mlpinto

Hi,

I need to top up my AAdvantage account with about 12K for a reward booking and was hoping to do this from my MR balance.

As AA are not an Amex redemption partner I am assuming my best option is to go from MR to Starwood at 2:1 and to then transfer into my AA account. I'm aware the best rate would be to get a SPG balance of 20K to trigger the 5K transfer bonus.

However, before I hit "go" on this I just wanted to check if there is any other (cheaper) option I should consider especially as if I only really need 12K rather than 25K AA miles.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

tangey

If you need the miles immediately then its either that or buy them from AA.


If you have some time:-

Take out the AMEX SPG card. costs £75. Spend £1000 on it. Wait around 5 weeks. You'll get a 20K SPG bonus, which will be more than enough for what you need. This deal is supposed to be ending shortly (could be today as its the end of the month), but it is still online. If you get someone to refer you, you'll get an extra 1K points. I can't refer, but I'm sure a line of potential referrers will form shortly

If you already have the SPG card:-

Take out the MBNA AA card. do 1 purchase, wait a 5 weeks, and you'll get 5000 AA miles into your AA account via the sign-up bonus. That would reduce the amount you'd need to Transfer from MR to SPG by around 10K MR.

That's about all I've got.

Gagravarr

In May, the best option was to put your Amex in a draw, take out the MBNA AA Amex, put all your spend on that, and try to hit 5k in 6 months spend for 35k AA miles! The current sign-up bonus is a very poor 5k AA miles, but if you can hold on it might well go up a bit.

Getting the SPG card, hitting the minimum spend, transfering the bonus to AA and cancelling (for a pro-rata refund on the annual fee) is probably your best way at the moment, as long as you don't mind a bit of a wait. Be quick though to get the current bonus!

mlpinto

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies. I should have said that I have already had the MBNA AA card and am trying to top up the balance that I earned from that!

I have applied for the SPG card in the past (but not had it). I was told at the time by Amex that they only allow two credit cards and two charge card products at a time - I need to keep the two credit cards that I have with them so it looks like that is a no go. I know others have not hit this restriction so I guess this is just my bad luck.

Thanks for the suggestions though...

mlpinto

Quick update - I just applied for the SPG card again and got an instant approval - I'll wait and see if it goes through this time...

tangey

I assumed you were going to go thru a referral. However, going direct the advice would have been to go via topcashback for £15-ish cashback.

Gagravarr

Visit every Tesco, Homebase, Boots etc in your area, buy all the 3v cards you can get your hands on, then cash out via one of the methods discussed on Head For Points? Admittedly getting several grand's worth of 3V cards on your so you get enough points on your MBNA AA Amex will be rather a lot of work and faff, plus you'll need to send a load of documents to 3V as you'll be over their un-verified limit, but if you don't live near too many other HFP readers....!

mlpinto

Tangey - thanks I did go via quidco. I'm sure the offer was £30 not so long ago, but hey-ho...

Gagravarr - good idea, but one that is a bit too much hassle for me :-)

Thanks again, guys