How to Book American Airlines Flights to Vegas With Miles

AAdvantage miles or points that transfer to British Airways can help you save on your flight.
June Casagrande
By June Casagrande 
Updated
Edited by Meghan Coyle

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Everyone has a different Vegas style. All-you-can eat buffet or Michelin-starred chef experience? World-class shows or out-of-this-world people watching? No matter how you Vegas, it’s always nice to have some extra cash. So if you can pay for your flight using miles, you’ll have more to spend once you’re there.

American Airlines flyers don’t have a ton of flight options to Sin City. Only 10 cities have direct American Airlines flights to Vegas: Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, Charlotte, Washington-Reagan, Philadelphia, New York-JFK and Chicago-O'Hare.

If you’re set on using miles to book an American Airlines flight to Vegas, here’s how.

Booking a Vegas flight with American Airlines miles

Even though American Airlines has an award chart, the number of miles you need can change rapidly. It’ll usually range from 7,500 - 30,000 AAdvantage miles for economy and 15,000 - 55,000 miles in business and first class if you’re flying within the contiguous U.S. Start scoping out your options even before you’re ready to book so you’ll know what to expect.

To search for American Airlines award flights to Vegas, go to aa.com, enter your dates and route (the airport code for Las Vegas is LAS). Then click the “Redeem miles” box and hit the “Search” button.

You’ll get a list of flight options, along with the number of miles you need to book. Note the cost on different travel dates, too, so you can see whether you could save miles by changing your dates.

At this search results page, you can also see which seats are available on each flight by clicking “Seats.”

How to earn American Airlines miles

If you don’t have enough miles to book an American Airlines flight to Vegas, there are a few different ways to earn miles:

  • Flying on American Airlines or one of its partner airlines.

  • Booking a hotel, car rental or vacation package through American Airlines.

  • Shopping online through AAdvantage eShopping.

  • Eating out or ordering takeout from restaurants in the AAdvantage Dining program.

  • Using an American Airlines co-branded credit card.

The best way to earn a lot of AAdvantage miles fast is to sign up for an American Airlines credit card that’ll earn you thousands of miles as part of the welcome bonus. Here are some of the current welcome offers and other benefits you’ll get as a cardholder. Don’t forget you’ll earn miles for every dollar you spend on the card, too.

American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp®

Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®

AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®

Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®

ANNUAL FEE

$0.

$0 intro for the first year, then $99.

$99.

$450.

AMERICAN AIRLINES REWARDS

All cards:

  • 2 AAdvantage miles for each $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases. For a limited time, earn a total of 4 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases through December 31, 2022, when using the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®.

  • 1 Loyalty Point (good toward elite status with American) for every $1 spent on all purchases.

OTHER SPENDING REWARDS

  • 2 miles per $1 spent at grocery stores, including grocery delivery services.

  • 1 mile per $1 on other purchases.

  • 2 miles per $1 spent at gas stations

  • 2 miles per $1 spent at restaurants

  • 1 mile per $1 spent on other purchases

  • 1 mile per $1 spent on other purchases.

  • 1 mile per $1 spent on other purchases.

CHECKED BAG BENEFIT

None.

First checked bag free for cardholder and up to 4 traveling companions on your reservation.

First checked bag free for cardholder and up to 4 traveling companions on your reservation.

First checked bag free for cardholder and up to 8 traveling companions on your reservation.

BONUS OFFER

Earn 10,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles and receive a $50 statement credit after making $500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

Earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $2,500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

Earn 50,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.

Earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after making $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.

Choose your card carefully. Annual fees, like the $450-a-year charge for carrying the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®, can cost you more than you’ll earn back in value.

Book American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios

Don’t want to open an American Airlines card? Unfortunately, none of the major travel credit cards can transfer points directly to American Airlines, but some of them do transfer to British Airways (a Oneworld alliance partner of American Airlines).

Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards and Capital One all offer British Airways as a transfer partner. So you can transfer the points from your travel credit card to British Airways, and use British Airways Avios to book an American Airlines flight.

To book American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios, log in to your British Airways account and search for flights to Vegas to find seats on American Airlines. For example, we found a flight on American Airlines from Dallas to Las Vegas in January for 9,000 British Airways Avios one way. The catch? These partner flights are hard to find. So search early and often.

🤓Nerdy Tip

Check seat availability before you transfer points or miles since you won’t be able to transfer them back.

Other ways to book American Airlines flights with points

You can convert any Marriott Bonvoy points you have into either American AAdvantage miles or British Airways Avios, but at a 3:1 transfer ratio, this isn’t a great deal.

Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards, Bank of America Preferred Rewards and other credit card rewards programs also let you redeem points for flights within their own travel portals. They often list flights on lots of different airlines, including American.

Keep in mind that stricter cancellation policies may apply to flights booked through a travel portal.

Should you book an American Airlines flight to Las Vegas?

If you have AAdvantage miles or points that can transfer to British Airways, you don’t have to pay cash for your flight to Vegas. Search for award flights on American Airlines’ website, and look for ideal routes and low redemption rates. We have a calculator to help you figure out whether you should book your flight with cash or points. And you’ll be hitting the Strip in no time.


How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2023, including those best for:

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