Get American Airlines Flights for Under 6,000 Miles One-Way Through March 2019 By Stacking This Promotion & Easily Missed Card Benefit

Million Mile Secrets

Get American Airlines Flights for Under 6,000 Miles One-Way Through March 2019 By Stacking This Promotion & Easily Missed Card Benefit

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If you have an eligible American Airlines credit card, like the  Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®  or Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® you can book reduced mileage awards.  You’ll get a discount of up to 7,500 American Airlines miles on round-trip flights over 500 miles one-way and up to a 2,000-mile discount on round-trip flights of 500 miles or less one-way.

And you can combine these reduced mileage awards with the often unadvertised 10% mileage rebate you get with the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® or Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard.  So you can book a round-trip flight that is 500 miles or less for only 11,700 American Airlines miles!

American Airlines has a HUGE list of airports where these discounts are valid, and in the past, I’ve been able to take advantage of reduced mileage awards fairly easily.  The list includes lots of smaller airports, which I have found helpful for booking flights home for family events.  The discount destinations change every 2 months.  The list current list is valid through March 2019, and while there are fewer cities available in March than January, you could still book a nice ski trip to places like Vail, Colorado.

I’ll show you how to book the awards and what cards are eligible.

These American Airlines Award Deals Are Shockingly Good!

Here’s how you can find out if you’re eligible, how many miles you can save, and how you can book the flight!

What Are American Airlines Reduced Mileage Awards and Who Is Eligible?

Mileage discounts are available for coach, Business Class, and First Class American Airlines flights.  But you’ll need to have a certain American Airlines credit card to be eligible for them.  And the mileage discount you get will also depend on how far you’ll be flying.

The discount varies depending on which card you have and how long the flight distance is.  American Airlines normally charges 12,500 miles for a one-way saver award flight that is 500+ miles and they charge 7,500 miles for a one-way saver award flight that is 500 miles or less.

Here are some examples of cards that will give you a 7,500-mile discount round-trip if your flight is 500+ miles per one-way nonstop segment.  If you book a round-trip flight of 500 miles or less per one-way nonstop segment, you’ll receive only a 2,000-mile discount:

Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard® Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator Business Mastercard Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard Other cards are eligible for this discount but are no longer available for new applicants

If you don’t have any of the cards above, you can still receive a 5,000 mile discount with one of the cards below (but if your round-trip flight is 500 miles or less per one-way nonstop segment, you’ll receive only a 1,000-mile discount).  Keep in mind that these cards don’t appear to be available to new applicants:

Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold American Express® Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold Visa® Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold MasterCard® AAdvantage® Aviator® Blue MasterCard®

The discounts are also valid for one-way flights.  You’ll just get half the mileage discount.

Which Cities Are Eligible for AA Reduced Mileage Awards?

Not all cities are available for reduced mileage awards.  But lots are!

You can book the discounted awards as long as:

You fly to any eligible airport on the list below

or

Your originating airport is discounted on the list below

Basically, as long as either your origin or destination airports are on the list for the month you want to travel, you’ll get the discount.  As long as there are available saver award seats, that is!

And while the American Airlines website doesn’t clearly state the discount is available to or from a city on the list, many Million Mile Secrets team members have been able to book the discounted awards this way.

Stretch Your Miles With a 10% Mileage Rebate

If you have one of the 2 cards below, you’ll get 10% of your miles back after you redeem them:

Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard

So if you redeem 13,000 American Airlines miles, you’ll earn a 1,300-mile rebate.

Note:   The 10% mileage rebate perk often isn’t listed on either card’s marketing materials, but I can confirm that it is still a perk of the card as I just got a rebate recently.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about this rebate:

It only applies to the primary cardholder (authorized users can’t get their own rebate) You can earn a maximum of 10,000 rebate miles per calendar year, regardless of how many eligible credit cards you have You do NOT need to use the eligible credit card to pay for any taxes or fees on the award flight The 10% mileage rebate applies to all American Airlines redemptions, including flights on partner airlines How to Book American Airlines Reduced Mileage Awards 

So you have an eligible credit card, and you’ve verified your flight destination is available for reduced mileage awards.  Now we get to the more exciting part of actually booking the flight!

Once you’ve found available saver award seats on the American Airlines website, you’ll have to call American Airlines reservations at 800-882-8880.  You won’t be able to book reduced mileage award tickets online, so ask for any applicable phone booking fees to be waived.

Only MileSAAver Seats Are Eligible for Reduced Mileage Awards

You’ll then have to provide the agent with the correct discount code for your flight:

Flights Over 500 Miles

For flights within the US and more than 500 miles, the discount award codes are:

First Class 7,500 mile discount: UD21X2D / AVM05 5,000 mile discount: UD22X5D / AVM03 Business Class 7,500 mile discount: UD28X7D / AVA67 5,000 mile discount: UD30D / AVA61 Coach 7,500 mile discount: TD8X7D / AVM04 5,000 mile discount: TD10D / AVM02 Flights 500 Miles or Less

For flights within the US 500 miles or less, the discount award codes are:

First Class 2,000 mile discount: UD14D / AVA72 1,000 mile discount: UD14X5D / AVA66 Coach 2,000 mile discount: TD6X5D / AVA71 1,000 mile discount: TD7D / AVA65

Note:   If you are booking travel within 21 days of departure, you will have to pay a $75 fee.  The fee is waived for AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum, and Gold members, who are using miles from their account for award flights.

Check back every month to see an updated list of discounted cities!  And for the best credit card offers, check out our Hot Deals page!

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