American Airlines has extended their promotion to buy AAdvantage miles with a decent bonus until August 5th 2015.
The original offer (see here) which also included a 15% price rebate has been discontinued while the extended promotion still includes the original amount of bonus miles. The bonus is staggered and begins with 5,000 miles at 16,000 purchased AAdvantage miles after which it increases in steps of 5,000 for every additional 15,000 purchased. You can access the AAdvantage website for this offer here.
This promotion ‘maxes out’ at 76,000 Miles purchased (+ 27,500 Miles Bonus) where the price per mile comes out at US$ 2.31 cents per mile (tax included). Buyers with a canadian billing address are subject to additional GST/HST charges.
That is still very good for AAdvantage miles considering American has some sweet spots for award redemptions, especially from North America to Asia. Here is an example based on one way travel:
Chicago to Tokyo using Japan Airlines First Class: 62,500 Miles (Business Class: 50,000)
Los Angeles to Bali via Hong Kong using Cathay Pacific First Class: 67,500 Miles (Business Class: 55,000)
- Transactions are nonrefundable and nonreversible.
- The miles successfully purchased will post to the designated account immediately.
- Prices are in U.S. dollars and do not include applicable taxes or $30 per transaction processing charge.
- AAdvantage miles purchased do not count toward elite-status qualification or AAdvantage Million MilerSM status.
As always, AAdvantage accounts less than 30 days old are not permitted to Buy or Gift Miles.
Conclusion
While not excellent it can still make sense to purchase miles under this promotion if you plan on using them for a specific trip that might be coming up shortly for you. 2400$ for a Business Class roundtrip to Asia is still a great deal. I purchased miles under this promotion including the 15% discount a few weeks ago and will book a ticket soon.
Keep in mind that you can now redeem AAdvantage Miles online for a variety of airlines, however most oneWorld carrier redemptions such as for Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines require you to call in which incurs a callcenter booking charge. Also be aware of the very high fuel surcharge (YQ) for all remdeptions on British Airways (up to 300$ per longhaul segment).
