Huge Hat Tip to reader Daniel for emailing me about this deal. Email me your tips!

Today the AAdvantage eShopping portal tripled the earning rate on magazines.com to 60 American Airlines miles per dollar through November 30, 2013.

Stacked with the ongoing promotion that is awarding up to 2,500 miles for $250 in purchases through the portal (and fewer bonus miles for smaller purchases), you can buy up to 17,500 American Airlines miles for 1.43 cents each until the magazines.com promotion ends. And you even get some magazines thrown in for free.

The American Airlines Explorer Award is an incredible use of miles. An Explorer Award is a distance-based award that allows multiple stopovers, so it's a versatile award perfect for globetrotters on round-the-world itineraries or cramming many trips onto one award at a steep discount.

I want to illustrate how a relatively simple award routing to Europe can also be a great use of an Explorer Award by saving miles and adding free stopovers that wouldn't be permitted under normal circumstances.

I'm planning a trip to Sofia, Bulgaria this summer and uncovered a great value.

American Airlines is offering 2,500 bonus AAdvantage miles if you spend $250 or more in its online portal between now and December 2, 2013.

Spend $75 to $149 and get 750 miles
Spend $150 to $249 and get 1,500 miles
Spend $250 or more and get 2,500 miles

All spending from all stores in the portal before December 2, 2013 will be added up to determine your bonus amount.

If you can spend just over $75, $150, or $250, you will earn at least 12x miles per dollar on every purchase because you'd get 10x through this

I've written several posts about Explorer Awards from American Airlines. My favorites are:

American Airlines Explorer Award: The Rules
The Start of My Anatomy of an Award Series on a Real Explorer Award: Planning a RTW Trip
My Post about Getting the AA Miles Needed for a Business Round-the-World Trip

American Airlines Explorer Awards are by far the cheapest option for round-the-world awards and a great option for hopping around one part of the world with many stops.

Explorer Awards are also incredible for combining many trips onto a single award at a huge discount.

According to Bloomberg, AA/US have reached a deal with the Department of Justice, so that the latter will stop objecting to the merger.

I've long maintained that I expected the merger to happen.

United has announced a 20% discount on economy class awards from the US to Europe:

Roundtrip awards booked between now an November 19, 2013
for flights flown between January 13 and March 11, 2014
on itineraries wholly operated by United and United Express flights
will cost only 48k miles roundtrip, a 20% discount on the normal 60k price.

United ran a nearly identical promotion last year, so maybe this is becoming a yearly occurrence.

I know many of us are trying to burn United miles because of its recent devaluation, so this promotion might be a good way to see

I just got this email, advertising up to 15,000 bonus AAdvantage miles when you purchase American Airlines miles before November 15, 2013.

There have been some incredible deals to buy miles in the last few weeks like the US Airways offer to "buy" miles for 1.13 cents each.

How does this deal compare? Is this a good deal for folks trying to amass American Airlines miles?

I noticed in August 2012 that on my Avios award flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles, my boarding pass printed with "Priority AAccess," granting me priority security and priority boarding.

This (unintended?) benefit of British Airways Avios awards on American Airlines flights is still alive.

Update: Link to Etihad Press Release about Route

According to USA Today and Will Horton of Centre for Aviation, Etihad Airways will begin service to Los Angeles from its hub in Abu Dhabi beginning on June 1, 2014. This is fantastic news for those with AAdvantage balances, especially those on the West Coast!

From Etihad's own website. Etihad's Diamond First Class is a fully enclosed suite.

The introduction of Etihad's long nonstop from Los Angeles to Abu Dhabi will be a great jumping off point to the Middle East for West Coast flyers.

Qatar Airways awards are now searchable and bookable at ba.com and bookable by calling American Airlines. This is huge news because Qatar has an excellent route network from the US to the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, and Maldives.

As announced on the oneworld site, Qatar Airways will join the oneworld alliance on October 30th. This is great news for those with large American Airlines AAdvantage or British Airways Avios balances.