111op

Hi, I called and, yes, I can extend mileage expiration by buying some miles. In fact, I was told that any activity will do. Is there anything else preferable? Maybe by signing up for some offers?

ejcrowe

You could just go to aa.com to their mileage partner section and then do a little online shopping to get miles. Buy something you were going to buy anyway, but do it online through aa.com and get mileage for what you spend and extend your mileage expiration.

yk

idine
http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...tageDining.jsp

any shopping via:
https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/

When will your miles expire? The 2 above can take several weeks before they post.

If you need activity right away, you can always redeem something using your miles. I believe the miles come out your account right away.
http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...Redemption.jsp

Rastaguytoday

As an AA guy with over a million miles logged...mostly by flying...

The easiest "trick" is to get an AA Citibank card. Usually the first year is free. They will even give you bonus miles for signing up. Any purchase will extend your expiration date.

At the end of the year, don't agree to a new year's card, so you won't have to pay the next year's fee; and your miles roll forward.

I'm in the process of doing this with Delta / Ames because my
Delta 95k miles are scheduled currently to end on 7/31.

yk

Rastaguytoday - do you know how long it takes for the miles to be credited towards the account?

luv2cthings

yk, from my experience with Citi AAdvantage cards, the miles earned from charges themselves are posted within a few days of each statement. BTW, the 25,000 bonus miles for signing up are posted only after you incur $750 in spending with the card within the first four months, and also post within a few days of the statement where the $750 threshold is met.

yk

thanks, luv2cthings. I was mainly asking about how long it takes for the 25K miles to post when one signs up for a new AA citibank credit card, as that's what Rastaguytoday was suggesting.

The OP hasn't come back to tell us how soon his AA miles will expire. If the miles don't expire for another couple of months, then I think signing up for the CC is an option.

However, if his AA miles are expiring in one month or less, then he'll need to look into other options (such as idine or redeeming miles).

Rastaguytoday

Actually AA updates Citibank purchases once a month.

This is usually done about 3-5 days before you get the bill in the mail.

I use this function to know how much my Citibank bill will be each month.

As far as when the 25K miles post, check your offer. I get 5-6 American Express and / or Citibank applications monthly. Each one of them has different rules. I usually wait until there's one really great offer to bite.

This might sound tacky, but Amex / Citibank usually waives the fee for the first year. For Amex, I close the account before the year is up. An Amex Platinum card runs $500 a year, and that's too much $$$ for the "priviledge".

111op

Thanks. It's actually my mom's account. I think that getting an AA credit card is not really an option for her.

I didn't think about the time lag it takes to post the miles. Sounds like I should buy the miles now because anything else may take longer to take effect.

She's just a little under 40,000 miles. I was actually thinking of buying the miles and redeeming them for a ticket since I'm not working right now. But maybe I'll just buy the miles first and wait. I'll buy 1000 miles to get her over 40,000.

111op

Wow. AA really knows how to make money. It's 27.50 for 1000 miles + $30 processing fee?! Didn't realize that there's a processing fee....

I'll check and see if there's something to redeem, I guess.

yk

How soon will her miles expire? IME, it takes under 2 weeks for the idine miles to post, and takes about 1 month or more for shopping via the AA shopping network.

111op

The miles are expiring early March.

Anyway I just went ahead and bought the miles. They should take 72 hours to post, according to the AA website.

I reviewed some of the redemption options, and I think the "cheapest" is redemption of some magazines -- we can get NY magazine for 700 miles, for example. But after thinking about it I just can't stand the thought of getting more junk mail. You sign up for something and you probably will get lots of things you don't want later.

I did call AA and they said that if I redeem today, even if the miles take a while to post, they should correctly reflect my activity date so that the miles will not expire even if the posting happens after the expiration date.

I didn't really consider the shopping option too seriously because I'm not sure if there's something we need and I don't want to run into a potential situation that the activity doesn't qualify in time to extend the expiration date.

ms_go

Last year, I was in the same situation--in charge of making sure that the 60k miles in my mother's Aadvantage account didn't expire. I was a little busy (okay, really, I forgot), and when I finally got around to checking, the miles were already gone. I called Aadvantage, mainly just to find out when they had expired (about two weeks prior). The agent must have felt sorry for my mother; she offered to reinstate the miles if I would take some immediate action to create activity in the account. I transferred a small number of miles from my account, and everything was back to normal. Big thumbs up to Aadvantage for covering for me!

yk

I buy my Peets coffee beans online about once a month, via the AA shopping link. That's a good way for me to earn some additional miles on something that I normally buy online anyway.

111op

Wow, that's a lucky situation, ms_go.

I guess what irks me is that even if you transfer miles there's a cost (as if you're purchasing miles) + processing fee. Otherwise I would consider doing that also.

I didn't see the coffee link on AA -- not that I drink coffee anyway. I guess I should take a closer look for the future.

yk

Not sure why the shopping link didn't work above.
https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/details.jsp?mrc=170

There are hundreds of online stores you can choose from the AAdvantage eshopping website.

yk

Hmmmmm... when I click on the above link, somehow an additional http:// is added in addition to the URL, causing the link not to work. Is anyone else seeing the same issue?

I wonder if just www will work without the http
www.aadvantageeshopping.com/details.jsp?mrc=170

111op

Thanks. I guess I didn't check out this website before.

Maybe it's just me, but I find that I just don't do much shopping online. But I noticed that Dell is there and I may check it out because I'm thinking of buying some computers.

Also Kiehl's is on there, and I use them. But I guess maybe the catch is the shipping. With Kiehl's you need to buy $75 to qualify for free shipping.

Sadly Amazon is not there, but Alibris is, though I haven't bought anything from them in ages.

yk

I don't do much shopping anyway actually, whether it's online or off line. There are lots of stores, like Gap, Macys, Home Depot, Best Buy, Zappos, Target etc which I guess many people do shop routinely.

the only ones I use are:
1800 contacts once a year
L'Occitane 2-3 times a year - I usually wait until they offer free shipping for over $40
Peets once a month

If I need to buy something else online these days, I always check various airlines shopping mall and shop via their link. A few weeks ago I had to buy a gift from BabiesRUs, which does not participate with AA, but I find it listed among USAirways' mall so I went through their link to earn my miles.

bettyk

For 40,000 miles you can get a RT ticket to Europe anytime from 15 October thru 14 May. That's what is cost us for our FF tickets to Manchester in April.

Also, if you want to sign up for Netflix thru aa.com, you can get 1500 bonus AA miles.