Originally Posted by guv1976

If you subtract $11.20 from $414, you'll see that you are paying 40,000 miles for about $403 in value, or just barely 1.0 cents per mile. That is not considered great value for AA miles. You might do better by just paying cash, since you would at least earn some miles on a cash ticket. There are also credit cards like the CSP which offer points that can be used as cash to purchase tickets, or redeemed for credits against travel charged to the card. One such card is the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa, which can be especially lucrative if you use mobile wallet to make lots of purchases. Don't be put off by the card's $400 annual fee: the first $325 in travel or dining charges are automatically rebated