AAdvantage® FAQs
Your account summary and mileage balance
- Log in to your account
- Select 'edit your account'
- Click 'information and password'
- Update your information
Our security partner analyzes and identifies passwords that may be compromised on the web. Compromised passwords can’t be used to join AAdvantage® or change your password.
Contact us to change your name or birth date. You'll need to send us related documents for your request.
You can update your personal information like your home address or phone number online.
Visit the account summary in your AAdvantage® account to view your progress toward AAdvantage® status, upcoming trips and program news. Your account shows your award miles balance and any available rewards. If you still have questions:
Download the American Airlines app to see your card or print it at aa.com/youraccount. Please note that AAdvantage® status membership cards cannot be printed.
- For airline travel: Travel on American is credited to your account 1–3 days from your date of travel. Allow 15 days for credit from other AAdvantage® partner airlines.
- For other partner transactions: Miles earned from other AAdvantage® partners are generally credited within 30 days. Occasionally, miles will take longer to post.
Just earn or redeem miles on American or with an AAdvantage® partner at least once every 24 months. We’ll automatically extend your mileage expiration date 24 months from the date of your most recent qualifying activity.
Your AAdvantage® account shows the number of miles you have and the earliest date they could expire. If you are under 21 years of age, you are not subject to the 24-month qualifying activity period. Once you turn 21 years of age, you will be subject to the 24-month activity period and must have mileage earning or redeeming activity within 24 months of your 21st birthday in order to retain your miles. The account profile must contain a valid birth date to be excluded from the 24-month activity rule.
Primary AAdvantage® credit cardmembers will not be subject to the 24-month qualifying activity period for as long as their card account is open.
Award travel
You can book award travel on many partner airlines on aa.com and on the American app. Partner airline flights are included in award travel search results, and you can filter results for your preferred partner airlines on the Choose flights page.
You can also contact Reservations to book award travel on other airline partners and request mileage upgrade awards on British Airways and Iberia flights.
Yes, some airlines, like British Airways and Iberia, have additional charges for award travel. The amount depends on the origin, destination and cabin. The charge is refundable if you cancel your flight.
No. You'll need to book 2 separate reservations. To ensure you can confirm both itineraries, it's a good idea to put the award reservation on hold and then book the fare sale reservation.
Yes. You’ll need to book a separate reservation for each AAdvantage® account. To ensure you can confirm award travel for all passengers, it's a good idea to put the first reservation on hold, and then book the second reservation.
Yes, miles can be redeemed for flight awards for an unaccompanied minor traveling within the U.S. and between the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands by calling Reservations.
Yes, an infant (under 2 years) sitting on a lap may be added to domestic tickets (travel within the U.S. and between the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) by a Reservations team member after booking.
- Business / First and Main Cabin awards apply for flights with 2 classes of service
- First, Business / First and Main Cabin awards apply for flights with 3 classes of service
The time we'll hold an award reservation depends on how many days before departure you book:
- 5 days: When you book 15 –331 days before departure
- 1 day: When you book 1–14 days before departure
- Up to 2 hours before departure: When you book within 24 hours of departure
Keep in mind, certain special awards and awards that include certain airline partners may have shorter hold times.
Certain awards, such as special awards, may require ticketing within a certain date range or by a specific date. If that date is earlier than the 5 day time limit, you are subject to the earlier date.
You can book awards from 331 days up to 2 hours before departure.
You can cancel your award ticket anytime on aa.com. We will reinstate your AAdvantage® miles up to 1 year after the ticket issue date as long as you cancel your ticket before the first flight departs. If you cancel your trip on aa.com, your miles will be reinstated automatically in many cases.
Contact Reservations for help reinstating miles on a trip that:
- Has already started
- Involves travel on partner airlines
- Was booked outside the U.S. or on an international version of aa.com
- Has been changed since the ticket was originally issued
If your trip is eligible, you can change your trip online in just a few steps. There is no fee to change or cancel your award ticket.
