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Racking up miles with American Airlines is surprisingly easy. Here are some of the best (and often overlooked) ways to earn them.
If you're not already an American Airlines AAdvantage member, get started by signing up for the airline's loyalty program for free.
On this page
- How to maximize your rewards
- 1. Earn credit card welcome bonuses
- 2. Spend strategically across credit card bonus categories
- 3. Earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles by flying
- 4. Shop in the American Airlines eShopping mall
- 5. Shop through SimplyMiles
- 6. Stay at hotels
- 7. Book car rentals
- 8. Take a vacation
- 9. Take a cruise
- 10. Sign up with American AAdvantage Dining
- 11. Open an account with Bask Bank
- 12. Take surveys with Miles for Opinions
- 13. Use utility providers NRG, Reliant or Xoom
- 14. Buy tickets for live entertainment through the AAdvantage Events platform
- 15. Join Fuel Rewards and buy gas at Shell
- 16. Donate to charity
- 17. Convert points from hotels to American Airlines
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1. Earn credit card welcome bonuses
Credit card welcome bonuses offer one of the best ways to earn a lot of miles quickly. You can do this by getting a welcome bonus on one of the American Airlines credit cards issued by Citi.
If you're looking to earn points that can be transferred to American Airlines, only one flexible rewards currency allows direct transfers: Citi ThankYou Points. These 1:1 AAdvantage transfers are only available on select cards, including the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card.
Welcome bonuses for AA flyers
Annual fee
$350.
$595.
$95.
$595.
Welcome offer
Earn 60,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.
Earn 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $7,000 in purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.
Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com.
Earn 75,000 bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
Learn more
» Learn more: The best travel credit cards right now
2. Spend strategically across credit card bonus categories
American Airlines credit cards allow you to not only earn AAdvantage miles each time you swipe your card but also to earn additional miles for spending in specific categories.
For example, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® earns 4 miles per $1 on American Airlines purchases and 10 miles per $1 on eligible hotels and car rentals booked through American Airlines.
The Citi Strata Elite℠ Card also offers several bonus categories, including at restaurants. The points you earn on the card can be transferred to American at a 1:1 ratio.
3. Earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles by flying
Whenever you fly on American Airlines or its partners, you can earn miles for your paid flights (award flights paid with points don't count, unfortunately). To earn miles, make sure to add your AAdvantage frequent flyer number to your reservations. It's best to do this before your flights, but if you forget, you may be able to retroactively claim missing miles by contacting American. Miles can be earned on flights with American Airlines, Oneworld and partner airlines.
On American Airlines
You earn AAdvantage miles by flying with American Airlines. The number of miles earned depends on the price of your ticket and your elite status level.
AAdvantage members earn 5 miles per dollar spent on American flights, unless you're traveling on a basic economy fare, which earns no miles.
AAdvantage members with Gold status earn 40% more miles, Platinums earn 60% more, Platinum Pros earn 80% and Executive Platinums earn 120%. Those bonuses are one of the reasons it can be advantageous to aim for status with an airline you fly often.
On Oneworld and partner airlines
American Airlines allows you to earn AAdvantage miles while flying with about two dozen airline partners, including Oneworld alliance members and other partners.
Oneworld member airlines
- Alaska Airlines.
- American Airlines.
- British Airways.
- Cathay Pacific.
- Fiji Airways.
- Finnair.
- Iberia.
- Japan Airlines.
- Malaysia Airlines.
- Oman Air.
- Qantas.
- Qatar Airways.
- Royal Air Maroc.
- Royal Jordanian.
- Sri Lankan Airlines.
American Airlines non-alliance partners
- Aer Lingus.
- Air Tahiti Nui.
- Cape Air.
- China Southern Airlines.
- Etihad Airways.
- GOL Airlines.
- Hawaiian Airlines.
- IndiGo.
- JetSMART.
- LEVEL.
- Porter Airlines.
The amount of miles you'll earn depends on the partner airline you're flying with. Earn rates can depend on the distance flown or the amount paid for the ticket, as well as the fare class.
4. Shop in the American Airlines eShopping mall
You can earn American Airlines AAdvantage Miles by shopping online at more than 1,200 merchants through the AAdvantage eShopping mall.
All you need to do is log in with your AAdvantage number and password, then find a participating merchant. The mall offers bonuses for shopping at specified merchants.
The image below shows various online merchants along with the earn rate (note that these rates change often, so you may see different offers):
Select a merchant and click on the "shop now" icon. A new tab will open, taking you to that merchant, where you can complete your transaction as usual.
Buying flowers is also a great way to earn lots of American Airlines miles. Partners on the eShopping portal include 1-800flowers.com, FTD, ProFlowers and Teleflora. We've seen promotions of up to 20 miles per $1 spent.
5. Shop through SimplyMiles
SimplyMiles offers extra AAdvantage miles for in-store purchases. To earn miles through SimplyMiles, register for an account with your AAdvantage number, then link any Mastercard credit card. You must manually activate targeted offers to earn bonuses through SimplyMiles.
6. Stay at hotels
American Airlines also allows you to earn AAdvantage miles when staying at participating hotels. There are several hotel partners, including some of the largest chains, like Marriott and IHG.
Generally, if you choose to earn airline miles, you won't be able to earn hotel points. Deciding which currency to earn is a matter of personal preference.
You can also book hotels through AAdvantage Hotels, which allows you to earn additional miles for hotel stays. Your earn rate depends on your elite status level and whether you hold an eligible AAdvantage credit card.
Status and having a co-branded credit card can earn even more miles.
- AAdvantage status members: Earn up to 5 times more base miles on hotels.
- AAdvantage credit cardholders: Earn up to 5 times more base miles on hotels.
- AAdvantage credit cardholders with status: Earn up to 10 times more base miles on hotels.
