Earn 125,000 bonus American Airlines miles with BA transatlantic flights this Autumn

This offer has been around for a few days.  I have delayed writing about it because it is messy, frankly.

American Airlines is offering up to 125,000 bonus miles in AAdvantage if you credit transatlantic flights from British Airways, AA, Iberia, US Airways or Finnair to an AA account this Autumn.

Iberia has a similar promotion which allows you to earn Avios instead.  However, it is targetted.  There does not appear to be a way to register if they did not email you. The rules are also stricter as Iberia insists that flights are booked and flown during the promo period. AA does not care when you booked.

British Airways ALSO has a version of this deal but NOT for UK residents. Other EU countries are fine. I will look at this tomorrow.

Your dilemma

This means that, whilst this is a good deal, UK residents have a dilemma.  In order to receive your bonus, you need to credit BA flights to an American Airlines account.  This means that you will lose the British Airways tier points which you may need to retain or gain BA status.

This bonus is therefore most suitable for:

UK economy flyers, who should be crediting economy BA flights to AA anyway because AA still gives you 100% of miles flown compared to 25% with BA

British Airways Gold UK members who have already secured requalification and don’t mind the loss of tier points (but the bonus is worth less to a BA Gold because you are sacrificing the 100% status bonus you would receive by crediting BA flights to an AA account)

How it works

The promotion is outlined on the American Airlines website here.  Registration is required.

The bonus is very simple:

It is valid on all flights to or from Europe to or from the USA, Canada and Mexico

It is valid whether you fly on Iberia, BA, Finnair, US Airways, OpenSkies or American Airlines

You must fly by January 31st although registration closes on October 31st

The bonus is pretty good.

25,000 AA miles (or Avios in the Iberia version, if you were targetted) for every First and Business Class return flight

15,000 miles for every Premium Economy and full-fare Economy return flight

2,000 miles for every return flight in discounted Economy

You earn the bonus on up to FIVE return flights before the end of January, which means a maximum bonus of 125,000 AA miles, or Avios via Iberia.

It is worth noting that this offer would combine very nicely with the ‘free business class upgrade from Birmingham to New York on American’ deal that I wrote about yesterday.

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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.