American Promo: 30% Off Short-Haul Award Redemptions

American Airlines is lowering the cost of award redemptions by 30% - for all short-haul flights within the continental. U.S. and Canada. Routes 700 miles or less are eligible for the promotion. Award travel must be ticketed by August 31, 2010, for travel through December 15, 2010. For example, a one-way award ticket which normally costs 12,500 miles is available for 8,750 miles instead.

Related: United Airlines 30% short-haul redemptions

American Drops Close-in Processing Fees for Elites

Effectively immediately, American Airlines is dropping close-in processing fees for Gold and Platinum elite AAdvantage members. Previously, award travel ticketed within 21 days of departure involved paying up to $100.00 - known in the industry as a close-in processing fee. Executive members are already exempt from the fee, while non-elite's will still need to pay up.

American and JetBlue Starting a Relationship

American Airlines and JetBlue Airlines have launched a commercial agreement giving customers the convenience of booking interline service in non-overlapping markets from JFK and Boston airports. This allows customers to book domestic and international tickets on both carriers with a single reservation. The two airlines will also begin a frequent flyer relationship later this year on the cooperative interline routes noted here. This means customers will have the choice to earn either AAdvantage or TrueBlue points when flying select routes.

Save 10% on American Airlines Flights

This deal requires about five minutes of work (playing a game) in order to claim the discount coupon. Basically, play an online soccer game for three minutes, then you get sent a 10% systemwide American Airlines discount code, valid for travel through February 28, 2010. There are a few blackout dates around the holidays, otherwise it's a pretty solid coupon that can save you a good amount of money.

Step 1: Visit aa.com/soccer
Step 2: Register, and play the short game
Step 3: Upon completing the game, click on the promotion code tab
Step 4: A password will be emailed to you, enter the PW at the designated location
Step 5: An American 10% off e-cert will be immediately sent to you.
Step 6: Book & Fly

I went through these steps and the 10% discount code worked just fine. Enjoy!

Earn 150 American Airlines Miles Watching a Short Bose Demo

Watch a two-minute video on the new Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones and earn a quick and easy 150 AAdvantage miles. See the in-store demonstration of the slick headphones by October 14th and earn 350 miles. Purchase them by November 14th and earn 1,500 miles. Full details.

Register Now for Double Elite-Qualifying Miles on American Airlines

Similar to the promotion offered this past Spring, American Airlines is offering double elite-qualifying miles for all flights between September 2 and December 15, 2009. Another similar offer, targeted to existing elite members, rewards members who reach additional mile/point milestones. Register for both these promotions today.

Earn Bonus Miles With New Netflix Subscription

First time Netflix customers can earn bonus frequent flyer miles when signing up for new service. Netflix offers the convenience of ordering movies online, and having them shipped, usually within 24 hours, directly to your home. Some titles can also be watched online, real-time.
Here are direct links to some of the participating airlines:

American Airlines: 2500 Bonus miles offer
United Airlines: 2000 Bonus miles offer
Delta Airlines: 3000 Bonus miles offer

Tip: Be sure to print out a copy of the offer in the event your miles do not automatically post. This will serve as proof of your registering for the offer.

American Airlines Now Offering One-Way Award Redemptions

Beginning today, American Airlines customers will be able to redeem one-way award travel for half the miles of a round-trip. Currently, all other major U.S carriers permit one-way award travel, either by booking a one-way trip or simply not utilizing the return segment, but the airlines still charged customers as if it were a round-trip. Now, for example, a one-way flight from San Francisco to Boston is available for as little as 12,500 miles. 

Here are some benefits: 

-It's great for people who don't have a mountain of miles in their AAdvantage account, but have enough to cover mileage for one direction.

-You can opt to use miles for the direction in which airfare is high, then purchase a separate one-way ticket for the less expensive direction. 

-You can redeem miles to fly into one city, and redeem miles to return from a different city. 

(Example: San Jose-Dallas and Austin-San Jose). 

-You can mix and match classes of service and book multi-segments on a particular trip. 

