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The American Airlines AAdvantage loyalty program sometimes seems like two distinct frequent flyer programs: one that offers a fairly consistent but mediocre return for redeeming miles on American Airlines flights, and another that offers a less predictable but often stellar return for flights on partner airlines.
That upside is what gives AAdvantage miles an average redemption value of 1.4 cents per mile with Insider's rewards valuations. Depending on how you redeem them, you can get huge value for your rewards.
Read on to see which redemption options you should target and avoid to get the most out of your miles.
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American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® -
AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®
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AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Business Mastercard®
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Best ways to use AAdvantage miles
American Airlines uses dynamic award pricing on its own flights that often (but not always) aligns with cash prices, so there are relatively few opportunities to score an outsized redemption value. Your best bet to get an exceptional deal using AAdvantage miles is to book premium awards on partner airlines.
Partner award flights in first and business class
For example, consider a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo in mid-2023. You could book a round-trip first class seat on Japan Airlines for 160,000 AAdvantage miles and $56.68 through American Airlines.
At the time of writing, that same flight has a cash price of $23,627 dollars, yielding an impressive redemption value of 14.75 cents per point. That's more than ten times our average valuation of 1.4 cents apiece for AAdvantage miles.
A redemption value that high is mostly the product of such a stratospheric cash fare — for most people, spending $23,000 on a plane ticket isn't a practical option, so the award and cash prices aren't strictly comparable. However, this award would be a good deal even at one tenth the cash price.
As another example, consider this non-stop flight from Chicago to Amman, Jordan on Royal Jordanian Airlines. You could book a business class award for 70,000 miles and $8.10 in fees.
In contrast, the cash fare is $3,307, yielding an excellent redemption value of 4.72 cents per mile. That's more than 3x the average value of AAdvantage miles, per Insider's valuations.
Partner awards in economy
Economy awards don't yield astronomical returns like the examples above, because the equivalent cash fares are disproportionately cheaper. However, you can still find excellent redemption values in the main cabin, like these nonstop flights in April, 2023 from Hong Kong to Jakarta on Oneworld partner Cathay Pacific:
One-way service in economy costs 17,500 miles plus about $34, compared to a cash price of HKD 3,338 (approximately $427). That's a redemption value of 2.24 cents per point, which is again well above our high valuation for AAdvantage miles. In this example, you could instead opt for business class for just 5,000 miles and about $9 more. With a cash fare of HKD 16,288 (approximately $2,081), the business class award provides a redemption value over 9 cents per mile.
AAdvantage Web Specials
Despite the use of dynamic award pricing, you can still get a high redemption value on American Airlines flights with AAdvantage Web Specials.
These discounted awards aren't available on all flights; the best way to find them is to use the calendar view in the AAdvantage award search. For example, here are search results for a one-way flight from New York to Buenos Aires in May, 2023.
As shown in the calendar view, Web Specials aren't available on all flights; the more flexible your travel plans are, the more chances you'll have to take advantage of these discounted fares.
The flight on May 22 is a Web Special fare, and costs less than half of most other flights for four days in either direction. The non-stop economy award is 22,500 miles and $5.60.
In comparison, the cash price is $985, which yields a redemption value of 4.35 cents per mile. While eleven hours in economy isn't ideal, this award ticket is a bargain.
Average-value redemption options
While high-value awards on American Airlines flights are hard to come by, getting average value is easier — especially in economy. The same goes when you use AAdvantage miles to book economy flights on Oneworld partner Alaska Airlines.
Domestic economy awards
For example, this flight from Seattle to Phoenix costs 23,500 miles. That's pricey for a one-way domestic award, but not bad for flying the day before Thanksgiving when booking only a few days in advance.
In comparison, the cash price is $353, which yields a redemption value of around 1.47 cents per mile. That's just above our average valuation of 1.4 cents.
As another example, here's a one-way flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Orlando on a Friday night in May 2023. A Main Cabin award costs 13,500 miles and $5.60.
A similar cash fare costs $193, which yields a redemption value of 1.38 cents per mile. That's slightly below average.
As one final example, consider this flight from Portland to Anchorage on Alaska Airlines in August 2023.
A one-way Main Cabin award costs 15,000 miles and $5.60, whereas an equivalent cash fare (purchased through Alaska Airlines) costs $209. That yields a redemption value of around 1.35 cents per mile, which is just below our average valuation.
These examples aren't meant to imply that all domestic economy awards will earn you close to 1.4 cents per mile. In practice, some awards will be more or less lucrative, and you can use our average valuation to help you decide which ones are (or aren't) worth booking.
