WRCSolberg

It's a decent deal if you've got an immediate use for them. I certainly wouldn't buy them to bank them up.

eponymous_coward

That's only a factor if you're into the "gotta have elite status" rat race. IMO AA's upcoming devaluations make electing to do this (as opposed to work MAKING you do this) less viable as opposed to being a lot more transactional when it comes to airline mileage and status acquisition. Much of what you get via status can be sold (buy miles, fly longhaul F, buy cheap domestic F in advance or with cheap upgrades, hold the airline credit card and get a pile of miles plus free luggage).

If you're a leisure flyer not invested in status, who what wants to in effect get a large percentage discount on an F or J plane trip to, say, Asia, or a avgeek who wants to fly EY First Apartments because you're jealous of all those bloggers, this could be worth it. But I wouldn't buy the points for no reason other than to hold them, given that you can hold trips and specifically make plans before you buy, and the aforementioned devaluation. I'd only do it for a specific reason (and 265k miles is a lot to have to burn in a short time). Right now I don't have $4,000 or so to burn on airfare that I'd need to ticket in the next ~3 months and fly in the next ~15 months, but I could see it making sense for someone...

TexasHeadhunter

I'm looking at taking my wife to Spain and Italy for our 10yr anniversary in Spring 2017. Would this be a good deal for us to purchase now while we wait for our target vacation date to come within the 330-day window or should we wait and purchase closer to our purchase date?

anc305

IMHO purchasing miles may make sense if you wanted to book a trip asap in a premium cabin as others have already said. But you could spend the $5k on flights , and get almost the same or more miles. 1.8 cents per redeemable mile is quite easy and I am not talking about doing mileage runs. It will be much harder to do in the second half of the year when the new earning model kicks in. Buying the tickets would also get you status and all the entails. If you have the time and want to travel in the 1st half of this year I would spend the $5k to travel and not buy the miles.

Centurion

I will chime in with others and say DO NOT BUY unless you have an immediate use. The award charts are not like the old days where you had just high and low redemption. I guess the new phrase would be that AA is using Uber Surge Pricing. AA is also playing so many psychological games on pricing from the actual tickets to seating they have even thrown suckered me

blahter

Who shows up as the merchant when buying miles? Is it AA or points.com. I need to use up my $250 airline credit on the Citi Prestige for this year.

eponymous_coward

points.com

mkjr

depending on what your plans are, even waiting until after the devaluation, it's not a horrible offer. depending on the fees associated, and given it's much harder to book one way segments in premium cabins for cheap, it's not as good as say it was last year, but the doom and gloom folks views are not necessarily the be all and end all. so i would say, it depends.

Centurion

I am absolutely doom and gloom. All the FF programs are converting to what would be illegal in almost any industry. If you bought X for use at your company and they gave you 5% of what you bought back it would be called a kickback. This is a slippery slope and the only way is down and expect more quick slides. You can hold on to your Green Stamps also. Oh wait Green Stamps are worthless. Buy points only if you do the math on travel you plan to book very soon. If you think you are getting a half off sale deal you have been brain washed. I have been suckered in the past and will never ever buy points again unless I have near term use and amount needed that gives me a value. We are being mentally being messed with by almost every airline right now in multiple areas from the fake seat availability charts to award travel pricing to revenue pricing.