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AA Reduced Mileage Awards for October 2016 — January 2017
JT is a location-independent digital nomad traveling 250,000+ miles each year with his wife Katie.
October 5, 2016 • 9 min read
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Quick summary
American Airlines offers reduced mileage awards for select destinations, allowing eligible travelers to save miles on award flights.
The list of participating airports changes monthly, with up to 173 destinations available for January and notable options for October through December.
Discounts apply to both economy and premium cabins, and travelers must book by November 30 to secure current rates for listed airports.
Booking must be completed by phone to avoid online booking limitations, with the standard phone-booking fee waived for these awards.
What to consider
Discounts are only valid for flights to or from listed airports and require travel to originate in the contiguous US or Canada.
Award space must be available at the MileSAAver level, and a $75 close-in booking fee applies for departures within 21 days unless waived for certain loyalty members.
The list of eligible airports and discount codes changes monthly, so travelers should check for updates before booking.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed breakdown of eligible airports, discount codes and step-by-step booking instructions for maximizing reduced mileage awards.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Along with priority boarding and a free checked bag, reduced mileage awards are one of the top perks of Citi-issued American Airlines co-branded cards. The reduced mileage award program is only valid for two months at a time, and there's no guarantee of renewal. So, we always breathe a sigh of relief when we see another list posted. This week, we were pleased to see that it was renewed again through the end of November.
Note that the airports for October-November previously coveredaren’t necessarily still available. Discounted award flights to/from the airports on this list had to be booked by September 30. Make sure to book award flights for the airports listed below before November 30 to avoid missing out.
It's always one of the most popular questions: Yes, the discount applies to flights both to and from the listed airports, although the terms state that “travel must originate in the 48 contiguous United States or Canada.”
Who’s Eligible?
If you have one of the following cards, you can save 7,500 miles off of a round-trip award ticket (or 3,750 off one-way):
Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard
Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard
CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard
The information for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum card and CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Or, you’re eligible for 5,000 miles off of a round-trip award ticket (or 2,500 off one-way) if you have one of the following:
Citi / AAdvantage Gold World Elite Mastercard (as well as the old Visa and Amex versions)
AAdvantage Aviator Blue MasterCard (not accepting new applications)
One-way flights
Within the US
(excluding <500)
Flights under
500 miles
To/From
Canada
Award Chart Cost
12,500
7,500
15,000
Reduced Mileage
Award Discount
(3,750)
(1,000)
(3,750)
Mileage Cost
8,750
6,500
11,250
10% Rebate (if eligible)
(875)
(650)
(1,125)
Net Cost
7,875
5,850
10,125
If you have multiple types of cards (i.e., the Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite MastercardandCiti / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard), you’re only eligible to take the discount once. However, you’ll still be eligible for the 10% mileage rebate available on qualifying cards. So, your net mileage cost for an economy flight could be just 7,875 miles one-way (15,750 round-trip).
As of March 22, nonstop award flights of less than 500 miles (each way) cost just 7,500 AAdvantage miles one-way — rather than the standard 12,500 miles one-way. While these <500-mile award flights aren’t eligible for the 3,750-mile discount noted above, you can use an eligible card to save 1,000 miles off of a one-way redemption. This means that you’ll pay just 6,500 miles one-way for flights of less than 500 miles — or just 5,850 net miles (11,700 round-trip) after the 10% rebate.
October Airports
Reduced mileage cities for October. Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.
Under the just-ended version of this promotion, American Airlines included just 55 airports for October. Good news! AA bumped the list up to 78 airports in this version — including airports on the West Coast for the first time in a while.
Northern reduced mileage cities for November. Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.Southern reduced mileage cities for November. Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.Western reduced mileage cities for November. Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.
As we move into slower travel months, American Airlines is expanding the number of cities available for reduced mileage awards. November sees a whopping 105 possible destinations, including:
December reduced mileage award airports. Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.
For December, AA included just 66 airports on the list. Before you get your hopes up about cheap award flights for the holidays, remember that there must be MileSAAver award space available for you to get the 7,500-mile discount — which will likely be hard to come by.
Not mapped (for space): Bakersfield, CA (BFL); Flagstaff, AZ (FLG); Jackson Hole, WY (JAC); Monterey, CA (MRY).
January Airports
Northern reduced mileage cities for January. Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.Southern reduced mileage cities for January. Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.Western reduced mileage cities for January. Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.
January's list of reduced mileage award options is rather overwhelming. An incredible 173 destinations are available for reduced mileage awards! While you can go pretty much anywhere, here are some of the top destinations you might want to consider:
Denver, CO (DEN); Vail, CO (EGE); and plenty of other Colorado skiing options
Once you’ve found MileSAAver award availability on American Airlines’ website, call American Airlines at 1-800-882-8880 — or your elite reservations number, if applicable — to book the award ticket. As these awards aren’t available for booking online, the terms and conditions state that the standard $30 phone-booking fee will be waived. However, if you book through an airport agent or AA travel center, a booking fee of $35 will apply.
For October 2016 - January 2017 reduced mileage awards, the discount codes that you’ll have to provide the agent for the larger discount are:
7,500 / 2,000-mile cards
Within the US
(excluding <500)
Flights under
500 miles
To/From Canada
Savings (per round-trip)
7,500
2,000
7,500
First Class (2-cabin aircraft)
UD21X2C / AVM01
UD14C / AVA60
UD26X2C / AVA57
Business Class (3-cabin aircraft)
UD28X7C / AVA55
n/a
UD33X7C / AVA58
Main Cabin
TD8X7C / AVM99
TD6X5C / AVA59
TD11X2C / AVA56
And for the smaller discount:
5,000 / 1,000-mile cards
Within the US
(excluding <500)
Flights under
500 miles
To/From Canada
Savings (per round-trip)
5,000
1,000
5,000
First Class (2-cabin aircraft)
UD22X5C / AVM98
UD14X5C / AVA54
UD27X5C / AVA51
Business Class (3-cabin aircraft)
UD30C / AVA49
n/a
UD35C / AVA52
Main Cabin
TD10C / AVM97
TD7C / AVA53
TD12X5C / AVA50
Tips
1. The discount requires booking by November 30. The list of airports for December and January will likely change on December 1.
3. As you can tell by the codes above, the discounts are also available for domestic business and first-class flights. The savings of 7,500/2,000 (5,000/1,000) miles are the same regardless of the cabin booked.
4. Award flights to/from Canada no longer cost the same amount of miles as flights inside the US; award flights to/from Canada start at 30,000 miles round-trip in economy. If you are flying to/from an eligible city, you can apply one of these codes to save 7,500 miles.
Where will you go with this list of reduced mileage awards?
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
