Last Day: Earn 60,000 Miles After A Single Purchase With This Credit Card

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I’m going to start off by admitting that I’m not a massive fan of the American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator Red Mastercard despite the fact that it happens to be a credit card that I currently hold (for now).

The recent changes to the card that Barclays has pushed through has made the card’s long-term usefulness questionable but the current sign-up bonus (which ends tonight) is so good that it’s almost certainly worth taking out the card for that alone.

The AAdvantage Aviator Red Master Card

Here are the card’s highlights:

• Annual fee – $95 (rising to $99 in year 2)
• Earn 2 AAdvantage Miles/dollar spent with American Airlines
• Earn 1 AAdvantage Mile/dollar spent everywhere else
• First checked bag is free for the primary cardmember and up to 4 companions on eligible bags when traveling on domestic itineraries operated by American Airlines.
• 25% off inflight food and drink on American Airlines
• No foreign transaction fees

You may also, possibly, get the following:

• $25/year annual credit for in-flight wi-fi
• Spend $20,000 in a year to earn a companion fare for $99 + taxes and fees

The application page for the Aviator card doesn’t mention these benefits but they’re being introduced for existing cardholders from 1 May so I don’t see why they wouldn’t be open to anyone successfully applying for the card today.

Full details of what the card offers can be found via this link

The Sign-Up Bonus

“Earn 60,000 bonus miles after making your first purchase in the first 90 days and paying the annual fee. Offer ends April 30, 2019” (today).

It’s important to note that the terms and conditions state the following:

• This offer is available to new cardmembers only.
• You may not be eligible for this offer if you currently have or previously had an account with us in this program.

If you’ve had an AAdvantage Aviator Red Mastercard before you may not be eligible for this bonus.

If you haven’t had the card before this could be a very easy and cheap way to earn 60,000 AAdvantage miles.

Regardless of what you think of the benefits the AAdvantage Aviator Red credit card offers (I’ve already said they have questionable long-term value), this can be viewed as an opportunity to, essentially, buy AAdvantage miles at a very cheap rate.

60,000 miles in exchange for an annual fee payment of $95 is the same as paying just ~0.16 cents per AAdvantage mile and even I (someone who values AAdvantage miles lower than most) think that’s a steal.

Bottom Line

If I didn’t already have an Aviator Red Mastercard I’d be on this offer in a flash as the 60,000 miles are worth around $750 to me so the math makes this a no-brainer.

If you’re considering applying for a Chase card but are concerned about Chase’s 5/24 rule then either make sure you apply for the Chase card before you apply for the Aviator or perhaps just accept that this deal isn’t for you and move on.