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Every two months, American Airlines publishes a list of new destinations in the United States and Canada eligible for discounted MileSAAver awards. The current list covers awards that must be booked by September 30, 2016 for travel by November 30, 2016.
You must be a card holder of one of the following cards.
Award travel must originate somewhere in the continental United States or Canada and must go to a city on the very long destination list. The discount varies depending on what card you have, but for the majority of American Airlines card holders:
- awards that fly a distance longer than 500 miles can be booked one way for 8,750 miles in economy or 21,250 miles in First Class (roundtrip awards are double those prices)
- awards that fly less than 500 miles, you’ll pay 6,500 one way in economy and 14,000 one way in First Class (again, roundtrips are double those prices)
What to Do
To book the discounted awards you have to call American Airlines at 800-882-8880 and give the agent the appropriate discount code depending on what card you have, where you are traveling to/from, and the cabin.
Luckily American Airlines has eliminated the phone booking fee for awards that can’t be booked online.
Below are just some of the discounted destinations– here is the full list of discounted destinations for August through November. Not all destinations are discounted each month. For instance, Austin, Texas is only discounted in August and September while Abilene, Texas is discounted all four months.
Major cities are on the list–Quebec!–as well as competitors’ hubs like Houston.
How Good Are These Discounts?
Let’s say you have the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®.
You decide to fly from Los Angeles to Richmond next month with your miles to see family. You find ample award space with a search on aa.com.
You pick out your American Airlines-operated flights with MileSAAver space.
At this point, you do NOT complete the purchase. Purchasing online will cost 25,000 miles. You have to call in to get your discount: 800-882-8880.
You book the roundtrip for 17,500 miles and $11.20. You use less than 1/3 of the 60,000 mile bonus you got from the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. You will also you get a free checked bag in both directions for being an American Airlines card holder, saving you $50 roundtrip.
United and Delta charge at least 25,000 miles roundtrip for domestic awards that span the distance between the west and east coast. You could book these flights for 25,000 British Airways Avios roundtrip, though sometimes using Avios will be cheaper than one of these discounted awards because Avios award prices are distance based.
And if you have the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® MasterCard®, you get an additional 10% rebate on the award that is deposited into your account in a few weeks. That would make the net cost of the example above only 15,750 miles.
Bottom Line
Discounted domestic and Canada MileSAAver awards open to American Airlines credit card holders are a fantastic deal.
If you need to book a domestic award, make sure to check what destinations are discounted. If your destination is on the very long list, you can save big miles.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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