American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card Review – No Annual Fee Airline Card

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Overview

American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® is an airline credit card issued by our partner Citibank. It is a travel card that is best for frequent flyers of American Airlines to earn airline miles without having to pay an annual fee to keep the card. It gives new card members a moderate bonus, rewards cardholders for purchases, and offers travel perks. And best of all, it has no annual fee. If you are looking for no-fee travel credit cards to earn airline rewards, the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp is one of the top airline cards for what you need.

  • Earn 10,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles and receive a $50 statement credit after making $500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
  • No Annual Fee
  • Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for each $1 spent at grocery stores, including grocery delivery services
  • Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
  • Earn 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 spent on other purchases
  • Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases
  • Save 25% on inflight food and beverage purchases when you use your card on American Airlines flights
Intro APR
N/A
Intro APR Period
N/A
Regular APR
20.49% - 29.49% (Variable)
Annual Fee
$0

Card Benefits

Sign-up Bonus

If you spend at least $500 in purchases on the credit card within your first 3 months of becoming a card member, you will receive a decent bonus of 10,000 American Airlines (AA) AAdvantage miles and $50 statement credit. If you plan to take a non-stop short-haul flight within the contiguous 48 U.S. states & Canada, the 10,000 bonus AAdvantage miles are more than enough to redeem for a one-way ticket to any destinations of less than 500 miles away.

How to Earn Rewards

You will earn 2 AAdvantage miles for every dollar you spend on eligible American Airlines purchases, including flights booked through American Airlines channels such as AA.com, AA reservations, airport ticket counters, American Airlines Admirals Club. You will also earn 2 AAdvantage miles for every dollar you spend at grocery stores, including grocery delivery services. You will earn 1 AAdvantage mile for every dollar spent on other purchases. There is no maximum number of AAdvantage miles that you can accumulate through your American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp account.

For example, if you spend $8,000 on travel with American Airlines, $12,000 on groceries, $12,000 on everything else in a year, you will receive 52,000 American Airline miles. You can use our rewards calculator to find out how many rewards miles you may receive.

Spending CategorySpendingRewards Miles
American Airlines Travel$8,00016,000
Groceries$12,00024,000
Everything Else$12,00012,000
Total$32,00052,000
American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp Rewards Calculation Chart

How to Redeem Rewards

American Airlines is a member airline of oneworld® airlines network, which includes 13 member airlines such as British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines, Finnair, LATAM, Qatar Airways, etc. AAdvantage miles that you have earned by using the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp are redeemable for free flights on American Airlines, American Eagle, and partnering oneworld airlines to nearly 1,000 destinations worldwide. The following chart shows the number of AA airline miles required to redeem for free flights to destinations in different regions.

Destination RegionMiles Required (Off Peak)Miles Required
Contiguous 48 U.S. states & Canada12,500
Contiguous 48 U.S. states & Canada (non-stop flights of at most 500 miles)7,500
Alaska15,000
Hawaii20,00022,500
Mexico, Caribbean, or Central America12,50015,000
South America Region 1: Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Manaus in Brazil, Peru17,50020,000
South America Region 2: Argentina, Brazil (excluding Manaus), Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay30,000
Europe22,50030,000
Asia Region 1: Japan, Korea32,50035,000
Asia Region 2: China, Hong Kong32,50035,000
South Pacific40,000

You may also redeem AAdvantage miles for upgrading seats to business class or first class on American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia flights.

Travel Perks

American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp cardmembers will receive a 25% savings on inflight purchases of food and beverages on American Airlines flights when purchased with their AAdvantage MileUp credit card. Savings do not apply to any other inflight purchases, such as wireless internet access. This benefit applies to domestic flights operated by American Airlines or regional airline partners such as Compass Airlines, Envoy Air, Republic Airlines, SkyWest Airlines, Mesa Airlines, PSA Airlines, Piedmont Airlines. Your 25% savings will appear as a statement credit about 8 weeks after the transaction is posted to your card account.

Additional Information

Fees

This credit card has no annual fee, which is perfect for cost-conscious travelers to keep for a long time. It charges 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of purchases that you make in foreign countries.

Required Credit Rating

The American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® is for people with excellent or good credit ratings.

Is this the right card for you?

If you are looking to earn top airline rewards with a no-annual-fee travel credit card, the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp is one of the best airline credit cards. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, American Airlines has established itself as the world’s largest airline by fleet size and passengers carried. It operates an extensive flight network to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. With the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp, you can earn a decent bonus of 10,000 AA airline miles, redeemable for one domestic one-way short-haul flight of less than 500 miles for free. You can also earn 2 miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases for grocery purchases and travel on American Airlines. It also offers additional travel perks, including 25% savings on inflight purchases of food and beverages on American Airlines flights.

Similar Credit Cards

If you are interested in the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp, you may also consider a few other credit cards with similar benefits.

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