How To Use the American AAdvantage Shopping Portal to Boost Your Miles

BY 

Caroline Lupini

- January 7, 2018June 10, 2018

1. Earn Points  / 
2. Shopping & Dining

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Need a few AAdvantage miles to top off your account in preparation for your next award flight? You’re in luck: there’s a super easy way to earn additional miles for shopping you’d probably do anyway!

This article will tell you everything you need to know about using the American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping Mall.

How To Log in & Basics of Using Program

You can see the potential bonus miles available at various retailers without logging in, but you will need to log in to your account in order to earn miles through AAdvantage eShopping.

If you are already a member of the AAdvantage frequent flyer program, all you need to do is create a separate login for the AA shopping portal. If you are not yet a frequent flyer member, you will need to join that program first.

Once you are logged in to AAdvantage eShopping, you can easily search for retailers you want to shop with and see how many bonus points are being offered. When you’re ready to shop, just click through their link to complete your purchase!

Let’s say you need to do some back to school shopping for your kids at American Eagle Outfitters. At the time of writing, you could earn 2 extra AAdvantage miles per dollar spent on purchases at American Eagle Outfitters online.

In order to earn bonus points, you’ll need to click “Shop Now.” You’ll be redirected to the American Eagle Outfitters website where you can start shopping!

Special AA Shopping Offers

Sometimes American hosts special shopping offers where you can earn even more bonus points. These don’t happen all the time, but they are worth keeping an eye out for.

Here are some recent offers that were available:

• Spring 2017: 1,500 Bonus Miles for spending $50 or more in 3 separate transactions
• Holiday 2016: Spend $100, Earn 500 Bonus Miles; Spend $200, Earn 1,500 Bonus Miles

Miles from these special shopping offers are earned in addition to any other bonus miles you will accumulate by shopping through the portal.

Example Retailers

The number of miles available and participating retailers in the AA Shopping portal change regularly. At the time of writing, here are some of the top earning rates that were offered:

• 1-800-flowers.com: 6 mi/$1
• Backcountry: 5 mi/$1
• Sunglass Hut: 4 mi/$1
• Macy’s: 3 mi/$1
• Bose: 3 mi/$1
• Kohl’s: 2 mi/$1
• …and many more!

The AAdvantage eShopping^SM Button

American Airlines AAdvantage has jumped on the bandwagon of Google Chrome extensions by recently introducing the AAdvantage eShopping^SM button.

Essentially, this button helps forgetful shoppers earn more miles. This extension notifies you anytime you’re are on a website that could earn you AAdvantage miles via shopping. Simply click the button to activate your miles.

Plus, it’s free do download!

Using Credit Cards To Earn Extra Points

Since you’ll be earning bonus miles by shopping through the online portal, you should also make sure you’re earning as many miles as possible through your points- or miles-earning credit card.

If your main focus is on AAdvantage program miles, you should use credit cards that earn them directly or those that earn Starwood Preferred Guest points. SPG points can be transferred to American Airlines at a 1:1 ratio (or an even better 1:1.25 ratio if you transfer in increments of 20,000 points!).

You won’t have many category bonuses to consider if you are only using the cards mentioned above, but it’s worth considering what category your chosen retailer falls under if you have other cards that earn category bonuses.

Below you’ll see the credit cards that earn American Airlines miles and SPG Starpoints. Most of these include a sign-up bonus but will include an annual fee. However, the benefits outweigh the costs when used correctly!

Starwood Preferred Guest Cards

CREDIT CARD	CARD INFO
Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express	Earn up to $100 statement credit Earn an additional $100 statement credit after making a purchase at a participating hotel during your first 6 months. Terms Apply. $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95.
Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express	Earn up to $200 statement credit Up to 5x Starpoints® on eligible purchases. Free Boingo Wi-Fi & Free Wi-Fi at SPG participating hotels. Terms Apply. $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95.

American Airlines AAdvantage Cards

Need more info? We’ve covered AA credit cards extensively and highlighted the major differences between all the options you have!

Final Thoughts

If you use the American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping portal for your online shopping, you will be able to easily earn more American Airlines miles for very little extra work. Even better when you combine it with their dining program.

Through these portals and using a couple of other options, it’s possible to earn up to 100k miles in just a few months.

Those bonus miles will quickly add up to get you much closer to your next vacation!