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American Airlines’ loyalty programme AAdvantage is running a potentially interesting Miles sale until 30th June 2017.

You get a 10% discount, and a number of bonus Miles that varies depending on how many you buy, as the table below shows:

To get the best price, you’re going to have to buy a lot of Miles.

If you bought 150,000 Miles, you would end up with 250,000 (due to the 100,000 bonus) and that would set you back about £3,400 ($4,311.19), which is ~1.36p per Mile. That’s not cheap, but it’s not bad for AA Miles, if you have some very specific ideas about how to use them.

Note that you must have had your American Airlines AAdvantage account for at least 30 days to buy Miles – another reason why I suggest everyone should sign up to loyalty programmes asap.

Try the Etihad First Class Apartment for ~£850

The American award chart still has some good redemption values on partner airlines like Qatar and Etihad from Europe to the Middle East, including First Class for 62,500 Miles one way:

including the incredible Etihad First Class Apartments!

62,500 Miles at 1.36p each works out at about £850. Clearly that’s a lot of money for a one-way flight to the Middle East (and you would have to add taxes/airport fees on too. There are no ‘surcharges’, at least).

The Etihad First Class Apartment is probably the single most ‘aspirational’ product in the skies that you can (realistically) redeem Miles for though, and it’s a lot less than a cash ticket.

The real problem with the AA Miles sale, however, is that you probably don’t want to buy 250,000, but fortunately there is a good alternative.

Starwood Preferred Guest is selling Starpoints with a 35% discount until the end of June, which means you can effectively buy AA Miles, indirectly, for 1.4p per Mile in batches of 25,000. That’s only marginally more expensive than going down the AA route directly.

AA Miles Sale Bottom line

I’ve got a reasonable stash of AA Miles already, so won’t be buying at 1.36p. If you redeem smartly though, it is definitely possible to get good value from doing so – particularly if you fancy trying the Etihad Apartment!

Anyone tempted?

AA Miles Sale Terms

To be eligible for a the bonus miles and discount AAdvantage members must purchase 11,000 AAdvantage miles or more in a single transaction from the Buy or Gift Miles program beginning 7:00:00am CT on June 12, 2017 to 11:59:59pm CT on June 30, 2017. The prices shown include the discount. The discount applies to the AAdvantage miles purchased and does not apply towards taxes or the $30 transaction processing fee. The bonus miles earned are calculated based on each individual purchase amount and the corresponding bonus award. Bonus miles earned do not count toward the annual purchase limits. The applicable bonus miles are awarded to the recipient for Gift Miles transactions.

The miles purchased with the Buy Miles program and received with the Gift Miles program do not count towards AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum Pro, AAdvantage Executive Platinum or AAdvantage Million Miler^SM status qualification. Transactions are nonrefundable and nonreversible. The miles successfully purchased or transferred usually post to the designated account right away, but please allow up to 8 hours for processing. Each AAdvantage member is limited to purchasing or receiving in a calendar year, a combined total of no more than 150,000 AAdvantage miles. Miles purchased through the Buy Miles program or received as a gift through the Gift Miles program count against this total. A confirmation email will be sent to the primary buyer/gifter and/or recipient, using the email address(es) associated with the AAdvantage account(s) and any additional email address provided. AAdvantage accounts less than 30 days old are not permitted to Buy or Gift Miles. The price of your purchase is in U.S. dollars. Your credit card company may add a currency conversion fee.

By registering for this program, I hereby accept the Terms & Conditions of the AAdvantage program.

American Airlines reserves the right to change the AAdvantage® program and its terms and conditions at any time without notice, and to end the AAdvantage® program with six months notice. Any such changes may affect your ability to use the awards or mileage credits that you have accumulated. American Airlines is not responsible for products or services offered by other participating companies. For complete details about the AAdvantage® program, visit aa.com/AAdvantage .

A portion of all travel booked on American Airlines may be American Eagle® service. American Eagle service is operated by Compass Airlines, LLC, Envoy Air Inc., ExpressJet Airlines, Inc., Mesa Airlines, Inc., Republic Airline Inc., SkyWest Airlines, Inc., or Trans States Airlines, LLC.