Get up to a 50% bonus when you buy AAdvantage Miles or Dividend Miles through January 30, 2015. Here are the links and details, along with a FAQ and other ideas for earning the miles more cheaply.
Buy AAdvantage Miles with Up to 50% Bonus
Buy Dividend Miles with Up to 50% Bonus
- Earn up to 50% bonus miles when you buy miles by January 30, 2015
- 50% bonus is when buying 70,000 miles
- Buy up to 80,000 Dividend Miles or up to 100,000 AAdvantage miles in a single transaction
The best deal in both cases is buying 70,000 miles with a 35K bonus for $2065 + $30 transaction fee and 7.5% excise tax = $2249.88, or 2.14 cents per mile. Above that amount, and you'll end up paying more per mile, because the maximum bonus is 35,000 miles, and that is available by buying 70,000 miles.
US Airways only lets you buy a maximum of 80,000 miles in a single transaction anyway, but AAdvantage allows you to buy 100K AAdvantage miles with the same 35K bonus. That would cost $3201 including excise tax and $30 transaction fee, which would be 2.37 cents per mile. Not as good, since the bonus maxes out at 35,000, but if you urgently need AAdvantage miles for an award that option is available.
FAQ
Am I Eligible to Buy Miles?
To be eligible, you must have an AAdvantage account that is at least 14 days old, or a US Airways Dividend Miles account that is at least 12 days old.
What is the Maximum Number of Bonus Miles I Can Earn?
Dividend Miles: You can earn up to 50,000 Dividend Miles as bonus miles from this offer (so you could, for example, buy 70K Dividend Miles with a 35K bonus, then presumably buy 50K miles but only 15,000 of the 22,500 bonus miles would post to your account, since the maximum bonus amount is 50,000).
AAdvantage Miles: You can buy or receive a combined total of no more than 100,000 AAdvantage miles in a calendar year.
Can I Buy Dividend Miles and Have These Become AAdvantage Miles?
Yes, you can: your US Airways Dividend Miles will become AAdvantage miles sometime in Q2 2015, when the Dividend Miles and AAdvantage Miles frequent flyer programs merge (no date specified yet, but will be sometime in Q2 this year). Also see American Airline's New AAdvantage Program: Winners, Losers and FAQ
If I Buy Miles, Does the Purchase Count as Airfare Spend for Credit Card Category Bonuses?
Only if you buy AAdvantage Miles, since these are now all processed by American Airlines itself. So you would earn 3X with an AMEX Premier Rewards Gold card as an airline purchase, or 2X with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, as a travel purchase.
If you buy Dividend Miles, these transactions are processed by points.com, so you will NOT receive any category bonus for airlines/travel.
Should I Buy Miles with the 50% Bonus?
When miles cost over 2 cents to buy, I typically only recommend buying if:
- You just need a few more miles to book an award and are topping up an account
- You don't have access to U.S. credit card bonuses, whether because of poor credit, upcoming need for a mortgage or other large loan, or other reason
- You have an immediate need for an award and don't have time to apply for credit cards / wait for bonuses to post
Which Miles Should I Buy, AAdvantage Miles or Dividend Miles?
It really depends on your needs. I like Dividend Miles awards when more flexible routing and/or a stopover is needed or for its award “sweet spots” if you're planning a round trip. I used Dividend Miles for our mini round the world including stops in London (Rosewood London), Qantas First Class on the A380 to Dubai (Park Hyatt Dubai), Hong Kong (Upper House Hong Kong) and Amanpulo, with the best beach in the world.
But I usually end up using AAdvantage miles, because it's so convenient to be able to book one way awards, there's a longer hold time of 5 days, and less aggravating calling in to book awards–shorter hold times and more skilled agents. Also see more Pros and Cons of Dividend Miles.
What Are Great Uses of AAdvantage Miles and Dividend Miles?
My favorite ways to redeem AAdvantage miles and Dividend Miles are Qantas First Class, Cathay Pacific First Class, Etihad First Class, Japan Airlines First Class, JAL Sky Suite Business Class, Qantas Business Class and Cathay Pacific Business Class. I also hear from some readers that they love American Airlines' new first class and business class, although I haven't personally tried them.
What Are Cheaper Ways to Earn AAdvantage or Dividend Miles, If I Don't Need Them Immediately?
If you have time before you need to book an award, I recommend earning AAdvantage Miles and Dividend Miles more cheaply as credit card signup bonuses. See the 50K Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select, 50K CitiBusiness AAdvantage, and 50K US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard on the Best Travel Credit Cards page.
It's also possible to still earn AAdvantage miles passively via Bank Direct, although that program is no longer as lucrative as it once was and you'll likely want to limit your funds on deposit to $50,000. See BankDirect Devaluation.
Do you plan to buy AAdvantage Miles or Dividend Miles with a 50% bonus?
Related Posts
Worth It to Buy AA Miles or US Airways Miles with a Bonus?
American Airline's New AAdvantage Program: Winners, Losers and FAQ
Transfer AMEX Points to American AAdvantage Miles?
Best Miles for Europe in First Class and Business Class
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