thecat
Junior Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2012
- Posts
- 40
Hey everyone, been lurking for far too long so thought I'd finally take the opportunity to say hello! 
Been intrigued at the idea of buying AA miles for J rewards to/from Europe, and have read here that AA run promotions from time to time. Went to see what was on offer post Easter and if my calculations are rights then it seems like there's a beauty on offer!
The kicker to this is that if you buy before noon April 5th, then you ALSO get a 15% discount on the cost of the base miles.
(Can't post link unfortunately, not enough posts
)
Reading back, and correct me if I'm wrong, the best promotion for bonus miles I've seen is a 50% bonus on the purchase.
Under a 50% bonus miles offer, 90,000 (60k + 30k bonus) miles could be purchased for $1,650 = 1.833c/mile
However, under this bonus offer with the 15% discount, 52,000 miles (40k + 12k bonus) can be purchased for $935 = 1.798c/mile!
And although with less of a bonus, another 25,000 miles (20k + 5k) can be purchased for $467.5 = 1.870c/mile
Acting fast - April 5 is not far away, I know! - it looks like you can purchase 40,000 miles (+12k) and 20,000 miles (+5k), netting 77,000 after bonuses, for $1402.5. This is still only 1.821c/mile, less than the 50% bonus promo.
Yes I know there are slight differences in the promotions in that you only end up with 77k miles this way (so not too good for NRT J return) and you cop the extra $35 processing fee, but wondering whether people thought it was worth giving a crack?
Also, the last 20k miles work out a little more expensive than a 50% bonus offer - from experience, can you buy as little as 20k miles and still receive the full 50% bonus, or is that only for buying higher amounts of miles? Not sure whether it would be worth waiting for a 50% offer but risk not being able to make the most, or if its better to just jump this offer which still works out better than simply buying 90k miles during a 50% bonus offer?
Cheers!

Been intrigued at the idea of buying AA miles for J rewards to/from Europe, and have read here that AA run promotions from time to time. Went to see what was on offer post Easter and if my calculations are rights then it seems like there's a beauty on offer!
- Purchase 20,000 - 29,000 miles: 5,000 Bonus
- Purchase 30,000 - 39,000 miles: 8,250 Bonus
- Purchase 40,000 + miles: 12,000 Bonus
The kicker to this is that if you buy before noon April 5th, then you ALSO get a 15% discount on the cost of the base miles.
(Can't post link unfortunately, not enough posts

Reading back, and correct me if I'm wrong, the best promotion for bonus miles I've seen is a 50% bonus on the purchase.
Under a 50% bonus miles offer, 90,000 (60k + 30k bonus) miles could be purchased for $1,650 = 1.833c/mile
However, under this bonus offer with the 15% discount, 52,000 miles (40k + 12k bonus) can be purchased for $935 = 1.798c/mile!
And although with less of a bonus, another 25,000 miles (20k + 5k) can be purchased for $467.5 = 1.870c/mile
Acting fast - April 5 is not far away, I know! - it looks like you can purchase 40,000 miles (+12k) and 20,000 miles (+5k), netting 77,000 after bonuses, for $1402.5. This is still only 1.821c/mile, less than the 50% bonus promo.
Yes I know there are slight differences in the promotions in that you only end up with 77k miles this way (so not too good for NRT J return) and you cop the extra $35 processing fee, but wondering whether people thought it was worth giving a crack?
Also, the last 20k miles work out a little more expensive than a 50% bonus offer - from experience, can you buy as little as 20k miles and still receive the full 50% bonus, or is that only for buying higher amounts of miles? Not sure whether it would be worth waiting for a 50% offer but risk not being able to make the most, or if its better to just jump this offer which still works out better than simply buying 90k miles during a 50% bonus offer?
Cheers!