American Airways AAdvantage miles are among the hardest airline miles to earn. The airline program is barely a switch companion of 1 main transferable bank card issuer, Citi ThankYou Rewards.
Nevertheless, although American Airways is just not a direct switch companion of most issuers, particularly Chase Final Rewards, this should not cease you from redeeming your hard-earned Chase factors for American flights.
Let’s dive into the varied methods to fly on American steel utilizing Chase factors.
Switch Chase factors to airline companions to guide American Airways flights
American is a part of the Oneworld alliance, and a number of Oneworld airways are switch companions of Chase Final Rewards. This implies you’ll be able to switch Chase factors to one among these airways at a 1:1 ratio and use them to guide American companion flights.
As an illustration, this American Airways flight from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport (ATL) to Aruba’s Queen Beatrix Worldwide Airport (AUA) is bookable via British Airways with 30,000 Avios plus $16 in taxes and costs for economic system.
Or, you would guide this direct flight from Charlotte Douglas Worldwide Airport (CLT) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA), operated by American, via Qatar Airways for 25,750 Avios and $240 in taxes and costs.
There are 5 airline loyalty packages via which you’ll be able to guide American flights with Chase factors: Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Membership and Iberia Membership. Although Finnair Plus and Qatar Airways Privilege Membership are usually not direct Chase switch companions, you’ll be able to simply switch Avios between the 5 packages at a 1:1 ratio.
The entire above airways use Avios as their loyalty foreign money. Nevertheless, you might even see totally different award charges or availability on every airline’s website.
As an illustration, the Charlotte-to-Frankfurt instance that I discovered on Qatar Airways can be accessible via British Airways for 25,750 Avios and $233 in taxes and costs. The associated fee in Avios is identical, however the taxes and costs range barely. The Atlanta-to-Aruba flight, however, is not accessible on Qatar’s website. It is value checking every companion airline in case you discover higher costs or availability on one among them.
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Remember to examine TPG’s checklist of present switch bonuses earlier than you switch rewards. Chase often runs promotions that mean you can earn bonus factors or miles whenever you switch, serving to you stretch your factors additional when transferring factors to guide American flights.
Transferring your Chase factors to companions to guide American flights can assist you lower your expenses, nevertheless it might not be the greatest method to maximize your factors. TPG values Final Rewards factors at 2.05 cents per level, per our July 2025 valuations, so that you wish to shoot for the same worth when redeeming your factors. Be sure to examine the money fee of the American flight to the award value.
Associated: Tips on how to resolve when to make use of money or miles for purchasing airline tickets
Ebook American Airways flights via the Chase Journey portal
One other route for reserving American flights with Chase factors is thru Chase Journey℠, the issuer’s journey reserving platform, the place you’ll be able to redeem factors as a substitute of money to pay for journey.
If you cannot discover the American flight you are searching for via a companion airline or the companion’s redemption charges aren’t worth, do this choice as a substitute. Chase Journey affords all kinds of journey bookings, together with American Airways flights. Nevertheless, American is not among the many choose airways eligible for Chase’s Factors Increase (for now), which means you will not be capable to maximize the worth of your factors on American flights.
Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see charges and costs) and Chase Sapphire Reserve for Enterprise℠ (see charges and costs) cardholders who utilized earlier than June 23, 2025, can redeem their factors at a flat fee of 1.5 cents apiece on American flights (on factors earned previous to Oct. 26, 2025, and redeemed till Oct. 26, 2027, then 1 cent thereafter). Equally, Chase Sapphire Most popular® Card (see charges and costs) and Ink Enterprise Most popular® {Credit Card} (see charges and costs) cardholders who utilized earlier than June 23 can get a worth of 1.25 cents per level on American redemptions throughout the identical time-frame.
In the meantime, those that utilized after June 23 for any of the above playing cards will solely get 1 cent per level in worth when redeeming for American flights.
Relying on the flight, redeeming Chase factors via the portal might not be the best choice. Let us take a look at our earlier instance flight from Charlotte to Frankfurt. This flight prices $494 on Chase Journey or 39,520 factors with my Chase Sapphire Most popular since I can at the moment redeem them for 1.25 cents every. I might be higher off transferring 26,000 factors to British Airways Membership, then transferring these factors to Qatar Airways Privilege Membership and reserving the award flight for 25,750 Avios — saving myself practically 14,000 factors.
However this is not at all times the case. Typically, when award charges are excessive or companion airways have restricted availability, your greatest wager shall be to redeem Chase factors via Chase Journey.
You’ll be able to typically get extra worth whenever you switch Chase factors to companions, however nonetheless, 1.25 or 1.5 cents per level is nothing to sneeze at. Sadly, this quantity will ultimately drop to 1 cent per level for all cardholders, on par with different issuers’ journey portals, like American Categorical Journey, Capital One Journey and Citi Journey.
Nevertheless, if Chase provides American Airways to its checklist of Factors Increase-eligible airways, Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve for Enterprise cardholders might redeem their factors for as much as 2 cents every on American flights, whereas Chase Sapphire Most popular and Ink Enterprise Most popular cardholders might redeem for as much as 1.75 cents per level.
Associated: Why Chase’s Factors Increase is an impressive (sort of stunning) new method to guide resorts on factors
Backside line
Regardless that you’ll be able to’t switch Chase factors straight to AAdvantage, there are a number of different avenues to guide American Airways flights with Chase factors.
In the event you’re trying to earn extra Chase factors, the Chase Sapphire Reserve PID and the Sapphire Reserve for Enterprise are improbable playing cards to think about. Proper now, new candidates who get accredited for the Chase Sapphire Reserve can earn 100,000 bonus factors plus a $500 Chase Journey credit score* after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening — the perfect provide we have seen on this card. With the Sapphire Reserve for Enterprise, you’ll be able to earn 200,000 bonus factors after spending $30,000 within the first six months from account opening.
*The promotional credit score is legitimate for one-time use solely. In the event you apply it to a transaction lower than $500, you’ll forfeit the remaining stability.
Based mostly on the earlier instance, 100,000 factors are virtually sufficient to fly two folks round-trip from Charlotte to Frankfurt on American Airways should you switch your factors to British Airways Avios after which to Qatar Airways Avios.
