American Airlines the Hidden Gem in the Travel World

American Airlines is a sweet spot for many travel point destinations. Why?

Low point flights, low taxes and fees, and partner alliances are just a few!

You are able to find flights within the OneWorld alliance which means you can book flights through American Airlines but fly British Airways or Alaskan Airlines. The taxes and fees are lower to meaning you are spending less money! Who doesn’t want to save money?

Great! You are able to save points and money on taxes and fees by booking through American Airlines but how do I get the miles?

Earn American Airlines Miles

AAdvantage E-Shopping Portal

My favorite way to earn American Airline points is actually through their free shopping portal! When I am buying stuff for my house projects I go to my portal and then head to Lowes or Home Depot. I make my cart and either ship or pick up my items and I am earning points from my Home Depot purchase and I am earning points on whatever card I use to pay for my materials! This is what we like to call STACKING! You are earning points in multiple places so by adding this one little step when I shop online I am getting points from two places my portal and my card! Check out the shopping portal HERE.

TIP: If you are doing a lot of online shopping on your desktop instead of your phone I would suggest adding the shopping portal as an extension to your Chrome browser. You can get it set up once logged into your account. This allows you to shop through Chrome and if that website can earn you points a box pops up in the corner and all you do is hit activate. Shop like normal and watch the points roll in!

I earn about 40,000 extra points a year just from using the shopping portal! This little step is paying for Steve and I’s flights home from Paris. We are paying 28,000 points and $80 in fees total to fly us both nonstop from Paris!

AAdvantage Dining Program

Want more ways to earn American Airline points they even have a dining program! You can make a free account here. You are able to search what restaurants fall into this dining program in your local area. I like to use this feature as well when I am traveling too so I can earn more points while trying out a new place.

To earn points while you dine you simply add your cards to your dining account and that is it! I am all about maximizing my points so here are the cards that already earn you more points while eating out! If you have any of these cards I would definitely make these your go to cards when eating out so you can earn as many points as possible!

EARN Airline Status

ONE LAST PERK! This is a pretty amazing perk as well with American Airlines! All the points you earn through your shopping portal yes earn you points to fly but these points also earn airline status and perks!

I think this is huge! Remember how I told you I earned 40,000 points through the shopping portal last year? Well that gave me Gold status with them as well as some rewards you get to choose along the way. I chose some preferred seat coupons to use on future flights.

Since they are part of the One World alliance as well if you get a higher status with American Airlines you can also status match within other one world partners allowing you get to free bags, faster check service, priority service, and more!

So while this Airline can be harder because none of our major banks transfer to this airline there are still lots of ways you can earn points and status to help you get those flights!