Category Archives: American Airlines

American Airlines Adds a Couple of New Benefits to Their Business Credit Card

Posted by on May 15, 2012 2 comments

I know a bunch of people have American Airlines business credit cards sitting around as part of their (now-every-18-month) American Airlines card churn, so I thought I’d pass along that they’ve actually added a couple of new benefits to the card:

- First checked bag is now free for you and 4 others.
- You’ll earn double miles on office supplies, telecom and car rental.
- When you renew your card, you’ll get a 5% bonus on the previous year’s spend (effectively letting you earn 1.05 points on every purchase, and 2.10 points on the bonus categories above, though that’ll cost you the $95 annual fee).
- Priority boarding
- 25% off in-flight purchases
- You’ll get a $99 companion certificate after you spend $30,000 annually (weak!)

Although the official offer is for 30,000 miles after $1,000 in purchases in 3 months, if you apply through this link you’ll get 50,000 miles after spending $3,000 in 3 months (plus the annual fee is just $75).

(UPDATE: I spoke with the AAdvantage folks, and existing cardmembers CAN get these new benefits by calling the number on the back of your card and ask to be upgraded to the CitiBusiness AAdvantage World Mastercard that includes these new perks.)

British Airways, Other Partners Now Searchable for Awards on AA.com

Posted by on April 22, 2012 No comments

A bit of helpful news for AAdvantage miles holders: you can now search for award availability on British Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines on AA.com. Apparently Alaska has been available for some time, but BA and Hawaiian are new. Unfortunately, BA awards are pricing fuel surcharges correctly, which is a giant bummer (unless you enjoy spending $1,000 in addition to using your miles).

You can search itineraries originating both from the US and overseas, which is helpful if you’re looking at intra-Europe flights on BA.

There don’t appear to be any bargains in the new functionality, but AA’s tool is easier to use than BA’s (and I find it easier to use, though far less comprehensive, than Qantas, which has been the go-to search site for Oneworld award travel).

Update: American Is Pricing Etihad Awards to Maldives Correctly

Posted by on April 6, 2012 5 comments

A few months back I wrote about some of the rather confusing routing rules involved with using AAdvantage miles to book on Etihad. I had mentioned that for a time, American was not pricing awards to the Maldives correctly. They should have priced as one award to the Middle East. Instead, they were pricing as two awards (North America to Middle East, then Middle East to Indian Subcontinent).

Well, it’s be fixed. A reader (thanks XF) wrote that he got AA to price out a one-way award from North America to Maldives in F on Etihad at 90k miles, which is correct. (I know this won’t affect most of you, but I did leave this as an open question in the earlier post…)

AA Sale: 40,000 Miles Round Trip to Japan

Posted by on April 3, 2012 3 comments

American is running a sale on award tickets to Japan. Fly between April 6 and May 31st and you can go for just 40,000 miles in coach (instead of 70,000). 

Offer is good on AA or Japan Airlines flights.

(Please save your comments another how you would never fly that far in coach.  If that’s how you feel, you can skip.  More room in the, uh, middle seat for me.  Or someone else, more likely.)

American Airlines Credit Cards Now Get First Bag Free, 10% Mileage Rebate, Priority Boarding

Posted by on April 2, 2012 8 comments

If you’re an American Airlines credit card holder, you’re in luck: American has finally improved the benefits of their cards to match what Delta and United already offer. Starting today, you’ll get:

- First bag checked free
- Priority Boarding
- A 10% Rebate on any miles redeemed (they show up back in your account in about 6 weeks)

If you haven’t yet applied, the first year fee is waived, but they’ve increased the fee to $95 from $85.

Although it is not wildly obvious from the language in the marketing materials, if you already have a card these new benefits DO apply.

50,000 mile bonus has been around for ages, but I can’t get the links to work anymore (if anyone has a WORKING APPLICATION PAGE for the 50k link, please send and I’ll update). Until then, here’s the 30k bonus link after $1k in spend (it’s not an affiliate link).

American Airlines Introduces Main Cabin Extra: More Room Throughout (Some Parts of) Coach

Posted by on March 1, 2012 3 comments

American Airlines, which introduced the “more room in coach” concept, only to remove it a few years ago, is now rolling out Main Cabin Extra, a section with more room in coach, on its entire fleet.

Beginning this spring, AA will add a Main Cabin Extra cabin to all of its aircraft, as well as to all new planes being delivered. The product is similar to United’s Economy Plus and Delta’s Main Cabin Select: Executive Platinum and Platinum members get to choose their seats for free. Gold members get it for free until December 31, 2013. The seats are also available for purchase for $8-$108 each way (well worth it on that flight to Tokyo). Passengers seated in that cabin also get priority boarding.

AA expects the rollout to take 18 months and will start with 777-300ER aircraft this spring.

US Airways has to introduce a similar cabin at this point, no?

With Malev’s Demise, American Airlines Cancels JFK – Budapest

Posted by on February 7, 2012 No comments

I have absolutely no idea why I’ve become completely obsessed with the Malev thing, but since I wrote earlier today about all of the airlines rushing into Budapest, I thought I’d also share that American Airlines is dropping their JFK- Budapest route.

This makes some sense, as Malev was probably giving them enough feed from Central Europe to make the route worth it (seasonally), but with Malev gone, so, too, is this flight.

Budapest has been served both by AA and Delta from JFK, though both are gone now.

20% AAdvantage Mile Bonus with Citi Card — Eh, So What

Posted by on January 27, 2012 1 comment

Citi is offering a 20% bonus to their AAdvantage card holders until April 30th through a targeted offer.

But if you are looking to acquire AAdvantage miles, you should absolutely NOT be putting your spend on the Citi card. You should get an Amex Starwood card, where you’ll earn SPG points that can be converted to AAdvantage points with a 25% bonus when you transfer 20,000 miles. You’re basically earning 1.25 miles all the time — why would you settle for 1 mile per dollar spent? Exactly.

American Rolls Back the Clock and Offers Free Beer and Wine in Coach on International Flights (Some, at least)

Posted by on January 18, 2012 No comments

American Airlines announced that beginning February 1st they’ll offer free beer and wine in coach on flights between the US and Europe, Asia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. If you’re a Continental flyer and you like a few beers on your flight well, it looks like you know where to go for some free booze.

American Airlines Will Let You Buy Your Elite Renewal

Posted by on December 29, 2011 No comments

Are you an American Airlines Gold or Platinum Elite flyer who didn’t quite get enough miles in to hit your Gold or Platinum level again? Fret not, American will let you buy your Elite renewal through February 2013 (details here). Here’s how:

If you’re currently Gold and have flown 20k miles or 24 segments, you can buy Gold back for a year for $409. If you haven’t hit 20k miles or 24 segments, you can have Gold for $559.

If you’re currently Platinum and have flown 40k miles or 48 segments, you can buy back Platinum status for $619. If you haven’t flown those miles or segments, Platinum is yours for $769.

Whether that’s worth it to you will certainly depend on your future travel plans. For many people, paying that amount beats having to do an end-of-year mileage run (which, at this point, it’s probably too late to do anyway). Still, while the $409 seems at the high end of acceptable, I’m not sure Platinum status on AA is worth $769.

AA will launch a website on January 26th to make the renewal purchase, and you’ll have until April 30th to make the decision.