AAdvantage Miles Purchase/Transfer Discounts & Bonus Offers

[Lewis]

Trying to buy

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Your account hasn't been active long enough.


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[Mattg]

Ah. When did you sign up to AAdvantage, and has there been any activity in your account yet? There used to be a rule that your account had to be active for at least 60 days before it would let you buy miles.

To be honest, since there is little to no award availability when you need to travel, I think it might be better to find another way to get to AKL on this occasion.

 

[Lewis]

Thanks Matt, I signed up today so no activity

Stay Strong, Stay Safe and Stay Talking
Lewis

 

[snabbu]

I also noticed some strange issues with aa.com yesterday but they were resolved after an hour or so.

Looking at the calendar now, there is no availability in J and only the direct CNS-AKL QF189 / 188 in Y, outbound 26/6 and return 10/7 is the closest option to your preferred dates.

 

[JayTee]

Will anyone be buying AA miles on the current promotion?. Will it be a good idea to buy miles, and redeem them for flight next year ?.. I can just see a massive influx of people snapping up award tickets from next month onwards. Availability in J class will likely be in high demand and the biggest hurdle will be waiting to see how quickly they can bring back the stranded Aussies. If that isn't resolved in the next few months, then trying to get a return ticket will be extremely difficult.

 

[andye]

Will anyone be buying AA miles on the current promotion?. Will it be a good idea to buy miles, and redeem them for flight next year ?.. I can just see a massive influx of people snapping up award tickets from next month onwards. Availability in J class will likely be in high demand and the biggest hurdle will be waiting to see how quickly they can bring back the stranded Aussies. If that isn't resolved in the next few months, then trying to get a return ticket will be extremely difficult.

Might be a bit of a gamble. See this thread...

AAdvantage devaluation coming?

Gary at View from the Wing has written a blog post explaining why he expects a rough AAdvantage devaluation in coming weeks, and it seems many in the industry agree that something is coming. Hope it's not too bad, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see the end of proper AA award charts - similar...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Will anyone be buying AA miles on the current promotion?. Will it be a good idea to buy miles, and redeem them for flight next year ?.. I can just see a massive influx of people snapping up award tickets from next month onwards. Availability in J class will likely be in high demand and the biggest hurdle will be waiting to see how quickly they can bring back the stranded Aussies. If that isn't resolved in the next few months, then trying to get a return ticket will be extremely difficult.

I wouldn't be speculatively buying AA miles... they aren't that cheap compared to buying Alaska Airlines miles for example. If you had an award in mind, could see availability now, and the price was right, I'd buy. Lots of the QF premium award space for next year to USA has already been snapped up.

 

[JayTee]

I wouldn't be speculatively buying AA miles... they aren't that cheap compared to buying Alaska Airlines miles for example. If you had an award in mind, could see availability now, and the price was right, I'd buy. Lots of the QF premium award space for next year to USA has already been snapped up.

Hey Mel,

Interesting you mention Alaksa. I compared buying 150k with Alaska and AA miles. Alaska comes out cheaper by $180. Upon checking, ( correct me if I'm wrong as Im quite new to all this ), AA doesn't pass on the fuel surcharge compared to Alaska. So upon doing the math, does it work out cheaper overall to avail AA miles for redemption ?.. I found availability for March 2022, syd-berlin , J class on Qatar. 85k. $120 tax.. Any thoughts?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hey Mel,

Interesting you mention Alaksa. I compared buying 150k with Alaska and AA miles. Alaska comes out cheaper by $180. Upon checking, ( correct me if I'm wrong as Im quite new to all this ), AA doesn't pass on the fuel surcharge compared to Alaska. So upon doing the math, does it work out cheaper overall to avail AA miles for redemption ?.. I found availability for March 2022, syd-berlin , J class on Qatar. 85k. $120 tax.. Any thoughts?

You also have to take into account the cost of redemptions too... for example AA charges 80K business class AU->USA, Alaska charges 55K for the same award. Of course AA potentially gives you more flexibility because you aren't limited to the specified airlines like you are with Alaska (which only allows Qantas, American, Fiji Airways, and Cathay between AU and USA. Oh, and Korean too, but they're really expensive). AS doesn't pass on fuel surcharges either.

For Europe you're probably right to get AA miles as it's easy to book with them on a single ticket and single award. With Alaska you'd need two awards... AU->HKG and then HKG->Europe. Although even when combined, the AS points are 72.5K compred to AA's 80K. (But if you wanted a stopover anyway, not an issue).

If you have found Qatar for the flights and dates you want, then buying AA may be right for you. But... just check the cost of the miles against an actual paid ticket. JAL and British Airways currently have business class to Berlin for March next year for AUD5726. With that you get all the flexibility of a revenue seat in terms of dates, score a bunch of points and status credits.

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

Is there any reason why Qantas would not be coming up on the AA site for redemptions? Not single one. This is for around April/May 2022.
I have looked for flights to Asia, out of Aus there is only Malaysian Airlines and Cathy and then coming home there is only Fiji airlines. Zero for anything else
Am i doing something wrong or do you think that maybe it is a little early for extra redemption flights in the system?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is there any reason why Qantas would not be coming up on the AA site for redemptions? Not single one. This is for around April/May 2022.
I have looked for flights to Asia, out of Aus there is only Malaysian Airlines and Cathy and then coming home there is only Fiji airlines. Zero for anything else
Am i doing something wrong or do you think that maybe it is a little early for extra redemption flights in the system?

sorry deleted - thought this was about USA availability

 

[Mattg]

Is it just my imagination, or has American Airlines increased the base price for miles recently?

Previously, I could buy 2,000 miles for USD64.50. That's now USD75.25.

In last month's bonus miles offer, you could buy 150,000 AAdvantage miles with a 35% discount for a cost of USD3,144.48. This month there is a 35% discount as well, but the price for 150,000 miles is USD3,668.44. Hmm.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is it just my imagination, or has American Airlines increased the base price for miles recently?

Previously, I could buy 2,000 miles for USD64.50. That's now USD75.25.

In last month's bonus miles offer, you could buy 150,000 AAdvantage miles with a 35% discount for a cost of USD3,144.48. This month there is a 35% discount as well, but the price for 150,000 miles is USD3,668.44. Hmm.

They did!

See here: American Airlines raises the cost to purchase miles without any notice - The Points Guy

Apparently no notice given.

Aeroplan did the same thing, increasing the cost from $30 to $35 just recently. But in CAD so not *as* bad.