How To Earn 100k+ American Airlines Miles [In 90 Days]
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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.
Once you know how to earn 100,000 American miles, check out some of the other best ways to earn more.
Table of contents
Table of Contents
Why Would You Want to Earn 100k Miles?
There’s no question that 100,000 is a TON of miles, but what can they really do for you?
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 ready to book your next vacation… or you may want to fulfill a dream of flying the whole family first class to Paris!
In fact, we’ve got an entire post dedicated to the Best Ways To Use 100,000 AAdvantage Miles… but more on that later.
Whatever your reason, the American AAdvantage program provides plenty of opportunities to earn miles! Let’s take a look at the options.
1. Sign up for American Airlines Credit Cards
You can earn miles by signing up for multiple American Airlines 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 for most of these cards.
It can take up to 8-10 weeks after meeting the minimum spend requirements for the bonus miles to appear in your American AAdvantage account.
Here are some quick reviews of the American Airlines credit cards:
| AMERICAN AIRLINES CARDS | CARD INFO |
|---|---|
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® |
|
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® |
|
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™ 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 (terms apply). 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. |
Hot Tip: You can use our transfer partner calculator to make these calculations for you!
2. Use the American AAdvantage Dining Program
Did you know you can earn miles for dining out? 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.
All you have to do is attach a credit card to your account and you will automatically earn bonus American miles when ever you dine at a partner restaurant. 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!
You can earn up to 5X points per dollar spent, including tax and tip! For instance, if you spend $1,000 each month dining out and you can earn up to 5,000 miles — that’s a potential 15,000 miles in only 3 months!
3. Take a Trip on American Airlines
With American Airlines’ current revenue-based system, you’ll earn American miles based on how much you pay for your ticket.
You’ll earn at least 5X miles per dollar 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 Los Angeles (LAX) to Dallas (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 miles when you fly Oneworld partner airlines or non-alliance partner airlines. In most cases, the miles you will earn on partner airlines is based on a percentage of base miles plus a cabin bonus if applicable.
4. See a Show (American Airlines 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.
Make sure the terms and conditions of your the switch make sense for you so you don’t end up spending more than you want.
Using Those 100k+ American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
Once the 100,000 American miles are in your AAdvantage account, you need to figure out how you want to use them.
Don’t miss our guides on the best ways to redeem American miles and the best ways to use 100K… but here are a few ideas to get you thinking:
U.S. to French Polynesia: You can fly Air Tahiti Nui in economy class for 40,000 American miles or try out their business class product for 80,000 miles on your journey to French Polynesia.
Japan Airlines premium cabin: Experience luxury when you redeem 80,000 miles to fly first class to Japan on Japan Airlines. You can also try business class for 60,000 miles.
See our step by step guides for booking Japan Airlines first class and business class with American miles.
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. If you prefer business class, you can redeem 15,000 miles.
Hot Tip: If you’ve got 10K or fewer miles left over after booking a great trip and you’re still itching to use them, check out our piece: The Best Ways to Use 10,000 (or Fewer) AAdvantage Miles!
Final Thoughts
As you can see, it’s not too hard to earn 100,000 American miles. It might only take a couple of sign-up bonuses to get you there.
If you want some more fun ways to earn miles, there are even more options out there such as the American Airlines shopping program.
You can check out our 21 best ways to earn American miles if you want some more ideas so you can earn the miles for the trip of a lifetime!
I currently have a Citi AAdvantage, with renewal memberships fees soon due. If I were to close the account, how long would I have to wait until I can open a “new account” and earn all of the bonus miles for signing up for a new card? In other words, how long do I have to wait until I become a “new applicant”?
You’d have to wait at least 24 months.
If I am the cardholder and I want to buy airline tickets for family members traveling with me, am I able to use the bonus points for their tickets as well as mine?
Hi Mary. If you are referring to the miles you earn on your AAdvantage credit card, then yes, you can use those miles to purchase flights for anyone.