AA Buy Miles Promo
As general advice, it is not suggested to purchase miles as the miles are generally priced greater than their useful value. There are some exceptions to this guidance. The exceptions are if a special promotion is out there that brings the cost per mile down significantly or if you have a particular award in mind that you need extra miles in order to book. Otherwise I would never buy miles.
American Airlines is currently offering a bonus promotion for buying miles. In the promotion, if you purchase 150,000 miles, you will get an additional 115,000 bonus miles.
Buyer’s information
*Required
1,000 = $29.50
2,000 = $59.00
3,000 = $88.50
4,000 = $118.00
5,000 = $147.50
6,000 + 1,500 = $177.00
7,000 + 1,500 = $206.50
8,000 + 1,500 = $236.00
9,000 + 1,500 = $265.50
10,000 + 3,500 = $295.00
11,000 + 3,500 = $324.50
12,000 + 3,500 = $354.00
13,000 + 3,500 = $383.50
14,000 + 3,500 = $413.00
15,000 + 3,500 = $442.50
16,000 + 3,500 = $472.00
17,000 + 3,500 = $501.50
18,000 + 3,500 = $531.00
19,000 + 3,500 = $560.50
20,000 + 7,500 = $590.00
21,000 + 7,500 = $619.50
22,000 + 7,500 = $649.00
23,000 + 7,500 = $678.50
24,000 + 7,500 = $708.00
25,000 + 7,500 = $737.50
26,000 + 7,500 = $767.00
27,000 + 7,500 = $796.50
28,000 + 7,500 = $826.00
29,000 + 7,500 = $855.50
30,000 + 15,000 = $885.00
31,000 + 15,000 = $914.50
32,000 + 15,000 = $944.00
33,000 + 15,000 = $973.50
34,000 + 15,000 = $1,003.00
35,000 + 15,000 = $1,032.50
36,000 + 15,000 = $1,062.00
37,000 + 15,000 = $1,091.50
38,000 + 15,000 = $1,121.00
39,000 + 15,000 = $1,150.50
40,000 + 22,500 = $1,180.00
41,000 + 22,500 = $1,209.50
42,000 + 22,500 = $1,239.00
43,000 + 22,500 = $1,268.50
44,000 + 22,500 = $1,298.00
45,000 + 22,500 = $1,327.50
46,000 + 22,500 = $1,357.00
47,000 + 22,500 = $1,386.50
48,000 + 22,500 = $1,416.00
49,000 + 22,500 = $1,445.50
50,000 + 22,500 = $1,475.00
51,000 + 22,500 = $1,504.50
52,000 + 22,500 = $1,534.00
53,000 + 22,500 = $1,563.50
54,000 + 22,500 = $1,593.00
55,000 + 30,000 = $1,622.50
56,000 + 30,000 = $1,652.00
57,000 + 30,000 = $1,681.50
58,000 + 30,000 = $1,711.00
59,000 + 30,000 = $1,740.50
60,000 + 30,000 = $1,770.00
61,000 + 30,000 = $1,799.50
62,000 + 30,000 = $1,829.00
63,000 + 30,000 = $1,858.50
64,000 + 30,000 = $1,888.00
65,000 + 30,000 = $1,917.50
66,000 + 30,000 = $1,947.00
67,000 + 30,000 = $1,976.50
68,000 + 30,000 = $2,006.00
69,000 + 30,000 = $2,035.50
70,000 + 40,000 = $2,065.00
71,000 + 40,000 = $2,094.50
72,000 + 40,000 = $2,124.00
73,000 + 40,000 = $2,153.50
74,000 + 40,000 = $2,183.00
75,000 + 40,000 = $2,212.50
76,000 + 40,000 = $2,242.00
77,000 + 40,000 = $2,271.50
78,000 + 40,000 = $2,301.00
79,000 + 40,000 = $2,330.50
80,000 + 40,000 = $2,360.00
81,000 + 40,000 = $2,389.50
82,000 + 40,000 = $2,419.00
83,000 + 40,000 = $2,448.50
84,000 + 40,000 = $2,478.00
85,000 + 50,000 = $2,507.50
86,000 + 50,000 = $2,537.00
87,000 + 50,000 = $2,566.50
88,000 + 50,000 = $2,596.00
89,000 + 50,000 = $2,625.50
90,000 + 50,000 = $2,655.00
91,000 + 50,000 = $2,684.50
92,000 + 50,000 = $2,714.00
93,000 + 50,000 = $2,743.50
94,000 + 50,000 = $2,773.00
95,000 + 50,000 = $2,802.50
96,000 + 50,000 = $2,832.00
97,000 + 50,000 = $2,861.50
98,000 + 50,000 = $2,891.00
99,000 + 50,000 = $2,920.50
