American AAdvantage miles: Some of the best around!

American Airlines was the first airline to come out with a loyalty program. In fact, they are known for having invented the concept of airline miles. Their mileage program is AAdvantage, which has over 45 million members. It also happens to be one of my favorite programs, and if used correctly, can be one of the more lucrative programs around in terms of ease of earning and ease of burning points.

The Good

1. Nice website

American's website makes it incredibly easy to search for and book flights not just on American, but also on oneworld partner airlines. The site shows nearly all availability, and is my first stop when I'm searching for flights on oneworld airlines, even if I'm not going to use AAdvantage to redeem. 

2. Off-peak awards

American normally has two redemption levels: SAAver (25,000 domestic) and AAnytime (50,000 domestic). During off-peak seasons though, which vary by region, they also have a third level called SAAver Off Peak. Take a look at some of the comparisons to normal SAAver prices:

U.S. to Caribbean

SAAver - 35,000 roundtrip
Off-Peak - 25,000 roundtrip

U.S. to Hawaii

SAAver - 45,000
Off-Peak - 35,000

U.S. to Europe

SAAver - 60,000
Off-Peak - 40,000

As you can see you can get some pretty amazing deals if you're willing to fly during off-peak seasons (i.e. Europe in winter or Caribbean in fall). Here is a link to American's whole award chart.

3. One-way tickets

This may seem like a given, but I like that American lets you buy one-way tickets. This is not always the case. US Airways and Delta do not allow this. Well let me rephrase, they allow this, but only at the same price as a roundtrip ticket. 

4. Lucrative credit card signup bonuses

American has multiple credit cards from Citi, almost all with very high unpublished signup bonuses. There are links out there for 50,000 points on their Citi Visa and Amex personal cards. The same is true for the business version of their Visa card, except at 30,000 miles. Citi will allow you to get both of these cards 65 days apart, plus another less lucrative card, the Gold card, within this timeframe as well. You can end up with 110,000 AAdvantage miles in the span of less than three months. Million Mile Secrets has a great post detailing how to do this here (note his links are dead, use the links I provide below). Unfortunately, the offers you'll see on other blogs for 50K and multiple signups at once no longer are valid. The links I've provided below do work (the 50K offer is unpublished but is reported to work) as of today's posting.

The Bad

It isn't all good with American, although in my opinion the bad outweighs the good..

1. Late booking fees

American charges $75 to book award flights within 21 days of departure. This annoys me. However I can almost always get around this, if I'm flying direct, by using British Airways Avios instead, because Avios do not have a late-booking fee and they can be used to fly on any American flight with SAAver availability.

2. No transferability from Amex and Chase

Unlike the other big airlines (Delta, Southwest, United), American does not have a partnership agreement with Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards. Therefore you can't earn American miles using points credit cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred or Amex Premier Gold, making them slightly more difficult to earn than miles for other airlines. Still though, British Airways Avios is a partner of both Chase and Amex, so this can make up for the lack of AA transferability, at least on short-haul direct flights.

3. Bad stopover rules

While United, Delta and US Airways are pretty liberal with where you stopover on international tickets, American only allows you to stopover in your U.S. gateway city, meaning the city from which you leave the U.S. This poses a problem for seeing multiple international destinations on one roundtrip ticket. Well, it more than poses a problem. It stops you from doing it. Fortunately Avios can make up for it by providing cheap tickets on oneworld partner short flights within Europe, Asia, or the Caribbean.

Wenneker Stamp of Approval?

YES

American is a great airline, hands-down. Their airplanes are relatively nice on the inside (if old on the outside), and they are working hard to upgrade their entire fleet. Their mileage program, while it does have some weak spots, is a very easy program to earn and use miles in, which makes it a great product for any casual traveler and many frequent flyers as well. 

Credit Card Links

Citi Personal Visa
50,000 miles after $2,500 spend in 4 months
No annual fee first year

Citi Personal MasterCard
30,000 miles after $750 spend in 4 months
No annual fee first year

Citi Business MasterCard

30,000 miles after $1,000 spend in 3 months
No annual fee first year