You can earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles through several activities such as flying with American or its partner airlines, spending on an American Airlines cobranded credit card, shopping online through the AAdvantage eShopping portal and more.
But did you know that you can also transfer your American miles and transfer other rewards to your Advantage account?
Here is everything you need to know about transferring AAdvantage miles.
American Airlines AAdvantage overview
As one of the world’s largest airlines, American Airlines offers a large network of domestic and international routes. It’s also a Oneworld alliance member with other airline partners, including Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Qantas and Cathay Pacific. Additionally, it’s the only one of the “Big Three” U.S. airlines (American, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines) that hasn’t fully eliminated published award charts.
Related: Inside Europe’s first Oneworld alliance-branded lounge in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Whether you want to fly across the country or across the world to Europe, the Middle East or Australasia, American Airlines and its well-regarded partner airlines can take you there.
While AAdvantage miles for long-haul flights on American Airlines can be of poor value due to dynamic pricing, partner redemptions remain a great deal.
TPG currently values AAdvantage miles at 1.55 cents each, per our July 2025 valuations.
Can you transfer AAdvantage miles?
Yes, you can transfer points from hotel or credit card programs to AAdvantage miles in a few ways.
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Hotel programs
Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to American AAdvantage at a ratio of 3 Marriott points to 1 AAdvantage mile. However, unlike most Marriott transfer options, you won’t earn an extra 5,000 miles for every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer.
While you can also transfer World of Hyatt points and IHG One Rewards points to AAdvantage miles, the transfer rate is so poor that we do not recommend it.
Related: Here’s what you should know before transferring Marriott points to airline miles
Credit card points
One of the easier options to consider for earning American AAdvantage miles is through an American Airlines credit card. Here are some of the best cobranded options available:
The information for the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Recently, Citi added American Airlines as a transfer partner, which means you can now transfer ThankYou Rewards points to AAdvantage at a 1:1 rate if you hold one of the following cards:
The information for the Citi Prestige 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.
Citi is the only major credit card issuer that has American Airlines as a transfer partner. Therefore, having one of these transferable rewards credit cards in your wallet can be a game changer for your points and miles strategy.
Transfer to another member
You can transfer AAdvantage miles online to any other AAdvantage member in increments of 1,000 miles for $5 per 1,000 miles. This includes taxes, fees and discounts.
It is not possible to transfer AAdvantage miles to a credit card program or another airline loyalty program.
You can also use your AAdvantage miles in your account to book flights for other people.
How to book American Airlines flights with no AAdvantage miles
If you have no AAdvantage miles, you can still book American Airlines-operated flights in several different ways:
- Book directly on American’s website, but remember to pay with a credit card that earns bonus miles for flight bookings.
- Book American flights through a credit card travel portal like Chase Travel℠ or Capital One Travel, both of which offer bonus miles for airfare bookings.
- Book an award flight through a partner airline like Alaska Airlines, which will sell you American Airlines flights.
- Redeem points and miles in a partner airline program like British Airways Club. This program partners with almost every transferable credit card program, so you have a wide range of options to earn points that you could transfer to British Airways to book flights on American Airlines.
Bottom line
While there are only a few ways to transfer miles into your AAdvantage account, there are plenty of ways to earn more miles, from using the right credit card to transferring rewards from another program.
You can also book American Airlines flights, even if you do not have any AAdvantage miles, through the carrier’s partner airlines or online travel portals to earn extra rewards.
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