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News
You can now earn and redeem AAdvantage miles on Royal Air Maroc flights
Victoria M. "Vikkie" Walker is a former TPG senior travel reporter, where she covered deep-dives and features with an emphasis on coronavirus and travel. Vikkie is a former college journalism professor who now lives in New York City with her pug, Migo.
April 24, 2020 • 7 min read
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Quick summary
Royal Air Maroc has joined the Oneworld alliance, expanding options for travelers to earn and redeem miles across its network.
American's loyalty program now classifies Morocco as part of Europe, reducing the number of miles needed for award flights between the U.S. and Morocco.
Travel on Royal Air Maroc and eligible affiliates counts toward elite status qualification, and elite travelers receive additional alliance benefits.
Award flights on Royal Air Maroc can be booked through multiple loyalty programs, each with different redemption rates and transfer options.
What to consider
Some offers and award availability mentioned may no longer be current, as noted in the article update.
Award rates and transfer ratios vary significantly between loyalty programs, so comparing options is important before booking.
Taxes and fees apply to award bookings and can affect the overall value of a redemption.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed comparison of redemption options and strategies for booking Royal Air Maroc flights using various airline and hotel loyalty programs.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
While airline alliances tend to be rather set in stone, Oneworld has seen a number of shakeups (both good and bad) over the last six months. The best news comes in the form of the two new airlines joining the ranks of Oneworld, with Royal Air Maroc becoming a member back in April and Alaska Airlines set to join the alliance in the coming months as well. This means that American travelers can now earn AAdvantage miles when flying on Royal Air Maroc flights as well as Royal Air Maroc codeshare flights operated by Oneworld carriers and affiliates.
Additionally, American told TPG that members will be able to use miles to book award travel on Royal Air Maroc's entire route network, providing a great new opportunity to redeem AAdvantage miles. Since that initial announcement was made, American has made the decision to recategorize Morocco as part of the Europe region of its award chart, further reducing award rates for flights from the U.S. to Morocco and allowing you to use Casablanca (CMN) as a connection point for the rest of Europe. Finally, travel on Royal Air Maroc and its eligible affiliate airlines will count toward AAdvantage elite status qualification, and existing American elite travelers will now receive additional Oneworld benefits when traveling on Royal Air Maroc.
Here's the mileage accrual chart for Royal Air Maroc-operated flights when credited to your American AAdvantage account:
Note that if a purchased fare booking code is not listed in the tables, you won't earn elite-qualifying miles, dollars or segments, nor will you earn award miles.
Award flights on Royal Air Maroc will utilize American's standard partner award chart, and since the AAdvantage program now classifies Morocco as part of Europe, you'd need the following number of miles to get from the U.S. to Morocco:
Royal Air Maroc typically operates nonstop flights from its Casablanca hub to Boston (BOS), New York-JFK, Washington Dulles (IAD) and Miami (MIA) — though these frequencies have been suspended in light of the coronavirus outbreak. So far, we aren't seeing any award space pop up on American's site, but we are seeing codeshares on Google Flights. Round-trip cash flights out of New York are exorbitant, though, so we'll be grateful when we see award space.
This recent award chart change represents a ~25% discount relative to the cost of awards between the U.S. and Africa (where most people would place Morocco), but it also opens up the possibility of connecting on Royal Air Maroc to other destinations in Europe at no extra charge. This option might be especially appealing to Oneworld flyers who are frustrated with the exorbitant fuel surcharges incurred when flying British Airways across the Atlantic.
Of course, American isn't the only way to book Royal Air Maroc tickets. While we wouldn't necessarily recommend booking Etihad tickets through the Etihad Guest loyalty program, you can get a steal on other carriers. Royal Air Maroc is a great option, as you can take advantage of the airline's distance-based partner-award chart.
We're not seeing awards pop up on British Airways Avios yet, but New York-JFK to Casablanca is 3,609 miles in distance, meaning one-way business awards will set you back 62,000 Avios. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points and American Express Membership Rewards transfer at a 1:1 ratio. The latter program frequently offers transfer bonuses as high as 40%. Marriott Bonvoy points transfer at a 3:1 ratio, though you’ll also get a 5,000-Avios bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer.
Now is not the time to be traveling unnecessarily given the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, so this announcement shouldn't drive anyone to book unnecessary travel to utilize the new partnership. However, if you are planning a trip to Morocco (or beyond) in the future, there are a number of ways to earn American miles without flying — including online shopping portals for your online purchases. The AAdvantage eShopping site, for example, allows you to earn bonus AAdvantage miles for purchases at hundreds of retailers.
You could also consider adding a new credit card to your wallet to boost your account balance as you consider future travel plans. For example, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® is currently offering a welcome bonus of 75,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $3,500 in purchases within the first four months of account opening. You can also earn 2x miles at restaurants and at gas stations, though you wouldn't be able to leverage some of the travel-specific perks on the card at the moment — like a free checked bag and priority boarding. Nevertheless, this could be a great option for American flyers looking forward to booking their next trip.
Another option for small-business owners is the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®, which is currently offering 65,000 American Airlines miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first four months of account opening. That's more than enough for a round-trip coach flight to Morocco.
The information for the 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.
It's always great to have new earning and redemption options in a program, so it's nice to see American and Royal Air Maroc move forward with this partnership — despite the continued uncertainty with the coronavirus. While many travelers won't be able to benefit from this announcement immediately, it'll be nice to utilize when the travel industry begins returning to normal.
Ethan Steinberg contributed to this post.
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.
