How to Use the American AAdvantage Shopping Portal to Boost Your Miles
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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.
Table of contents
Table of Contents
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:
- November 2018: Earn up to 4,000 bonus miles (expires November 18). 500 when you spend $150, 2,000 when you spend $600 and 4,000 when you spend $1,200.
- Spring 2017: 1,500 bonus miles for spending $50 or more in 3 separate transactions
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:
- Sephora: 5 mi/$1
- bareMinerals: 8 mi/$1
- eBags: 7 mi/$1
- Macy’s: 5 mi/$1
- glasses.com: 7 mi/$1
- XFinity: 35 mi/$1
- …and many more!
The AAdvantage eShoppingSM Button
American Airlines AAdvantage has jumped on the bandwagon of Google Chrome extensions by recently introducing the AAdvantage eShoppingSM 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 to download!
Hot Tip: To find the best deal for any particular store, use a site like CashBack Monitor to keep track of all the different shopping portals, including the American AAdvantage portal.
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.
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. Most of these include a sign-up bonus but will include an annual fee. However, the benefits outweigh the costs when used correctly!
American Airlines AAdvantage Cards
| CREDIT CARD | CARD INFO |
|---|---|
| Citi ThankYou® Premier Card |
|
| Citi Prestige® Card |
|
Need more info? We’ve covered AA credit cards extensively and highlighted the major differences between all the options you have!
Marriott Credit Cards
You can earn Marriott points and transfer those to American Airlines at a transfer rate of 3:1. Plus, for every 60,000 Marriott points that you transfer, you’ll receive an extra 5,000 AAdvantage miles bonus.
Recommended Marriott Cards
| Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card - Earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Get automatic silver elite status each account anniversary year; and a free night award (valued up to 35,000 points) every year after account anniversary. |
| Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card - earn 75,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. A solid card for business owners who will get complimentary Marriott Bonvoy silver elite status. Annual fee is $125. For rates and fees of the Bonvoy Business Card, click here. |
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. For even more info on the best ways to redeem your AAdvantage Miles, check out what you can do with 100K!
I have been so far unsuccessful in getting miles credited for an Apple bonus miles purchase. There are a lot of miles involved as I purchased 2 computers.
I verified numerous times that I was on the portal and had no other windows open ( even used a different browser) . I have a case # but now have had no response from any agent for 3 weeks. I am thinking that I should just return the computers to Apple ( have not opened because of this issue) and hold off for another offer by a different airline . Any ideas how I can escalate this would be appreciated. Thank you
Hi Linda,
I would contact the appropriate AA department to get this handled ASAP. You can also request to speak to a supervisor if the front-line rep is not being cooperative. Just keep trying to pester them. If the miles mean a lot to you, you can decide to return the laptops as well. Thanks for reading!
The flaw in AAdvantage Shopping is that there is no way to verify what points you will earn and when or if they will arrive. AAdvantage Shopping offers no direct contact phone number so its up to their online customer services as to if and when they will respond. In my case, AAdvantage Shopping said it was up to the store to report the miles earned, but Macy’s customer service knows nothing about any of this other than they have heard similar complaints from others.
I am also having problems with getting points credited for purchases made through the online shopping portal. I booked hotel rooms, through the portal, in January and again in March but have not been able to get any help from AAdvantage Shopping to get the associated points credited to my account. It is very frustrating.
Hi Mary, sorry to hear you’re having issues. First, let me say that **we are not American Airlines, nor are we affiliated with the AAdvantage Shopping Portal in any way** other than the writing of this review.
It’s very possible that your points won’t be awarded until your stay has been completed… Additionally, have you read the listed “mileage terms” for each hotel you’re booking?
For example, here are the terms the portal lists for Marriott Bonvoy: “Please note these terms & conditions: Rooms offered at specially negotiated rates, where the customer is required to be affiliated with or employed by a particular company or organization to receive the special rate (e.g., corporate rate, government rate or the Marriott employee rate) are not eligible. Rooms offered at specially negotiated rates for Marriott Bonvoy™ members (e.g. Marriott Bonvoy™ offer discount, Marriott Bonvoy™ offer package), with the exception of Marriott Bonvoy™ Member rates are not eligible. Rooms that are booked or upgraded and paid for using redeemed Marriott Bonvoy™ Points are not eligible. Rooms booked at the brands Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, Design Hotels, Bulgari, Atlantis, Autograph Collection, Bulgari Hotel, London, Joshua G.E. Medical Corp. Conference Center, Jesse Jones Rotary Conference Center, Marriott Ranch, Protea Hotel Amani Beach, Protea Hotel Mbweni Ruins, The Ritz-Carlton London, U.S. Postal Service Conference Center, Four Points by Sheraton Havana, The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, Autograph Collection are not eligible. Not eligible on purchases made with coupon or discount codes that are not found on this site. Not eligible on gift cards, gift certificates or any other similar cash equivalents.”
That seems like a lot of instances where a stay would be ineligible to earn the bonus points to us… you just want to be sure you aren’t booking under any circumstances that would void the bonus points!
Do they deduct miles for returns?
Hi ST,
Yes, if you return the item, then the miles will likely be deducted from your account.
Thanks for reading!