10,000 Bonus Miles & Discounts On American Airlines Vacations

palm trees on a beach

TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.

Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Traveling For Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling For Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.


American Airlines Vacations has long been a good way to book some of the airline’s better long-haul Business Class fares if you don’t mind adding a hotel and/or car to you booking and, for a limited time, travelers can now earn 10,000 bonus miles, a “secret saving” and/or a $200 saving on vacations taken through 31 July 2021.

American Airlines Vacation Deals

Key Things To Know

  • Promotions are valid on bookings made by 16 September 2020
  • Travel must end by 31 July 2021
  • Blackout dates include:
    • 26 November 2020
    • 25 December 2020
    • 31 December 2020
    • 4 April 2021
    • 31 May 2021
    • 4 July 2021

Link to the promotion page

Promotion 1 – 10,000 Bonus Miles & A Secret Saving

  • Use promo code SECRET2020 to book
  • Valid to all American Airlines Vacations destinations
  • The minimum stay is 3 nights
  • The minimum spend for a secret saving is $500
  • The minimum spend for the 10,000 bonus miles is $1,250

Promotion 2 – Save $200 On Beach Vacations

  • Use promo code FALLBEACHES to book
  • Valid to the following destinations:
    • Caribbean
    • Costa Rica
    • Hawaii
    • Mexico
    • Panama
  • The minimum stay is 5 nights
  • The minimum spend required is $2,500

All the savings are applied at checkout and to qualify for these promotions a booking must contain roundtrip air travel.

Applying The Promo Code

Be aware that the option to apply a promo code isn’t offered until after you have selected your preferred room the hotel of your choice…and even then it may not be obvious.

Here’s a dummy booking for Maui in February showing where the option to add a promo code is found:

a screenshot of a computer
Click to enlarge

Here’s the same reservation with the SECRET2020 promo code applied…

a screenshot of a computer screen
Click to enlarge

…and here’s the reservation with the FALLBEACHES promo code applied:

a screenshot of a computer screen
Click to enlarge

Be aware that as the SECRET2020 promotion is open to all American Airlines Vacations destinations, anyone planning a trip to the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Mexico, or Panama, has the choice of both promo codes.

Quick Thoughts

I value AAdvantage Miles at 1.25 cents each so the 10,000 miles on offer here are equivalent to a $125 rebate. When added to the “secret saving” that the SECRET2020 promo code unlocks, this can be very worthwhile.

As mentioned above, if you’re planning a trip to the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Mexico, or Panama, you have the choice of both promo codes and that means that you need to be a little careful – you should check to see which offers you the better deal before proceeding.

In the example I gave above, (Hawaii) either promo code could be used and while the FALLBEACHES promo discounted the final price by $200, the SECRET2020 promo code discounted the cost by $165.26 AND yielded an additional bonus of 10,000 miles. Assuming you value 10,000 AAdvantage miles at over $34.74 (which pretty much everyone does), the SECRET2020 promo code is the one to go for.

Overall, these may not be killer promotions but they will offer good rebates to anyone who was already considering booking a trip, and as long as the identical itinerary cannot be booked for less in any other way these are real savings that are on offer.

Note: Make sure you check to see if it works out any cheaper to book the flights through an airline and the hotels through the likes of Booking.com or Hotels.com.

Don’t Forget

Make sure you book your vacation(s) using a credit card that will earn you points in a currency you value AND which will offer good travel protections in the event that things don’t go according to plan.

a close up of a credit card

While there are a number of credit cards that offer bonuses for travel spending, the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card stands out as the one that offers the best combination of valuable earnings (3 Ultimate Rewards Points per dollar) and geat insurances (trip delay, trip cancellation, primary auto rental, etc…) so that would be my go-to card if I was booking one of these deals.

Bottom Line

American Airlines Vacations is offering secret savings and 10,000 AAdvantage Miles on select bookings to all the destinations. It’s also offering a $200 saving on bookings to beach locations in the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Mexico, and Panama but although these promotions cover travel dates through July next year, all bookings (for both promotions) must be made by 16 September 2020.

[HT: Coworkaholic]