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Home » Deals » 3 SUPER SIMPLE ways you can earn TONS of AA miles
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3 SUPER SIMPLE ways you can earn TONS of AA miles

Miles February 7, 2020 American Airlines, Tips 7 Comments
American Airlines Business Class 777-300ER

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3 Super Simple ways to earn tons of AA miles

( Updated January 2020 )

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 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/month 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. In fact, I’ve been with Sprint now for a few years because of this offer, and I’ll be the first to admit that the service isn’t as great as I had with Verizon, but my bill is $55/mo unlimited, and I could always pay more to bump up the speed on my network.

Better yet, Spring offers a super competitive International plan. And my super competitive, I mean it’s free on low speed data and text, and if you want your LTE or soon to be 5G, it’s just $25 a week. I just experience it in Europe over New Years and it was excellent.

3) Open a Barclay Aviator Red World ELITE Mastercard = 60k miles after the 1st purchase

While the Barclay Aviator Red isn’t QUITE as good as it once was, ( they eliminated the 10% back on award redemptions, up to 10k a year ) it’s an outstanding welcome offer, has a $99 companion pass, free bags, etc. If you’ve never had the card – why not?

The benefits I value most:

  • 60k AA sign up bonus after first purchase
  • 1st checked bag is free
  • $25 back for in-flight purchases
  • Preferred Boarding
  • Participates in the Reduced Mileage awards from AA
    • These can save you up to 7500 miles roundtrip

Barclay Aviator Red Miles

Do all three of these and you’d earn 145k 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)
  • 60k Points from a Barclay Aviator Red signup

That’s enough point to fly roundtrip business class almost anywhere in the world. In fact, AA has web specials to Japan as low as 45k each way. You could fly roundtrip and still have 55k miles leftover.

AA 772 Super Diamond

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About Author

Miles

This Monkey didn't get the name Miles for nothing. I might look like an innocent little furball, but I am a Points and Awards BEAST!! Follow me around the world to see how I fly in lie flat seats and sleep in 5* suites for pennies on the dollar.

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7 Comments

  1. GlobalMatt Reply
    August 30, 2017 at 12:20 pm

    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!

  2. Lee Reply
    August 5, 2017 at 4:11 am

    You said current sprint customer earns 5000 miles per month? Any info link on that? I don’t see anywhere that says that.

    • Miles Reply
      August 5, 2017 at 4:37 am

      Hey Lee – you should be able to link your account and earn 5k a year – try calling customer service

  3. Billy Bob Reply
    August 4, 2017 at 6:42 pm

    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?

    • JC Reply
      February 7, 2020 at 11:28 am

      I agree with this assessment; your ROR is even higher if you park it in a 1 year CD (~2%), making the lost opportunity cost of those 60K miles even worse. It only makes sense if you can consistently find usable business class seats to destinations you want, after factoring in award fees to boot.

  4. DaninMCI Reply
    August 4, 2017 at 4:12 pm

    You forgot about signing up for directv and other products.

  5. Pingback: How to buy 60k AA miles for $144 a year - Monkey Miles

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