The Guide for American Airlines Flights to Las Vegas

Whether you’re in it for the casinos, shows or outdoor activities, there are plenty of reasons to head to Sin City. American Airlines flights to Las Vegas depart from airports all over the country, with plenty of deals to be had.

The American Airlines experience in Las Vegas

Before your flight, here are some things you should know about American Airlines in Las Vegas.

• Terminal. The American Airlines terminal in Las Vegas is Terminal 1 and flights depart from D gates, which are accessible from the Blue Line tram.

• Lounges. There are no American Airlines lounges at the Las Vegas airport, but there is a Centurion Lounge for American Express cardmembers and The Club lounge, which you can buy a day pass to access. Both are located in the D gates section.

• Other things to know. Because it’s Las Vegas, there are slot machines inside the airport. TSA PreCheck is available at Terminal 1.

The value of AAdvantage miles

NerdWallet values AAdvantage miles at 1.7 cents per mile. But that’s just a baseline value, meaning miles can potentially be worth more or less depending on your specific flight. To find out if you’re getting a good deal, find the cash value of the ticket minus any taxes or fees and divide it by the number of miles required for the flight.

For example, if the ticket costs $200 or 25,000 miles plus $10 in taxes and fees, the math would be: ($200 – $10) / 25,000 = 0.008, or 0.8 cent per mile. That’s less than 1.7 cents, meaning it wouldn’t be a valuable exchange and it might be worth it to pay in cash and save your miles for a flight on which they’d be worth more. Read more about valuations and various airline loyalty programs in this article.

» Learn more: American Airlines AAdvantage program: The complete guide

Cheap cities to fly to Las Vegas from

The best deals for AAdvantage award flights to Las Vegas tend to be from destinations a bit farther afield. Search for multiple flights scheduled for the day or week you’d like to travel, then do the math to see which offers the best value for your miles. Sometimes flights departing on the same day can vary greatly in the value they deliver. Here are some examples of one-way award flights to Vegas.

Of this small sampling, flights from Boston and New York beat the average per-mile value. Travelers from Atlanta and San Francisco might opt to pay with cash and save their points for a more valuable flight in the future.

» Learn more: How to plan a trip to Vegas — a six-month timeline

Other tips to book cheap AAdvantage flights to Las Vegas

Before booking award travel on American Airlines to Las Vegas, here’s how to rack up AAdvantage miles:

• Open a co-branded credit card. New AAdvantage credit card holders can earn a boatload of points via welcome bonuses. Options include the $0-annual-fee American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp®, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® and the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® that comes with an Admirals Club membership.

• Dine. Earn AAdvantage miles with every purchase you make at participating restaurants by signing up for AAdvantage Dining. All you have to do is register a credit card, then score miles for every purchase at participating restaurants. Plus, earn 1,000 bonus miles by spending $25 in your first 30 days after signing up.

• Shop online. Do you do most of your shopping on the web? Log into AAdvantage eShopping before you hit “add to cart” and you could earn miles for purchases at hundreds of online retailers.

• Transfer points from hotel programs. If you have more hotel points than you need and not enough American Airlines miles for a flight, you can transfer World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy or IHG Rewards points to your AAdvantage account. Just know that you’re going to take a hit in the value department: 5,000 World of Hyatt points get you 2,000 AAdvantage miles; 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy points convert to 10,000 AAdvantage miles; and 10,000 IHG Rewards points will get you only 2,000 AAdvantage miles.

» Learn more: How to access American Airlines Admirals Club lounges

If you want to fly American Airlines to Las Vegas

There are plenty of good deals when traveling to Las Vegas on American Airlines. Know what each AAdvantage mile is worth, do a bit of math to find a bargain, earn the miles you need, and you’ll be flying to Vegas in no time.