Such a bAArgain! The normal fare is $255, but for you it’s only $488

by Charlie Leocha on March 11, 2009

I just got an offer that reminds me of that old joke: Normal price is $5.95 but for you it is only $10! American Airlines is letting me to purchase mileage for the amazingly low price of only 2.5¢ a mile. What a deal!

(Mind you, this is a special deal for their “friends.” I am an Advantage Gold frequent flier… one of their best friends!)

With value top of mind right now, it’s important to get the most out of your American Airlines AAdvantage® miles. With the buyAAmiles® program, you can purchase the miles you need to get to award travel faster. And now through March 31, 2009, you can get even more for your money. For every 5,000 miles purchased, you’ll earn 1,500 bonus miles — up to 12,000 bonus miles!

In true AA style, the deal comes complete with a $30 processing fee! Plus, to add to your joy, there will be more fees in order to redeem these miles for “free” travel. Is there another major carrier that squeezes more out of its customers through fees than AA?

The AA offer asks “Did you know … for as few as 25,000 AAdvantage miles you can be on your way to great destinations across the Continental U.S.?”

I looked at the program chart and could easily see that “With value top of mind right now,” those 25,000 AAdvantage miles would only cost $625. (The 30-percent bonus miles offer will lower the price effectively by $187.50, making the price $437.50).

This doesn’t include the $30 processing fee, the taxes and ticketing and other fees associated with redeeming miles.

That brings the cost of 25,000 AAdvantage miles used to be on your way to great destinations across the continental U.S. to at least $488.70 assuming only the processing fee and the government taxes and fees.

I went to AA.com and found the price for a Boston-to-Los Angeles round-trip with similar restrictions imposed on a 25,000-mile frequent flier ticket (Saturday night stay, advance purchase, code-restricted, etc.) and it ended up costing $255.20 with all taxes and fees.

This special 30-percent bonus offer will only end up costing customers $233.50 more than if they just went to make the reservation online with American Airlines.

To be fair, I went to AA.com and searched for a flight between the other corners of the Continental U.S. — Miami and Seattle. There the cost for a similar round trip was $280.40. In this case, the special 30-bonus offer only costs $208.30 more than just going to the Web site and purchasing.

So, as the AA offer says, “Go ahead and start planning a getaway — and make the most of your miles!”

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  • Liz

    well, yes, if you wanted to buy all the miles for a ticket, it would not likely be cost effective. But if you are just 6,000 miles short of a round trip ticket to Europe, you could get them for $155. Yes, you’ll still be paying the taxes and fees which you would pay anyway. But I recently got a ticket to England for a graduation gift this way, saving about $800.

  • Warren

    AA like all airlines is a business. Why would they offer ANYTHING that didn’t help them make money? As for the frequent flier program, take your Gold status elsewhere. I have, and I’ve never been happier.

  • Frank

    That brings the cost of 25,000 AAdvantage miles used to be on your way to great destinations across the continental U.S. to at least $488.70 assuming only the processing fee and the government taxes and fees.
    ==========================================================

    Question: Can you use those miles towards another level in the airline’s frequent flyer program? Akin to doing a mileage run. Going from Silver to Gold at AA? If so, frequent flyers may find this offer attractive. Just yesterday, I had someone commenting in roach coach, they lost their gold status. And was missing their frequent upgrades.

  • The man who notices things

    Just don’t use those miles for a business class upgrade to Europe . . .

    A recent fare I saw was $672.50 to fly from JFK-London

    Then you have the $250 each way charge to use an upgrade miles

    Which makes business class $1172.50 – plus $10 for the redemption fee plus $15 to have the ticket issued making it $$1197.50 plus another $50 I think which is the business class departure fee out of Heathrow.

    You can buy an advance purchase business class fare on AA [which gets you lounge access at Heathrow while the coach upgraded fare does not] for $1333 and you use no miles. For $133 I’d rather pay for a fare in C and get C class treatment on both ends – there IS A difference when they discover you are flying on coach ticket that is upgraded.

    when I buy that $1333 ticket only twice during the calendar year American makes me Platinum – wheras buying that coach ticket and upgrading it does me no real good.

    Once I’m Platinum, and buy that $1333 ticket I am usually almost ALWAYS upgraded to F 48 hours in advance of the flight. This works for AA in that they free up business class seats to resell to new coach passengers and upgrade them to generate another $250 for that leg. They make $133 more from me – and in exchange give up essentially nothing – a F class seat that they are NOT going to sell anyway. F is real nice- MUCH better than even the new business seats. . . . plus the flagship lounge on either end is GREAT perk – all for $133 a trip more.

  • rrgg

    It’s a way to top off your account. No one ever claimed that buying 25,000 miles is cheaper than buying a cash ticket. All airlines intentionally make this more expensive.

  • http://www.allersac.com jeff solomon

    Long ago I came to the realization that airlines were among the most poorly run business entities . The geniuses who make the decisions in these companies are textbook examples of what not to do to entice customers. Most airlines are combative and offer little in the way of customer loyalty incentives. Only an idiot would market the 2.5 cents a mile offer. Our society has enabled these morons, causing the financial crisis we are now in. How do you take a company providing such a vital and necessary mode of transportation and run it into the ground, like pan am, eastern etc. The huge amounts of capital gobbled by these companies, only to fail, just goes to prove the point. Unfortunately regulation is needed in this industry because the mental midget mba’s who run most airlines are as adept at business as the thousands of brokers and bond raters on wall street were. Let’s here it for reganomics, NOT !

  • ben

    Why would you buy miles to redeem 25000 miles for a domestic trip? It’s not even worth it to redeem it normally with earned miles. Now if you’re buying all these miles to get to 100k miles for a trip to japan in business class, then the cost ($1000) plus say $48k miles u’ve got sitting around (~$1000) is well worth it considering that normally in cash, the ticket would cost $8000 or so. In such a case, you’re saving 75% off the total price. The whole point of using miles is to redeem for international business and first tickets and intl upgrades. Many agents and flight attendants will even tell you not to waste your miles on domestic itineraries (economy and first).

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