American Airlines miles – how to earn them?

[YC]

Hello HfPers – What is the best way to get American Airlines miles in the UK? Options that I have thought of so far –
1. Marriott transfer (can buy marriott points on sale) -1.6p/mile
2. Transfer amex to marriott to aa – 1.6MR/mile
3. Purchase direct from AA (35% discount currently) – 1.8p/mile

None of these are great value and would probably just about breakeven vs paying cash.

Any other ideas?

[meta]

Rocketmiles stays, AA promo games, transferring when there are hotel transfer promos (admittedly not seen one in a while), crediting BA and OW flights, shopping via AA shopping portal,commenting on Award wallet…

Regarding purchasing points directly from AA, current promo is not the best one.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

BookAAHotels. Points earned as elite qualifying.

[YC]

Thanks – aiming to earn in the points in the next 4 weeks so probably a bit too late for some of these suggestions. The awardwallet route also seems to be closed now. Always just assumed they were an amex partner.

[meta]

Your best option is then transfer from Marriott. You get 5k points extra for very 60k Marriott points transferred. You could also do a quick virtual stay via Rocketmiles for 5k AA miles as a first time user (think this is still ongoing). How many AA miles do you need?

• This reply was modified 54 years, 3 months ago by .

[YC]

75k. I have enough bonvoy (180k) and would cost £1,100 at current sale if I wanted to replace. Taxes are minimal so c.£1,100 for a OW flight from asia to uk. Not the greatest of deals but could do a lot worst and bonvoy is being devalued. I was hoping for 1p/mile as I had that rough valuation in mind for majority of air miles.

[meta]

That’s a lot for one-way. You can almost get a return cash flight for that on some airlines. It is a really poor deal. I’d use Avios instead if you really wanted to try a new airline. They both pull from same inventory.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 3 months ago by .

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

meta wrote:

That’s a lot for one-way. You can almost get a return cash flight for that on some airlines. It is a really poor deal. I’d use Avios instead if you really wanted to try a new airline. They both pull from same inventory.

I think they mean OW as OneWorld, not one way. But agree, if a one way that’s a bad price. But then one is always gouged on one ways.

[YC]

Its KUL-LHR. Avios is 108k. I’m also not seeing the same availability… Any risk that AA shows phantom availability?

Can I also check, what is the cancellation policy for AA? Taxes are minimal so happy to lose those if unnecessary

[merlin90]

I had a LAX-LHR flight in December, booked using AA miles, that I had to cancel, and I received a full refund of miles and fees. There used to be some pretty hefty “redeposit” fees for cancelling award bookings on US airlines but they seem to have been a pleasant casualty of the last couple of years.

[YC]

merlin90 wrote:

I had a LAX-LHR flight in December, booked using AA miles, that I had to cancel, and I received a full refund of miles and fees. There used to be some pretty hefty “redeposit” fees for cancelling award bookings on US airlines but they seem to have been a pleasant casualty of the last couple of years.

Yeah I did think there was hefty penalties but good to know this has changed. Do you know likely is it that there is phantom availability with AA?

[PGW]

I don’t expect it to happen but the return of an AA earning credit card would be a welcome addition to the UK market. I’m reading the news about the likelihood of yet another avios earning card on the horizon and wonder just how many of those we need.

[merlin90]

YC wrote:

merlin90 wrote:

I had a LAX-LHR flight in December, booked using AA miles, that I had to cancel, and I received a full refund of miles and fees. There used to be some pretty hefty “redeposit” fees for cancelling award bookings on US airlines but they seem to have been a pleasant casualty of the last couple of years.

Yeah I did think there was hefty penalties but good to know this has changed. Do you know likely is it that there is phantom availability with AA?

I don’t know, I’m afraid.

[QFFlyer]

PGW wrote:

I don’t expect it to happen but the return of an AA earning credit card would be a welcome addition to the UK market. I’m reading the news about the likelihood of yet another avios earning card on the horizon and wonder just how many of those we need.

I agree, I miss the MBNA AA card.

Not sure the UK’s exactly overrun with Avios earning cards though, the 2x Amex cards and now the 2x Barclaycards? You should see the glut of Qantas earning cards in Australia (although the competition is great for SUBs). Anything else (except EK, which still has a direct earn card, and anyone who still holds the Westpac SQ direct earn card) requires transferable currencies.