Out of the big three US airlines, using American Airlines miles offers the best chance for cheap travel if you can find partner awards.
Updated August 24, 2026. American Airlines recently enabled redemptions on Oman Air, giving another excellent option on flights involving the Middle East.
For this post, I’m not going to get into the details of the elite status aspect of the program and instead focus on the redemption side of the program.
American Airlines miles now has a bank transfer program!
As of mid-2025, American Airlines AAdvantage has a bank transfer program via Citi ThankYou. However, the weird part is you need certain cards to transfer points in; not just any ThankYou card will do. If you have any of the following Citi cards, you’ll gain access to transfers to AAdvantage miles:
- Citi Strata Elite
- Citi Strata Premier
- Citi Prestige
Each card will allow 1:1 transfers into your American AAdvantage account.
It’s easy to collect American Airlines miles
Aside from Citi ThankYou transfers, it’s still very easy to collect American Airlines miles. There are the usual suspects such as spending on their credit cards and taking flights, you can earn with their online shopping portal and dining network, and also earn via their partnership with Bask Bank.
To elaborate on that last bit some more, Bask Bank currently offers 1.75 AA miles per dollar invested annually. Essentially, you’re forgoing earning interest in the form of cash and instead earning it as AA miles. The miles earned are taxable at a rate of 0.42 cents per AA mile earned. The higher you value your American Airlines miles, the better the tax rate ends up being for you given it’s assumed to hold quite a low value.
Running the math on earning American Airlines miles with Bask Bank
Is it worth it? Of course you would ask me. Let’s assume you had $50,000 to invest for a year and your two options were to put it in Bask Bank earning 1.75 AA miles per dollar or in a CD earning 3.5% for a year. Let’s further assume you’re in the 25% marginal tax bracket for simplicity. If you invested in a CD, you would earn $1,750 over a year, but would be responsible for about $437.50 in taxes, resulting in an after-tax profit of $1,312.50.
Now let’s go to the miles example and say you earned 87,500 miles. The miles are valued at 0.42 cents each for the purposes of taxes, so it’s like you earned $367.50 in interest, resulting in a tax obligation of just $91.88. Opportunity cost calculations would say what do you value more? Having 87,500 AA miles or being $1,404.38 richer ($1,312.50 in after-tax profit from the CD + $91.88 tax obligation from the miles earned)? If you think of it as “buying” American Airlines miles for $0.014 apiece, and it’s up to you if you want to take that approach given the interest rate you can get from a CD.
If nothing else, having some money in Bask Bank allows you to not need to worry about your AA miles expiring, and it might be an easy option for you to just leave a small amount of cash in there strictly just so you don’t need to worry about expiration.
American’s own flights with cheap pricing
For its own flights, AAdvantage generally follows a variable pricing model where the points price typically goes up as the cash price rises. As you might expect, that typically holds true. But I find if you book out far enough and are flexible with your dates, you might find economy tickets at very cheap prices.
Let’s take for example this main cabin economy flight. It might look like you can snag it for $326, but that’s the basic economy price. If you wanted the standard basic economy fare, it’s $371. For a one-way international flight, you might think that’s not too bad a price to pay.
But what would AAdvantage charge for an award flight in main economy? Only 8,000 AA miles (plus $118.21 in taxes). Yes, the “catch” is that you would need to fly on Thanksgiving Day in this example, but there are other examples that I could show of other non-peak dates where the points price is quite reasonable. And you could fly in the opposite direction and not need to pay so much in taxes.
The point isn’t to find the best deal out there with this example. The intent is to illustrate where the value can be in the AA program on its own flights. If you’re flexible and book early enough, you can find a good deal in economy.
What do competitors charge on this route and this same date? Cash prices are roughly equivalent across the big three carriers, but Delta charges 17,000 SkyMiles for basic economy or 22,000 for regular economy. United charges 20,000 miles for regular economy. All have the same taxes that accompany the mileage price. If you aren’t committed to a particular airline, AAdvantage pricing is hard to beat.