Here is one drawback:

-There are fees associated with some award travel, which essentially could double if you book two separate one-way tickets. Those fees include close-in processing fees (booking award travel within 21 days of departure), and re-deposit fees should you decide to cancel your trip. 

Earn Double Elite-Qualifying Miles on American Airlines

Link now active
American Airlines is offering a double elite-qualifying miles promotion for travel between March 18 and June 15, 2009. Simply register* your American AAdvantage account for this promotion, then fly any American Airlines, American Eagle or American Connect flight during the promo period to earn your bonus.

Elite-qualifying miles are used to calculate various elite levels within the AAdvantage program.
For example, if you flew 12,500 qualifying air miles during this promotion, those would convert to 25,000 elite miles, earning you a Gold-level status with the airline.

*Note, as of 11:30 PM Monday evening, the promotion was not yet open for registration. You may need to wait until the start of the promo period to register.

Triple American Airlines Miles From Boston and California

Starting March 2, 2009, American Airlines will offer triple miles for flights from Boston to San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego*. According to the terms, after registering (promo code: BOS3X), customers who purchase a new ticket and fly between March 2 and May 31, 2009 are eligible for the bonus miles.
*Nonstop San Diego-Boston flights begin April 7, 2009.

American Changes 'Minimum 500 Mile' Accrual Policy

Change impacts non-elite AAdvantage members

Following in the footsteps of United and U.S Airways, American Airlines says effective January 1, 2009, it will award frequent flier miles based on actual miles flown, stripping away the minimum 500 miles awarded for short-haul flights less than 500 miles in length. For example, a flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles - about 337 miles in length, would earn the 500 mile minimum based on the old policy. With the new change, only 337 miles are earned. United and U.S Airways recently adopted the same policy.

Unlike the United and U.S Airways policy change however, American airlines has exempted its elite members from this. Thus, AAdvantage Executive Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum, and AAdvantage Gold members will continue to enjoy the 500 mile minimum on most flights.

Earn 500 American Airlines Miles From Bose

Received an email today from American offering up to 500 miles for watching a demonstration of the Bose® QuietComfort® headphones.
1. Earn 150 AAdvantage miles for watching a 60-second video (you can do this now!)
2. Earn 350 AAdvantage miles for watching an in-store demonstration.

Click here to learn more and start earning miles.

Register for AAdvantage To Earn 1000 Miles

American Airlines has brought back the new member sign up bonus to AAdvantage, their frequent flier program. If you don't already have an account, now is the time. Earn 1000 points just for registering! Even if you never fly American, you can still redeem 1000 AA miles for a wide selection of magazines, including Conde Nast, Fast Company, and Men's Vogue.
Click here to sign up.  (corrected link)

American Airlines 10% Off Discount Code

(From FatWallet)
American Airlines has released a promotion code that nets a 10% discount for online purchases.
Valid for tickets purchased at http://www.aa.com/ by 6/6/2008 for travel through 6/20/2008 - one way or roundtrip, in the continental U.S only. Enter promo code: AAMOBI10

Successfully tested this promo code for a flight SFO-LAX - works like a charm! Your savings are noted in the green text.

American Airlines Promo: Double Elite-Status Qualifying Miles

American Airlines just released a promotion offering double elite-qualifying miles for all flights between now and June 15th. This promotion is for those working toward achieving or maintaining elite status with American. These are not miles redeemable for travel.

Click here to be directed to the AA promotions website and to register.

Online booking bonus goes into the history books

By Mike Grasso

American Airlines announced it will discontinue a promotion in which passengers earned up to 500 miles for booking flights directly from the American Airlines website. According to the AA website, the final day to earn the bonus is March 31st.

But we shall not point thumbs down to our fine feathered friends at American. A time, not so long ago, most of the big carriers offered online booking bonuses. American, United, Delta, US Air, Continental and Northwest all offered up to 1000 miles per reservation just for booking tickets on their website. That bonus lessened over the years, and eventually most carriers phased it out all together. American is simply the last of the big carriers offering the bonus.

Because most airlines charge fees for booking on the phone with a representative, and some booking sites charge a service fee for airline tickets, the airlines figure you will book directly on their website anyway- why bother enticing folks with a few hundred miles.

