ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE: The Frugal Tourist is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com and Cardratings. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. All information about the American Express Schwab Platinum has been collected independently by The Frugal Tourist.
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
American Airlines miles are considered to be one of the most valuable and sought-after loyalty points in the travel industry.
With American Airlines being one of the largest and most established airlines in the world, it is no surprise that its frequent flyer program offers numerous benefits and rewards.
In this post, we will list several ways to earn them so you can start planning your next trip using these coveted miles.
Whether you’re a frequent business traveler or a points enthusiast looking for the best deals, earning American Airlines miles can help you save money while enjoying a comfortable and rewarding travel experience.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into the world of American Airlines miles and discover how you can maximize your earnings and easily fly on these miles.
Why I Love American Airlines Miles
The American Airlines AAdvantage program provides access to a wide range of flight options on some amazing Oneworld carriers such as Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, and Iberia.
Therefore, any AAdvantage member can use their hard-earned American Airlines miles to book bucket-list flights on any of these world-class airlines.
American Airlines also has an incredible flexible policy: They waive change or cancellation fees for all bookings made with their miles.
This awesome customer-friendly policy is the reason why using my American Airlines miles is one of my top choices when booking award tickets.
Ways to Earn American Airlines Miles
1. Fly With American Airlines and its Partners
The most straightforward way to earn American Airlines miles is to fly on American Airlines and its partners.
When flying with American Airlines partners, make sure that you type in your American Airlines AAdvantage account number when asked where you would like to credit your miles.
| American Airlines OneWorld Alliance and Codeshare Partners |
|---|
| OneWorld Alliance Partners |
| Alaska Airlines British Airways Cathay Pacific Finnair Iberia Japan Airlines Malaysia Airlines Qantas Qatar Airways Royal Air Maroc Royal Jordanian SriLankan Airlines Fiji Airways (OneWorld Connect) Oman Air (Future Member) |
| Codeshare Partners |
| Air Tahiti Nui Cape Air China Southern Airlines Etihad Airways Fiji Airways GOL Airlines Hawaiian Airlines IndiGo JetBlue Silver Airways |
2. American Airlines Credit Cards
For every dollar spent with American Airlines credit cards, cardholders will earn 1 American Airlines mile.
Additionally, when the card is used to purchase travel on aa.com, the reward increases to at least 2 miles per dollar spent.
Free Travel Miles and Points Facebook Group
If you are unsure which credit card to sign up for, feel free to contact us at our Travel Miles and Points Facebook Group or fill out this Credit Card Consultation Form. They are both free!
3. Shop Through The American Airlines AAdvantage Shopping Portal
By making purchases through the American Airlines shopping portal, you can earn American Airlines miles for every purchase you make as long as the merchant participates in the program.
Many merchants even provide bonus miles for every dollar spent if you shop through the AA portal.
For instance, Viator, a personal favorite, often offers at least 7 miles per dollar when you book tours and excursions through the American Airlines shopping portal.
AAdvantage Shopping Portal Steps:
First, log in at the AAdvantage Shopping Portal Website using your American Airlines AAdvantage account credentials.
Then browse through thousands of popular retailers that offer bonus miles on purchases.
To access a participating merchant’s website, click on their name in the portal. You’ll be redirected to their site instantly.
Shop as you normally would and expect your bonus miles to be credited to your AAdvantage account within a few weeks, maybe even sooner.
| Pro-Tips When Using the American Airlines Shopping Portal |
|---|
| Read the terms and conditions before purchasing. Some merchants only offer American Airlines bonus miles once per lifetime. |
| Shopping trips are only tracked when using Google Chrome, so ensure you opt for this browser. Also, consider installing the American Airlines shopping portal Google Chrome extension for alerts when purchasing at participating merchants. |
| If your bonus miles from the AA shopping portal did not show up, reach out to Customer Service. They have been pretty efficient in tracking shopping trips and awarding missing miles. |
Register for an American Airlines AAdvantage Shopping Portal account
4. Shop Through The SimplyMiles Shopping Portal
In addition to the American Airlines AAdvantage Shopping Portal, SimplyMiles is another shopping portal that can generate American Airlines miles.
