American Airlines Adds Cash And Miles Bookings—But Won’t Say What Your Miles Are Worth

American Airlines is adding cash and miles bookings, letting AAdvantage members spend miles to reduce the price of a paid ticket. But the airline won’t say how much money those miles will save—even when I asked for the original ticket price in their own press release example showing payment of part miles, and part cash. My bet is that you’ll generally get somewhere around a penny per mile. We’ll see once the option is live More options are better, but I don’t expect this to be a way I’d normally suggest using AAdvantage miles. How American’s New Cash And Miles Bookings Will Work American says the feature will roll out over the coming weeks on its website and app. Their program updates page describes the initial offering as being for U.S. AAdvantage members booking domestic American flights, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, with more routes to come. You’ll shop for a ticket in dollars and then apply miles during checkout: Log into your AAdvantage account and select your flights at the cash price. Proceed through checkout, including accepting or declining the optional trip insurance offer. Use a slider to choose from the available combinations of cash and miles. The cost summary updates as you change your selection. Enter your payment information to cover the remaining amount and complete the booking. You’re using miles as a payment method to buy down the price of airfare. American already lets you spend miles against the cash price of an Instant Upgrade; this extends that idea to buying the ticket itself and lets you pay just a piece of it. American tells me the percentage of a ticket’s price that can be covered with miles will vary by itinerary and booking. Cash + Miles Offers Mystery Value The example redemption in American’s announcement shows a customer applying 11,100 miles and paying $311.37, including taxes and fees. It doesn’t show the price before those miles were applied. I asked whether miles would have a fixed value, whether that value would vary, and what the value or range would be. At a minimum, I wanted the original ticket price in their example. We don’t disclose the specific methodology used to calculate redemption values and pricing may vary based on availability. What customers should know is that the AAdvantage program offers customers more value for their miles when they redeem than any other U.S. airline. Cash and miles is another way we’re providing members with more flexibility and opportunities to use their miles toward travel. Why I Expect The Value To Be Low American eliminated its traditional mileage upgrade awards last year, replacing them with the ability to use miles for dynamically priced Instant Upgrades. Those redemptions generally value miles around a penny apiece, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. That’s the closest comparison for what they’re introducing here. They’re giving you a dollar credit toward a purchase. For someone with a small balance they wouldn’t otherwise use this could still be useful. And it’s worth knowing that “[t]he cash portion will be eligible to earn miles and Loyalty Points” as a spokesperson confirms to me. Topics on this page