Reviews

Buy American Airlines miles for 1.8¢

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Buy American Airlines miles for 1.8¢

I was emailed this morning regarding a great offer to buy American Airlines miles for 1.8¢. I’m racking my brain trying to think of a deal whereby miles could be purchased for much less and it doesn’t really get much better. What does this mean? If you’re looking at using American Airlines miles in the near future for a redemption and are short – this could be an opportune time. I never recommend buying miles speculatively, but if you’re actively planning a trip, then this could be a great time to pick up some miles on sale.

Buy American Airlines miles for 1.8¢

The maximum purchase is 150k + 115k bonus = 265k

Buy American Airlines miles for 1.8¢

That will set you back roughly $4800 or 1.8¢

Buy American Airlines miles for 1.8¢Screen Shot 2017-03-21 at 10.00.00 AM

I wrote a Monkey Miles Memo regarding the value of buying points

If you haven’t read it, and are questioning this premise it’s worth a look. I’d say that buying American Miles at $0.018 is a good opportunity for a point purchase to truly make sense. Either shore up your account, or see the outright space and purchase the entire load of points you need for that redemption. Let’s take a look at few of those instances below.

You can use miles to fly on American’s fantastic reverse herringbone products.

Like I did on the 777-200 from LHR to ORD – only 57,500 miles or $1035

American Airlines Business Class 777-200 London to Chicago - 6 of 46

LAX-LHR on the 77W

AA Business Class 777-300ER ORD-LAX - 6 of 22

Or on Japan Airlines First Class. 85k from the States to Japan or $1530.

Screen Shot 2017-03-21 at 12.30.01 PM

You have until April 13, 2017

  • Must purchase at least 6,000 miles
  • End 11:59:59 pm CT on April 13, 2017
  • Only redeemable miles, no EQM
  • Max is 150k

Screen Shot 2017-03-21 at 9.59.05 AM

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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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.

3 Comments

  • dave March 21, 2017

    not too long ago, the annual limit on miles purchase is 60 K miles. they (AA) have shifted how they make $ off the miles game.

  • Cathy K March 21, 2017

    Any idea if using the Aviator Red would benefit beyond the initial spend?

    • Miles March 21, 2017

      Cathy – I’m not really sure I understand the question – Since this purchase would be brokered through the AA website and not a 3rd party like points.com you would get 2x bonus on AA purchases. Does that answer your question?

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