At present, SimplyMiles is compatible exclusively with Mastercard credit cards.
To receive American Airlines miles, you must first enroll your Mastercard credit cards before making any purchases.
You don’t necessarily need an American Airlines AAdvantage co-branded Mastercard credit card to earn AA miles on SimplyMiles.
Linking any Mastercard, like the Chase Freedom Flex®, on SimplyMiles also allows you to earn American Airlines miles.
SimplyMiles Steps:
- Join SimplyMiles: Sign up using your AAdvantage number and Mastercard.
- Activate Offers: Activate your personalized and everyday offers.
- Earn Miles: Shop to earn miles for travel. Make sure you pay using the Mastercard you enrolled in SimplyMiles.
5. Book Your Hotels Through AAdvantage Hotels
BookAAHotels.com or AAdvantageHotels.com are online hotel booking portals that can help anyone earn American Airlines miles effortlessly.
Booking hotel stays with these third-party partners can earn you thousands of miles per night on all qualifying stays.
All you need to do is create an account, link it to your American Airlines account, reserve your hotels, and wait for the miles to enter your American Airlines AAdvantage account after you complete your stay.
Not only do you earn American Airlines miles from your hotel stays, but you will also generate Loyalty Points that can earn you American Airlines elite status.
Lastly, with BookAAhotels.com and AAdvantageHotels.com, you will also earn extra miles if you own an American Airlines Credit Card and/or have American Airlines Status. Check out the table below.
| Credit Card/Elite Status | Extra Base Miles |
|---|---|
| No AA Credit Card / No Elite Status | No Extra Miles |
| AA Credit Card Holder | Earn up to 5 times more base miles on hotels |
| AA Elite | Earn up to 5 times more base miles on hotels |
| AA Credit Card Holder + AA Elite Status | Earn up to 10 times more base miles on hotels |
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® earns 10 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on eligible hotels booked through aa.com/hotels and on eligible car rentals booked through aa.com/cars.
6. Link Your American Airlines AAdvantage Account With Hyatt
In 2019, American Airlines and Hyatt joined forces, enabling AAdvantage and World of Hyatt elite members to accumulate miles and points on their flights and hotel stays.
Even if you don’t plan to fly soon, you can still receive American Airlines miles from Hyatt hotel bookings if you have AAdvantage elite status.
Link Your American Airlines & Hyatt Accounts Here
7. Convert Hotel Points to American Airlines Miles
While not the most ideal option, converting your hotel points to American Airlines miles is a viable choice if you’re in a bind and require additional AA miles to boost your balance for a specific redemption.
Convert Hotel Points to American Airlines Miles
| Hotel Program | Link |
|---|---|
| World of Hyatt (WOH) | Convert your WOH points |
| IHG Hotels | Convert your IHG points |
| Marriott Bonvoy | Convert your Marriott Bonvoy points |
| Marriott Vacation Club | Convert your Vacation Club Points |
8. Rent a Car with an American Airlines Partner
Numerous car rental companies collaborate with American Airlines, such as Alamo, Avis, Dollar, Hertz, National, Thrifty, and Budget.
Remember to specify your American Airlines AAdvantage account number when renting a car so you do not miss out on American Airlines miles from your rentals.
This partnership also enables American Airlines AAdvantage members to receive special discounts from AA car rental partners.
9. Complete a Survey
Filling out a survey is a simple but effective way to earn American Airlines miles.
The American Airlines AAdvantage program partners with various survey providers, allowing members to earn miles when they complete surveys.
With this simple method, you also keep your account active and prevent any existing miles from expiring.
Plus, survey-taking can be an easy activity that can be conveniently completed anywhere.
Earn Miles by Answering Surveys
10. Dine at a Participating Restaurant on the American Airlines Dining Portal
Dining at an American Airlines partner restaurant is a fantastic way to earn American Airlines miles.
By registering your credit card with the American Airlines Dining Program and dining at a participating restaurant, you can earn miles for every dollar you spend on your meal.
