Limited Time: Earn 10x AA Miles for Donating to the Red Cross for Wildfire Relief
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
In the wake of the disastrous hurricanes in fall 2017, American Airlines and United stepped up to encourage members to donate to charities by offering bonus miles. Now American Airlines is doing the same by directing donations to help those affected by the California wildfires.
Through Aug. 10, you'll get 10x AAdvantage miles for donating to the American Red Cross through this link. And if you're not as passionate about donating to help those affected by California wildfires, the same 10x mileage bonus is also available for donations to your local Red Cross chapter, general disaster relief or where the organization deems it can do the most good.
The terms and conditions are short, but include a couple of important pieces of info: You must donate at least $25 to get the 10x mileage bonus. Also, the miles won't show up on your statement until 30 to 45 days after donation is received. So don't count on the miles posting immediately.
Besides helping the group provide help to those in need, other good reasons to donate through this campaign are:
- If you're running out of time to finish off a minimum spend requirement to earn a credit-card sign-up bonus.
- If you need a boost toward a spending threshold.
- If you're just shy of a redemption — but you're OK not getting the miles for over a month.
- If your AAdvantage account is going to expire in the next few months but you don't have an easy way of generating activity.
In his latest valuations, TPG pegs the value of AAdvantage miles at 1.4 cents per point. At that rate, this 10x bonus gets you an effective 14% rebate on your donation before even factoring the points and miles you'd get from the credit-card purchase.
Unfortunately, credit cards have cut back on charity bonus categories. So, if you're not working toward a minimum spending requirement, you'll want to use a general spending credit card such as The Blue Business®️ Plus Card from American Express (2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50k of spending per year; then 1x thereafter), Chase Freedom Unlimited (1.5x Ultimate Rewards points on all spending) or Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card (2.63% cashback if you have substantial assets with BOA or Merrill Lynch).