AAdvantage upgrade awards
American Airlines offers separate upgrade award charts for its own flights and partner flights. The cost depends on:
- Route flown
- Original fare class (Basic Economy and award tickets are ineligible, and there's an additional cash component when upgrading a discounted fare on American Airlines).
Upgrades can't be processed online, so you have to call the reservations line or visit a ticketing agent in person to request one. Furthermore, there's no guarantee an upgrade request will clear right away (or at all). That uncertainty makes these mileage upgrades a high variance redemption option, but there's enough upside that they're worth looking into if you've booked a cash fare.
Low-value redemption options
The AAdvantage program offers a variety of alternative redemption options, but none of them offer good value.
Hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages
You can use miles to book vacation packages (flights, hotels, and rental cars) through American Airlines Vacations, and to book hotels and rental cars separately through AAdvantage partner Rocket.
Vacation packages consistently yield a redemption value of close to 1 cent, which equals our low valuation for AAdvantage miles. Using miles could make sense if you find a good deal on a vacation package, especially if you have miles to burn and prefer to save your cash.
Using miles for individual hotel and rental car bookings tends to be less fruitful. You can choose between covering 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the cost with miles, but regardless of how many miles you use, you can expect to get a redemption rate of under 1 cent per mile.
For example, you could redeem 238,000 miles to cover this 7-night stay in April at the Holiday Inn New Orleans-Downtown Superdome.
The same room (with a similar cancellation policy) booked directly through IHG would cost $1,834.28. That yields a redemption value of just 0.77 cents per mile — well below our average valuation for American Airlines miles.
Admirals Club memberships
An annual Admirals Club lounge membership normally costs $650 for an individual or $1,250 for an individual and spouse. You can cover the cost with miles instead by redeeming 65,000 or 125,000 miles, respectively, for a flat redemption value of 1 cent per mile.
Other valuation factors
Redemption rates aren't the only variable we use to assess the value of points and miles. Here's how the AAdvantage program performs across other facets we take into consideration:
- Expiration policy (+) — AAdvantage miles expire if your account is inactive for 24 consecutive months. The clock resets with any qualifying activity, which includes most transactions where you earn, redeem or transfer miles. Keeping miles active under these terms is fairly easy.
- Award availability (Neutral) — American Airlines uses dynamic award pricing on its own flights, which means the cost of awards fluctuates along with the cost of cash fares. As a result, you can almost always redeem miles for an open seat, but award rates tend to be exorbitant when demand is high. The AAdvantage program still has a fixed-rate award chart for partner flights, but finding availability in premium cabins can be challenging.
- Sharing/pooling (-) — American Airlines does not offer a complimentary way to share miles. You can transfer miles between AAdvantage accounts at a cost of $15 per 1,000 miles, which is only useful in very limited circumstances (for example, if you need a small number of miles right away to book a relatively valuable award).
- Ease of accumulation (+) — American Airlines offers middling earning rates for flight activity, but you can earn miles from sign-up bonuses and spending on an assortment of American Airlines credit cards. You can also transfer points instantaneously from Bilt Rewards at 1:1, or within a week from Marriott Bonvoy at 3:1.
- Award change and cancellation policy (+) — American Airlines does not charge a fee to change or cancel AAdvantage awards. Most awards can be changed or canceled with miles redeposited to your account; the exception is Web Specials, which can be canceled but not changed.
- Surcharges (+) — American Airlines doesn't impose its own fuel surcharges on AAdvantage awards, but it does pass on fuel surcharges added by some partner airlines (namely, British Airways and Iberia). American Airlines also doesn't tack on fees for booking awards close to departure or by phone.
- Route network and partners (+) — American Airlines has an extensive route network serving hundreds of destinations in dozens of countries. You can also use AAdvantage miles to book flights on Oneworld alliance partners like Alaska Airlines, Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific, as well as non-alliance partners like Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue.
The lack of a free mileage pooling option is the only clear negative among these miscellaneous factors. Unfortunately, dynamic pricing is a feature of the AAdvantage program and not a bug. The high variability of award pricing on American Airlines flights presents an obstacle during times of peak demand, but also presents opportunities to save miles when cash fares are low.
Bottom line
The AAdvantage program continues to offer high upside to award travelers via its partner award charts. Despite the use of dynamic award pricing, there are also ample opportunities to redeem miles at a good rate on American Airlines flights, especially during off-peak travel periods.
The ability to book flights on Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and Hawaiian Airlines gives AAdvantage miles added utility for domestic travelers. All these factors contribute to our rating of the AAdvantage program as one of the most lucrative options for frequent flyers.
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