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I Made This Beginner Mistake With American Airlines Miles

  • Joseph Hostetler

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    When I first entered the miles & points hobby, I had a bucket list the length of the Sefer Torah.

    The first airline card I opened was the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®.  I earned tens of thousands of  American Airlines miles from that card’s valuable welcome bonus.  Not having entirely comprehended the value of airline “miles” as a newbie, I naturally assumed each airline mile permitted me to travel 5,280 feet aboard the airline.  With 60,000 miles, I thought I could circumnavigate the Earth multiple times. The information for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

    Not so!  Airline miles do not correlate to imperial miles in any way.  Here’s what you need to know before you start collecting airline miles.

    American Airlines miles can take you just about anywhere. They’re just not as generous as their name suggests

    Airline Miles Aren’t “Miles” at All (American Airlines)

    When you purchase a ticket with some airlines (fewer and fewer these days), you’ll earn 1 airline mile for every mile you actually fly (or more or less depending on the type of fare you buy).  So if you fly one-way from Chicago to Paris, you’ll earn ~4,150 airline miles because the distance you flew was 4,150 actual miles.

    Beyond that, there is no reason for airlines to call the rewards you earn with them “miles.”  It’s just a marketing thing.  And besides, nowadays with many of the major airlines you earn miles based on the price of your ticket not based on the distance you fly.

    Each airline has a unique way of calculating the exact value of an airline mile and they usually publish it in an “award chart.”

    Award Regions

    Case Study:   American Airlines

    Several airlines charge a firm amount of miles based on the “region” to which you’re traveling.

    For example, American Airlines charges 30,000 miles to travel in coach one-way to anywhere in Europe from anywhere in the US.  That means you can book a flight from New York to Dublin for the same price as a flight from Los Angeles to Istanbul.

    That’s more than twice the distance!  But the American Airlines prices are based on the geographical region.

    If you’re interested, we’ll show you how to exploit their method of pricing flights so you can get the most from your American Airlines miles!  Check out these posts:

    Distance-Based

    Case Study:   Iberia

    Many airlines charge you based on the distance you fly (though it’s still not proportionate to actual “miles”).  I’ll give you an example.

    I love Iberia (the airline of Spain).  You can use Iberia points to book flights on lots of different airlines, because it’s a member of a gigantic airline alliance called oneworld.  When you book on a partner airline, you’ll pay the following amounts:

    As you can see, the farther you fly, the more you’ll pay.  I booked a round-trip flight from Cincinnati to Oklahoma City over the holidays and paid 17,000 Iberia points.  That’s because I flew just 1,973 miles, including connections.

    Iberia doesn’t just count the span between your origin and destination. It examines all the connections you’ve made to calculate your final distance traveled

    Cash Value

    Case Study:   Southwest

    Other airlines completely ignore award charts and simply charge a number of miles or points based on the cash price of the ticket.

    Southwest is one of these airlines.  When cash prices are high, award prices are high.  When Southwest has a sale, you can book an award flight for very few points.  But you can almost always bank on receiving a value of 1.5+ cents per point.

    Here are some posts to help you better understand Southwest:

    Random

    Case Study:   Delta

    Several airlines have completely eliminated an award chart and have given themselves license to charge whatever they want whenever they want.  This is the direction airlines are migrating, in fact United Airlines just announced they are getting rid of their award chart.

    Delta binned its award chart a couple years ago, but they regularly publish fantastic sales to random destinations (we keep you updated on all the Delta sales here).  You’ll have to check your specific route to see how much you’ll need to pay, but there are plenty of opportunities to receive great deals.

    Unfortunately, there’s still no correlation between actual miles and Delta miles.  You can check out these posts to better understand Delta miles:

    Bottom Line

    I hate that airlines call their rewards “miles” (to be fair, some call them points, which is much more accurate).  One airline mile will NOT grant you 5,280 feet of travel.

    That’s super basic for miles and points enthusiasts.  But I remember just starting out and becoming VERY disappointed upon learning my airline mile will only take me a fraction of the distance I had presupposed.

    If this is you, don’t be discouraged!  It’s really easy to save THOUSANDS of dollars with airline miles and points.  You can head over to our guides page to expedite your learning process.  You’ll find literally everything you need to know in a very readable format with NO jargon.

    And subscribe to our newsletter to become a free travel expert in no time!

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    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)