Reserve seats with miles
AAdvantage® members traveling in the Main Cabin on flights marketed and operated by American can use AAdvantage® miles to reserve a seat after booking1 exclusively on the 'My Trip' page2. AAdvantage® members may use miles to reserve seats for themselves and for other travelers.
1 Tickets must be issued from the U.S. point of sale to use miles
2 AAdvantage® miles may be used to buy a seat only on our U.S. site
You can use miles to buy a seat for an existing flight reservation. To do this, you'll:
- Find your trip
- Select or change seats to load the seat map
- Change the toggle selection from 'Cash' to 'Miles'
- Choose your seats
- Log in to your AAdvantage® account, if you haven't already
- Check that you chose 'AAdvantage® miles' as the payment on 'Review and pay'
- Click 'Pay now'
Seat pricing depends on several factors including flight length and seat location. You can check seat prices when you view your trip details.
You can:
- Pay for the seats with cash instead
- Choose new seats that use fewer miles
- Buy the miles you need
- Pay for some seats with miles, and pay for the remaining seats with cash in another transaction
Keep in mind you can't buy a single seat using more than one payment.
We can only accept one form of payment at a time. First, choose the seats you’d like to pay for using miles. Finish that transaction, then come back and select ‘Cash’ to buy seats for the other passengers. You can also apply any seat coupons.
Yes, you can choose a seat of equal or lesser value at no extra charge. Keep in mind refunds are not issued if you choose a seat of lesser value. If you’d like to buy a seat at a greater value, we’ll refund your original purchase afterward. (Please allow up to 48 hours for processing.)
You can change your form of payment only if you would like to buy a seat of greater value. Seats of equal or lesser value will be complimentary. If you buy a seat of greater value, we’ll refund your original purchase afterward. (Please allow up to 48 hours for processing.)
Systemwide upgrades
Details will only display if you’ve earned systemwide upgrades that have an expiration date in the current or future year. For questions about historical data, contact your AAdvantage® status service desk.
Systemwide upgrades are deducted from your account at the time your upgrade is confirmed and are, at that time, considered used.
No. Systemwide upgrades will not be deducted from your account until your request is confirmed. If you have questions regarding your wait list request, please contact your AAdvantage® status service desk.
If you’re traveling on an American flight and a seat in the upgraded cabin is not available at the time of booking, AAdvantage® Reservations will add you to the waitlist for the longest flight in your itinerary. This allows us to ensure your upgrade is confirmed for your preferred flight first, before trying to confirm shorter connecting flights.
Once your longest flight is upgraded, we'll attempt to confirm or waitlist any shorter connecting flights. Depending on when your long-haul flight is confirmed, there could be some scenarios where we're unable to automatically add you to the standby list for connecting flights. If this happens, please ask the gate agent to add you to the upgrade standby list manually and your request date/time will be your check-in time.
Upgrades on British Airways and Iberia
Yes, systemwide upgrades can be used for one-way travel for up to three segments on British Airways marketed and operated flights or British Airways operated flights marketed by American.
You can also use your AAdvantage® miles to upgrade British Airways and Iberia flights and American Airlines codeshare flights operated by British Airways and Iberia.
Systemwide upgrades on British Airways are valid on all purchased, published fares.
Mileage upgrades on British Airways and Iberia flights are valid from full fares only. You can use miles and a co-pay to upgrade from discount Main Cabin fares on American Airlines flights.
Systemwide and mileage upgrades are valid for a one cabin upgrade. On British Airways flights that offer Premium Economy, upgrades from Economy will be to Premium Economy. On flights where British Airways doesn’t offer Premium Economy, the upgrade will be to Business.
Airport upgrade standby list
We add customers to the airport upgrade standby list as they check in. As more customers are added, the list will change according to other customers' AAdvantage® status levels, upgrade type and rolling 12-month Loyalty Points.
Companions are prioritized with the sponsoring AAdvantage® status member. If your companion is an AAdvantage® status member and the upgrade isn’t cleared before you get to the airport, you can ask an agent at the airport to reconnect you on the list to be prioritized together.
To be moved to the airport upgrade standby list, you need to have enough systemwide upgrades or AAdvantage® miles in your account at least 48 hours before departure.
