When it comes to the loyalty programs of the “big three” carriers in the United States, I tend to think that American AAdvantage offers the most value when redeeming miles for international premium cabin travel, both in terms of partner airlines and redemption rates.
There are plenty of markets where American AAdvantage has the best pricing for award travel among oneworld programs, while I’d argue the same can’t be said for Delta SkyMiles for SkyTeam awards, and United MileagePlus for Star Alliance awards.
In this post I wanted to share some of my favorite uses of American Airlines AAdvantage miles. I’ll focus primarily on awards originating in the United States, but I’ll also list some other sweet spots.
While American historically isn’t great about making reasonably priced premium award seats available on its own flights, there are some fantastic partner airline award opportunities, which are my favorite ways to use AAdvantage miles.
In this post:
Best uses of American Airlines miles
Unlike Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus, American AAdvantage continues to publish an award chart for travel on partner airlines. Below is what American AAdvantage’s award chart looks like for first & business class redemptions originating in the continental United States on partner airlines (and you should generally be redeeming your miles on partner airlines whenever possible anyway, given that they often have superior inflight products).
Contiguous 48 U.S. To: | Business Class | First Class |
|---|---|---|
Contiguous 48 U.S. States | 25,000 | 50,000 |
Canada & Alaska | 30,000 | 55,000 |
Hawaii | 55,000 | 80,000 |
Caribbean | 25,000 | 50,000 |
Mexico | 25,000 | 50,000 |
Central America | 25,000 | 50,000 |
South America Zone 1 | 30,000 | 55,000 |
South America Zone 2 | 57,500 | 85,000 |
Europe | 57,500 | 85,000 |
Middle East / India | 70,000 | 115,000 |
Africa | 75,000 | 120,000 |
Asia Zone 1 | 60,000 | 80,000 |
Asia Zone 2 | 70,000 | 110,000 |
South Pacific | 80,000 | 110,000 |
While we’re at it, I should also mention:
- There are no carrier imposed surcharges on any of the awards that I outline below
- Most partner awards mentioned below can be booked directly on aa.com, making the booking process super easy
- American AAdvantage awards can be changed and canceled for free, which gives you tons of flexibility to speculatively lock in award tickets
With that out of the way, below are my favorite uses of American AAdvantage miles, in no particular order.
Business class to the Middle East & India (70,000 miles)
One area where American AAdvantage miles continue to be among the most valuable is for travel to the Middle East & India. Per American’s award chart, this region includes everything from India to the Maldives to Oman to Sri Lanka. There’s so much beauty in this area, and it’s somewhere that’s otherwise tough to get to on miles.
Best of all, American partners with both Etihad and Qatar, and both of them have excellent business class products. You can also fly Royal Jordanian, but the carrier’s business class isn’t quite as good.
All three airlines release a good amount of award availability, especially if booking in advance.
I’d note that Etihad and Qatar are inconsistent about releasing award space. Sometimes they open up tons of space in advance. Other times they don’t have any space for months at a time, and then suddenly there’s availability most days. There’s definitely value in locking in awards in advance, especially since you can cancel them for free.
Business class to Africa (75,000 miles)
This is an extension of the above concept of going to the Middle East. Africa is one of the toughest continents to get to using miles, and with Etihad and Qatar you potentially have some great access.
While you could fly to Africa on British Airways or Iberia, that would mean you’d have to pay fuel surcharges. Instead I recommend flying Etihad and Qatar, which have great products and fly to lots of points in Africa.
Whether you’re flying to South Africa or Tanzania or Kenya or Rwanda, there are excellent options. Personally my favorite choice is Qatar Airways, and a couple of years ago I redeemed 75,000 miles to fly one-way from Cape Town to Dallas.
Royal Air Maroc is now also a oneworld member, so you can use American miles to fly to Morocco and beyond on the national carrier. Fortunately American considers Morocco to be Europe for the purposes of award pricing, so you’d pay only 57,500 AAdvantage miles for a one-way business class award between the United States and Morocco (which is fair, given what a short flight it is).
Business class to Asia 2 (70,000 miles)
Two of my favorite oneworld airlines are Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines, and both are pretty good about releasing business class award availability. For just 70,000 miles one-way you can fly business class between the United States and Asia 2, which includes China, Singapore, Thailand, etc.
Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines are both great about making award seats available as soon as the schedule becomes bookable. Both airlines also release more award seats as the departure date approaches, assuming there are unsold seats.
First class to Asia 1 (80,000 miles)
American Airlines last devalued the partner AAdvantage award chart in 2016, and with that, the program largely adjusted the redemption “sweet spot” from first class to business class. Prior to these changes I almost always redeemed American miles for international first class, while that’s not the case anymore. The way I see it, many first class redemptions aren’t as worthwhile anymore:
- Redeeming 85,000 miles for first class to Europe is hardly worth it, since American historically doesn’t release much space, and award travel on British Airways is subjected to huge carrier imposed surcharges
- Redeeming 110,000 miles for first class to Asia 2 on Cathay Pacific is steep, especially when you can book that same award with a stopover through Alaska Mileage Plan for 70,000 miles
- Redeeming 110,000 miles for first class to Australia on Qantas is expensive, not to mention the award is one of the toughest to snag; when I see Qantas award availability I prefer to book through Alaska Mileage Plan, as the program charges just 70,000 miles for the same award, and allows a free stopover
With that in mind, the one international first class redemption originating in the United States that I consider to be a really good deal nowadays is flying to Asia 1 (which includes Japan) on Japan Airlines. The airline has an excellent first class product, and redeeming 80,000 miles for first class on a 13 hour flight is a great deal.
The catch is that Japan Airlines isn’t consistent about releasing award availability in first class. The airline sometimes releases a seat when the schedule opens, but otherwise your best odds are to book closer to the departure date, as JAL often opens more availability. I realize that’s not ideal for those hoping to book in advance, or those traveling as a couple.
American first & business class flight awards
While AAdvantage continues to publish an award chart for travel on partner airlines, the program now has fully dynamic award pricing for travel on American. American doesn’t release much award availability that’s also bookable through partner programs (generally referred to as “saver” availability), though the airline does often have reasonably priced long haul first & business class flight awards through AAdvantage.
The pricing for these flight awards can vary significantly, but there’s potentially huge value to be had, with prices that are cheaper than you’d find if traveling on a partner airline.
Just to pull up some examples, you could fly between the United States and Europe in American first class for 75,000 AAdvantage miles, or in American business class for 65,000 AAdvantage miles.
You could fly between the United States and South America in American first class for 60,000 AAdvantage miles, or in American business class for 50,000 AAdvantage miles.
You could fly between the United States and the Middle East in American first class for 75,000 AAdvantage miles, or in American business class for 65,000 AAdvantage miles.
Note that you’ll almost always find the best value for connecting itineraries. American usually prices significantly higher if traveling nonstop, while a connection could drastically lower the award cost. Furthermore, note that most of these cheap awards can’t be booked in conjunction with an award on a partner airline.
Great award values between other regions
Above I’m focusing on redemption values to & from the United States. That’s because a majority of OMAAT readers live in the United States, so that’s going to be the most practical for many. However, I did want to highlight some other fantastic award values between other regions, as this is often where you’ll find the most value.
Just to give some examples of other great values:
- You can fly between the Middle East and Asia 1 or Asia 2 for just 40,000 AAdvantage miles in business class; this could include a 10-hour flight in business class on Qatar Airways or Etihad
- You can fly between the Middle East and Europe for just 42,500 AAdvantage miles in business class or 62,500 AAdvantage miles in first class; this could also be used for a flight on Qatar Airways or Etihad
- You can fly between the South Pacific and Asia 1 or Asia 2 for just 40,000 AAdvantage miles in business class; you could use this for a 10-hour flight on Japan Airlines, Qantas, Fiji Airways, or Air Tahiti Nui
- You can fly between Asia 1 and Asia 2 for just 30,000 AAdvantage miles in business class; this could include quite a long flight between Japan and Southeast Asia
Those are just a few examples, but if anything, you’ll find the value with redeeming AAdvantage miles outside of North America is even better.