Buying upgrades with cash or miles is cheap
I’ve said it before in a separate post, but American Airlines offers incredibly cheap upgrades to business class. You just need to get into the habit of checking the price daily–yes, I logged into the app daily and each day the price was different than what was given the day before. It almost seemed like it was a random number generator that was giving prices. If you’re patient enough, you might stumble across a price you like for that upgrade.
Of course, you’ll never know if the system will give you a price lower than the one you’re seeing now. So be prepared to pick a price you would buy at and when it finally shows that price, just buy it and feel comfortable knowing you got a good deal.
You might be able to pair this cheap upgrade price with a good mileage price found above.
Partner award chart
Yes, some of the best uses of AA miles aren’t on their own flights but rather on their partner airlines. American belongs to the oneworld alliance, which includes British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Qantas. It also partners with non-alliance airlines like Etihad Airways, and Air Tahiti Nui. If you’re looking for excellent business class options, AA has excellent pricing on flights on these partners… if you can find the award space.
To help keep track of points prices on partner flights, AA does maintain an award chart that you could reference. It has been a while since AAdvantage updated the pricing, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see a devaluation of this chart in the not-too-distant future, but also given the difficulty in finding partner award flights, that might reduce the likelihood of a devaluation being imminent.
To see other regions, toggle the “From” region to which region you’re interested in. If you’d rather see it in a spreadsheet, we have you covered.
Economy class
| Economy | US (Contiguous 48) | Alaska | Hawaii | Caribbean | Mexico | Central America | South America 1 | South America 2 | Europe | Middle East | Indian Subcontinent | Africa | Asia 1 | Asia 2 | South Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US (Contiguous 48) | 12,500 | 15,000 | 22,500 | 17,500 | 17,500 | 17,500 | 20,000 | 30,000 | 30,000* | 40,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 35,000 | 37,500 | 40,000 |
| Alaska | 12,500 | 25,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 22,500 | 32,500 | 32,500 | 42,500 | 42,500 | 42,500 | 37,500 | 37,500 | 42,500 | |
| Hawaii | 7,500 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 30,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 47,500 | 47,500 | 50,000 | 32,500 | 35,000 | 37,500 | ||
| Caribbean | 7,500 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 22,500 | 32,500 | 32,500 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 37,500 | 37,500 | 45,000 | |||
| Mexico | 20,000 | 22,500 | 32,500 | 32,500 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 37,500 | 37,500 | 45,000 | |||||
| Central America | 22,500 | 32,500 | 32,500 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 | Available | Available | 45,000 | ||||||
| South America 1 | 10,000* | 12,500 | 40,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 | Available | Available | 45,000 | ||||||
| South America 2 | 10,000* | 50,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 | 70,000 | Available | Available | 45,000 | |||||||
| Europe | 12,500* | 20,000 | 20,000 | 30,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 60,000 | ||||||||
| Middle East | 17,500* | 17,500 | 30,000 | 22,500 | 25,000 | 42,500 | |||||||||
| Indian Subcontinent | 17,500* | 30,000 | 22,500 | 25,000 | 42,500 | ||||||||||
| Africa | 17,500* | 45,000 | 40,000 | 42,500 | |||||||||||
| Asia 1 | 12,500* | 20,000 | 30,000 | ||||||||||||
| Asia 2 | 17,500 | 30,000 | |||||||||||||
