Ritz

IME, the bonuses tend to post within a couple of weeks at the most.

pixel_girl

If anyone's still wondering - miles purchased from an airline DO count as 3X rewards on Am Ex Premier Rewards cards.

It sounds like any purchase directly from an airline counts.

It might sweeten the pot a little if you need 3x MR instead of 1x AA.

pbjag

Post title says it all

SF_Flyer22

I received an e-mail from AAdvantage and it said this:

"Don't quite have enough miles to book your travel now? When you buy the miles you need, you'll earn a special bonus — for every 6,000 miles you purchase, you'll earn 2,000 bonus miles, up to 20,000 bonus miles!"

I am thinking about buying the 60,000 miles for $1,500 because I think it's a pretty good deal. I fly as often as I can but I believe it would cost quite a bit more than $1,500 to earn 60,000 miles.

My question is this, if I buy the 60,000 miles does that mean I will actually receive 80,000 miles?

I have tried to find out if there is some sort of catch to this but I haven't found one. Is there a catch to this offer? Am I missing something here?

Thanks, and sorry if this seems like a profoundly stupid question that I am asking.

UA Fan

I don't think there's a catch.

CO_Bulkhead

I think the 20,000 miles bonus ended on Nov 30, but if it didn't for whatever reason, don't forget the taxes and fees over and beyond the $1500.

Efrem

No catch. However, all this does is reduce the absurdly exorbitant cost to a highly (but less absurdly) exorbitant cost. Unless you need a few miles to top up your account for an award, you want a high-value award like an international upgrade and you're sure it will be available, or there's some other special situation, buying miles is usually not a cost-effective way to get them.

jagoffee

AA extended the offer till the end of the year.

pinniped

How generous of them!!

Unless your plan is to immediately monetize those 80,000 miles (along with other miles) into a J/F ticket you were otherwise about to buy with your own cash, then it still seems like a pretty bad deal.

With no immediate purpose, I'd maybe pay $750 or so (in 2010 dollars) for 80,000 miles to be potentially used later. Some FT'ers would probably go a little higher...maybe up to a grand or so if you have some idea of a 2011 need for them.

josephstern

There are certainly plenty of people on this board who "pay" 2c/mile all the time, but not using a cashback credit card and using a Citi AA card instead, no? So this is just a way to accumulate AA miles instead of the Citi cards, as essentially the same price.

See here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ice-miles.html

One is money out of pocket, and one is money not-into-pocket, but they really aren't different.

drozek

Do these count towards EQM?

Time traveller

No.

pinniped

I agree with you on that...I admit I don't get the value prop of using a Citi AA card as a primary-spend card. The travel "currency" I get the most value out of (and most importantly, value where each point has a short lifespan in my account) is SPG. So I mostly use their card...

I have a couple airline cards because of attractive upfront promotional terms. Signup bonuses, threshold bonuses, etc.

Question for you: what's your favorite 2% cashback card? I would probably pick that one up. Closest thing I have is a Citi TYP card that functions as a reasonable proxy for about a 3% cashback card due to built-up flight points under earlier promos, but that won't last forever... It's also not a straight-rebate card: it requires me to use Expedia to buy one of my normal airline tickets every once in a while to monetize home-grown points.

josephstern

Yes - SPG is the best, and, of course, there's status on top of the 1.25 miles (plus potential transfer bonuses and flexibility).

On the 2%, I've got two Schwab cards, and they're great, but no longer available. But no Forex fees, and 2% just ACH'd to any account each month. Also no annual fee.

FJY787

Just wanna throw this question out there. Is buying 60000 AA miles for $1500 worth it? There will be 20000 bonus.