So, next time you’re heading out to eat, check if the restaurant is an American Airlines partner so you can earn American Airlines miles from your meal.
Tip: Sign up for the dining program using your American Airlines Advantage credentials and link your credit or debit card to earn bonus miles when dining at participating restaurants. Link a credit card that earns extra points when dining, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the American Express® Gold Card.
Sign Up for the American Airlines Dining Portal
11. Donate Cash or Miles to Charity
You can receive at least 10 miles per dollar for donations of at least $25 made to the airline’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign.
12. American Airlines Vacation Packages & Cruises
You can consider reserving your vacations or cruises directly with AA partners to earn more American Airlines miles.
American Airlines offers packages through American Airlines Vacations or American Airlines Cruises, which can reap a considerable amount of American Airlines bonus miles.
13. Shell Fuel Rewards
American Airlines and Shell just teamed up to give customers a cool perk.
Now, when American Airlines customers fuel up at select Shell stations, they can rack up American Airlines miles.
Customers who enroll in the Fuel Rewards program will receive 2 American Airlines miles for every gallon of fuel purchased.
This offers American Airlines customers another way to earn miles for free flights, AA status, and other travel perks.
This is also one of the easiest ways to reset the expiration date of your American Airlines miles.
How Shell Fuel Rewards Works:
- Join the AAdvantage program if you are not already a member
- Link your AAdvantage account to your Fuel Rewards account
- Ensure your first name and last name of your Fuel Rewards account match your AAdvantage account
- Earn 2 miles for each gallon of Shell fuel purchased at participating locations
- When selecting to earn AAdvantage miles, you will forfeit your Gold or Silver status fuel savings
BONUS: AAdvantage members earn 100 AAdvantage miles when they join Fuel Rewards.
Learn More about the American Airlines and Shell Fuel Rewards Program
14. Earn Miles Through Bask Bank
When you sign up with Bask Bank, you can earn 2.5 American Airlines AAdvantage® miles for every $1 you save each year through the Bask Mileage Savings Account.
| Frequently Asked Questions (Source: Bask Bank) |
|---|
| What can I do with the AAdvantage® miles I earn with Bask Bank? The miles you earn with Bask Bank get added to your AAdvantage® account, and you can use these AAdvantage® miles just like the ones you earn from other AAdvantage® partners. |
| Do American Airlines miles earned from Bask Bank earn Loyalty Points? Just a heads up, the AAdvantage® miles you earn via Bask Bank won’t earn American Airlines Loyalty Points and, therefore, won’t help bump up your elite status. |
| Can I withdraw my cash from Bask Bank whenever I want? How does it impact my AAdvantage® miles? Sure thing, it’s your cash! If you decide to take out some of your savings from Bask Bank, you’ll get rewarded according to the average monthly balance in your account. |
| Additional answers to FAQs can be found here. |
Do American Airlines Miles Expire?
Yes, they do expire.
If you do not have any account activity, your American Airlines AAdvantage miles will expire 24 months after you earn them.
You can reset your miles’ expiration date by earning or redeeming American Airlines miles.
No time to fly?
Fortunately, you have dozens of other options to prevent your miles from expiring.
I list the various ways to keep your miles active just in time for your next award flight on American Airlines in this blog post.
My Favorite Redemptions using American Airlines Miles
Etihad First Apartments
62,500 AA miles AUH-LHR
Qatar Q-Suites
70,000 AA miles USA – Middle East / Central Asia
75,000 AA miles USA – Africa
Final Thoughts
Earning American Airlines miles can be a fantastic way to save money on future flights.
Using the methods mentioned earlier—like getting a co-branded credit card, taking advantage of bonus offers, and joining partner programs—you can effortlessly rack up hundreds of American Airlines miles.
So why wait? Start earning American Airlines miles today so you can soon fly to the destination of your dreams without breaking the bank.
ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE: The Frugal Tourist is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com and Cardratings. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. All information about the American Express Schwab Platinum has been collected independently by The Frugal Tourist.
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
USER-GENERATED CONTENT DISCLOSURE: The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