| South Pacific | 15,000* |
Premium Economy class
| Premium Economy | US (Contiguous 48) | Alaska | Hawaii | Caribbean | Mexico | Central America | South America 1 | South America 2 | Europe | Middle East | Indian Subcontinent | Africa | Asia 1 | Asia 2 | South Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US (Contiguous 48) | 22,500 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 62,500 | 62,500 | 65,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 65,000 | ||||
| Alaska | 52,500 | 27,500 | 27,500 | 27,500 | 32,500 | 42,500 | 42,500 | 65,000 | 65,000 | 67,500 | 52,500 | 52,500 | 67,500 | ||
| Hawaii | 52,500 | 52,500 | 52,500 | 57,500 | 67,500 | 67,500 | 77,500 | 77,500 | 77,500 | 42,500 | 45,000 | 50,000 | |||
| Caribbean | 42,500 | 42,500 | 67,500 | 67,500 | 67,500 | 52,500 | 52,500 | 70,000 | |||||||
| Mexico | 42,500 | 42,500 | 67,500 | 67,500 | 67,500 | 52,500 | 52,500 | 70,000 | |||||||
| Central America | 43,500 | 67,500 | 67,500 | 67,500 | Available | Available | 70,000 | ||||||||
| South America 1 | 55,000 | 75,000 | 75,000 | 75,000 | Available | Available | 70,000 | ||||||||
| South America 2 | 70,000 | 77,500 | 77,500 | 85,000 | Available | Available | 70,000 | ||||||||
| Europe | 17,500 | 32,500 | 32,500 | 47,500 | 52,500 | 55,000 | 70,000 | ||||||||
| Middle East | 22,500 | 20,000 | 40,000 | 32,500 | 35,000 | 57,500 | |||||||||
| Indian Subcontinent | 20,000 | 40,000 | 32,500 | 35,000 | 57,500 | ||||||||||
| Africa | 57,500 | 55,000 | 57,500 | ||||||||||||
| Asia 1 | 17,500 | 25,000 | 35,000 | ||||||||||||
| Asia 2 | 20,000 | 35,000 | |||||||||||||
| South Pacific | 25,000* |
Business class
| Business | US (Contiguous 48) | Alaska | Hawaii | Caribbean | Mexico | Central America | South America 1 | South America 2 | Europe | Middle East | Indian Subcontinent | Africa | Asia 1 | Asia 2 | South Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US (Contiguous 48) | 25,000 | 30,000 | 55,000 | 27,500 | 27,500 | 27,500 | 30,000 | 57,500 | 57,500 | 70,000 | 70,000 | 75,000 | 60,000 | 70,000 | 80,000 |
| Alaska | 25,000 | 57,500 | 32,500 | 32,500 | 32,500 | 35,000 | 62,500 | 62,500 | 75,000 | 75,000 | 77,500 | 65,000 | 72,500 | 82,500 | |
| Hawaii | 15,000 | 57,500 | 57,500 | 57,500 | 60,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 | 92,500 | 92,500 | 92,500 | 52,500 | 55,000 | 65,000 | ||
| Caribbean | 32,500 | 32,500 | 35,000 | 62,500 | 62,500 | 80,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 | 72,500 | 75,000 | 82,500 | ||||
| Mexico | 32,500 | 35,000 | 62,500 | 62,500 | 80,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 | 72,500 | 75,000 | 82,500 | |||||
| Central America | 35,000 | 62,500 | 62,500 | 80,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 | Available | Available | 82,500 | ||||||
| South America 1 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 67,500 | 87,500 | 87,500 | 90,000 | Available | Available | 82,500 | ||||||
| South America 2 | 20,000* | 87,500 | 90,000 | 90,000 | 97,500 | Available | Available | 82,500 | |||||||
| Europe | 22,500* | 42,500 | 42,500 | 55,000 | 75,000 | 75,000 | 85,000 | ||||||||
| Middle East | 30,000* | 30,000 | 55,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 80,000 | |||||||||
| Indian Subcontinent | 30,000* | 55,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 80,000 | ||||||||||
| Africa | 35,000* | 75,000 | 70,000 | 80,000 | |||||||||||
| Asia 1 | 20,000* | 30,000 | 40,000 | ||||||||||||
| Asia 2 | 22,500 | 40,000 | |||||||||||||
| South Pacific | 30,000* |
First class
| First | US (Contiguous 48) | Alaska | Hawaii | Caribbean | Mexico | Central America | South America 1 | South America 2 | Europe | Middle East | Indian Subcontinent | Africa | Asia 1 | Asia 2 | South Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US (Contiguous 48) | 50,000 | 55,000 | 80,000 | 52,500 | 52,500 | 52,500 | 55,000 | 85,000 | 85,000 | 115,000 | 115,000 | 120,000 | 80,000 | 110,000 | 110,000 |
