You’ve probably seen the latest American Airlines AAdvantage promo called “Feel the love” where they are basically offering 3.33 miles / $ spent.
I took some time to post this because I wanted to do a little more analysis instead of posting it immediately.
If you want to maximize this offer, you need to spend $50 in the portal for whatever purchase. The gift card churning sweet spot to this offer is $400 if you gift card churn this opportunity with Staples and obviously using the Chase Ink. You are in effect earning 5.33 miles / $ as Staples is currently 2 miles / $.
Then you must spend $50
The Math:
It comes out to be about a penny a point for the combination of American Airline mile and Ultimate Rewards mall if you separate the orders to maximize your Plink points
Notice in the green, it is the addition of a $50 gift card, and it raises your cost marginally. The Feel The Love column was using the dollar purchased times the miles/$ to proportionally assign the ratio.
I’ve tried buying GCs at staples through the UR Mall and was not awarded points. Since AA is run by the same vendor, would the same result be expected?
I would believe that to be true since it’s run by the same mall. However, I have not seen evidence of buying GC’s at Staples not being awarded yet. I’d like to believe something happened with the transaction and didn’t get recorded.