Miles on Sale

[drron]

20% discount on buying miles in May.Will be doing a little thinking as will definitely help the march to LTP.

Use American Airlines AAdvantage® miles for a summer vacation. Don't have enough miles? Purchase the miles you need for an award ticket and save 20% when you purchase 20,000 miles or more beginning May 1, 2010, through May 31, 2010.

 

[Blackswan]

I was thinking of buying 40,000 points a couple of days ago when this was first made available online - wishing I brought when the dollar was higher.

AAlso, don't forget that theres a $30 admin fee to purchase the miles - and also the fee AA charges to redeem over the phone . . .

 

[Gold Member]

Dollar has tanked in the past week but I suspect it will return to 92-93 within 2-3 weeks without any further threats of sovereign debt or additional mining taxes! I'm parking my Priceline bids for a couple of weeks accordingly.

This mileage special isn't as good as the one over Feb/March which offered bonus miles (37.5%) more. Still, its not a bad deal and given the earn/burn ratio of AA extremely competitive compared to QF.

If it weren't for the 40K max BUY miles pa I'd be topping up with this promo.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Just a bump, another miles sale until the end of June.

Need more American Airlines AAdvantage® miles to book your vacation now? Purchase the miles you need to reach an award ticket and earn 1,000 bonus miles for every 5,000 miles purchased through June 30, 2010. Plus, if this is your first mileage purchase in 2010, you'll earn an extra 250 bonus miles per 5,000 miles purchased - that's up to 10,000 bonus miles!

Not as good as the Feb/March offer (I really should have bought then...), but still great value.

Will jump on this offer without a doubt, after umming and arring way too much with the deal in March and so missed out. Just a matter of watching the dollar, its gone up 2c or so in the past 2 days, so I'm not sure whether to buy now or hold out a little longer...

 

[Must...Fly!]

Just purchased my 50,000 (40,000 + 10,000 bonus) miles.

Didn't know about the federal excise tax though...Decided to buy anyway, I'm getting sick of watching the exchange rate!

Even if everything goes against me, business flights to NZ from Perth will be the same, maybe $50 more, than economy. Although I do lose the points + SCs.

I'll treat it as a learning experience...I'm sure I'll regret it though... the "once you fly up the front you'll never go down the back" thing!

 

[wandering_fred]

I realize that I could call AA customer service, but real local experience would be much more satisfying :shock:

Anyway son #1 has an AA mileage expiry date of 25 Jul 10. Would buying him a couple of thousand miles via points.com extend his expiry date? It is sort of implied but not stated.

Thanks with no wandering

Fred

 

[Must...Fly!]

If you're not signed up to points.com with that AA# yet, simply signing up and getting the free 10 AAdvantage miles for doing so will keep his account active!

 

[Fifa]

If you're not signed up to points.com with that AA# yet, simply signing up and getting the free 10 AAdvantage miles for doing so will keep his account active!

Or sign up to points.com via the link on the AA website and get 100 AAdvantage miles

 

[drron]

Still bonus for buying miles-
Offer Extended:
Earn Up to 10,000 Bonus MilesYou can use American Airlines AAdvantage® miles to get away. If you haven't earned enough yet, simply purchase or transfer the miles you need to book your trip now.

Through July 31, 2010, you'll earn 1,000 bonus miles for every 5,000 miles purchased, up to 8,000 bonus miles! And, if this is your first time purchasing miles in 2010, you'll earn an extra 250 bonus miles per 5,000 miles purchased when you make your first mileage purchase by July 31, 2010 — that's up to 10,000 miles!
PS Quote tag not working.

 

[knasty]

Would appreciate any advice/reassurance on forking out real money for the miles.

I'm so close to spending the ~AUD1,200 and buying 40k + 12k bonus miles before Aug 31. I'm completely sold on the benefits of AA miles vs QF. I've currently got ~100k which unfortunately is not enough for any meaningful o/s family trip for me + wife + infant + child, and with me earning only about 50k p.a. it will be a few years without a purchase to top-up. BTW What is the federal excise mentioned below? I thought it was just USD1k + $30 admin fee?

In addition a question - I know you have to redeem full points for a child travelling, but if I am redeeming points for a partner award for 2 adults and 1 child, can I book (and pay the 10%(?) fare) for the infant at the same time when booking through the AA Advantage rewards centre? Thanks.