| Alaska | 85,000 | 57,500 | 57,500 | 57,500 | 60,000 | 90,000 | 90,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 125,000 | 85,000 | 112,500 | 125,000 | ||
| Hawaii | 85,000 | 85,000 | 85,000 | 90,000 | 102,500 | 102,500 | 140,000 | 140,000 | 140,000 | 75,000 | 80,000 | 90,000 | |||
| Caribbean | 57,500 | 57,500 | 60,000 | 90,000 | 90,000 | 130,000 | 130,000 | 135,000 | 85,000 | 112,500 | 112,500 | ||||
| Mexico | 57,500 | 60,000 | 90,000 | 90,000 | 130,000 | 130,000 | 135,000 | 85,000 | 112,500 | 112,500 | |||||
| Central America | 90,000 | 90,000 | 130,000 | 130,000 | 135,000 | Available | Available | 112,500 | |||||||
| South America 1 | 130,000 | 130,000 | 135,000 | Available | Available | 112,500 | |||||||||
| South America 2 | 120,000 | 135,000 | 135,000 | 135,000 | Available | Available | 112,500 | ||||||||
| Europe | 62,500 | 62,500 | 80,000 | 90,000 | 90,000 | 115,000 | |||||||||
| Middle East | 40,000 | 40,000 | 80,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 | |||||||||
| Indian Subcontinent | 40,000 | 80,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 | ||||||||||
| Africa | 90,000 | 80,000 | 100,000 | ||||||||||||
| Asia 1 | 30,000* | 40,000 | 60,000 | ||||||||||||
| Asia 2 | 32,500 | 50,000 | |||||||||||||
| South Pacific |
*Some awards have different prices based on the route and are marked with an asterisk.
What are the sweet spots?
American’s own flights for absurdly low prices
See the section above on AA’s own flights for details. I find American Airlines the most likely of the big four airlines to offer flat out weird award rates for their flights. And by weird, I mean I don’t understand how it can be that cheap. I’ve booked business class flights for a cheap amount, but the flights that seem the most disconnected are economy flights.
If it’s one thing that this has led to, it’s that I tend to first search AA’s website for awards. Once I can confirm pricing is rational, I will check elsewhere.
JAL or Cathay Pacific business class within Asia
You’re going to want to sit down for this one. I’m not sure how AAdvantage can get away with prices this low for award travel on its partners. If you’re flying between zones Asia 1 and Asia 2, you’re only going to pay 30,000 miles in business. That’s insanely low.
What’s more, you could only pay 10,000 miles more to fly the journey in first class. I don’t find that as compelling simply because it is so hard to find the award space these days. But if you find it, it’s also a steal.
JAL or Qantas business class between Japan and Australia
Another gem in Asia is the routing between Asia 1 (which includes Japan) and Australia/New Zealand. This is a lengthy 10-hour journey that could be yours for just 40,000 American Airlines miles in business class. It’s not my job to tell you what routes to fly when you’re on vacation, but you might want to consider this one if you’re pairing together two awesome destinations.
Etihad First Apartments at an affordable price
Want to try out Etihad First Apartments and not break the bank? Well you can fly it out of London LHR for only 62,500 AA miles to the Middle East (or connect for free to the Maldives). There are other routes you could in theory take to fly this product, but you might have a better chance at securing seats on this particular route.
Business class between Europe and Africa for 55,000 miles
In general, there are a lot of options you might have going from Europe to Africa. Connectivity is pretty decent across all airlines alliances. But if you want to fly in style for not a crazy price, book Qatar’s business class product for just 55,000 AA miles. Yes, it’s a lengthy journey, but isn’t it a good idea to arrive rested?
