage miles per dollar on any donation of $25 or more to Stand Up To Cancer.

How to redeem American Airlines miles

There are plenty of ways to redeem AAdvantage miles, including for:

• Flights with American Airlines, oneworld airlines and partner airlines
• Flight upgrades with American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia
• Main Cabin seat reservations
• Rental cars, hotel stays and vacation packages
• Purchasing or renewing an Admirals Club membership
• Exclusive travel experiences and services (like an airport escort)
• Charitable donations

Best ways to redeem miles

Generally speaking, the best way to redeem American Airlines miles is for flights. You’ll usually get roughly 1.0 cents in value when you redeem miles for flights, though redemption values can vary depending on demand, travel dates and other factors.

To get the most bang for your buck, look for American Airlines redemption deals. These online frequent flyer deals change frequently, but if you catch one at the right time, it’ll let you book flights to select destinations for fewer miles than usual.

As a frequent American flyer, I can also add that the best way to maximize these miles is being as flexible as you can with your travel dates and destination. This one step will ensure you find award flights for a lower total cost, which can help you stretch your miles as far as they can go.

And even though American no longer sticks to an award chart, there are definitely deals to be had and awards that let users get a lot more than one cent per mile in value. For example, you can frequently find awards from mainland U.S. to the Caribbean or Mexico for less than 10,000 miles one-way. However, you’ll want to be flexible with dates as I mentioned. As you can see from the example flight below (Indianapolis, Indiana to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic), awards on some days cost double what you’ll pay if you travel a day later or a few days earlier.

You can also find some pretty sweet international fares from the U.S. to Europe, but again, you’ll want to watch out for days that cost more than others. See the example below where a one-way economy flight from Chicago, Illinois to Rome, Italy costs more than 50,000 miles some days and 30,000 on others.

American also has a “calendar” feature (at the right hand top corner of the screenshot above) that lets you see the lowest award fare price for each day of any month, so make sure you use it. When you do, you’ll see an overview of the month’s awards for your chosen travel destination.

You can even click the arrows on either side to see results for the months before and after the month of your original search.

Redemption options to avoid

Since you’ll get the most value out of AAdvantage miles that are redeemed for flights, you’ll want to strongly reconsider any redemption options that aren’t for airfare. For example, hotel bookings made with American Airlines miles will usually net you less than 1 cent per mile in value. The same is true for car rentals and vacation packages.

While redeeming airline miles for upgrades to a premium cabin is worth considering, you’ll usually have to supply a cash copay to do so. This reduces the value of the miles used to make the upgrade.

American Airlines elite status and memberships

Like other frequent flyer programs, the American AAdvantage program offers several status tiers with varying benefits for its most loyal members. 

As a regular AAdvantage member, you’ll earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage mile. And remember, Loyalty Points are awarded separately from the miles you earn for flights.

AAdvantage elite status members can then earn more bonus miles on top of base flight miles, among many other benefits. Additional Loyalty Point Rewards are also available for reaching specific reward levels outside of the four designated Elite status levels.

Loyalty Points needed to earn each status level and elite status benefits are:

What are Loyalty Choice Rewards?

The American AAdvantage program reimagined the Loyalty Choice Rewards benefit in the last few years while also changing its name to Loyalty Point Rewards. While this benefit used to be available to the two highest tiers of status within the AAdvantage program, it’s now given out in a different way.

Essentially, AAdvantage members get specific new benefits and the chance to pick from new Loyalty Point Rewards as they reach a new threshold of Loyalty Points. The chart below shows how these awards are given out and the benefits flyers can choose from.

How long does AAdvantage status last?

Whenever you qualify for AAdvantage status, the status year will start on March 1 of that year and extend through February of the next year. Your membership year will begin on the date you qualify (or April 1, whichever comes first) and extend through March 31 of each year.

American Airlines partners

• Airline partners

  American Airlines is a part of the oneworld alliance, which means you can earn or redeem miles with many popular airlines around the globe. As you take a closer look at the American Airlines AAdvantage program, consider the airline partners you could fly with depending on your chosen destination.

  Partners in the oneworld alliance include:

  • American Airlines*
  • Alaska Airlines*
  • British Airways*
  • Cathay Pacific*
  • Finnair*
  • Iberia*
  • Japan Airlines*
  • Malaysia Airlines*
  • Qantas*
  • Qatar Airways*
  • Royal Air Maroc*
  • Royal Jordanian Airlines*
  • SriLankan Airlines*
  • Fiji Airways (will become full member in 2025)
  • Oman Air (will become full member in 2025)

  • Other American Airlines partners include:
    • Aer Lingus
    • Air Tahiti Nui*
    • Cape Air*
    • China Southern Airlines
    • Etihad Airways*
    • GOL Airlines
    • Hawaiian Airlines*
    • IndiGo
    • JetBlue*
    • JetSMART
    • Silver Airways*

  *Airlines that let you redeem miles on AA.com

• Hotel partners

  American Airlines allows you to earn AAdvantage miles for hotel stays at select hotels:

  • • American Airlines Hotels: Earn up to 10,000 miles each night
    • Hyatt Hotels & Resorts: Earn 500 miles for each stay with an eligible hotel
    • Marriott International: Earn 2X miles per dollar for eligible hotel stays and charges
    • IHG Hotels & Resorts: Earn 1X to 2X miles per dollar on all qualifying room rates

  You can also convert points from select hotel loyalty programs to AAdvantage miles:

• Car rental partners

  American Airlines has a number of car rental partners that you can earn AAdvantage miles or Loyalty Points with. Partners include:

  • • Avis: Earn at least 2X base miles per dollar, up to 500 bonus miles and Loyalty points
    • Budget: Earn at least 2X base miles per dollar, up to 500 bonus miles and Loyalty points
    • Hertz: Earn 3X base miles per dollar spent

   

Top credit cards that earn American Airlines miles

American Airlines credit cards make accumulating airline miles a breeze — regardless of how often you fly with the airline. The following airline cards offer plenty of reasons to sign up, including generous bonuses and frequent flyer benefits.

The bottom line

American Airlines AAdvantage miles are easy to earn and redeem, and they can be easily transferred to other AAdvantage members, as well as a large number of American Airlines partners. Plus, if you sign up for one of their co-branded travel credit cards or earn elite status, you can earn bonus miles and receive travel perks or discounts.

If you prefer flying with American Airlines — regardless of how frequently you fly — joining the free AAdvantage program would be worthwhile since you’ll have nothing to lose by signing up.

American Airlines AAdvantage FAQs

• Do American Airlines miles expire?

  Yes, American Airlines miles can expire if your account remains dormant without any activity for 24 months. Simply earn or redeem miles with American Airlines or an American Airlines partner at least once every two years (24 months) to keep your miles from expiring. 

• Can you share American Airlines miles with friends and family members?

  Yes, you can share miles with friends and family members who are AAdvantage members. You can also gift miles to other AAdvantage members.

• Can you buy American Airlines miles?

  Yes, American Airlines lets you buy miles. Log in to your AAdvantage account to view current prices and promotions.

Issuer-required disclosure statement

Information about the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp Card, American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp®, Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® and CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® has been collected independently by Bankrate. Card details have not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.