 

[JohnK]

n addition a question - I know you have to redeem full points for a child travelling, but if I am redeeming points for a partner award for 2 adults and 1 child, can I book (and pay the 10%(?) fare) for the infant at the same time when booking through the AA Advantage rewards centre? Thanks.

As far as I know the paid booking for the baby would need to be a separate booking but you would be able to link the 2 bookings. The baby does not occupy a seat per se so should not be a problem. Didn't simongr do this recently?

 

[Dave Noble]

Would appreciate any advice/reassurance on forking out real money for the miles.

I'm so close to spending the ~AUD1,200 and buying 40k + 12k bonus miles before Aug 31. I'm completely sold on the benefits of AA miles vs QF. I've currently got ~100k which unfortunately is not enough for any meaningful o/s family trip for me + wife + infant + child, and with me earning only about 50k p.a. it will be a few years without a purchase to top-up. BTW What is the federal excise mentioned below? I thought it was just USD1k + $30 admin fee?

In addition a question - I know you have to redeem full points for a child travelling, but if I am redeeming points for a partner award for 2 adults and 1 child, can I book (and pay the 10%(?) fare) for the infant at the same time when booking through the AA Advantage rewards centre? Thanks.

You can pay the 10% separately for an infant. As far as taxes go on purchase, not much you can do about it though. USD1105 for 52k is not too shabby though

Dave

 

[drron]

Offer extended once more.As I am on the quick points accumulation to LTP I will take it up.Note limit on miles bought for year increased to 60000 for November only.

"Don't quite have enough miles to book your travel now? When you buy the miles you need, you'll earn a special bonus — for every 6,000 miles you purchase, you'll earn 2,000 bonus miles, up to 20,000 bonus miles!

Or purchase 6,000 miles or more through the giftAAmilesSM program for a friend or family member this holiday, and earn a bonus for yourself!

For the month of November only, the limit of purchasing 40,000 miles per account, per calendar year has been raised to 60,000 miles.

These great offers end November 30, 2010. "

 

[Gold Member]

The 25% bonus promo isn't particularly exciting but the 60K annual ceiling offer is tempting. Good deal for those needing a topup to reach an award though.

OTOH, I have to assume that AA will be offering similar promos next year with around 25% bonus and that the AUD/USD will be similar if not stronger.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Thanks for informing drron.

The strong aussie dollar makes this tempting, although I still have 35,000 miles in my account. I think as per Gold Member's advice, I'll wait until next July, or whenever my miles purchase resets.

 

[dk4]

I think as per Gold Member's advice, I'll wait until next July, or whenever my miles purchase resets.

Doesn't the miles purchase limit reset for everyone after the 31st December? i.e. per calendar year (rather than 1 full year from the last purchase)

 

[drron]

Doesn't the miles purchase limit reset for everyone after the 31st December? i.e. per calendar year (rather than 1 full year from the last purchase)

Yes.But this gives me the opportunity to buy more for this calender year.Important for me as strong suggestions that after December not all miles will count for life time status.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Doesn't the miles purchase limit reset for everyone after the 31st December? i.e. per calendar year (rather than 1 full year from the last purchase)

Ahh I missed that bit.

drron you better get on it then to help you get to LTP! Especially with the dollar so good!

 

[NSWhere]

This deal and the strong Aussie (above parity as I type) has got me thinking about this.

I'm a total AA newb with less than 20,000 miles, but as far as I can tell with this deal I can purchase 64,000 miles (48000+16000) for US$1230. 64,000 miles is, according to https://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/aadvantageAllPartnerChart.jsp, more than enough for a flight in J from Aus to Europe. Alternatively, during November you can purchase 80,000 (60K + 20K) for US$1530 which is enough for an F flight to Europe.

Both of these seem like a good deal to me, and since I don't typically believe in arbitrage I'd appreciate it if you experts could enlighten me to what glaring holes I've missed.

 

[auriga]

This deal and the strong Aussie (above parity as I type) has got me thinking about this.

I'm a total AA newb with less than 20,000 miles, but as far as I can tell with this deal I can purchase 64,000 miles (48000+16000) for US$1230. 64,000 miles is, according to https://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/aadvantageAllPartnerChart.jsp, more than enough for a flight in J from Aus to Europe. Alternatively, during November you can purchase 80,000 (60K + 20K) for US$1530 which is enough for an F flight to Europe.

Both of these seem like a good deal to me, and since I don't typically believe in arbitrage I'd appreciate it if you experts could enlighten me to what glaring holes I've missed.

As long as availability is there, you're good to go!