AA miles about to expire...help please

[shmoore]

My sister's American Airline miles are about to expire. Please suggest cheap ways for her to add just a few miles so they won't expire.

Thanks

 

[bigeyes1]

If your sister is an online shopper, she can always buy something at AAdvantage eShopping. The cheapest is buying an iTunes song, which I believe is 99 cents. You might need to buy more than one song since it's 2 miles for each "qualifying dollar".


https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/#

 

[Laurie]

Here's a list of links from their website:

www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/AAdvantage/partners/main.jsp&anchorEvent=false

Here's an idea- but I don't know how quickly miles would be posted:

Earn AAdvantage Bonus Miles For Supporting The National Parks
Since the year 2000, American Airlines has worked with the National Park Foundation as a Proud Partner of the National Parks. One of American's roles as a Proud Partner is to raise money for park projects, and AAdvantage members have generously donated more than $4 million to this effort. They have also been rewarded with millions of bonus miles. That's right. When you give $100 or more to American's Proud Partner campaign, you'll earn 10 bonus miles for every one dollar ($1) donated, and it's tax deductible. Donate online*.

 

[debraxh]

I think that itunes at .99 has to be the least expensive!

The dining program is pretty easy too, as long as there's restaurants you can or want to go to that are in the program.

 

[Kagehitokiri]

AA credit card bonus is always good. if they have a personal one right now, get a business one. or if they have mastercard, get an amex.

 

[pcgirl54]

She can go to the AADvatage Rewards site. There are links to different vendors. One is restaurant.com and just buy a certificate. She can join the AA dining rewards program and then eat a restaurant that is listed in her area. You must use the dining program and charge the meal on the credit card that you linked to the dining program acct.

She can buy 1000 miles

Or a gift card ,maybe for a holiday gift to someone

Add the AA# to a car rental,if renting soon or to a participating hotel stay.

All this must be through the AA Advantage site. I went out to eat and that was enough to extend it 18 months. My miles were going to expire and it worked for me.

 

[philemer]

All this must be through the AA Advantage site. I went out to eat and that was enough to extend it 3 years. My miles were going to expire and it worked for me.

They expire in 18 months now. Same with DL, UA & US.

Phil

 

[ajlm33]

You can donate some miles

From the AA website:

"Mileage Earning Opportunities
Earn miles on American Airlines, American Eagle® or AmericanConnection® flights
Earn miles on over 20 AAdvantage participating airlines
Earn miles with more than 97 affinity card products in over 41 countries, including Citi® / AAdvantage® card products
Earn miles by purchasing products or services from more than 1,000 AAdvantage participants
Earn miles via AAdvantage eShoppingSM with over 200 brand-name retailers
Earn miles through the AAdvantage DiningSM program with more than 10,000 participating restaurants
Earn miles for joining the TrAAvel Perks®* program

Mileage Redemption Opportunities
Redeem miles for award travel to over 800 destinations worldwide
Redeem miles for hotel stays, car rentals, magazines, or merchandise
Donate at least 250 miles to an eligible charity "



I would recommend the last option to donate at least 250 miles to a charity such as Make A Wish as it cost you nothing out-of-pocket, it extends the expiration time frame, and can help a worthy cause.

 

[RLG]

You didn't tell us how long she has until the miles expire. That's actually very important.

The shopping portals can take 6-8 weeks to post their miles, if they post at all. If your sister's account expires before then you may be out of luck.

If it's a near term issue, I'd recommend one of the direct options like buying/sharing miles or doing the charitable donation.

 

[shmoore]

My sister has until December 31 before her AA miles expire. Thanks for all of your help so far. I have sent all of them to her.

 

[Icarus]

If your sister is an online shopper, she can always buy something at AAdvantage eShopping. The cheapest is buying an iTunes song, which I believe is 99 cents. You might need to buy more than one song since it's 2 miles for each "qualifying dollar".


https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/#

I don't see itunes purchases on the aadvantage site. Where is it?

I searched for itunes on the aadvantage shopping site, and a bunch of $25 itunes gift cards showed up from Circuit City in the search results, but I wasn't able to find anything that shows you can get mileage for purchasing songs directly from itunes. If it's there, I can't find it.

-David

 

[bigeyes1]

David,

It's under Apple iTunes.

 

[Icarus]

David,

It's under Apple iTunes.

ok, found it. Thanks. It's on the "All merchants" link on the left. Searching doesn't show it.

I didn't know I could get AAdvantage miles for my daughters itunes purchases. Not sure if I can get them because the account is in her name, but I'll try it on the machine where itunes is. Do you know if you have to use the AAdvantage shopping link every time to get miles, or does it somehow link up your itunes account with AAdvantage?

Thanks,
-David

 

[falmouth3]

Here's an article on expiring air miles.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-01-29-air-miles-usat_x.htm

I just read an article within the last day or two, I though on Yahoo, about the least expensive ways to refresh the mileage clock for several different airlines, but I can't find it. If someone else could find it and post it, I'd appreciate it.

Sue

 

[Icarus]

I just read an article within the last day or two, I though on Yahoo, about the least expensive ways to refresh the mileage clock for several different airlines, but I can't find it. If someone else could find it and post it, I'd appreciate it.

