Buy AAdvantage Miles at 1.89 Cents Per Mile and Best Awards After Devaluation

You can buy AAdvantage miles for 1.89 cents each through June 1 with 35% off (to celebrate the AAdvantage program's 35th anniversary) and a 15,000 bonus if you buy 150,000 miles. Here's the math:

150,000 miles + 15,000 bonus miles cost $2876.30 + Federal excise tax of $215.72 and a $30 processing charge, for a total of $3122.02. That gives you 165,000 AAdvantage miles for $3122, or a cost per mile of $0.0189 = 1.89 cents per mile.

This isn't quite as good as last month's offer, which enabled you to buy AAdvantage miles at 1.8 cents per mile, but it's still very close, and could work well if you sat the last promotion out due to not wanting to spend $4787 in order to get the 1.8 cents per mile rate.

If you don't want to buy so many miles, it will cost more per mile due to the fixed $30 processing charge and the lack of bonus miles. Here are examples:

Buy 50,000 AAdvantage miles for $1060.71 = 2.12 cents per mile
Buy 100,000 AAdvantage miles for $2091.31 = 2.09 cents per mile
Buy 135,000 AAdvantage miles with a 5000 miles bonus for $2812.75 = 2.01 cents per mile

FAQ

I Already Bought AAdvantage Miles Earlier This Year; Is There a Limit to How Many I Can Buy?

Yes, you're limited to buying 150,000 AAdvantage miles per calendar year. So if you previously bought 75,000 AAdvantage miles, you'd be limited to buying 75,000 AAdvantage miles for that account. That said, another family member who hasn't bought any miles in the current calendar year could take advantage of the offer to buy the maximum 150,000 miles.

Is the 150,000 Buy Miles Limit Including the Bonus?

No, the maximum of 150,000 AAdvantage miles doesn't include any bonus miles.

Can I Buy Miles Through My Child's AAdvantage Account?

Yes, if your child already has an AAdvantage account, you can buy AAdvantage miles on his or her behalf. In order to buy miles, the AAdvantage account has to be at least 30 days old.

When Will the Bonus Miles Post?

Miles post to your AAdvantage account instantly. And since you can put AAdvantage awards on hold for 5 days, so you can ensure the award you want is available, put it on hold, then buy the miles needed in order to ticket your award.

Which Credit Card Should I Use to Buy AAdvantage Miles?

The nice thing about buying AAdvantage miles, compared to most other buy miles offers, is that AAdvantage buy miles transactions are processed by American Airlines itself, not points.com. That means that you DO earn bonus miles with credit cards that offer category bonuses for American Airlines, airlines and travel purchases. My top picks would be:

AMEX Premier Rewards Gold Card: 3X Membership Rewards points for airfare
AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card if you chose airfare as your 3X category
Citi Prestige and Citi ThankYou Premier: 3X Citi ThankYou Points for travel
Chase Sapphire Preferred: 2X Ultimate Rewards points for travel

Best First Class Awards After AAdvantage Award Chart Devaluation

I've covered this before, but in my view the best value first class awards after the AAdvantage Award Chart Devaluation include JAL First Class Tokyo to Sydney for 60,000 miles one way, JAL First Class from the U.S. to Tokyo for 80,000 miles one way (especially if traveling from NYC), Cathay Pacific First Class from Europe to Asia for 90,000 miles, and Etihad First Apartment on the A380 and Qantas First Class on the A380 from London to Australia for 115,000 miles each way.

Best Business Class Awards After AAdvantage Award Chart Devaluation

My favorite business class awards in the devalued award chart are JAL Sky Suite Business Class from the U.S. to Japan for 60,000 miles one way (again, best value is from the East Coast, given that it's a 13-14 hour flight), Etihad Business Class from the U.S. to the Middle East, India and the Maldives for 70,000 miles, Cathay Pacific Business Class from Europe to Asia for 75,000 miles, and Etihad Business Class Studio on the A380 Europe to Australia via AUH for 85,000 miles, with the possibility to add on a LAN Business Class Flight to New Zealand.