You need at least 7,500 miles for a free flight on American Airlines. You can redeem 7,500 AAdvantage miles for a free one-way domestic MileSAAver award flight of up to 500 miles in distance. For a domestic flight longer than 500 miles, you’ll need 20,000-30,000 award miles.
American Airlines’ flight awards chart… read full answer is divided into four different award levels: MileSAAver, MileSAAver Off Peak, AAnytime Level 1, and AAnytime Level 2. The award levels differ based on availability, date, and region. MileSAAver and MileSAAver Off Peak are the cheapest options with the least availability. AAnytime Level 1 and Level 2 have much better availability, but require more miles (up to twice as many).
How Many Miles You Need for a Free Flight on American Airlines:
- One-way flight in the contiguous U.S. and Canada: 7,500-30,000 miles
- One-way flight to Alaska: 15,000-40,000 miles
- One-way flight to Hawaii: 20,000-50,000 miles
- One-way flight to Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean: 12,500-37,500 miles
- One-way flight to Europe: 22,500-65,000 miles
- One-way flight to Asia: 32,500-80,000 miles
Those mile requirements are all for Main Cabin seats. Business and First Class flights will cost more miles, anywhere from 25,000 to 170,000 more per one-way flight. Regardless of which flight you choose, you’ll still have to pay the fees and taxes for the flight.
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