Fly Qatar or Oman business class between Asia 1 or 2 and the Middle East for 40,000 miles
While we’re talking about both Asia 1 or 2 and the Middle East, wouldn’t it be great to just fly between the two regions? Well, if you did, you would be paying very little to do so. It’s hard to find any business class awards for 40,000 miles, but AA has a near monopoly on them. Just about any route that does not touch the United States is worthy of consideration.
Fly Oman air first class between Asia 1 or 2 and the Middle East for 50,000 miles
Oman Air might not have the fanciest first class product out there, but at just 50,000 AA miles between the Middle East and Asia, it’s a steal. That said, Oman’s route network isn’t all that robust. Going to Asia, you’re generally only going to find routes to SE Asia, but we would still take it.
North America to Europe for 57,500 miles in business
One of the cheapest options out there in miles between the US and Europe is also from the AAdvantage program. But you’ll want to be a little cautious about the particular route you choose. You don’t want to fly on British Airways if you’re looking to avoid the massive fees. Sadly, AAdvantage will pass those along if you’re flying British. Instead, you’ll want to focus on routes that don’t touch British Airways.
One such option is Aer Lingus, which operates out of Dublin. With most award programs, you’ll either pay a low points price or a low cash price. But with AA, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Flights within Australia
Australia is a big country with some big fares depending on where you want to go. But go figure that AA charges very little for flights on its partner Qantas. Think in the range of 10,000 miles for economy and 20,000 for business class. That’s just if you stick to domestic Australia flights. I practically guarantee you that will be less than what Qantas charges its own members.
That said, Qantas seems to release more partner award space to British Airways than it does to American.
Infant awards are 10% of the cash fare
Back when we flew internationally with an infant, we ended up sometimes paying a pretty penny to allow our child to sit in our lap. Without getting into the debate on the safety of the lap child, I can say it sometimes got expensive.
With most airlines, you would be forced to pay 10% of the cash price of the ticket. Say you found a flight for 75,000 miles in business class one-way. But if you want to bring your lap infant, you’d have to pay 10% of the cash fare, which could be thousands of dollars. A one-way flight is painfully priced high, and you might pay less if doing a roundtrip, but it’s still quite a dent. I’d say the rough average of what we paid for an infant was around $600 for the ticket.
Count American AAdvantage as one of the programs that sadly charges infants based on the cash price of the ticket. That’s a shame, but every program has its strengths and weaknesses.
How to best search for availability?
Obviously, if you’re looking for award prices on AA’s own flights, you’re best to just search AA’s own website. But what about if you’re looking for flights on partner flights? I’d say you’re probably decently well-off if you search Alaska’s website or you can search AA’s website. It ultimately boils down to a preference on what interface you like more. I feel more comfortable with Alaska’s interface personally, but much of the same detail can be found on AA’s website, including a calendar view.
Just remember that on Alaska’s website, you’re going to potentially see options that include Alaska partners that AA cannot book (e.g. Singapore Airlines) and you’re not going to see options that Alaska cannot book but AA could (e.g. Etihad Airways). In the latter case, you’re going to want to exclusively search AA’s website.
Do miles expire?
Yes, miles expire after 24 months of inactivity. As I mentioned above, there are many ways for you to keep your miles active, with the easiest way that I can think of is just keeping a small amount of money in Bask Bank and you’ll never need to worry about your miles expiring from inactivity.
Note that for children under 21, there is no mileage expiration due to inactivity. Once the child turns 21, they will then have 24 months from their birthday to extend the expiration of miles (meaning miles should not expire until they turn 23 at the earliest).
Suggested reading:
- American Airlines Free Wi-Fi in 2026: It’s About Time
- Review: American Airlines 777-300ER Business Class LAX-LHR
- Cheap Upgrades: Why I’m Not Pursuing American Airlines Status
Author
Discover more from food.wada.travel
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.