American Airlines’ Aadvantage program offers an extensive domestic and international route network and has more than 20 airline partners. The United States is also the only one among the three major American airlines that have not completely eliminated the reward rankings, at least not yet. Therefore, your Aadvantage mileage is very flexible.
In this article, we will discuss how to redeem Aadvantage miles for flights operated by the United States and partners, as well as other ways to redeem your miles and whether it is worth using.
And, if you want to earn more Aadvantage miles, Citi®/Aadvantage® Execution World Elite MasterCard® (see Rates and Fees) will offer a profitable welcome bonus: For a limited time, you can earn 100,000 Aadvantage bonus miles after earning $10,000 in the first 3 months of your open account opening.
Related: Best Uses for American Airlines Aadvantage Miles
Redeem miles for American Airlines flights
One of the most direct ways to redeem Aadvantage miles is on flights operated in the United States.
The program now uses dynamic pricing as its own reward seat, although its partner reward list has not been deleted. (We’ll get it done later.) This means that for US flights, the price of miles may vary significantly, depending on route, date, demand and other factors.
The United States launched its Economic Network specialty in 2018 and quickly expanded to other regions and premium cabins. These awards only start on just 5,000 miles of a single-way short domestic flight. In the past, we even saw Americans apply 5,000 miles of speed to long-distance flights with economic tickets in Mexico and the Caribbean. As you rise as a miles, there are many other substantial deals: For example, flagship top-notch seats from Los Angeles to London are just 110,000 miles per route.
Redeeming Aadvantage miles for US flights is easy. Go to the American Airlines website and search for your flight, and make sure to check the Redemption Mileage box. American is not known for its abundant reward availability, but when searching for rewards in advance, you can find good deals. When the search results appear, click Calendar to compare prices for the entire month; the best deals will be highlighted in green.
Related: Choose the Best Credit Card for American Airlines Flyer
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Redeem partner flights
When booking an American Airlines partner, you will notice some differences, one of which is price consistency. For example, you can expect to pay 57,500 miles when flying to Europe in Business Class – no amazing deals, but no 200,000 miles price. This is because Aadvantage still uses reward charts for partner redemption. Go to this link to enter your origin and destination area to see how much your fare will cost.
Also, please be aware of the carrier’s fees and surcharges. British Airways are notorious to regularly charge hundreds of dollars in surcharges for European restricted flights. These will be passed to Aadvantage members except for the miles they will spend.
This is not to say there is no good Aadvantage partner redemption – it is actually the opposite. As mentioned earlier, American Airlines works with many world-renowned airlines that offer excellent commercial and first-class products with reasonable operator charges.
Here is all the list of current U.S. partners:
Oneworld Airlines Partners:
- Alaska Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Fiji Airlines
- Finland
- Iberia
- Japan Airlines
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- Royal Jordan Airlines
- Sri Lanka Airlines
Non-compliant aviation partners:
- Aer Lingus
- Great Tahiti River
- Cloak in the air
- China Southern Airlines
- Etihad Airways
- GOL Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- indigo
- Jetsmart
You can book most of these partners online through the US website, but some may require you to call. In this case, you can search for reward seats on the airline’s own website and call American to book with Aadvantage Miles. However, you shouldn’t have this problem often, as major players can book online.
When you call an American, the phone agent gives you a quote for miles, taxes, and fees. These taxes and fees are usually the same as quotes on the partner airline website, but they may vary depending on the reward.
Make sure to notice a specific flight number when finding available partner reward seats. Rather than saying “I want to use my mileage to fly from New York to Abu Dhabi” and rely on agents to find the reward space, “I found the reward space on Itihad X, departing on date y, but I can’t book online. Can you help?”
Related: Search the best websites for OneWorld rewards
Redeem travel add-ons
You can also redeem miles for various add-ons such as seating upgrades and Admiral Club Lounge.
Only on flights operated by the United States and its three partners, upgrade seats with miles: British Airways, Iberia and Qantas. Please check this page to see how many AADVANTAGE miles you need to upgrade your next flight.
Unfortunately, you have to pay a high copay on most US fares (starting at $75). For the U.S. partner upgrade, you won’t have a co-payment, but the mileage rate is much higher.
When you book extra seats in the main cabin with miles of miles, the cost is related to the cash price of about 1 cent per mile. In this case, you can use 3,500 miles of extra seats in the main cabin, which usually costs $37. Likewise, the Admiral Club Day pass will return you 79 or 7,900 miles.
Both options make you worth about 1 cent per mile, well below the value of TPG’s June 2025 US mileage (1.5 cents per pound). That’s why we recommend avoiding them, especially if your Aadvantage Elite identity offers extra seating in the main cabin as a benefit, or if you have a Citi®/Aadvantage® performing World Elite Mastercard®, you can entitle you to the club access.
If you have executive Platinum or Platinum Pro status, you can also choose to redeem 20,000 or 24,000 miles respectively to redeemed the pass to the exclusive flagship first dining facility.
Related: Between London and New York, is American Airlines’ advanced economy worth it?
Redemption of a rental car, hotel or event miles
The Aadvantage website provides more ways to redeeming miles, including:
The list above gives you a lot of options, especially if you have a large hiding place that you can’t use as soon as possible. But these redemptions almost always provide the value of poverty.
For example, we did a one-day medium car rental through the AADVantage car and was cited for 15,557 miles. When booking directly through thrift, the same rent is only $87, bringing you a value of 0.56 cents per mile, well below our June 2025 Aadvantage Miles valuation of 1.5 cents. Some Aadvantage Elite members and co-cardholders will receive a small discount for miles, but not enough to significantly increase that value.
Of course, value is in the eyes of a lover, only you can decide how to best use mileage. But overall, redeeming Aadvantage Miles for reward flights will give you the biggest sensation, especially if you find the ideal partner reward.
Related: The best time to book a business-grade reward flight: Last minute and Premium booking
Bottom line
There are more eyes when it comes to redeeming Aadvantage Miles. You can even use them for luxury in Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines and other airlines with great hard products, both economical and quality classes.
Make sure to conduct research and find the best route to redemption and don’t rely solely on American websites to get rewards. After all, the best option for your next trip may not be on Americans, but on one of its many alliances or non-partners. Just be sure to beware of nasty fuel surcharges.