100,000 + 60,000 = $2,950.00
101,000 + 60,000 = $2,979.50
102,000 + 60,000 = $3,009.00
103,000 + 60,000 = $3,038.50
104,000 + 60,000 = $3,068.00
105,000 + 60,000 = $3,097.50
106,000 + 60,000 = $3,127.00
107,000 + 60,000 = $3,156.50
108,000 + 60,000 = $3,186.00
109,000 + 60,000 = $3,215.50
110,000 + 60,000 = $3,245.00
111,000 + 60,000 = $3,274.50
112,000 + 60,000 = $3,304.00
113,000 + 60,000 = $3,333.50
114,000 + 60,000 = $3,363.00
115,000 + 60,000 = $3,392.50
116,000 + 60,000 = $3,422.00
117,000 + 60,000 = $3,451.50
118,000 + 60,000 = $3,481.00
119,000 + 60,000 = $3,510.50
120,000 + 60,000 = $3,540.00
121,000 + 60,000 = $3,569.50
122,000 + 60,000 = $3,599.00
123,000 + 60,000 = $3,628.50
124,000 + 60,000 = $3,658.00
125,000 + 75,000 = $3,687.50
126,000 + 75,000 = $3,717.00
127,000 + 75,000 = $3,746.50
128,000 + 75,000 = $3,776.00
129,000 + 75,000 = $3,805.50
130,000 + 75,000 = $3,835.00
131,000 + 75,000 = $3,864.50
132,000 + 75,000 = $3,894.00
133,000 + 75,000 = $3,923.50
134,000 + 75,000 = $3,953.00
135,000 + 75,000 = $3,982.50
136,000 + 75,000 = $4,012.00
137,000 + 75,000 = $4,041.50
138,000 + 75,000 = $4,071.00
139,000 + 75,000 = $4,100.50
140,000 + 75,000 = $4,130.00
141,000 + 75,000 = $4,159.50
142,000 + 75,000 = $4,189.00
143,000 + 75,000 = $4,218.50
144,000 + 75,000 = $4,248.00
145,000 + 75,000 = $4,277.50
146,000 + 75,000 = $4,307.00
147,000 + 75,000 = $4,336.50
148,000 + 75,000 = $4,366.00
149,000 + 75,000 = $4,395.50
150,000 + 115,000 = $4,425.00
150,000 + 115,000 = $4,425.00
| Cost | $4,425.00 USD |
| Federal excise tax | $331.88 USD |
| Processing charge | $30.00 USD |
| Total charges | $4,786.88 USD |
The regular cost for buying 150,000 American Airlines miles via buymiles.aa.com is $4,786.88 ($4,425 + taxes and fees). At that price, the cost per-mile is $0.0319 or 3.2 cents per-mile. That is a ridiculous cost as the miles are frequently only valued at around 1.8 to 2.0 cents per-mile.
With the promotion, instead of earning 150,000 miles, you would earn 265,000 miles.
The additional bonus miles brings the cost per-mile down to 1.8 cents. That price is closer to the value that many bloggers assign to AA miles.
I would argue it is still not a good deal when you can do manufactured spend using one of the American Airlines cards from Citi to earn miles at a lower case. One could combine the signup bonus with the manufactured spend and earn a lot of miles that way.
One reason where someone might want to buy the miles. There is an upcoming mileage devaluation for partner reservations. One of the ones that will be impacted are flights on Eithad airlines.
Currently you can redeem 90,000 miles each way for the First Apartment on Eithad’s A380 aircraft. This is a mini version of the Residence which I wrote about in the Inaugural Flights Post. After March 22, the redemption increased to 115,000 miles each way.
If you really would like to experience the First Apartment prior to the devaluation, and you have a specific reason to travel to the Middle East, you could consider the purchase as the purchase would give you more than enough for a round trip ticket.
I personally would not pay close to $5,000 miles for this but perhaps it may benefit you.
Have you ever bought miles?
Photos: AA / Eithad