Up to an 80% Bonus When You Buy AAdvantage Miles

Earning airline miles using the traditional method (actually flying) is just one option for growing your account balance. While it’s increasingly harder to earn miles from flying, airlines make it relatively easy to accrue miles without flying — whether through top credit card offers or by utilizing shopping portals and dining rewards programs. If these methods leave you short of your travel goals, you can also purchase miles directly from an airline.

Just two days after American Airlines’ latest buy miles promotion ended, AA has launched a newer, much better offer. Now through January 3, you can purchase American Airlines miles for as little as 1.77 cents apiece.

Here’s how it works: You can earn up to 120,000 bonus miles when you buy or gift AAdvantage miles. You’ll earn the maximum 80% bonus (120,000 miles) when you purchase the maximum amount (150,000 miles). Or, you can earn a 72% bonus (72,000 miles) for buying 100,000 miles. You can even earn a 54% bonus (27,000 miles) for buying just 50,000 miles.

The regular price for buying miles from American is 3.17 cents per mile ($29.50 per 1,000 miles plus a 7.5% Federal Excise Tax) — before a $30 processing charge per purchase — but with the maximum 80% bonus offer, it’ll drop your price down to just 1.77 cents per mile.

Here are the sweet spots of this promotion’s bonus chart:

• 10,000 + 3,000 bonus miles for $347 total (2.67 cents per mile)
• 25,000 + 9,000 bonus miles for $823 total (2.42 cents per mile)
• 50,000 + 27,000 bonus miles for $1,616 total (2.10 cents per mile)
• 75,000 + 48,000 bonus miles for $2,408 total (1.96 cents per mile)
• 100,000 + 72,000 bonus miles for $3,201 total (1.86 cents per mile)
• 150,000 + 120,000 bonus miles for $4,787 total (1.77 cents per mile)

Here’s how to take advantage of the promotion:

Keep in mind that the usual restrictions for purchasing American miles apply to this promotion, including the following:

American Airlines processes mileage transfers and purchases directly — rather than going through Points.com — so this spending should count as airfare. So, you’ll earn bonus points if you use a card with a travel or airfare category bonus. By far, the best option in this category is The Platinum Card from American Express, which now earns 5x on airfare. However, we don’t have a confirmation that it’ll count for the 5x bonus category yet, so don’t let this make or break the deal for you.

Other top credit cards to consider include the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card’s 3x Ultimate Rewards points on general travel; the American Express Premier Rewards Gold’s 3x Membership Rewards points on airfare; the Citi ThankYou Premier and the Citi Prestige‘s 3x ThankYou points on air travel; and the Chase Sapphire Preferred with 2x Ultimate Reward points on general travel.

Is it worth it?

In TPG’s most recent valuations, he pegs American miles at 1.5 cents apiece. At its best, this promotion allows you to buy 250,000 AAdvantage miles at 1.77 cents per mile. While this is American Airlines’ best offer of the year, you’ll still be paying more than our general valuation of AA miles. That said, there are some circumstances that it can make sense: first/business-class international flyers, one-way international flyers and expensive flights under 500 miles — plus, it could make sense for flyers based outside of the US who can take advantage of partner availability.

If you’re a traveler who benefits from buying miles and have enough flexibility to wait for MileSAAver availability, this promotion is a great chance to stock up on rewards. Remember that you can only buy 150,000 miles per calendar year. If you haven’t bought any miles in 2016, maximizing this promotion would be a great way of filling up on AAdvantage miles before the purchase counter resets January 1.

Plus, if you can afford the $4,787 purchase price and have The Platinum Card from American Express, you should end up with 270,000 AAdvantage miles and 23,935 American Express Membership Rewards points by maximizing this promotion. Based on current TPG valuations for both AAdvantage miles and MR points, you’ll be getting $4,505 of value from this purchase. While this falls short of the purchase price, it can make sense to do so if you’re able to redeem AAdvantage miles for more than 1.5 cents each and redeem Amex Membership Rewards points for more 1.9 cents each.

Bottom Line

While the lowest purchase price (1.77 cents per mile) is above our valuation (1.5 cents per mile), this is the best offer of the year that we’ve seen from American Airlines. For certain travelers, taking advantage of this promotion could make sense. Just make sure to use the right card to maximize your purchase.

Source: thepointsguy.com