I’ll just say it: All airline miles are not created equal.
I’ve consistently found American Airlines AAdvantage miles to be more rewarding than Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus miles.
I have plenty of reasons, but for starters, these miles just got a lot easier to earn. While AAdvantage was lacking a credit card transfer partner for a while, now, holders of certain Citi rewards cards can transfer their ThankYou Rewards points to AAdvantage.
And among those eligible cards is the brand-new Citi Strata Elite℠ Card, which, in addition to some seriously strong earning power and premium benefits, is offering new cardholders a generous 80,000 bonus points after they spend $4,000 in the first three months from account opening, for a limited time.
If I had those 80,000 points to transfer, there are so many great ways I could use them in the AAdvantage program since, compared to those other airline programs, it has:
Lower international redemption rates: You can find business-class seats to Europe starting at 57,500 AAdvantage miles, compared to 80,000 MileagePlus miles or 145,000 SkyMiles.
Cheap domestic award rates: You can get short-haul economy seats for as little as 5,000 AAdvantage miles each way, meaning those 80,000 Citi points could yield up to 16 domestic flights.
A superior alliance: Since American is a Oneworld alliance member, AAdvantage miles can get you some of the lowest award rates on partner airlines whose business- and first-class products are truly the cream of the crop. I mean, just look at Japan Airlines’ incredible new A350 first class — which deal-hunters can score for exactly 80,000 AAdvantage miles one-way between the U.S. and Japan.
I’ve already started transferring my Citi points to AAdvantage. It has instantly made the ThankYou Rewards program more valuable to me.
Posts in this newsletter contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products, and this may impact how or where they appear. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.
You are receiving this email because you opted in atthepointsguy.com.
Where to find us:
The Points Guy 100 5th Ave., 16th Floor New York, NY 10011 USA USA
If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.
Advertiser Disclosure:
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don’t cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
