One of the Best Deals Is Back: Buy American AAdvantage Miles With up to a 50% Discount

American Airlines is offering one of its best deals when buying miles. Until Sunday, June 30, you can get up to a 50% discount when you purchase AAdvantage miles.

Plus, AAdvantage members have the ability to purchase up to 400,000 miles, instead of the usual limit of 150,000 miles.

Here’s what you need to know.

Purchase AAdvantage Miles With a 50% 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 15% discount
• Purchase 25,000 to 104,000 miles and get a 25% discount
• Purchase 105,000 to 149,000 miles and get a 30% discount
• Purchase 150,000 to 399,000 miles and get a 40% discount
• Purchase 400,000 miles and get a 50% discount

Typically, American Airlines charges 3.5 cents per mile, but if you maximize this promotion and purchase 400,000 miles, you’ll be charged a total of $7,525.00, which brings the cost of each mile down to about 1.88 cents per mile.

We value American Airlines AAdvantage miles at 1.4 cents apiece, so even with the 50% discount, it is more expensive than our valuation — but it could still be worth it if you had a specific redemption in mind.

You can head to American’s buy miles page to complete your purchase by Sunday, June 30. Usually, American will allow you to purchase a maximum of 150,000 AAdvantage miles per year, but during this promotion you are able to purchase up to 400,000 miles.

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, either. Miles can only be transferred from Marriott Bonvoy, which transfer at a 3:1 ratio.

Final Thoughts

Big discounts on purchasing AAdvantage miles are relatively infrequent, and this is the best offer we’ve seen since the previous 50% discount in November 2023.

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.