Last month I wrote about using American Airlines' distance-based Explorer Award chart to save miles and add stopovers traveling to Europe. Check out Get a Roundtrip Business Class Award to Europe with Three Stopovers for 90k American Airlines Miles before proceeding. This post compares that Explorer Award option with a "regular" award option.

On a roundtrip from New York to Eastern Europe, I was able to add three stopovers and save 10k AAdvantage miles (90k vs.

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.

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?

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.

Yesterday I received an email for an offer that is incredible on the surface: 25,000 American Airlines miles and Hilton Gold Status for five Hilton stays!

How good of a deal is this?

Many of the credit card offers below have expired, so their links have been removed. Click here for the top current credit card sign up bonuses.

Yesterday I got an email with the subject line "Earn 3X American Airlines AAdvantage® Miles | Enroll in one click!"

By clicking the button inside the email, I enrolled myself for 3 American Airlines miles per dollar at department stores, restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores through 12/31/13 on purchases made with my Citi AAdvantage card.