Buy American AAdvantage Miles With up to a 35% Discount

American Airlines seemingly has a never-ending sale on miles. With no end in sight, you can buy AA miles with up to a 35% discount any day.

Plus, AAdvantage members can purchase up to 150,000 miles through this sale. Here’s what you need to know.

Purchase AAdvantage Miles With up to a 35% Discount

American Airlines is offering a discount on purchased AAdvantage miles. The more miles you buy, the greater your discount will be.

Depending on your account, you may be targeted for different discount tiers, but the most widely available is:

• Purchase 6,000 to 24,000 miles and get a 10% discount
• Purchase 25,000 to 79,000 miles and get a 15% discount
• Purchase 80,000 to 104,000 miles and get a 20% discount
• Purchase 105,000 to 149,000 miles and get a 25% discount
• Purchase 150,000 miles and get a 35% discount (2.44 cents per mile)
• Direct link to purchase

Typically, American Airlines charges 3.76 cents per mile, but if you maximize this promotion and purchase 150,000 miles, you’ll pay 2.44 cents per mile.

We value American Airlines AAdvantage miles at 1.4 cents apiece, so even with the 35% discount, buying miles with this offer is more expensive than our valuation of those miles. However, this deal could still be worth it if you have a specific redemption in mind.

Note that American processes the purchases of miles directly, so any transaction will count as an airfare purchase. This means you’ll want to use a credit card that rewards you for spending on airfare. The Platinum Card^® from American Express, for example, earns 5x points per $1 spent directly with airlines (up to $500,000 per year, then 1x points), which is the best you’ll find in the industry.

How To Redeem AAdvantage Miles

The AAdvantage program offers numerous compelling ways to use miles.

For example, you can fly from the U.S. to the Middle East with Qatar Airways Qsuite for just 70,000 miles each way, between the U.S. and Japan with Japan Airlines in first class for 80,000 miles, or between the U.S. and Europe in British Airways in Club World for just 57,500 miles each way, among many other options.

Compared to other programs with numerous transfer partners, AAdvantage miles aren’t the easiest currency to earn. Miles can only be transferred from Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:1 ratio.

Final Thoughts

You can buy AAdvantage miles with a discount nearly any day of the year, scoring 35% off if you purchase the maximum of 150,000 miles in a single transaction.

Speculatively buying miles isn’t a good idea, but if you know you can redeem the miles for more value than what you paid for them — or just need a few more miles to unlock a redemption — this sale can make sense. It doesn’t have an end date specified at this time.