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Along with the ability to defeat basic economy, American Airlines co-branded credit cards offer a lesser-known — but quite valuable — perk: reduced mileage awards. This offer allows you to save between 1,000 and 7,500 miles per round-trip, depending on the route and the type of card you have.
And, it’s not like there are only a few airports that qualify. This new list has 131 airports listed for at least one month from April through July, with 51 airports on the list for all four months. As this list can be overwhelming, we’ve found it helpful to have maps of all of the options. You’ll find those maps below.
But, before you scroll down, here’s a quick reminder of how it works: Say you live in Tampa, FL (TPA) or one of the other 50 airports listed all four months. If you have an eligible credit card (also see below) and can find saver award availability, you can fly to any airport in the US for just 17,500 miles round-trip from April to July — since your airport is listed for all four months. For flights under 500 miles nonstop each way (i.e., Tampa-Miami), the cost is just 6,500 one-way or 13,000 round-trip.
But, even if your airport isn’t listed for a month, you can still fly from your airport to any of the airports mapped below for just 13,000 (for direct flights under 500 miles) to 17,500 AAdvantage miles round-trip, if there’s award availability on the route.
In This Post
Good News and Bad News
There are a few notable changes from prior versions of this reduced mileage award program. First, the good news: AAdvantage has finally broken its streak of leaving Northwest airports out of the RMA program. This list includes Billings, MT (BIL); Boise, ID (BOI); Eugene, OR (EUG); Redmond, OR (RDM) and Spokane, WA (GEG).
Then there’s the bad news. It looks like Canada flights are completely out of the program. I noticed that less than two weeks after the prior version of this program posted, the terms and conditions were scrubbed of all Canada mentions. However, we still had codes that would sometimes work for Canada flights. Now, those are gone in this version of the program. Hopefully Canadian flights will return next time around.
Who’s Eligible?
If you have one of the following cards, you can save 7,500 miles off of a round-trip award ticket (or 3,750 off one-way):
Or, you’re eligible for 5,000 miles off of a round-trip award ticket (or 2,500 off one-way) if you have one of the following:
- Citi / AAdvantage Gold World Elite Mastercard (as well as the old Visa and Amex versions)
- AAdvantage Aviator Blue MasterCard (not accepting new applications)
If you have multiple types of cards (i.e., the Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard and Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard), you’re only eligible to take advantage of the discount once. However, it can be stacked with the 10% mileage rebate available on qualifying cards. So, your “net” mileage cost for an economy flight could be just 7,875 miles one-way (15,750 round-trip).
For nonstop award flights of less than 500 miles, they’ll cost just 7,500 AAdvantage miles. These sub-500-mile award flights aren’t eligible for the 3,750-mile discount noted above, but instead see a savings of 1,000 miles each way. This means that you’ll pay just 6,500 miles one-way for flights of less than 500 miles (before the 10% rebate).
April Airports
AA is kicking off this version of the Reduced Mileage Award list with 90 airports for April — down noticeably from 113 on the just-expired list. Here are some of the top destinations to consider:
May Airports
On the revised list for May, there are 88 airports to/from which you can apply a reduced mileage award discount. Among the many great options, there are:
Not mapped (for space): Bismarck, ND (BIS)
June Airports
As we head into the summer, there’s a surprisingly large 82 airports on the list for June. Here are some you might want to consider:
Not mapped (for space): Billings, MT (BIL); Bismarck, ND (BIS); Eugene, OR (EUG)
July Airports
Even in the heart of the summer travel season, American Airlines has still listed a generous 107 airports for July. Here are some options:
Not mapped (for space): Bismarck, ND (BIS)
How To Book
Once you’ve found MileSAAver award availability on American Airlines’ website, call American Airlines at 1-800-882-8880 — or your elite reservations number, if applicable — to book the award ticket. As these awards aren’t available for booking online, the terms and conditions state that the standard $30 phone-booking fee will be waived. However, if you book through an airport agent or AA travel center, a booking fee of $35 will apply.
For April–July 2018 reduced mileage awards, the discount codes that you’ll have to provide the agent for the larger discount are:
And for the smaller discount:
Tips
1. The discount applies to flights both to and from the listed airports. I periodically get an AAgent that insists otherwise, so I have to employ the HUCA technique (Hang Up Call Again). American Airlines agents are instructed to only apply the discount for flights inside the United States to/from the listed airports. So, unfortunately, this keeps you from applying this discount for flights between a listed airport and Europe, Asia or even the Caribbean or Canada.
2. Unfortunately the discount only applies to American Airlines-operated flights; Alaska-operated flights don’t qualify for the discount.
3. The airports for April-May previously covered aren’t necessarily still available. Discounted award flights to/from the airports on this list had to be booked by March 31. Make sure to book award flights for the airports listed above before May 31 to avoid missing out. The list of airports for June and July will likely change on June 1.
4. The $75 close-in booking fee applies for travel within 21 days. This fee is waived when American Airlines Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum elites use miles from their account.
5. Reduced mileage award discounts codes can be applied to domestic business and first-class awards. The savings of 7,500/2,000 (5,000/1,000 for lesser cards) miles are the same regardless of the cabin booked.
Source: thepointsguy.com