Uncategorized

AA Business Extra adds partner award redemptions

a stuffed animal on a seat in an airplane

We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


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…

 

a screenshot of a flight information

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!

a white box with black text and blue text

Let’s dig into some zones and see what it’ll cost you…hint: it’s a lot

North America to Europe
a screenshot of a computer

North America to Africa

R/T biz is 27k or $135k in spending.

a screenshot of a computer

North America to/from Indian Subcontinent/Middle East

a screenshot of a computer

Centra/South America to Europe

a screenshot of a computer

You can redeem within foreign countries as well:

Within the UK

a screenshot of a computer

Within Spain

a screenshot of a computer

Within Europe

a screenshot of a computer

Within Africa

a screenshot of a computer

Out of Europe…

Europe to/from Africa

a screenshot of a computer

Europe to/from Indian Subcontinent/Middle East

a screenshot of a computer

Europe to/from Asia

a screenshot of a computer

Europe to/from South Pacific

a screenshot of a computer 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.

a blue credit card with lines and symbols

Learn More

 Affiliate link 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 3x on dining
    •  including eligible delivery services for takeout
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel Portal
  • 2x on all other travel
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Chase Travel
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 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 Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Primary rental car coverage is my favorite

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.

5 Comments

  • […] American Airlines Business ExtrAA redemptions on British Airways and Iberia […]

  • G-flyer April 24, 2020

    This has been possible for several years already, back from when BA closed their US-based On Business program.

    • Ryan April 25, 2020

      They Added JAL now I would say that is a big change.

  • Christian April 23, 2020

    My biggest problem with the program is the fairly quick expiration of the points. I cashed in expiring lounge passes late last year, planning on giving them to friends for upcoming travel this Spring. Three guesses how that worked. If I can’t find a friend to get to use them, can you use them or give them to someone who can? I’m not ready to bite the bullet yet but the way things are looking, having a plan seems prudent.

  • Andre Wiggins April 23, 2020

    PASS

Leave a Reply to Christian Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.