American Airlines Black Friday Deal: Save Up To 20% On A Future Flight

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 has launched a Black Friday deal in which it’s offering customers the chance to earn a discount of up to 20% on future travel by making a booking with the airline in the next 4+ days. The discount you can earn for future travel is based on the value of the booking you make during the promotion period.

American Airlines Black Friday Deal

• Spend up to $199 and get 10% off a future booking^*
• Spend between $200 and $499 and get 12% off a future booking^*
• Spend between $500 and $999 and get 15% off a future booking^*
• Spend $1,000 or more and get 20% off a future booking^*

*Terms Apply

Key Terms

• Offer valid for reservations made in the US on flights operated by American Airlines and/or American Eagle originating in the US48, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
• Fees, taxes, and discounts are excluded for the purposes of determining the amount of the promotional discount.
• Offer valid on flight purchases made between 27 November 2020 and 1 December 2020, 11:59 p.m. Central Time for travel through 31 March 2021.
• Promotional discounts will be awarded 14-21 days after the purchase is completed, and a unique promotional discount code will be sent to the email provided with the reservation.
• Customers will not receive a promotional discount for cancelled or exchanged reservations.
• Eligible customers may not receive more than a 20% promotional discount, and only one unique promotional discount code will be provided for each reservation made during the promotional period.
• Offer is valid on all cabins to all destinations.
• Offer is valid for reservations with up to nine (9) passengers.
• Gift card purchases are excluded for purposes of determining the amount of the promotional discount.
• Offer is not valid for Group & Meeting Travel, award miles redemption and is not combinable with any other offer or promotion.

There are a few terms relating to the use of the promotional discount that you should also know about.

• The promotional discount may only be redeemed on aa.com.
• The promotional discount code may be applied to reservations booked between 1 January and 31 March 2021, for travel between 1 January and 31 May 2021.
• All travel must be completed by 31 May 2021.
• The promotional discount may be applied to any published fare, minus fees and taxes, and any cabin for flights originating in the U.S.48 to any destination.
• The promotional discount codes are single-use and may not be combined with other offers or promotions and are not applicable for use with vouchers, trip credits, or flight credits.
• Promotional discount codes can only be used for new bookings and cannot be applied to exchange bookings.
• Only credit payments qualify for these promotional discount codes, and other forms of payment including vouchers, trip credit, and flight credit cannot be combined with promotional discount codes.
• The promotional discount may be used for up to nine (9) passengers on the same reservation.
• Stopovers or multi-city reservations are not allowed using the promotional discount code.

All the terms and conditions can be found on the American Airlines Black Friday promotion page.

Thoughts

There’s a mix of good and bad here.

On the good side, we have the fact that the threshold to earn any kind of discount on future travel is low ($199), we have the fact that the future discount can be applied to all cabins (this isn’t just restricted to Main Cabin bookings) and we have the fact that there’s a discount of up to 20% on offer which, considering the low prices I’m seeing to a lot of destinations right now, could make a future trip incredibly cheap.

On the bad side, we have the fact that this promotion is (mostly) restricted to trips originating in the United States, we have the fact that you cannot use the future discount in conjunction with a booking that’s being paid for with one or more travel credits, and we have the fact that the discount can only be earned on flights taken before 31 March 2021 and can only be used on travel through 31 May 2022.

The discounts on offer look very good, but with 2020 almost certainly setting a new record for the number of travel credits issued by American Airlines, not allowing a customer to combine a travel credit with a discount that they have earned seems a little harsh. A travel credit isn’t another discount. Essentially, it’s money that a traveler has banked with American Airlines after they cancelled a trip at some point in the recent past so why shouldn’t they be able to use this credit in conjunction with the promotional discount being offered?

In positive news, however, the American Airlines Twitter team has confirmed that bookings made by the end of 1 December and paid for with a travel voucher, will definitely qualify to earn a discount towards a future flight.

Bottom Line

American Airlines is running a Black Friday promotion in which customers can earn a discount of 10 – 20% for future travel based on how much they spend on a booking by 1 December. The discounts on offer are good, but anyone looking to make the most of this promotion should pay close attention to the terms and conditions.