Citi is an advertising partner of CreditCards.com.
You can fly with American Airlines to almost anywhere in the world, whether you want to visit beautiful Caribbean beaches, ancient Greek ruins or surreal temples in Cambodia.
You can get to many of these destinations for free with AAdvantage, American Airlines’ frequent flyer program. And it can be a lot easier than you think to earn the air miles you need for your epic journey.
Keep reading to find out the best ways to earn AAdvantage Miles so you can plan your dream vacation this year.
1. Sign up for AAdvantage co-branded credit cards.
The fastest way to earn huge amounts of AAdvantage miles is with an American Airlines co-branded credit card. Each co-branded card offers a signup bonus for meeting minimum spending requirements within a few months, making it quick and easy to earn tons of miles in a short amount of time.
In many cases, a check-in bonus alone can be enough for multiple economy class round trips within the US or one international round trip:
American Airlines Check-in Bonuses
The best part about getting signup bonuses with AAdvantage credit cards is that they are offered by two banks, Barclays and Citi. This makes it easier to get more signup bonuses in a short amount of time, which can help you quickly increase your AAdvantage miles if you decide to apply for two AAdvantage cards from both issuers.
**Based on Bankrate Points, American Airlines points cost an average of 1 cent per point.
2. Add authorized users to your accounts
Adding an authorized user can indeed help the user increase their credit score, but it also increases the reward for the primary account holder. By adding an authorized user to your credit card, you can be sure that you earn miles on all purchases related to your family or business, even when you are not around.
If you’re lucky, you may also receive targeted offers for extra miles in the mail when you add an authorized user.
3. Ask your spouse to sign up for AAdvantage credit cards.
Your spouse’s new AAdvantage card will add an additional 50,000 to 65,000 miles as a sign-up bonus to your family’s AAdvantage pool, depending on the card. You can then book the other person’s fare from any of your AAdvantage accounts when you plan to travel together, depending on which of you currently has more miles.
If these are not enough to cover your flight, you can transfer miles to each other for a fee on the AAdvantage transfer page. You can transfer a maximum of 200,000 miles per year per AAdvantage account, and these transfers are irreversible and cannot be exchanged.
Since your spouse also has an AAdvantage card, both of you can enjoy double the benefits of the card when you fly together, including an additional free checked baggage item on the card and priority boarding.
4. Make purchases through the AAdvantage shopping portal.
Like many other rewards programs, the US AAdvantage program has an online shopping portal that you can access to earn extra miles. This portal connects you to over 1200 stores and exclusive opportunities for loyalty program members. To earn miles, simply log into the portal with your AAdvantage number, select your desired retailer and complete your purchase as usual.
While stores and earning rates may change from time to time, the miles you earn here can indeed add up. The list of online retailers often includes Macy’s and Adidas, as well as travel brands like Marriott and streaming services like Hulu. In addition, the miles you earn from portal purchases are credited on top of the miles you earn with AAdvantage co-branded credit cards.
5. Fly with American Airlines and its partner airlines.
While credit cards and online shopping can help you earn miles, the more obvious way to earn AAdvantage miles is to fly with American Airlines. You can earn between 2.8 and 4.4 miles for every dollar spent with American Airlines, depending on your AAdvantage loyalty status.
You can also earn AAdvantage Miles by flying with any of American Airlines’ partner airlines. You just need to indicate your preference for AAdvantage miles when booking your ticket as you cannot earn miles on both airlines.
6. Stay at American Airlines partner hotels
If you would like to earn AAdvantage Miles elsewhere during your travel than just during the flight stages, you can choose to stay at one of the American Airlines partner hotels. With Hyatt, you get a flat rate of 500 miles per stay on most of the brands in its collection. For Marriott or InterContinental, you will earn up to 2 miles, which can accrue quickly.
For those who don’t have a preference and want to earn as many hotel miles as possible, you can stay at one of the American Airlines hotels, which connects you to a variety of individual hotels partnered with the airline. This avenue can give you up to 10,000 miles overnight.
7. Book rental cars through AAdvantage.
Plus, it’s pretty easy to earn extra AAdvantage miles by booking cars through the program. Extra miles are offered for car rentals through companies such as Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar and Hertz. Some bonus offers provide discounts on top of AAdvantage miles – Avis gives you a 35 percent discount on base fares and rewards you with up to 5,000 miles when renting three days or more.
8. Enroll in the AAdvantage Nutrition Program
With AAdvantage Dining, you can only earn miles for signing up for the program and dining at participating restaurants. Luckily, restaurants should include both local eateries and fast food chains.
You can even get a small bonus just for signing up – right now it’s 1,000 miles if you spend $25 in the first 30 days. This mileage earning strategy is easy to implement if there are participating restaurants in your area. Be sure to visit the AAdvantage Dining website for a complete list of restaurants in your area.
9. Book a tour package
American Airlines also offers travel packages that include flights, hotels, and experiences. These packages can be great on their own, but it helps that they sometimes offer bonus miles as an incentive to book a package.
Although offers are constantly changing, sometimes you can earn between 20,000 and 25,000 bonus miles by booking packages at certain brands or destinations. Also, remember that these miles are in addition to the miles you earn with your AAdvantage co-branded credit card.
10. Earn miles through additional partners
In addition to earning miles with many American Airlines travel partners, the AAdvantage program allows you to earn miles with a range of partners and companies. These offers tend to change from time to time, but may include options to live in Texas and use Reliant to generate electricity, redeem a Groupon coupon, or participate in the Miles for Opinions survey.
Be sure to contact American Airlines for their latest bonus offers.
bottom line
There are many easy ways to earn American Airlines miles. Of course, the easiest way is to use your AAdvantage card to make purchases and receive your welcome offer. Frequent flyers can book with American Airlines partners and earn miles, while casual travelers can earn miles by using the merchant portal, adding an authorized user, or using rewards offers.
If you are planning to travel or shop, you can also earn extra miles for your next vacation. The American program AAdvantage makes it easy, so why not give it a try?
*All AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard, Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard and CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard information has been independently collected by CreditCards.com and has not been verified or approved by the issuer.
Editorial disclaimer
The editorial content on this page is based solely on the objective judgment of our contributors and is not based on advertising. It was not provided or ordered by credit card issuers. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to our partners’ products.
