American Airlines AAdvantage® is one of the largest and most popular airline loyalty programs around — and for good reason. With a huge footprint at major airports such as New York, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago, American Airlines appeals to domestic and international travelers alike.
American Airlines partners with the oneworld alliance and a handful of other airlines outside of the alliance, meaning you can use your AAdvantage miles for flights on over 20 airlines.
Plus, AAdvantage members access elite status perks like complimentary seat upgrades, bonus miles, free checked bags, and partner status with oneworld.
Here’s how the AAdvantage program works, including how to earn, redeem, and transfer miles, and how to get elite status (and if it’s worth it).
How American Airlines AAdvantage Works
AAdvantage miles are earned by flying on American Airlines (or with a partner airline) or by spending on a co-branded American Airlines credit card.
You can also earn miles by using the American Airlines shopping portal, dining program, or through various partnerships with gas stations, hotels, and car rental companies.
AAdvantage miles (AA miles) can be used to book flights on American Airlines and partner airlines, as well as for other travel expenses like hotel stays, car rentals, cruises, and experiences.
There are four levels of elite status for frequent fliers: Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, and Executive Platinum. Each status tier unlocks additional perks and bonuses.
American Airlines partners
American Airlines partners with over 20 airlines — 14 with oneworld and 9 others not connected to an alliance.
For most partners, you can use AA miles to book flights with them and also earn AA miles with them when paying cash. A handful are earn-only and don’t offer redemptions.
Oneworld alliance partners:
- Alaska Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Fiji Airways
- Finnair
- Iberia
- Japan Airlines
- Malaysia Airlines
- Oman Air (earn only)
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- Royal Jordanian Airlines
- SriLankan Airlines
Other partners:
- Aer Lingus (earn only)
- Air Tahiti Nui
- Cape Air
- China Southern Airlines (earn only)
- Etihad Airways
- GOL Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- IndiGo (earn only)
- JetSMART (earn only)
How To Earn AAdvantage Miles
There are quite a few ways to earn American Airlines miles — including flying, using the AA shopping and dining portals, renting cars, booking hotels, and spending on a co-branded American Airlines credit card.
Fly American Airlines (and partners)
You can earn American Airlines miles by flying on American Airlines or a partner airline.
It's free to sign up for an AAdvantage number. Then, when you book your flight, just log into your account, and your number will populate when booking a flight.
Note that you can’t earn miles on award bookings (tickets bought with miles). You must pay cash to earn miles for your flight.
American Airlines gives you miles based on the cash amount you pay for your ticket:
- For main cabin tickets (and above), you’ll earn 5 AA miles for each dollar you spend.
- If you purchase a basic economy ticket, you’ll only earn 2 miles per dollar spent.
- Miles can also be earned at a 5x rate on the cash price you pay to purchase an upgraded seat.
When flying on a partner airline, you’ll earn AA miles based either on the ticket price or on the distance flown and fare class — each airline has its own policy. A full breakdown of earning AA miles through partners is available on the American Airlines website.
You can earn additional miles once you have obtained American Airlines elite status:
- Gold: 7x miles on American Airlines flights (and some oneworld partner flights)
- Platinum: 8x miles on American Airlines flights (and some oneworld partner flights)
- Platinum Pro: 9x miles on American Airlines flights (and some oneworld partner flights)
- Executive Platinum: 11x miles on American Airlines flights (and some oneworld partner flights)
Use an American Airlines credit card
American Airlines has several co-branded credit cards that allow you to earn miles through a welcome bonus and everyday spending:
- American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®
These cards all have different perks, welcome bonuses, and earnings capabilities.
There are also several legacy American Airlines cards that can still earn AA miles, but are no longer accepting new applications.
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Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
Rewards Rate
- 2 miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases, and at restaurants and gas stations
- 1 mile for every $1 on everything else
Welcome Offer
Earn 80,000 bonus miles after $3,500 in purchases within the first 4 months of account opening.
Annual Fee
$0 for the first year, then $99
Use the AAdvantage eShopping® portal
You can earn bonus AA miles when using the AAdvantage online shopping portal at aadvantageeshopping.com, which features over 1,200 stores.
Log into your AA account, go to the AAdvantage Shopping website, and then click through to the online store you wish to make a purchase at. Your bonus miles are then added to your AAdvantage account.
You can also add a Google Chrome extension to be notified automatically if there are bonus miles available. Once you activate the extension, you’ll automatically get the AA miles added to your account after an eligible purchase is verified.
Use the AAdvantage DiningSM program
Similar to the shopping portal, American Airlines offers a dining program that allows you to link a credit card (it doesn’t have to be an American Airlines card), find a supported restaurant, and earn extra AA miles when you pay with that linked card.
When you first join the program, you’ll earn some bonus miles. And when you dine at specific restaurants, you can earn up to 5 miles for each dollar paid.
The dining program can be found at aadvantagedining.com.
Other ways to earn miles
American Airlines also offers several other ways to earn miles.
- Shell rewards: Link your AAdvantage account with Shell Fuel Rewards and earn miles every time you fill up at a Shell station — 3x miles per gallon, with a limit of 20 gallons per fill-up.
- Hotel stays: Connect your AAdvantage account to Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG loyalty programs to earn miles when booking hotel stays. Hyatt offers some extra perks, including free AA flights when you hit certain status milestones with Hyatt.
- Car rentals: Link your AAdvantage account with Avis, Budget, and Hertz to earn miles every time you rent a car.
