25% bonus when you convert hotel points to American Airlines

If you have an American Airlines AAdvantage account, or are looking for a home for a large pile of hotel loyalty points you feel you may never use, this promotion may be of interest.

Until March 15th, American Airlines is offering a 25% bonus when you convert points from the following schemes:

Best Western (usually 5:1)

Choice Hotels (5:1)

Hilton (20:3)

Hyatt (5:2)

IHG (5:1)

Marriott (from 5:1)

Club Carlson (10:1)

Wyndham (5:1)

The missing one is Starwood Preferred Guest.  This is a shame as Starwood has the most generous airline conversion rate of all at 1 : 1, or 1 : 1.25 if you convert in chunks of 20,000 SPG points.  Melia, La Quinta and Langham are also not participating.

Marriott’s ‘hotel and air’ packages are also excluded – only straight transfers of Marriott Rewards points will get the bonus.

A 25% bonus is never enough to make a bad deal into a great deal, but if you had been thinking about topping up an American Airlines account then this is a decent option.

The conversion must be ‘initiated’ by midnight on March 15th – it doesn’t matter how long the miles take to reach AA.

Key uses of AA miles include NO FUEL SURCHARGES on transatlantic flights as long as you are on an AA or US Airways plane and their generous redemption rates (60,000 miles return in Business or 80,000 in First) from Europe to the Middle East on BA, Etihad or a oneworld airline.

Full details can be found on the American Airlines website here.

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How to earn American Airlines miles from UK credit cards (June 2021)

American Airlines no longer has its own UK credit card.

There are, however, still ways of earning American Airlines miles from UK credit cards. 

The best route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to American Airlines miles at the rate of 3:1. You receive an additional 5,000 miles bonus if you convert 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points at once.

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. This will increase to 0.83 AA miles per £1 if you convert Bonvoy points in chunks of 60,000 points.

You can apply here.