Need more American Airlines miles for an upcoming trip?
Via The Points Guy, you can earn up to 100,000 bonus American Airlines miles when you buy (or gift!) American Airlines miles through November 28, 2016.
The more miles you buy, the more bonus miles you’ll earn.
The More American Airlines Miles You Buy, the More Bonus Miles You’ll Earn!
I’ll share the details of this offer. And help you decide whether it makes sense for you.
Buy American Airlines Miles for Less
Link: Buy American Airlines Miles Promotion
Through November 28, 2016, you can get up to 100,000 bonus American Airlines miles when you buy or gift American Airlines miles.
You must purchase a minimum of 10,000 American Airlines miles to qualify for a bonus. And the more miles you buy, the bigger bonus you’ll earn.
Just remember, you can only buy and receive a maximum of 150,000 American Airlines miles per calendar year.
Here’s how the bonus works:
- Buy 10,000 to 24,000 American Airlines miles – Get 2,500 bonus American Airlines Miles
- Buy 25,000 to 49,000 American Airlines miles – Get 7,500 bonus American Airlines Miles
- Buy 50,000 to 74,000 American Airlines miles – Get 22,500 bonus American Airlines Miles
- Buy 75,000 to 99,000 American Airlines miles – Get 40,000 bonus American Airlines Miles
- Buy 100,000 to 149,000 American Airlines miles – Get 60,000 bonus American Airlines Miles
- Buy 150,000 American Airlines miles – Get 100,000 bonus American Airlines Miles
Is It Worth It?
This deal might make sense for some folks, especially if you need more American Airlines miles for a specific trip.
Or if buying enough miles for an award ticket costs less than the cash price of a ticket.
For example, a round-trip Business Class ticket from New York (JFK) to Seoul costs 120,000 American Airlines miles.
Fly Business Class to Seoul for Less With This Buy Miles Promotion From American Airlines
With this deal, you can buy 80,000 American Airlines miles and get a 40,000 American Airlines mile bonus for ~$2,567 (including taxes and fees). You’d earn a total of 120,000 American Airlines miles, enough for a Business Class ticket to Seoul.
That same ticket would cost ~$4,342+ if you paid with cash! So buying enough miles for an award ticket would save you ~$1,775!
That’s a big savings. But as always, I suggest doing the math to make sure you’re getting the best deal. Because if you’re buying a ticket that only costs a few hundred dollars, it likely does NOT make sense to buy American Airlines miles with this deal.
Use a Card That Earns Bonus Miles for Airline Purchases
If you do decide to take advantage of this deal, don’t forget to use a credit card that earns bonus miles for airfare purchases, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or AMEX Premier Rewards Gold.
American Airlines processes points purchases directly, NOT through a 3rd party like points.com. So buying American Airlines points should count as an airfare purchase!
And if you use a card like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus, you could even use your Barclaycard Arrival miles to offset the cost of the points you buy.
Other Ways to Earn More American Airlines Miles
If you want more American Airlines miles for a trip, you could get a card like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite(TM) MasterCard® .
With this card, you’ll earn 50,000 American Airlines miles after making $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account. There’s a $450 annual fee, but you’ll get Admirals Club lounge access for you (and your authorized users) with the card.
Or you could consider the personal or business version of the AMEX Starwood card. With both of these cards, you can earn 25,000 Starwood points after meeting minimum spending requirements.
Starwood points transfer to American Airlines miles at a 1:1 ratio. Plus, you’ll get a 5,000 mile bonus for every 20,000 Starwood points you transfer. You can read my series about using Starwood points here.
And don’t forget to check out my series about earning and using American Airlines miles!
Bottom Line
Through November 28, 2016, you can earn up to 100,000 bonus American Airlines miles when you buy (or gift!) American Airlines miles. And the more miles you buy, the more bonus miles you’ll earn.
This deal could make sense for some, especially if you need more American Airlines miles for a specific trip. Or if buying enough miles for an award ticket costs less than the cash price of a ticket.
But I always suggest doing the math to make sure you’re getting the best deal!
