Best Ways to Use 10,000 (or fewer) American Airlines Miles [2023]

American Airlines AAdvantage® miles have a ton of great redemption options. You can use them to fly on any of American’s worldwide partners like Qatar Airways, Qantas Airways, and Japan Airlines, or you can opt for domestic flying on American and Alaska Airlines.

But what if you have 10,000 or fewer American AAdvantage miles in your account? You’re not out of luck. Thankfully, American has a suite of low-points redemptions that can be used to maximize even the smallest number of miles.

Some of these redemptions are a better value than others. This article will show you the best ways to redeem American AAdvantage miles and specifically focus on which ways give you the best value for your points.

Table of contents

Redeem For Short-Haul Awards
- Redeem For Short-Haul Awards Within Australia and Fiji
Upgrade Full-Fare Flights
Redeem For Newspaper Subscriptions
Redeem American AAdvantage Miles For A LifeLock Subscription
Redeem For Hotel Stays or Rental Cars
Donate American AAdvantage Miles To Charity
Final Thoughts

Table of Contents

Redeem For Short-Haul Awards
- Redeem For Short-Haul Awards Within Australia and Fiji
Upgrade Full-Fare Flights
Redeem For Newspaper Subscriptions
Redeem American AAdvantage Miles For A LifeLock Subscription
Redeem For Hotel Stays or Rental Cars
Donate American AAdvantage Miles To Charity
Final Thoughts

Redeem For Short-Haul Awards

Short-haul flights within the United States cost just 7,500 miles one-way — Redeem 7,500 American Airlines miles for a short-haul flight within the United States. Image courtesy of AA.com

American Airlines charges 7,500 miles for one-way domestic redemptions on flights under 500 miles. This is 5,000 miles cheaper than a standard domestic award ticket and often provides excellent value for a small number of miles.

For example, a one-way flight from Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Bloomington, IL (BMI) costs 7,500 miles given the cities are only 135 miles apart. However, a paid flight on the same date in April 2019 is $295, giving you a cent per point value of 3.8 cents.

While these domestic destinations aren’t the most exciting ways to use your American AAdvantage miles, it’s one of the best ways to get maximum value for a small number of miles.

Redeem For Short-Haul Awards Within Australia and Fiji

Intra-Pacifica flights start at just 5,000 miles one-way. — You can also redeem small amounts of American AAdvantage miles for intra-Australia and Fiji flights. Image courtesy of AA.com

Like short-haul awards in the United States, flights within Australia and Fiji can also be pricey.

Thankfully, one-way economy flights within Australia can be booked for just 10,000 American Airlines miles one-way. Furthermore, intra-Fiji flights can be booked for just 5,000 miles one-way, so you can save a nice chunk of change on your next excursion to Pacifica.

Hot Tip: American Airlines doesn’t operate Intra-Australia or Fiji flights. This means you’ll fly partners like Qantas and Fiji Airways on these redemptions.

Upgrade Full-Fare Flights

Another way to redeem a small amount of American AAdvantage miles is by upgrading domestic flights from full-fare economy to first class.

Currently, flights within the contiguous U.S., Alaska, and Canada can be upgraded for 5,000 miles one-way. On the other hand, flights from the contiguous U.S. to Alaska, Hawaii, and Central America can be upgraded for 8,000 miles one-way.

Keep in mind that full-fare economy flights can often cost more than discounted business class flights on these routes. So unless you’re already booked in full-fare economy, these flights may not be the best way to redeem your miles.

Redeem For Newspaper Subscriptions

You can redeem small amounts of American AAdvantage miles for newspaper subscriptions too. To do this, go to American’s Newspaper Rewards website and find a newspaper subscription that you’re interested in. Each newspaper subscription offered has a different redemption rate with some offering better value than others.

Proceed with caution if you go this route, though. Many subscriptions will automatically renew to the credit card on file at the end of their term, so make sure to cancel before you’re auto-billed if you don’t plan on keeping the subscription past its first year.

Redeem American AAdvantage Miles For A LifeLock Subscription

With identity theft on the rise, it may be worth investing in a LifeLock subscription. LifeLock protects your online and real-world identity from theft and exploitation.

You can redeem 2,500 American AAdvantage miles for a 6-month subscription to LifeLock Standard™. After this period, your LifeLock membership will renew to your credit card on file with a 10% discount. This subscription is $9.99 a month, giving you a value of nearly 2.4 cents per point.

Redeem For Hotel Stays or Rental Cars

Redeeming American Airlines miles for a hotel stay in Prague. — You can redeem American AAdvantage miles for hotel stays and car rentals, but you might not get the best value for your points.

You can redeem American AAdvantage miles for car rentals and hotel stays booked through the American Airlines portal. The number of miles you’ll need for a redemption depends on how expensive the award is; the more expensive car rentals and more hotel stays will cost more miles.

For example, a one-night stay at the a&o Prague Rhea hotel costs $46 for a one-night stay in May. The same room can be booked for 9,300 points, giving you a cent per point value of only 0.49 cents per point.

Hot Tip: Hotel bookings made through the American Airlines portal often aren’t eligible for upgrades and other hotel elite status benefits.

This is relatively low compared to other redemptions on this list, so this isn’t the recommended route for redemption.

Donate American AAdvantage Miles To Charity

Finally, you can donate American AAdvantage miles to charity. There is no minimum donation and you can donate your miles to one of three charities that American supports:

Miles for Our Social Good — donates miles to organizations that improve the healthcare and financial stability of people in need
Miles for Our Well-Being — donates miles to organizations that raise awareness for specific medical causes
Miles for Our Heroes — donates miles to organizations that work to support veterans and active-duty military

Final Thoughts

Many people think that you need tons of miles to cash in on award redemptions; however, great redemptions can start with less than 10,000 AAdvantage miles.

