American Airlines & United shopping portal promos: Earn up to 2,000 bonus miles

The American Airlines and United shopping portals are both currently offering bonuses when shopping through them. The number of bonus miles on offer are identical, but each of the portals have their own quirks which could make one better than the other.

The Deals

• The following airline shopping portals are offering bonuses:

Key Terms

• American Airlines offer expires January 12, 2025.
• United offer expires January 15, 2025.

Quick Thoughts

If looking at these bonuses purely from a spend perspective, the United offer is more appealing because the spend requirement at both thresholds is less than the American Airlines portal requirements.

However, there are other factors to consider, one of which is the standard earning rate. If you can earn, say, 7x through the AA portal and only 1x through the United portal, that might make the American portal a better choice depending on how much you’re spending.

Another factor is that with American Airlines, in addition to earning redeemable miles you’ll earn Loyalty Points towards status. You won’t earn 1,000 Loyalty Points from this new bonus promotion, but you will earn Loyalty Points on the base spend.

If you’ve already been earning Loyalty Points over the last 10 months (the AA status qualifying year runs from March 1-February 28), remember that some Loyalty Point Rewards thresholds provide a bonus on Loyalty Points earned through certain partners which includes the American Airlines shopping portal. For example, once you reach 60,000 Loyalty Points, you’ll earn 20% bonus Loyalty Points through the portal for six months. That will enhance your earnings and could be particularly useful for those trying to reach the next level of status with AA by February 28.

The United portal on the other hand has a card-linked in-store program, so spend at eligible bricks and mortar stores counts towards the $150 and $300 spend requirements.

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