Flying American

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Topic Author
dwade1109
Posts: 178
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:36 pm

Flying American

Post by dwade1109 »

Any savvy pros have tips for how to maximize miles/credit rewards if planning to fly American only frequently (1-2x/month) for work?

Thanks in advance!
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carorun
Posts: 345
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 5:53 pm

Re: Flying American

Post by carorun »

I fly almost weekly for work, and American is my preferred airline due to service and award availability.

Some tips:
Once you hit gold/platinum/exp, you'll accrue extra miles on flights, anywhere from 25-100% extra.

Rental cars and hotels often permit their reward points to be accrued as airline miles. For example, I use Avis for rental cars. I never rent cars on my personal time, so I accrue Avis rewards as AA miles, and earn 400 additional miles a week that way. I usually stay at Hiltons and participate in their "double dip", so I accrue hhonors points and AA miles every week.

Assuming you aren't tied to a corporate card, shift some of your travel spend to an AA credit card. The AA Citi cards are good for the sign up bonuses, but I prefer the SPG Amex for daily use. You earn 1 point/dollar outside of Starwood hotels (2/dollar at Starwood). SPG points transfer 1:1 to American miles. HOWEVER, when you transfer 20,000 points to AA, you earn another 5,000 miles. So essentially you earn 1.25 miles per dollar spent.

Hope that helps. I just flew to Thailand in business class on American miles. I went to San Antonio on miles last year. Some planning around and flexibility of dates allows you to maximize your miles- and earn "perks" for your business travel.
travellight
Posts: 2892
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2008 5:52 pm
Location: San Diego

Re: Flying American

Post by travellight »

I find that American has the best award miles rate. I agree with signing up for AA credit cards.
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dickenjb
Posts: 2941
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:11 pm
Location: Philadelphia PA

Re: Flying American

Post by dickenjb »

I have been flying AA quite a bit recently to use up some of the 1MM miles I earned on them through a now defunct bank deal. Basically a bank in Texas that paid the equivalent of 1.8% interest, tax free, in the form of AAdvantage miles in an FDIC insured checking account with daily liquidity. It was a good deal while it lasted and I became Lifetime Gold without ever setting foot on an AA flight.

AA is a good airline but has few flights from PHL where I am based, but this will change with the US merger.

My advice is to look into earning some BA Avios. Their miles redeem on AA and awards are distance based. Can get short RT's on AA for 15,000 Avios (vs 25,000 AA miles for same trip).

If you split your earning on AA flights between AA and BA, you will then have a bank of BA miles to use on short flights and AA miles to use for long flights.

Also spend some time on the AA forum on FlyerTalk. It is the Bogleheads of frequent flyerdom. I have been a member over there since 2000 and it is a major reason I have been able to amass 3.5 million miles.
stan1
Posts: 14246
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:35 pm

Re: Flying American

Post by stan1 »

For me the status level is much more important than points. Expedited check-in, Pre-Check screening, preferred seating in aisles/extra leg room, early boarding, complimentary baggage allowance, potential for upgrades, priority rebooking, and access to lounges for international travel all add up to make air travel much less of a hassle than it is without these perks. To be honest I find the perks to be more valuable than the free tickets. When flying regularly on domestic routes I have used Frequent Flier points to purchase an Admiral's Club membership.

If you are flying on full-fare (e.g. Y Class) tickets you get 1.5 points toward FF status per qualifying mile flown -- but your employer may not want to pay for Y class tickets.

If you are flying deep discount tickets you only get 0.5 points toward status per mile flown -- so it can take a long time to get Gold, Plat, or Ex Plat status this way.

Also depends on how far you travel. My primary destination is about 2350 miles each way from my home so I need to fly 6 round trips per year to maintain Gold status. If you aren't flying transcontinental or international flights it takes a long time to get status.
Warning: I am about 80% satisficer (accepting of good enough) and 20% maximizer
WHL
Posts: 789
Joined: Mon Dec 10, 2012 1:22 pm

Re: Flying American

Post by WHL »

stan1 wrote: Also depends on how far you travel. My primary destination is about 2350 miles each way from my home so I need to fly 6 round trips per year to maintain Gold status. If you aren't flying transcontinental or international flights it takes a long time to get status.
I would say there are more EXP's who qualify on segments than miles / points.

Currently sitting F on AA :)
Topic Author
dwade1109
Posts: 178
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:36 pm

Re: Flying American

Post by dwade1109 »

Merry Christmas all! Thank you for the replies, my company will not be paying for my travel, this is personal (long-distance relationship :happy ) and would involve flying about 12x a year.
stan1
Posts: 14246
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:35 pm

Re: Flying American

Post by stan1 »

dwade1109 wrote:Merry Christmas all! Thank you for the replies, my company will not be paying for my travel, this is personal (long-distance relationship :happy ) and would involve flying about 12x a year.
In that case, I'd try to fly Southwest instead of American.
Warning: I am about 80% satisficer (accepting of good enough) and 20% maximizer
protagonist
Posts: 9279
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2010 11:47 am

Re: Flying American

Post by protagonist »

Unless you constantly fly for work, maximizing miles is way easier by taking advantage of credit card promos than any other way. The SPG Amex card (already mentioned) is another way, though less accepted than Visa/ MC. A good forum to ask your question is flyertalk.com
jlawrence01
Posts: 1908
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:34 am
Location: Southern AZ

Re: Flying American

Post by jlawrence01 »

stan1 wrote:
dwade1109 wrote:Merry Christmas all! Thank you for the replies, my company will not be paying for my travel, this is personal (long-distance relationship :happy ) and would involve flying about 12x a year.
In that case, I'd try to fly Southwest instead of American.

And sign up for the Southwest Airlines Visa credit card and you will accrue miles faster.
Cigarman
Posts: 480
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:12 am

Re: Flying American

Post by Cigarman »

I earn miles on SW and AA via credit card I use for my own business and rack up miles quickly. American's program went way downhill during reorganization but seems to be better now. I really prefer SW overall.

BIG RED FLAG: If you book a flight on American using miles and then cancel, they will charge you to reinstate the miles depending upon your level in their program. With SW you can cancel and have miles reinstated at no charge.
jodydavis
Posts: 225
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 9:50 am

Re: Flying American

Post by jodydavis »

Check out both the gold and platinum challenges, as they are quick ways to achieve status without flying the full amount of miles: http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Challenge_(AA). It costs a bit upfront, but you can make up the cost quickly in terms of benefits and bonus miles.

Also check out the co-branded citibank credit cards: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-c ... st-19.html. You can get a 50k bonus on each of the personal and business credit cards for a total of 100k. (Of course, this depends on your having good credit scores, the discipline to never run a balance, etc.)

Good luck!
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