Overall, stick to redeeming your miles on short-haul award tickets if possible. This will often give you the highest point value, ensuring that you’re not leaving any value on the table—even if you’re just redeeming a small amount of miles.

If you’d prefer to save your miles for a higher-end redemption, consider signing up for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard®. This card will let you earn American AAdvantage miles on your everyday purchases so you can quickly build a stock of miles.

Safe travels!

Frequently asked questions

How can I earn American Airlines miles?

You can earn American Airlines miles by using an American Airlines co-branded credit card, flying on American Airlines or partner flights, or using one of the other many ways we’ve highlighted here.

Can I transfer miles from my credit card to American Airlines?

Currently American Airline’s only transfer partner is Marriott Bonvoy. You can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to American Airlines at a rate of 3:1, meaning that 10,000 Marriott Bonvoy points yields 3,333 American Airlines miles. You will get a 5,000 mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred.

What is the best way to redeem small amounts of American Airlines miles?

We recommend sticking to short-haul award tickets. These can often provide excellent value, especially if you’re traveling between two smaller cities.

16 comments

John Trevino August 23, 2019

How do I figure how many points it cost on an economy round trip from San Antonio, Tx. to other cities in the states? And can I use points anytime?

Jarrod West August 25, 2019
Hi John,
Yes, you can use your miles any time you’d like pending that there are available award seats. American Airlines publishes an award chart that lets you know how many miles you need for a particular flight, you can view that award chart here: https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/redeem/award-travel/flight-award-chart.jsp
Reply

Jennifer C Nordbladh April 30, 2020

You can no longer redeem your AA Mileage points for gift cards at http://www.points.com. I’m not sure if the COVID-19 pandemic is the reason.

Cory B June 13, 2020

You cannot redeem AA miles for gift cards nor magazines. This was effective early 2020, and this article says May 7, 2020. Either I am wrong, or this author needs to do more research and should report accurate info.

Jarrod West June 14, 2020
Hi Cory,
American Airlines still appears to have an active partnership with points.com to use your AA miles for gift cards, do you have some information stating otherwise? You’re correct that they no longer allow for magazine redemptions so I’ve removed that info from the post, but they do still allow for newspaper subscriptions.
Thanks for reading!
Reply
- Jeff June 25, 2020
  All you can do with AAdvantage in points.com right now is check your mileage balance. “Redeem” is not an option. Similarly, “gift cards” no longer appears as an option at AA.com under “redeem miles.”
  Reply

EJ March 1, 2021

How do I redeem my American Airlines Advantage miles for gift cards?

Jarrod West March 1, 2021
Hi EJ,
You can redeem your AA miles for gift cards through points.com.
Reply
- Erin Wilkinson June 11, 2021
  I do not see AA as an option for redeeming on points.com.
  Reply

Daryll Chandler May 11, 2021

As Jeff said a year ago, it stopped being possible around that time and is still not possible to redeem for gift cards through points.com. You can only view your balance on that website, and it was removed from AA’s redemption offerings.

A real shame, because this is my preferred method of redemption, regardless of the point value.

Matthew J Brady June 27, 2021

AAdvantage Miles are apparently no longer good for Gift Cards. Thanks alot, AA. :-/

Keith W. April 14, 2022

American Airlines miles are pretty much useless now for anything but travel-related stuff.

Mal April 17, 2022

This was very helpful. I forgot completely about the ability to ability to use AA points for short-haul flights here in Australia.

Katie Seemann April 18, 2022
Hi Mal,
We love hearing that. Happy travels!
Reply

Helen Vislusky August 13, 2022

When a trip from Pa to Fl is listed at 46k how much does that ticket cost in regular dollars?

Jarrod West August 15, 2022
Hi Helen,
It depends! American is not a fixed rewards currency so the amount of miles isn’t directly tied to the cash price.
Reply

Earn Points

Use Points

Business Credit Card Reviews

Business Guides

Air Travel Guides

Airline Points

Earn & Use Hotel Points

Hotel Loyalty Program Reviews

The Best Ways to Use 10,000 (or Fewer) American Airlines AAdvantage Miles

Redeem For Short-Haul Awards

Redeem For Short-Haul Awards Within Australia and Fiji

Upgrade Full-Fare Flights

Redeem For Newspaper Subscriptions

Redeem American AAdvantage Miles For A LifeLock Subscription

Redeem For Hotel Stays or Rental Cars

Donate American AAdvantage Miles To Charity

Final Thoughts

Frequently asked questions

How can I earn American Airlines miles?

Can I transfer miles from my credit card to American Airlines?

What is the best way to redeem small amounts of American Airlines miles?

About Andrew Kunesh

16 comments

Any thoughts or questions? Comment below! Cancel reply

Advertiser Disclosure

Redeem For Short-Haul Awards

Redeem For Short-Haul Awards Within Australia and Fiji

Upgrade Full-Fare Flights

Redeem For Newspaper Subscriptions

Redeem American AAdvantage Miles For A LifeLock Subscription

Redeem For Hotel Stays or Rental Cars

Donate American AAdvantage Miles To Charity

Final Thoughts

Frequently asked questions

How can I earn American Airlines miles?

Can I transfer miles from my credit card to American Airlines?

What is the best way to redeem small amounts of American Airlines miles?

About Andrew Kunesh

16 comments

Any thoughts or questions? Comment below! Cancel reply

Related Posts

Advertiser Disclosure