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You work hard on your 9 to 5, you don’t want to punch the clock again to earn your Miles
Hey, preaching to the choir over here. Those of us who live deep down the rabbit hole of Miles and Points have excel spreadsheets documenting when we signed up, when we got our bonuses, annual fees, etc, etc. It’s a lot of work, and for most people out there…way too much. You already work hard enough at your day job, the last thing you want to do is get home and put in the hours needed to nail down every deal. That’s why I put together these 3 super simple ways you can earn TONS of AA miles. And by Tons, if you were to do all three, you could fly roundtrip in Business Class for under $200.
1) Keep a checking account with Bank Direct
Did you know that you can earn a lot of points with your checking or money market account? It’s a super easy way to plump up that AA account
- You’ll earn 100 AA miles for every $1,000 you keep in your Checking Account up to $50k.
- At a $50,000 balance, you’ll earn 5,000 AA miles every month, or 60k a year ( That’s enough to fly in Business from the States to Europe or South America.)
In addition to Checking and Money Market accounts, they have various promotions that will earn you AA mileage bonuses as well. You can check them out here.
It’s worth noting that there are some fees associated with the accounts: $12/month or $144 a year.
2) Opening a new Sprint Account = 20,000 (25k) AA miles
If you already have Sprint you should be earning miles every month, up to 5000 a year. If you aren’t with Sprint, like I was, then switching over could save you money and earn you a lot of AA miles
I took advantage of this offer last year before taking off to SouthEast Asia. While the data is slow abroad, it’s unlimited, and there are no contracts keeping you bound to Sprint. My miles posted within a month, and I ended up saving a lot of money compared to my Verizon bill. And I have unlimited everything for roughly $60 month.
3) Open a Barclay Aviator Red World ELITE Mastercard = 50k miles after the 1st purchase
If you’re like me, you received a grandfathered Aviator Red when American Airlines absorbed U.S. Airways and converted all of the old U.S. Airways cards into Barclay Aviator Reds. You may be aware that Barclay changed their stance on the card from only having grandfathered accounts to allowing new cardholder signups.
What you may not be aware of, and DW confirmed this on AYP, is that, unlike the old Barclay Aviators, the NEW BARCLAY AVIATORS are World Elite Mastercards. Since World Elite cards come with a different set of benefits, they are in fact a completely different product. And even if you carry an old grandfathered Aviator Red, you are still eligible to get a sign up bonus on the new World Elite version.
One purchase will earn you 50k points. THAT IS HARD TO BEAT.
The benefits I value most:
- 50k AA sign up bonus after first purchase
- 1st checked bag is free
- Preferred Boarding
- Collision Damage Waiver on auto rentals
- 10% of all redeemed Miles back up to 100k a year ( this is the redeemed amount so you could get up to 10k back a year)
- Participates in the Reduced Mileage awards from AA
- These can save you up to 7500 miles roundtrip
In addition to those guaranteed benefits, Barclay incentivizes spend on the card better than most. Almost everyone I know that has the card has received some sort of bonus offer for spend, typically 15k points after spending $500/month for 3 months. Add together with the 10% refund on redeemed points and you could be netting 25k a year on top of the sign up bonus.
Do all three of these and you’d earn 135k points your first year with almost no effort.
- 60k Points from Bank Direct ( with a 50k deposit) costing $144 in fees for the year
- 25k Points from a Sprint Signup ( including the 450miles a month on going)
- 50k Points from a Barclay Aviator Red signup
You forgot about signing up for directv and other products.
The best rate on a savings account right now is through the All America Bank family of banks at 1.5%. With a few accounts (their max at 1.5% is $35000), you can earn $750 per year fee-free if you keep $50K with them.
The AA mileage account pays next to nothing ($5 per year). So, with fees and considering opportunity cost (lost change to earn 1.5%), that account will cost you approximately $889 per year.
Unless I’m wrong, you are purchasing those 60000 miles at 1.48 cents per mile. Unless you want to fly business/first all the time, this does not seem like such a good deal.
I’m somewhat new to this game, so… am I missing something here?
You said current sprint customer earns 5000 miles per month? Any info link on that? I don’t see anywhere that says that.
Hey Lee – you should be able to link your account and earn 5k a year – try calling customer service
Miles, you are the best! Wanted to also note (like I did in another post) that the Red Aviator MasterCard from Barclays is now 60k point offer on using your card to make a simple purchase plus paying the $95 annual fee. I am in no way associated with Barclays, but my wife and I just both cashed in on the 60k point offer!