Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

American Airlines free UK credit card is now offering 15,000 miles bonus

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American Airlines has tripled the sign-up bonus of its UK credit cards from 5,000 miles to 15,000 miles.

Whilst a far cry from the amazing 35,000 miles they offered last year, this is still a very good offer for a free card.

Here is the link to the application form.

AA credit card

The key facts of the card are discussed in my review of the card from last year.  Here are the key points:

The cards are issued by MBNA, so if you already have the bmi, Virgin, Lufthansa, Etihad, Emirates or United cards it may impact your ability to get them

However, MBNA has a history of allowing you, if rejected, to still get them if you agree to reduce the credit limit on your existing cards

The cards come as an American Express and Visa double-pack, earning 1.5 miles per £1 on the Amex and 0.75 miles per £1 on the Visa

The cards are free.

The bonus is triggered as follows:

5,000 miles for the first purchase

10,000 miles when you spend £1,500 within 90 days

There is NO restriction that the spend must be on the American Express card.  All of the qualifying spend can be made on the Visa card if you want.

MBNA does not like ‘churning’.  If you have previously had the AA cards, you are unlikely to receive the bonus again.  If you apply now, you will not be able to receive another bonus in the future, at least for a few years.  You will be fine to apply for other MBNA cards, however.

In my article yesterday about buying American Airlines miles, I mentioned some of the ‘sweet spot’ redemptions, such as Etihad flights from the UK to the Middle East for 30,000 miles one-way in business class.

On its own, 15,000 American Airlines miles is not enough to make it worthwhile starting an AA collection.  However, if there was a redemption you liked the look of (perhaps an Etihad First Class Suite to the Middle East from London for just 40,000 miles) and you had a way of topping them up via a points purchase or a hotel points transfer, it might be worth a look.

The offer closes on May 31st.

The representative APR is 17.9% variable.


How to earn American Airlines miles from UK credit cards

How to earn American Airlines miles from UK credit cards (April 2024)

American Airlines no longer has its own UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn American Airlines miles from a UK credit card

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to American Airlines miles at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 American Airlines miles per £1 spent on the card.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

Comments (27)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Chris Corbett says:

    Raffles,

    I have a stash of AA miles, if my wife got this card could I then use her 15,000 miles to top off my account. Do AA allow transfers?

    • Polly says:

      Maybe once a year they allow a free transfer between spouses!

    • Rob says:

      Not for free, although you can pay to transfer them – and they don’t have household accounts either.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    Looks like you’re suitably scared of the FCA 🙂

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    I am switching over my spend more and more to AA.

    As you posted yesterday, to Australia with BA in F is 300,000 – or 150,000 each with a 241. With AA it is 160,000 – but a £1,000+ saving in fuel fees etc. You can buy a lot of Avios (or AA miles!) for £1000.

    To Middle East in F, 120,000 for two with a 241 on BA, or 160,000 with AA on a better (Etihad) aircraft. and chauffeur. Again, you’ll save £500 at least with AA miles, which would (at 1p a mile) by 50,000 avios – ie more than the 40k miles difference.

    And then there is the AA biggie: the AA Explorer award. 330,000 points for 50,000 miles 1st Class travel. So Australia and back, South Africa and back and South America and back and maybe enough for a one-way to the Middle East too!

    That’s now our main target – a lot of miles, at 660,000 for two. But a great year of travel!

    And I fail to see how we can get that value out of Avios.

    (Still have my BA PP 241 though 😉

    • Jason says:

      What is AA’s availability like booking redemption seats?
      With BA it isn’t very good, for instance, to Australia.

      • Rob says:

        Same availability, with Etihad as well. However, it is pretty easy to get tickets to Oz when you have all the oneworld airlines to choose from, subject to AA routing rules.

  • Rob al says:

    What’s with the legal mumbo jumbo at the end?? Doesn’t fit the style of the site as a “casual but well researched blog”…

    • Colin MacKinnon says:

      If there is a reason, the Raffles may not be able to talk about it!

    • Rob says:

      From April 1st, there are very strict new rules on financial product sales – substantially stricter than before. There is a possibility that, in order to continue HFP, I will need to get a consumer credit licence (at substantial expense) as any discussion of whether a credit card is good or bad can, under the new rules, count as offering financial advice.

      This new disclaimer is my way of putting down a marker that I do not need a licence, but ultimately it is not down to me. I have also, for example, put APR rates into the card directory pages and may add them to articles as well.

      • Farringdon says:

        Although ironic that, as I’m reading this, the advertising panels on your website are all displaying spread betting sites!

        • Rob says:

          Those ads are usually ‘responsive’, ie they react to the sort of sites they see in your browser history!

      • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

        You should suffix the APRs with ‘(variable)’. You should also bold them as the Consumer Credit Directive makes requirements around APR prominence.

        • Rob says:

          Disclosures and the way I present credit card posts will be an on-going work-in-progress over the next few months.

          Remember that I do not make anything, in any way, from promoting the AA cards or the Virgin cards, which leads to added complexity. These are purely journalistic articles.

      • flieduk says:

        £1500 expense Raffles. That’s a days worth of Amex referrals for you :P.

        J/k. keep up the good work

  • Jordan Hurwitz says:

    If I have an existing AA credit card, can I get a bonus if I refer a friend to this new deal?

    • Rob says:

      No, no refer a friend deal with this.

      I suppose your friend could buy you a pint in gratitude though!

      • pauldb says:

        But then Jordan might have to register with the find slappers! 😉

      • idrive says:

        of course he/she can, but with her AA new Amex! 🙂

        By the way, I really love the AA although I have concentrated on other things at the moment, I will come back shortly to put all AMEX on it, after reaching my short term targets elsewhere:-)

  • GTHQ – In the Know - Globetrotter HQ says:

    […] UK Residents can get 15,000 AA miles for getting a no annual fee visa credit card and meeting a spend requirement. Ends May 31st. All the details are at the headforpoints blog here. […]

  • Sully says:

    Possibly a silly question, but with AA & BA both part of OneWorld, are you able to use the AA miles on an RFS seat, or indeed any upgrade with BA?

    • Rob says:

      No, you cant get RFS using oneworld airline miles, only Avios. And that makes a big difference, at least £80 per return.

      You can use AA miles to upgrade BA seats but it is restricted, it is on the AA site.

  • Trevor says:

    Not bad, but I am certainly glad my OH and I both got the full 35k offer last year! Now sitting with nearly 90k between us.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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