The best ways to earn American AAdvantage miles
If you’re looking to earn American AAdvantage miles for oneworld redemptions, there are lots of ways to acquire these miles, beyond crediting flights to the program:
- There are several co-branded American Airlines credit cards with huge welcome bonuses, including the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® (review), the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® (review) and the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review)
- You can buy American AAdvantage miles directly, often at a discount
- You can earn American AAdvantage miles with all kinds of non-travel partners, including SimplyMiles, AAdvantage Dining, Bask Bank, and more
Bottom line
Of the “big three” carriers in the United States, I tend to think the American AAdvantage program has the most valuable award redemption opportunities, especially for someone with a diversified mileage portfolio. There are all kinds of awards where American has the best redemption values, especially for travel to the Middle East, Africa, India, etc.
On top of that, American has no change or cancelation fees for awards, which gives members lots of flexibility when locking in awards. Hopefully the above is some inspiration for the next time that you’re planning an adventure.
What are your favorite ways to redeem American AAdvantage miles?
Anyone else notice that AA is now charging 115,000 miles for J between ORD and MCT involving QR (ORD-LHR-DOH-MCT)? i did a search in May 26 2024....
Is this a sign of a devaluation coming?
If there is 70k available, I have only been seeing for BA metal but 1000 in taxes, or only 1 segment in J and the rest in Economy.
Why is it that you can not just find the award space on AA's site versus having to go through BA and then call. When I go through BA it has it listed has over 90k avios for one way Business from Dallas to Tokyo. Dose this mean if I write down those flights down and call AA they will be charged at 60k AA miles per the AA chart or will they be subject to dynamic pricing?
Intra-Asia premium award cabin travel is a fantastic deal for AA (OW) per this post, and also for UA with Star airlines as well. I used 30K AA miles to travel JAL Biz Osaka-Tokyo-HCMC later this month! Similar value on using UAMP on ANA.
Ben. You may have posted in the past, but whenever I try to book flights on partner airlines like Qatar, Cathay etc using AA miles, the only other carriers I ever see using AAs website are JL and Alaska. How do you see award charts and book these other airlines? If I use Africa as a destination, it always says, sorry, there are no flights to this area…..even without using the award redemption. Thx.
Are all partner awards available online, or certain partners are only available by calling?
@ AKTCHI -- All partners are supposed to be available online, but sometimes that's not the case, for whatever reason. For example, most Etihad awards currently aren't showing online (but are bookable by phone), while often not all Qantas seats are bookable through aa.com.
Alaska doesn't see the same availbility that American sees on Qantas.
During the recent Qantas dump of award space, I tried multiple times to score J TPAC LAX-BNR or LAX -SYD. Talked to the lead for Qantas, they didn't see it.
Twitter booked it right away. I then wound up switching to F on 12/20, pricey but what a great time to go. May have to go revenue back though.
I second the comment re: Alaska not seeing Qantas award availability. For me also during recent Qantas award space dump, I saw DFW-SYD biz with Qantas, but the same date/Biz (I) award wasn't showing up on AA, Alaska, or BA
So theoretically, using AS / AA miles on QF biz is good strategy, in reality, I think that sweet spot has been closed out by QF. Given the devaluations at Alaska for partner awards this isn't surprising...
Today before your post I booked 2 in J PHL-JNB on QR, 329 days out. My experience is such awards are fund 330 days out. It is much less common to find seats closer in.
I love the Qatar award sweet spot. I can fly from MIA-DFW on AA's 777 Business Class, and then DFW-DOH-ISB in Qatar Airways' Qsuite. Thats a 14.5 hour flight and a 4 hour flight, in addition to time in the Al Mourjan lounge at DOH (I like to book a longer, about 8 hour layover). All for 70K AA miles! The way back is even better, as it's a 4 hour flight and then a 16.5 hour flight from DOH to DFW/MIA!
I also booked the 40K redemption from Asia 1 to the Middle East in June. I'm flying HND-SIN-DOH-CAI, with the first flight on JAL (~7hrs), and the second flight on QR Qsuites (~8hrs), and the third being marketed as QR First Class, giving me access to the Al Safwa lounge in DOH (I also booked a 15 hour layover in DOH). That is probably the best redemption available!
Good morning Ben. Although l would agree with your analysis, it looks like the business class rewards with partners are not showing availability at all for the end of 2023/beginning of 2024 outside of British Airways. When Royal Air Maroc shows in the itinerary it is only in economy and Air Tahiti Nui (LAX to Paris) is not showing at all.