It is worth noting that hotel prices on AAdvantage Hotels may be higher than those offered by other online travel agencies (OTAs) or by booking directly with the hotel. Compare rates to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
Before making your reservation with a hotel or online travel agency, check the eShopping mall to see if there's an opportunity to earn extra AAdvantage miles on the booking. 7. Book car rentals
Similar to earning AAdvantage miles for hotel stays, you can also earn miles for car rentals.
Avis and Budget are preferred rental partners with AAdvantage, which means you can save up to 35% and earn 2x miles per dollar spent. You can also earn 1 mile per dollar with Hertz.
To earn the miles, click "Book now," and you'll be taken to the car rental company’s website. When making the reservation, you'll be prompted to input the relevant discount code and your AAdvantage number.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
Check your printed rental agreement to ensure your AAdvantage number is included so you can earn miles. 8. Take a vacation
American Airlines Vacations is a booking platform that lets you earn AAdvantage miles when paying for airfare, hotels or car rentals. There are also opportunities to earn additional miles for booking vacation deals to select destinations. We've seen promotions of up to 30,000 bonus miles for booking at certain resorts.
9. Take a cruise
American Airlines makes it easy to earn AAdvantage miles through its cruise booking platform. You'll earn at least 1 mile per dollar spent on cruise vacations. You can also earn Loyalty Points towards AAdvantage status. AAdvantage co-branded card members earn an additional mile per dollar spent.
American offers a 110% price match guarantee. If you see a lower price on another website within 48 hours of booking your cruise, contact American Airlines, and it will refund 110% of the price difference.
10. Sign up with American AAdvantage Dining
American Airlines offers a dining rewards program where you can earn AAdvantage miles at participating restaurants (and it's considered one of the best dining rewards programs out there).
To earn miles, register for an account with AAdvantage Dining and add any credit or debit card to your online profile (you don't necessarily need an American Airlines credit card to participate). Every time you eat at a participating restaurant and swipe your card on file, you’ll automatically earn AAdvantage miles.
The number of points you earn depends on your AAdvantage Dining membership tier; it ranges from 1 point per $1 spent for basic members to 5 points per $1 spent for VIP members.
Plus, you can almost always double-dip on rewards earned by paying with a dining rewards credit card. If your credit card earns bonus points for spending at restaurants, you’ll be able to collect those and the rewards you’d earn through AAdvantage Dining.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
If you’re going out to eat, do a quick search on the AAdvantage Dining website to see if any restaurants near you participate in the program. 11. Open an account with Bask Bank
Bask Bank is an online bank that awards AAdvantage miles for depositing money and maintaining a specified average monthly balance. Account holders earn 2 AAdvantage miles for every $1 saved in a Bask Mileage Savings Account. Miles accrue every day based on the account's average daily balance, and they post to your AAdvantage account after every statement cycle.
The bank also runs promotions throughout the year for new and existing customers to earn bonus miles.
12. Take surveys with Miles for Opinions
Miles for Opinions works similarly to e-Rewards; it provides an opportunity to earn AAdvantage miles for taking surveys. When you first sign up, you may qualify to earn 250 bonus miles.
This can be a tedious way to earn miles in that you may spend 15 minutes of your time to earn a few miles. But then it's fairly easy, and you might be able to do it while enjoying some TV on a lazy weekend.
13. Use utility providers NRG, Reliant or Xoom
NRG Home is a supplier of electricity and gas. The company’s services are used with your existing utility provider. You can earn a bonus of 12,500 AAdvantage miles after 2 months as an NRG Home customer and an additional 2,500 miles if you add a natural gas account. In addition to the bonus AAdvantage miles, you'll get 2 miles per $1 spent on your monthly bill.
Reliant is an electricity provider in Texas. You could earn up to 27,000 AAdvantage miles for switching to Reliant. This includes 15,000 miles when you sign up, plus an extra 500 miles for each month you’re registered for the subsequent 24 months.
Xoom supplies electricity in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island; it supplies natural gas in California, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Virginia. Two months after signing up for an account, you can earn 10,000 AAdvantage miles as an electric customer and 5,000 AAdvantage miles as a natural gas customer. Additionally, you'll earn 2 miles for every $1 on the supply portion of your energy bill.
Make sure to read each provider’s terms and conditions, because many of these independent energy providers offer electricity at variable rates, which can introduce volatility into your monthly bill.
14. Buy tickets for live entertainment through the AAdvantage Events platform
Seeing your favorite group or sporting event could earn you AAdvantage miles. Just book through the AAdvantage Events platform from Ticketmaster.
The tickets are the same price as you’d get directly through Ticketmaster, but you’ll also earn rewards.
Miles will post in about 30 days.
15. Join Fuel Rewards and buy gas at Shell
American Airlines has partnered with the Shell Fuel Rewards program to earn miles on gas purchases. When AAdvantage members link their account to Fuel Rewards, they'll receive 250 AAdvantage miles after their first fill-up at a Shell station. Shell offers 3 miles per gallon of fuel purchased at its gas stations.
16. Donate to charity
American Airlines has partnered with Stand Up to Cancer to offer 10 AAdvantage miles for every $1 you donate to the charity, on donations of $25 or more.
17. Convert points from hotels to American Airlines
American Airlines has partnered with hotel rewards programs that allow you to convert your hotel points into AAdvantage miles. Although conversion from hotel points into airline miles is usually at a poor ratio and not advisable, it's something you'll have to judge on a case-by-case basis.
Current partners include:
- Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.
- IHG Hotels & Resorts.
- Marriott Bonvoy.
How to maximize your rewards
You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2026:
- Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- No annual fee: Wells Fargo Autograph® Card
- Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Luxury perks: American Express Platinum Card®
- Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
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