Earn Up To 30,000 AAdvantage Miles On USA – Europe Travel

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American Airlines is offering up to 30,000 AAdvantage Miles on flights between the US and Europe for travel this fall. With American’s OneWorld partner, British Airways, offering a Triple Avios promotion during the same period travelers have the chance to bulk up their reward account balances if flying over the next few months.

American Airlines Promotion Details

For every eligible roundtrip you take during the offer period (up to two round trips), you’ll earn bonus miles based on the fare class purchased.

The Rules – In Brief

• Register and fly between 9 September  and 11 December 2016 with code NAF16 (registration page is here)
• Promotion valid on American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia or OpenSkies, marketed or operated nonstop flights for travel between the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe
• Tickets purchased before 9 September 2016 are not eligible to earn bonus miles for this promotion.

Fares that are included in the promotion:

American Airlines

• First Class and Business Class fares booked in F, A, P, J, R, D or I
• Economy Class fares booked in Y, H, K, M, L, W, V, G, Q, N, O or S

British Airways

• First Class or Club World (Business Class) fares booked in F, A, J, R, C, D or I
• World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) booked in W, E or T
• World Traveller (Economy Class) booked in Y, B, H, K, L, M, V, G, Q, N, O or S

Finnair

• Business Class fares booked in C, D, I or J
• Economy Class fares booked in Y, B, H, A, K, L, M, P, V, G, N, O, Q, R, S, T, W or Z

Iberia

• Business Class fares booked in J, R, C, D, or I
• Economy Class fares booked in Y, B, H, K, L, M, V, A, G, N, O, P, Q or S

OpenSkies

• Biz Bed (Business Class) fares booked in J, R, C, D, or I
• Prem Plus fares booked in W, E, T
• Economy Class fares booked in Y, B, H, K, L, M, V, G, Q, N, O or S

Thoughts

There are a few things to note:

• There is nothing in the Terms & Conditions (that I can see) that restricts this promotion to flights originating on one particular side of the Atlantic – if you’re departing from Europe or the US this promotion should work.

• American has very specifically excluded any tickets purchased before 9 September and, while in the past this rule has been often ignored, I expect it to be enforced this time so set your expectations accordingly.

• I can’t see any mainstream fares that have been excluded from this promotion so everyone, including travelers purchasing deeply discounted Economy Class tickets, should be able to earn a few bonus miles.

Tactics

It will pay to be a little clever with this promotion.

Only two round trips will count so, if you have more than two trips that you plan to book and fly during the promotion period, make sure you don’t register until you have your two highest earning trips coming up.

Put simply: If you have three trips you plan to book and the first is an Economy Class trip and the next two are Business Class trips, don’t register for the promotion until after you’ve completed the Economy Class trip – that way you maximise your bonus.

Bottom Line

Don’t forget about the British Airways Triple Avios promotion and make sure you work out which promotion gives you the best return on a segment by segment basis before deciding where to credit your flights this fall.

This AAdvantage promotion isn’t nearly as generous as promotions we’ve seen in the past and it looks like the two trip maximum is now the default promotion that American Airlines is going to offer – annoying if you plan to do a lot of flying – but at least some bonus miles are better than none.