American Airlines has just launched a promotion, whereby you can earn up to 30,000 AAdvantage miles by flying roundtrip to Europe on oneworld carriers. Of course, to earn the top 30,000 miles you’d have to be flying in First Class, but even those purchasing discounted Economy fares can get in on the promo.
You can earn bonus miles on up to two roundtrip under this promotion, at these rates:
- First Class: 15,000 AAdvantage miles per roundtrip
- Business Class: 10,000 AAdvantage miles per roundtrip
- Premium Economy/Full Fare Economy: 5,000 AAdvantage miles per roundtrip
- Qualifying Discounted Economy: 2,000 AAdvantage miles per roundtrip
To earn the bonus miles, you flights must be booked and flown between September 9 and December 11, 2016. You will also need to register for the offer on American Airlines’ website, using the code NAF16. You can book with any of the aforementioned carriers you want, but must credit the miles to American to earn their bonus. Award tickets, as usual, will not earn bonus miles. These are their terms and conditions:
Flights operated and/or marketed by other codeshare partners are not eligible for this promotion. Offer applies only to AAdvantage® members who register and purchase eligible published-fare tickets on or after September 9, 2016. Tickets purchased before September 9, 2016 are not eligible to earn bonus miles for this promotion.
Includes First Class and Business Class fares booked in F, A, P, J, R, D or I; Full-fare Economy Class fares booked in Y; other Economy Class fares booked in H, K, M, L, W, V, G, Q, N, O or S on American Airlines marketed flights; First Class or Club World (Business Class) fares booked in F, A, J, R, C, D or I; World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) booked in W, E or T; Full-fare World Traveller (full-fare Economy) booked in Y or B; other Economy Class fares booked in H, K, L, M, V, G, Q, N, O or S on British Airways marketed flights; Business Class fares booked in C, D, I or J; Full-fare Economy Class fares booked in Y, B or H; other Economy Class fares booked in A, K, L, M, P, V, G, N, O, Q, R, S, T, W or Z on Finnair marketed flights; Business Class fares booked in J, R, C, D, or I; Full-fare Economy Class fares booked in Y or B; other Economy Class fares booked in H, K, L, M, V, A, G, N, O, P, Q or S on Iberia marketed flights. Biz Bed (Business Class) fares booked in J, R, C, D, or I; Prem Plus fares booked in W, E, T; Full-fare Economy Class fares booked in Y or B; other Economy Class fares booked in H, K, L, M, V, G, Q, N, O or S on OpenSkies operated as British Airways flights.
It’s worth noting that British Airways is also running a Triple Avios promotion between September 6 and December 11, 2016. Their promotion applies to all transatlantic flights operated by oneworld, as well as all flights marketed/operated by British Airways booked and flown. All paid tickets under these rules qualify, and you can earn bonus miles on up to 4 roundtrips. British Airways award Avios based on distance (or a % of the distance depending on cabin) flown, and you can calculate how many you’d earn here.
British Airways regional “Business Class”
Depending on your route, how you value the miles, and the price of the ticket, that could be a more lucrative promotion. For example, assuming you have no status with either AA or BA, if you book a flight from JFK to London-Heathrow in British Airways “Q” fare (discounted economy), and you paid $750 for the flight before taxes, you will earn:
- (865 Base Avios one-way + 1,730 Bonus Avios under promotion one-way) * 2 for roundtrip = 5,190 Avios; or
- (750 * 5 AA miles/dollar) + 2,000 AAdvantage miles under promotion = 5,750 AAdvantage Miles
But since British Airways is also awarding bonus on short haul flights, if you have a connection with them, you might be better off registering with them. Let’s say you booked a flight from JFK to London-Heathrow, and then on to Athens, and you paid $800 for the same “Q” fare before taxes. You will earn
- (1239 Base Avios one-way + 2,478 Bonus Avios under promotion one-way) * 2 for roundtrip = 7,434 Avios; or
- (800 * 5 AA miles/dollar) + 2,000 AAdvantage miles under promotion = 6,000 AAdvantage Miles
Ultimately, depending on what elite status you have and how you value Avios and AAdvantage miles, you might have to do some math on your exact flight to see which promotion is better. I certainly wouldn’t book a flight just to take advantage of this promotion, but if you have a trip coming up anyway, it’s definitely worth registering.
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