So, write it into the books - it was good while in lasted.

Purchasing Miles From the Airline - The Pros & Cons

By Mike Grasso

Purchasing airline miles directly from the airline is often a terrible method of accruing miles, both economically and practically. Some exceptions are noted later. First, the airlines usually price these miles at a premium, valued far higher than earning miles by most other means (flying, car rentals, credit cards, etc.)
For example, United Airlines will sell you 10,000 miles for $303 dollars. That $300 bucks could easily fly you to New York City for the weekend, and you'd earn 10,000 miles in the process. Therefore, there is no direct value added when buying miles from the airline.

Second, redeeming miles into a capacity controlled frequent flier program means the airline will limit your redemption opportunities on days, flights or routes it chooses. If it's a popular route, high-season, or holiday, you will have a tough time finding availability. They would rather sell expensive tickets than fill the plane up with people redeeming miles. And guess what? You are not the only person trying to redeem miles on a flight. Many people are competing for what is often limited overall availability. Thus, buying premium-priced miles for use on low-value flights with the added uncertainly seats will even be offered by the airline, isn't very practical.

But, buying airline miles can be situationally helpful. If you are 1000 miles short of 50,000 - enough for a free economy ticket to Europe, you may want to fork up the $50-$60 cost. In this case, call the airline first - check for award redemption availability before buying miles.

Another example is maybe you are 5,000 miles short of 90,000 - enough to fly Business Class on Singapore Airlines to Asia. The true value of that business class ticket is probably $6,000 or more. Paying $150 to cover your miles shortfall does seem tempting. Again, check for availability of award seats.

Lastly, as if they airline doesn't already have a strong-hold on these frequent flier programs already; buying miles is not a real-time exchange. United Airlines says it can take up to 48 hours to post to your account, American Airlines up to 72 hours. So while you are waiting for those purchased miles to post to your account, award availability may vanish from under your eyes. If you are in a situation like this, call the airline first, explain your scenario. They may do a courtesy hold if you provide them with your confirmation number of your miles purchase.

American Airlines MileFinder
This website application lets you select your city to determine mileage earning opportunities within your neighborhood. Could be useful when traveling as well, since it shows you restaurants and other businesses that offer AAdvantage miles for services. No new opportunities here, just a different way of displaying mileage opportunities.
Check out MileFinder

How do I save expiring frequent-flier miles?

By Mike Grasso

As reported earlier this week on INflightOUT, American Airlines, following the lead of other airlines, began requiring timely activity to member frequent-flier accounts. Failure to comply means fliers risk loosing everything they accrued in their pot-0-miles.

Airlines no longer want to keep "old" miles on the books. If you flew to Europe in 1999 and earned no other frequent-flier miles in your account since, the airline wants to drop your account off its books. Those unredeemed frequent-flier miles represent a debt to the airline, much like an undeposited check. The miles and check both go "stale" after a while.

"Stale" miles equate to zero value nowadays. Depending on the airline, miles are forfeited for inactivity of 12-36 months. Don't let the miles go stale!

Any qualifying activity usually keeps those miles fresh. Back in the day, airlines required you to FLY to earn frequent-flier miles - ha, long-passed are those days. Today, you don't even have to visit an airport to earn airline miles. For example, you can earn miles for grocery shopping, video rentals, dry-cleaning, credit cards, school tuition, and car rentals, to name a few. Visit your airline's frequent-flier page, then click on the section detailing how to earn miles from other than flying.

Use'em or loose'em!

Effective today, American Airlines AAdvantage accounts must have a qualifying activity at least every 18 months, otherwise the miles will cease to exist. From the AA website:
"AAdvantage members now must have mileage earning or redemption activity once every eighteen (18) months in order to remain active and retain their miles. Effective December 15, 2007, mileage balances will expire from AAdvantage accounts that have not had miles either earned or redeemed within the previous eighteen (18) month period. If the last activity in your AAdvantage account was prior to June 15, 2006, all miles subject to expiration will expire on December 15, 2007."