Buy American AAdvantage Miles With up to a 35% Discount

American Airlines seemingly has a never-ending sale on miles. There’s no end date listed for the promotion, and you can currently buy AA miles with up to a 35% discount.

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

Purchase AAdvantage Miles With 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 (2.45 cents per mile)

Typically, American Airlines charges 3.5 cents per mile, but if you maximize this promotion and purchase 150,000 miles, you’ll pay 2.45 cents per mile.

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

You can head to American’s buy miles page to complete your purchase. There’s no end date listed for this sale. American allows you to purchase a maximum of 150,000 AAdvantage miles per year.

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 Qsuites 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.

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

Final Thoughts

You can buy AAdvantage miles with a discount nearly any day of the year, and the program is currently offering its standard 35% discount if you buy 150,000 miles. At lower amounts, the discount is smaller. There’s no end date listed for this offer.

We don’t typically recommend buying miles speculatively, but if you are eyeing pricey premium-cabin tickets on routes that happen to have award space, this could be a decent way to travel upfront for a bit less out-of-pocket.