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AA Business Extra adds partner award redemptions
If you aren’t earning AA Business Extra points, and you’re a small business owner, you really should check out our in depth article on Business Extra. The program allows you to earn 1 point for every $5 you spend on AA, BA, Iberia, and on select FinnAir, JAL, and Qantas flights. These points are in addition to the loyalty program you credit your flights to, and the credit card points you earn when purchasing the ticket. It’s a triple dip on one butt in seat. Up until recently, business extra points were only redeemable on AA flights, the best of which, a 650 point upgrade on domestic segments. Now…you can use business extra, albeit at high cost, on partner awards. Let’s take a look. Hat tip to Ryan who sent me an email about this!
I used 650 business extra point to upgrade a flight between JFK and LAX
650 is the equivalent of $3250 spent; however, there are promotions ( which I’d guess are going to increase ) that can quickly accelerate earning. Hands down…in my opinion…the best use of AABE points.
Here’s a look at American Airlines Business Extra Partner Awards
When you log in and go to “redeem” and “flight awards” the following page loads. It now has “partner awards” listed. Currently, you can redeem on British Airways, Iberia, and AA. However…
You can search and redeem for partner flights as well – note prices are roundtrip
As you can see here…14k roundtrip which could take $70k in spending to earn the points needed. Wowza!
Let’s dig into some zones and see what it’ll cost you…hint: it’s a lot
North America to Europe
North America to Africa
R/T biz is 27k or $135k in spending.
North America to/from Indian Subcontinent/Middle East
Centra/South America to Europe
You can redeem within foreign countries as well:
Within the UK
Within Spain
Within Europe
Within Africa
Out of Europe…
Europe to/from Africa
Europe to/from Indian Subcontinent/Middle East
Europe to/from Asia
Europe to/from South Pacific
Overall:
Hopefully, they incorporate some upgrade awards at more attractive prices, but if you’re absolutely swimming in business extra points…there are more options now available to you for redemption. I’d also assume that JAL, Qantas, FinnAir, etc will be folded in at some point. Ryan, who alerted me of these options, had seen some Qantas shadow inventory late in the calendar. I couldn’t duplicate it, but I’d guess what he found to be an indication of further partner rollout.
Personally, I’ll continue to earn points on my flights…whenever I fly again, and likely redeem them on domestic one segment upgrades – preferably on the transcon routes. I can’t ever see me using business extra points on partners, but then again, never say never.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are 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 posts and/or questions are answered.