Log in to your account on aa.com to check your balance.
Day of departure upgrades
Yes. Day of departure upgrades will only be confirmed if there’s space in the upgraded cabin after we've determined we can accommodate customers requesting complimentary, systemwide or mileage upgrades.
AAdvantage® status members will only receive this offer for flights not eligible for complimentary upgrades.
Earn miles and Loyalty Points
Include your AAdvantage® number when you book or shop with AAdvantage® partners. It’s also helpful to keep your receipts and boarding passes until you see the credit on your account.
No. Only the person who flies, stays or rents will earn the miles. So, if you paid for someone’s ticket, the traveler would earn the miles.
No. You can only earn credit in one loyalty program at a time.
In the air:
Base miles earned from flying on Loyalty Point-qualifying airlines (flights marketed by American Airlines, oneworld® airlines, and GOL Airlines). This includes:
- Basic Economy tickets on American
- All status and cabin of service bonuses earned when flying on American Airlines and eligible partner airlines
On everyday spend:
Base miles earned from spending with eligible partners. Base offers vary by partner and eligible partners include:
- Portals: American Airlines Vacations, AAdvantage® eShopping℠, AAdvantage Dining℠, SimplyMiles®
- Hotels: AAdvantage Hotels™, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Vacations
- Cars: American Airlines Cars, Avis, Budget, Payless, Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, Alamo, National, Sixt
- Cruise: American Airlines Cruises
- Retail: Shell, NRG Energy, Reliant Energy, Xoom, Miles for Opinions
Using an AAdvantage® credit card
For American Airlines AAdvantage® credit cardmembers, eligible AAdvantage® miles include the base miles earned on eligible purchases using your AAdvantage® credit card, and do not include any bonus miles or accelerators.
- Base miles earned vary by credit card type and issuing bank. For example, most AAdvantage® credit cards earn 1 base mile per US$1 spent on eligible purchases, but some earn .5 base miles per $1 spent, others 1.5 miles or 2 miles, etc.
- Every base mile equals 1 Loyalty Point
- Bonus miles earned from special promotions
- Miles from Buy, Gift, Transfer transactions
- Government taxes, fees, and other charges associated with buying a ticket do not count toward earning AAdvantage® miles and do not count toward earning Loyalty Points
- Conversion of another program currency to AAdvantage® miles
- For AAdvantage® credit cards, “accelerators” or “multipliers” such as: extra miles for purchases in specific categories, with specific merchants (such as American Airlines purchases) or purchases made abroad
- AAdvantage® credit cards new account or welcome bonuses, spend bonuses, etc.
Missing miles
If credit does not appear, you can request missing flight miles online. For missing (non-airline) partner miles, contact the partner directly.
Please allow up to 10 days for travel on American Airlines and up to 30 days for travel on partner airlines.
Mileage Multiplier
Yes. Before your flight departs, go to aa.com and view your reservation or go to an airport kiosk and choose “reprint boarding pass” or “check baggage” and you'll see the Mileage Multiplier option.
Mileage Multiplier may not be available in certain locations or for technical reasons.
Yes. You can contact American to request Mileage Multiplier after you've landed.
You'll still receive the bonus miles you paid for if your flight is cancelled or re-routed.
Promotions and registration
Some AAdvantage® promotions require you to register. You can view and register for available promotions in the promotions center in your account.
Make sure you've met all the requirements and allowed enough time for the bonus to be credited. If the posting timeframe has passed, contact us.
Book Five Star Service™ with miles
We only accept a single form of payment at this time.
Yes. Please contact Reservations for more information.
Call at:
877-578-2702 (877-5STAR-02)
You can cancel your existing booking and make a new request through Reservations. Keep in mind that Five Star Service requests must be submitted at least 24 hours in advance for U.S. locations, and that availability is limited.
You can request to reinstate your miles if you cancel your Five Star Service™ booking at least 12 hours in advance*
*Please allow up to 72 hours to process your reinstatement. Your AAdvantage® account balance will be updated as soon as the reinstatement is processed.