Is this an indication of how bad the American Airlines program is going to be impacted with the loss of the "savers awards "?
@ Courcoison -- To be clear, with the recent introduction of dynamic pricing on American, nothing is changing about partner awards. It's up to each airline to decide how much space they want to make available to partners, and that's true of Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, etc.
Indeed this isn't the ideal time to be booking partner awards, as a lot of airlines are just rebuilding their scheduled post-pandemic. However, I do see...
@ Courcoison -- To be clear, with the recent introduction of dynamic pricing on American, nothing is changing about partner awards. It's up to each airline to decide how much space they want to make available to partners, and that's true of Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, etc.
Indeed this isn't the ideal time to be booking partner awards, as a lot of airlines are just rebuilding their scheduled post-pandemic. However, I do see some Qatar Airways business class long haul space throughout the schedule. Right now there are issues with seeing Etihad awards online, but I'll write a separate post about that shortly.
Good morning Ben: Just got back from Europe and Air Tahiti Nui is still not showing any award space in Business Class between LAX and CDG whatsoever all the way through March 2024 on the American Airlines portal...
Do you have any updates?
Thanks
i literally have never seen those rates to Europe/ South America in Business class or first class on AA. It's always some absurd rate - like 300,000 miles one way. Where / when did you find those rates? I did, though, use AA for travel on CX, EY, and QR rather easily over the past several years, so that's been nice.
@ Jason -- The trick to finding that availability is to search an origin and destination that can be reached on AA metal with at least one connection, and then click on the calendar feature. If you scroll through an entire year, you should see several dates in most markets with really attractively priced awards. It won't be the case across the board, but it's not too hard to find with some flexibility.
Cool - well, I'm trying it - thanks for the advice, but still not finding much. For DCA (I'm based in DCA) to EZE, I see one date in July that's 50K one way in J. One date only. Every other month for the rest of the year the cheapest one way fare in J is over 100K miles. I'd like to go in October. The cheapest date that month is 180K miles one way,...
Cool - well, I'm trying it - thanks for the advice, but still not finding much. For DCA (I'm based in DCA) to EZE, I see one date in July that's 50K one way in J. One date only. Every other month for the rest of the year the cheapest one way fare in J is over 100K miles. I'd like to go in October. The cheapest date that month is 180K miles one way, and there's just one date where that's available. Every other day it's over 200K one way. Kind of frustrating. Similar for Brazil/Sao Paulo. DC to London there are plenty of things available for 57.5K one way, but it's all on BA from Dulles with the $735 co pay for J. DC to Madrid plenty of availability for 57.5K but again, all via LHR on BA so it's over $700. I guess this just isnt good in DC?
@ Jason -- As far as WAS to EZE goes, indeed if you're looking in advance it doesn't look great. Often availability gets better closer to departure. For example, this month I see nine dates from WAS to EZE where you could book for 55K miles one-way in business class.
Just to look at WAS to LHR as an example, go to the calendar but search just first class, rather than first and business class....
@ Jason -- As far as WAS to EZE goes, indeed if you're looking in advance it doesn't look great. Often availability gets better closer to departure. For example, this month I see nine dates from WAS to EZE where you could book for 55K miles one-way in business class.
Just to look at WAS to LHR as an example, go to the calendar but search just first class, rather than first and business class. I see 82 different dates through the end of the schedule where you can book American first class for just 70K miles, which is obviously significantly less than the 85K miles you'd pay on BA, not to mention there are no fuel surcharges.
Hope that helps. :-)
Ok cool. I appreciate that. Thanks!!
Ben for Renters there’s the Bilt Rewards Master Card whose Points can be transferred to American Airlines to boost one’s AA Frequent Flyer Miles!
The best actual sweet spot I've found is ME -> Asia Zone 1. I'm flying business on CX from DXB through HKG to ICN for 40k miles and like $80. That's objectively a good deal.
(They have a similar route through Doha on Qatar but then you don't have Q Suites as of now.)
Think u mean Bask Bank :-)
Last minute domestic/Mexico flights are a huge win for me. Constantly getting domestic flights for 9-15k miles that would otherwise cost $3-600. Also first class for 25k that would otherwise be $6-900.
Granted these can sometimes be found with Avios, but there is much better availability with AA.