20% bonus on Starwood Preferred Guest conversions to American Airlines

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There are two good reasons why you may be considering building up some American Airlines miles at the moment:

The free UK credit card has a 15,000 mile sign-up bonus

AA still awards 100% of miles flown when you credit economy BA flights, compared to just 25% of miles flown if you credit to Avios

The pros and cons of collecting AA miles are discussed in the two articles I link to above.

If you did either of the above and wanted to top up your American Airlines miles, here is a good opportunity.

Between July 1st and August 7th, you will receive a 20% bonus on conversions of Starwood Preferred Guest (Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, W etc) hotel points to American Airlines.

This is on top of the 25% bonus that Starwood gives to any airline transfer of 20,000 points or more.

This means that, for example:

10,000 Starwood points will get you 10,000 American miles

20,000 Starwood points will get you 30,000 American miles

The bonus is valid for multiple transfers during the promotional period. No registration is required.

Full details can be found on the American Airlines website here.

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card usually comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit card

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card? It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status. We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

You can also earn American Express Membership Rewards points with American Express Gold (20,000 bonus points), the American Express Rewards Credit Card (5,000 bonus points) and – for small business owners – American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus points) and Business Platinum (40,000 bonus points).

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points.

(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

American Airlines and AAdvantage, Marriott Bonvoy

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

RIccati says:

3 Jul3 July 04:08

Are AA devaluing or making the program better and better!? 🙂
- James67 says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 07:27
  
  Take advantage of it while you can. I suspect devaluation is now imminent, turn of the year at the latest. The airlines often seem to increase earning opportunities ahead of devaluation. Also, i doubt AA can sustain risks to increased liability from a prolonged period as the most generous scheme by far within the OW alliance following changes at BA and CX.
  - RIccati says:
    
    18 Jul18 July 18:26
    
    Yes, the influx of members from other OW airlines would create a liability problem but I doubt it happens.
    
    BAEC and Asia Miles members who redeem for local flights (European for BAEC) stay with these programmes.
PGW says:

3 Jul3 July 04:22

This is a decent offer and in some respect better than buying/sharing AA miles because the latter process involves paying fees and can only be purchased in US$ meaning additional costs if you don’t have the right credit card. Of course you need to have some Starwood points in the bank.

As an example of the current attraction of AAdvantage over Avios, yesterday I booked a Qatar A380 First Class redemption LHR-DOH-BKK for 52.5k miles and £184. Try that one on ba.com!
- James67 says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 07:31
  
  Only downside is that the hefty cancellation/change fee associated with AA but if you can live with that it is currently a great scheme
  - Jason says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 09:45
    
    Do I make the same mistake and try and get AA miles, as I did with Etihad, and watch them decimate the program!
    Possibly not!
    Although I do need to start collect SPG points and an Amex SPG card.
    - James67 says:
      
      3 Jul3 July 11:52
      
      If you want to go to India, Africa or middle east it can sometimes be worthwile buying all the miles you need during some of the AA promotions. Some buying promos are much better than others, just depends how many miles you need relatuve to the bonus cutoff points they use.
  - PGW says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 10:31
    
    Unlimited date changes are free provided the departure/destination points are the same.
    
    I agree that the miles reinstatement fee is relatively high but if the miles have come from 1 account the higher charge is only applied to the account holder with a small additional fee for each additional passenger. At the point where 4 people are travelling on miles from the same account, the change cost is more or less identical to BA’s.
    - James67 says:
      
      3 Jul3 July 11:56
      
      That’s true. However, a few years back I used to have endless issues even to get date or route changes without tge fee via UK call centre but no probablems with USA call centre. Hopefully all the UK staff are clued up on rules by now.
PGW says:

3 Jul3 July 04:50

The link in the article takes me to a aa.com page in Spanish and I’m struggling to find the offer in English. Is that just me it’s happening to?
- Rob says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 09:04
  
  I get English!
  - PGW says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 10:25
    
    That’s puzzling!!
    
    The AA page from the link isn’t English and I think my settings are as they should be (Union Jack & English at the top pf the page). The link within that page takes me to SPG which is in English although the offers isn’t there. I’m sure I can get around it – thanks..
Lee Thornton says:

3 Jul3 July 07:14

Wouldn’t a 20% bonus get you 12,000 AAdvantage miles for converting 10,000 Starpoints? And where do you get 31,250 from? I calculate 20,000 Starpoints gives you 30,000 AAdvantage miles with this promotion (including the stackable 5,000 bonus).
- John says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 07:48
  
  Was going to say the same thing.
  It is a 20% AA bonus not 25% (which SPG gives on 20k transfers).
  10k + 20% = 12k
  20k + 25% + 20% = 30k
  - Rob says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 09:03
    
    You’re right, I am wrong. Wrote this late last night and somehow thought 25 per cent …..
Howard says:

3 Jul3 July 08:33

I got 2 Etihad 380 First Class from AUH to LHR next March and the cost £14.20 each from AA points. There is a hefty cancellation charge which is a big negative.

Out from LHR to Dubai in First (777) with BA was about £325 per person.

Dear wife is very happy!!!
- idrive says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 14:44
  
  can you provide the way you book and mileage please?
Doreen says:

4 Jul4 July 15:34

Didn’t realise that Starpoints would take so long to post over to AA – “allow up to 4 weeks” !
James67 says:

4 Jul4 July 19:53

Gave this somr further thought and it is a very attractive deal for some redemptions if we can avoid high tax/fees exUK. We can buy 20k SPG points converting to 30k AA miles for £450 = ow business class redemption to AA sweet spots, or £900 for a return if you have two accounts to play with. Many of us will already have some spg points so price is even less.
- Tom1234 says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 00:09
  
  Exactly the same price (£400) as buying 30,000 from AA outright (using 1.57 x rate) during the current 15% bonus which ends 13th July.
  - Tom1234 says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 00:10
    
    Sorry actually cheaper by £50
Iain2015 says:

18 Jul18 July 13:07

What’s the likelihood of this being extended?
- Rob says:
  
  18 Jul18 July 14:05
  
  No idea – I don’t follow AA promos as closely as BA ones.