Sue

How much cheaper does it get than buying 2 songs from itunes?

Ok, it does get cheaper. If you redeem miles for anything, that counts as activity in your account, so if they have some way of donating a small number of miles to charity or something like that, it could be cheaper than buying 2 songs from itunes.

Another no-cost way to do it is to transfer Starwood Preferred Guest points (Or Amex MR points, or anything else that will convert to your miles program) into miles at the minimum level if you don't need the miles. That also creates activity in your account.

edited to add: ok, I guess that article lists different options for different airlines.

-David

 

[falmouth3]

Yes, the article gave their best pick for getting activity in your account for a number of airlines. The best for AA was iTunes. It appeared to be the least out of pocket of any of the proposed actions.

I sent myself flowers to maintain my husband's miles in US Airways a while back. Those lilies lasted for at least a couple of weeks and I really enjoyed them.

Sue

 

[Pat H]

Do you know if you have to use the AAdvantage shopping link every time to get miles, or does it somehow link up your itunes account with AAdvantage?

Thanks,
-David

You have to go thru the AA shopping link each time. QVC has given me a ton of miles!

 

[Laurie]

I'm interested in this thread because for the second time in my life I just finally managed to book a major trip w/airline FF miles, other than Capital One miles (and this only b/c 2 airlines and mileage accts merged)- I know have often had these expire on me. Someone had recently mentioned there were easy ways to avoid that, I hadn't realized this before that other post ... how do people keep up w/all these? We have dinky numbers of miles from every single carrier.

Do you know if you have to use the AAdvantage shopping link every time to get miles, or does it somehow link up your itunes account with AAdvantage?

Helpful Hints to Help Ensure You Earn AAdvantage® Miles

Avoid surfing around to other websites (looking for coupons, comparison shopping, etc.)
When you click through to a merchant’s website from the AAdvantage eShopping mall that particular browser session is registered with the merchant as coming from AAdvantage eShopping. If you then go looking for coupons, use a search engine, comparison shop, etc. at other websites the registration tracking to AAdvantage eShopping can be overwritten by the other site. Only one site (affiliate) can receive credit for your purchase.

The affiliate (website) that you click from last will get credit for the sale with the merchant and NOT AAdvantage eShopping. That means your tracking with the mall has been lost and you will not get credit for AAdvantage miles. Your last click to a merchant must be from the AAdvantage eShopping mall to earn AAdvantage miles.

 

[shmoore]

Thanks guys you have solved my sister's program and give lots of us Tuggers a way to keep our airmiles current. I have saved this info for myself, too.

 

[pcgirl54]

Thanks Phil. 18 months vs 3 years.
I had to extend Delta and AA miles this year.

Also one can join Netflix through AAdvantage and earn miles with rentals.

T Mobile is another affliation.

I added our Delta and AA # to car rentals and that helped. Some rental agencies Dollar (eg) charged -fifty cents- a day for adding that but that is still cheap to extend miles if you are renting soon and of course one has to watch the time it takes for the miles to show bearing in mind your AA miles expiration date.

Laurie thanks for pointing out about other websites and not getting credit.

 

[Dave M]

Slight correction....

Yes, UA and US miles expire if there is no activity for 18 months. DL miles expire if there is no activity for two years.

AA miles are still valid - as of now - if there has been activity within the last three years. However, that changes on December 15 to the 18-month expiration period. Thus, all miles in an AA account will expire on that date if there has been no activity since June 15, 2006. Even then, there is an exception for any miles earned prior to 1989. Those miles won't expire.

 

[3kids4me]

Doing the itunes thing seems like a big pain on an ongoing basis. Each of my kids would have to use the link each time they buy songs, and I can't figure out if using the link would automatically put song in the right place. We will have to try it later today on one of their computers to see how smoothly it would work. It sure would be nice if it were automatic....

Sharon

 

[Pat H]

Doing the itunes thing seems like a big pain on an ongoing basis. Each of my kids would have to use the link each time they buy songs, and I can't figure out if using the link would automatically put song in the right place. We will have to try it later today on one of their computers to see how smoothly it would work. It sure would be nice if it were automatic....

Sharon

As long as your name & AA # are filled in the miles would go to your account.

 

[Jimster]

Can anyone beat free?

Can anyone beat free?? Go to hotspex.com; take a survey; transfer the hotspex bonus bucks to AA miles on points.com. It is soooooooooooo easy to avoid expiration.

 

[Pat H]

I'm interested in this thread because for the second time in my life I just finally managed to book a major trip w/airline FF miles, other than Capital One miles (and this only b/c 2 airlines and mileage accts merged)- I know have often had these expire on me. Someone had recently mentioned there were easy ways to avoid that, I hadn't realized this before that other post ... how do people keep up w/all these? We have dinky numbers of miles from every single carrier.

Laurie, you should try and concentrate on a couple of different airlines if possible. Get the credit cards for those airlines and have whatever you can credited to only those airlines. Also remember that you can fly on one airline and credit the miles to another if they have partnerships - e.g. CO/NW/DL, UA/US, AA/Alaska. I used to concentrate on AA till I started hanging around with Dave M. Now it's UA/US. I'm so stinking spoiled when it comes to flying that I don't want to fly on an airline where I don't have elite status!