- Purchase miles: You can buy AA miles directly from the American Airlines website, but it’s a bad deal. This usually only makes sense when you need fewer than a few thousand miles to complete an award booking.
How To Redeem AAdvantage Miles
You can redeem American Airlines miles for flights, hotel stays, car rentals, and even experiences — but the best deals are usually on flights.
Here’s how to use your American Airlines miles, and which options offer the best value.
Redeem miles for flights
You can book award flights with American Airlines miles directly on AA.com or through the American Airlines mobile app.
You’ll need to sign into your AAdvantage account, and make sure to check the “Redeem miles” box when inputting your search criteria.
Some of the best flight redemptions are international flights through American Airlines’ partner airlines. You can find direct flights from AA hub airports such as Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York to destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.
But possibly the best redemptions are long-haul flights on partner Qatar Airways, where you can snag a flight on the world-class Qsuites.
For example, I found one-way flights from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Doha, Qatar (DOH) for 40,000 AA miles each way. But to fly Qsuites, it was only 70,000 miles each way.
It can be hard to find availability, but these seats cost $5,000+ each, so it’s worth searching!
READ MORE: How To Travel for Free with Credit Cards
Redeem miles for car rentals, hotels, and more
American Airlines miles can be redeemed for car rentals, hotel stays, and other travel experiences through AA’s travel portal.
The redemption rate is usually pretty awful for these types of bookings, and you usually don’t even get 1 cent per point (cpp) of value. I don’t recommend doing this unless you find a great deal.
Redeem miles for seat upgrades
You can also use your miles for seat upgrades on your flight (to the next fare class) up to 24 hours before departure.
Just look up your flight and you’ll see an option for an instant upgrade, valued in either cash or miles. The amount will depend on the flight and route.
Note, however, this is only available for American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia flights. There’s no upgrade option on other codeshare flights. It’s also not available on award tickets or basic economy fare tickets.
READ MORE: How To Upgrade to First Class Without Paying Extra Fees
Redeem miles for Admirals Club®
You can also use your American Airlines miles for a day pass or a one-year membership to American Airlines’ Admirals Club® lounges.
Day passes are 7,900 miles ($79), and one-year memberships are 85,000 miles (or 160,000 for your whole household).
You can get discounts on these passes if you have American Airlines elite status.
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How To Get American Airlines Elite Status
American Airlines has four levels of elite status, offering bonus miles, complimentary seat upgrades, free checked bags, lounge access, and more.
To earn elite status, you’ll need a minimum number of American Airlines Loyalty Points.
You can earn Loyalty Points the same way you earn AAdvantage miles, so every AAdvantage mile you earn equals one Loyalty Point.
That means you can earn Loyalty Points through:
- Physical miles flown with American Airlines or a partner airline
- Spending on an American Airlines credit card
- Using the AAdvantage shopping or dining portal
- Connecting your AAdvantage account to partners (like Shell or Hyatt)
Here’s how many Loyalty Points you need to reach each elite status tier, and some benefits that go along with them:
| Elite status tier | Loyalty Points (LPs) needed | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| AAdvantage Gold® | 40,000 | 40% miles bonus Premium or first-class upgrades when available 1 free checked bag Priority boarding (Group 4) 24-hour upgrade window |
| AAdvantage Platinum® | 75,000 | 60% miles bonus Premium or first-class upgrades when available 2 free checked bags Priority boarding (Group 3) 48-hour upgrade window |
| AAdvantage Platinum® Pro | 125,000 | 80% miles bonus Premium or first-class upgrades when available 3 free checked bags Priority boarding (Group 2) 72-hour upgrade window |
| AAdvantage Executive Platinum® | 200,000 | 120% miles bonus Premium or first-class upgrades when available 3 free checked bags Priority boarding (Group 1) 100-hour upgrade window |
READ MORE: How To Earn Airline Elite Status — and Is It Worth It?
FAQs About American Airlines AAdvantage
Do American Airlines miles expire?
Yes, American Airlines miles can expire after 24 months of no activity. The easiest way to keep your miles active is to spend at least $1 on a linked American Airlines credit card.
How many American Airlines miles do you earn per dollar spent?
You earn miles for every dollar spent on an American Airlines flight. You can earn 5 miles for every dollar spent on flights, but more if you have American Airlines elite status.
If you have an American Airlines credit card, you’ll earn 1 mile for every dollar spent on it. You can also earn more for certain purchases, depending on the card.
Do you get a free bag with the American Airlines AAdvantage?
While you don’t get a free checked bag just for joining AAdvantage, you can earn a free checked bag after getting 40,000 Loyalty Points and obtaining Gold status.
You can also get a free checked bag when you sign up and use one of the premium American Airlines credit cards to book your flights.
TL;DR: Is AAdvantage Worth It?
American Airlines AAdvantage is free to join, so it’s worth getting a membership if you fly AA or its partners regularly, especially from their major hub cities like Dallas, Chicago, or New York.
Even if you're just an occasional flyer, you can still earn miles through AA’s co-branded credit cards, which you can then redeem for flights.
You’ll get the best value from your miles when you book international flights on premium partner airlines like Qatar Airways, where you can score incredible value on business class seats that normally cost thousands of dollars.
And if you fly enough to hit elite status (at least 40,000 Loyalty Points), you’ll get free checked bags, priority boarding, and upgrade opportunities that can easily save you hundreds per year.
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