Following significant changes to American’s award chart in 2016, sweet spots within Advantage have become harder to find. Similar to recent overhauls of Delta and United, the 2016 changes saw American raise the number of miles required across a large number of destinations while reducing a few awards with modest decreases.
The adjustments to American's award chart and a switch to revenue based earning across American and partner airlines has made it harder to extract top value from AA miles. The silver lining is that American Airlines Customer Service remains a founding member of one world® alliance, providing Advantage members access to fantastic partner airlines that offer superior hard products and access to every region of the world.
Earning American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
American offers many ways to earn AAdvantage Miles. Members can earn miles on flights and related purchases, via spending and signup bonuses on co-branded credit cards, promotions, at hotel partners, the AAdvantage mall and much more.
The fastest way of building a usable balance of AAdvantage miles is to leverage the AA co-branded credit cards offered by Citi and Barclaycard. Much like the Hilton co-branded cards provided by Citi and Amex, having a Citi AA card doesn’t prevent you from acquiring the Barclays AA cards, opening up earning potential not found in many other programs.
Taking advantage of the limited-time offer on the AA Executive Card, you could earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months, and then double down by acquiring the Aviator Red, which offers 60,000 points when you make the first purchase inside three months. This would net you 135K AAdvantage Miles, an amazing haul.
An alternative to the Citi and Barclays options is via Marriott Bonvoy. Points transfer from Marriott to American at a 3:1 ratio, so you can transfer points earned via cards that earn Marriott Bonvoy points like the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express or the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Airlines Phone Number Express® Card.
Unfortunately, Marriott is the only flexible rewards currency that transfers to American while maintaining any tangible value.
Resource URL: https://bit.ly/2uBwsP4