The latest program to announce a complete revamp is American Airlines’ AAdvantage program. We were expecting a devaluation, because when an airline announces “enhancements” they usually aren’t in our favor, but this time AA is only changing elite qualification requirements and a new way to earn elite status through credit card spending. 

There Are No Award Chart Changes at This Time

Since we’ve all been expecting it, let’s get this out of the way. At this time American is not introducing any award chart changes.

There are two credit cards with large sign-up bonuses that are set to expire this week.

The CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard: 70,000 bonus American Airlines miles for spending $4,000 on the new card within three months of account opening. You must apply by today (October 9, 2018) to qualify for this bonus offer. 
The Citi ThankYou Premier: 60,000 bonus ThankYou Points for spending $4,000 on the new card within three months of account opening.

Right now it's easy to earn a boatload of American Airlines miles quickly.

The Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard comes with 60,000 American Airlines miles, and you don't even have to spend a large amount of money to earn the bonus. In fact, you hardly have to spend anything--only one purchase is required, along with the payment of the $95 annual fee--to trigger the 60k bonus. Little did you know Barclaycard also issues a business version of this card! It comes with 40,000 American Airlines miles after one purchase and paying the $95 annual fee.

Update 10/22/17: This transfer bonus was supposed to end October 15 but has been extended through October 31, 2017.

Until October 15, 2017, you can get up to a 62.5% bonus when transferring your SPG points to American Airlines AAdvantage. Previous SPG to AAdvantage transfer bonuses have offered a maximum of a 20% bonus.

American Airlines AAdvantage periodically releases a list of discounted domestic sAAver level awards to cities all around the country called Reduced Mileage Awards. The maximum these awards are discounted is 7,500 miles roundtrip. The exact discount you receive depends on which AAdvantage credit card you have.

The latest list is good for travel in October through January.

Update: The 75,000 mile offer for the Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard ends tomorrow (Thursday), so if you want the elevated bonus, apply by then! 

For a limited time, the Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard is now offering a whopping 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles but for a higher minimum spending requirement of $7,500 within three months of opening the card

This is a large jump from the previous offer of 50,000 miles after spending $5,000.

The Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard is a great card for many people

Iberia, flag carrier of Spain, just announced a new seasonal route between Madrid and San Francisco that will operate between April 25 and September 28, 2018.

Iberia currently flies to Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and New York City. Out of those destinations, Boston and Los Angeles are seasonal.

During peak travel season (spring/summer), this is what Iberia's US route map will look like:

Timing of New Route
Iberia's new seasonal San Francisco route will depart Madrid at 12:25 pm and arrive to San Francisco at 4:00 pm local time.

Back in July we watched the 60k sign up bonus offers on each of Citi's AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCards (the personal and business) disappear.

In the midst of research for Monday's post, Buying Back Expired Miles, I stumbled upon some information from milecards.com that mentioned another way to earn back expired American Airlines miles via a Re-engagement Challenge. For frequent American Airlines/oneworld flyers, participating will be cheaper than paying to get larger amounts of expired miles back.

The general gist is that if you have miles that expired within the last five years, you can pay a flat $30 fee to register in a "Re-engagement Challenge".