AAdvantage Cardholders: Book One-Way Flights for Fewer Miles

The Citibank-issued credit cards linked to American’s AAdvantage program have long featured a benefit that can represent real extra value, both to holding an AAdvantage credit card specifically and to program membership generally: discounted award tickets.

Holders of the various AAdvantage-affiliated credit cards can book awards to select U.S. and Canadian destinations at discounted prices. The discount varies, according to the card type.

And for the first time, the discounts apply to one-way awards as well as to round-trips.

For the higher-annual-fee Platinum, World Elite, and Select cards, first-class award prices are reduced from 25,000 miles to 21,250 miles each way; and coach awards are discounted from 12,500 to 8,750 miles each way. That’s a 15 percent discount for first class and a hefty 30 percent discount for coach.

For Gold cardholders, the first and coach awards are discounted by 10 and 20 percent, to 22,500 and 10,000 miles each way, respectively.

The list of eligible award destinations for June, for example, includes six cities in the Northeast, 31 in the Midwest, 28 in the Southeast, 21 in the Southwest, two in the West, and four in Canada.

Discounted awards must be booked by phone, so there will be a $35 service charge for non-Executive Platinum elite members.

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The discounts range from decent, at 10 percent, to compelling, at 30 percent. Most high-demand destinations are absent from the list—no discounts on award flights to San Francisco or Orlando.

But there are plenty of cities well worth visiting. Among the destinations that caught my eye: Charlotte, Washington, DC, Houston, Santa Barbara, Santa Fe, Memphis, Nashville, Montreal, and Toronto.

If you have a Citi AAdvantage card, have a look at the list of discounted award destinations. You might just find a city on your bucket list.

And if you’re thinking of adding a Citi AAdvantage card to your credit card collection, consider these discounts among the reasons for doing so.

Reader Reality Check

Have you taken advantage of these credit card award discounts? Are there destinations on the list that you’d like to visit?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.