How To Earn 100k+ American Airlines Miles [In 90 Days]
As the largest airline in the world, American Airlines carries passengers to more than 190 domestic and international destinations each year. By joining American Airlines AAdvantage, the airline’s loyalty program, you can quickly earn miles that can then be redeemed for free travel and merchandise.
Best of all, by using the right strategies, it’s possible to earn as many as 100k+ miles in 90 days. Read on to find out how!
Table of contents
Why Would You Want to Earn 100k Miles?
There’s no question that 100,000 is a TON of miles! Why would you want to accumulate so many?
Perhaps you have a specific trip in mind that you want to save up for…maybe you’ve been working hard and want to ensure you’re stocked up for your next vacation…or you may want to fulfill a dream of flying the whole family first class to Disney World!
Whatever your reason, the AAdvantage program provides so many opportunities to earn miles! Let’s take a look at the options.
1. Sign up for Travel Rewards Credit Cards
One of the easiest ways to earn AAdvantage points is to sign up for a travel rewards credit card that partners with the program.
For instance, you can earn SPG points with the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express or Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express and then transfer them to AAdvantage miles on a 1:1 basis.
You’ll also receive a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 20,000 SPG points that you transfer to American Airlines (or any of SPG’s partners for that matter).
For example:
- Transfer 20k SPG points, receive 25k AA miles.
- Transfer 40k SPG points, receive 50k AA miles.
Pretty cool, huh?
| CREDIT CARD | CARD INFO |
|---|---|
| Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express |
|
| Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express |
|
Hot Tip: You can use our transfer partner calculator to make these calculations for you!
You can also earn miles by signing up for multiple AA credit cards. Sign-up bonuses for these cards typically range from 25k-50k points, with specials coming fairly regularly.
Remember, you will need to meet the minimum spend in the first 3 months before you can receive the sign-up bonus. It typically takes 8-10 weeks after meeting the purchase requirements for the bonus miles to appear in your AAdvantage account.
Here are links to the AA credit cards and a review of the AAdvantage loyalty program:
| CREDIT CARD | CARD INFO |
|---|---|
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® | Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on American Airlines purchases. Earn 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 spent on other purchases. Annual Fee: $95 (Fee waived for the first 12 months) Our Review |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® | Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases Annual Fee: $450. Our Review |
| CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard® | Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on purchases at telecommunications, car rental merchants and at gas stations. Annual Fee: $95 (Fee waived for the first 12 months) Our Review |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold World Elite™ Mastercard® | 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 spent on purchases. Annual Fee: $50 (Fee waived for the first 12 months) Our Review |
| AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red World Elite Mastercard® | Earn 2X miles on eligible American Airlines purchases Annual Fee: $95 |
2. Use the AAdvantage Dining Program
Did you know you can earn miles for dining out — something you probably already do on a regular basis? Sign up for the free American Airlines Dining Program and earn AAdvantage miles every time you eat at one of the over 11,000 participating restaurants and bars.
You will be amazed how swiftly miles are added to your account in this program — up to 5 points per $1 spent, including tax and tip! For instance, spend $1000 each month dining out and you’ll get up to 5,000 miles — for a total of 15,000 miles in only 3 months!
3. Take a Trip on American Airlines
With American Airlines’ current revenue-based system, you’ll earn AA miles based on how much you pay for your ticket. You’ll earn at least 5 miles per $1 spent, and even more with elite status: Gold (7x), Platinum (8x), Executive Platinum (11x)!
During a recent search, we found a one-way ticket for a main cabin seat on American Airlines from LAX to DFW listed for $138.
For this flight, you would earn 690 miles. With elite status, you would earn 966 miles (Gold), 1,104 miles (Platinum), or 1,518 miles (Executive Platinum). Not bad!
You’ll even earn bonus miles when you fly Oneworld partner airlines or non-alliance partner airlines. In most cases, the bonus is based on a percentage of base miles plus a cabin bonus if applicable.
4. See a Show (AA Audience Rewards)
Who doesn’t enjoy taking in a show during a night out? It’s possible to earn up to 2,200 American Airlines AAdvantage miles per ticket!
Just purchase tickets to participating productions in the Audience Rewards program to earn miles in this free program.
5. Change Television Providers
What does television have to do with frequent flyer miles?
Switch to a qualifying package from DIRECTV, and you’ll add 25,000 AAdvantage miles to your balance! There’s no need to buy equipment to get started, and you may be able to get premium channels free for 3 months.
Using Those 100k+ American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
Once the 100k points are in your AAdvantage account, how do you use them? Check out our guide for ways to redeem AA miles, including strategies like:
U.S. to French Polynesia: Whether you redeem miles to fly to French Polynesia in economy (40,000 AA miles) or business class (80,000 AA miles), Air Tahiti Nui can get you there.
Japan Airlines premium cabin: Experience luxury when you redeem 80,000 miles and fly first class to Japan through British Airways.com.
Short U.S. flights: Book a flight of 500 miles or less within the U.S. for only 7,500 miles each way in economy. Prefer business class? Redeem 15,000 miles!
Conclusion
Hopefully we’ve shown you that it is indeed possible to earn 100k+ American Airlines AAdvantage miles fairly quickly. If these aren’t enough, there are even more earning options out there such as the AA shopping program.
See even more ways to earn AA miles so you can redeem them for the trip of a lifetime!
