How to Book American Airlines Flights with Chase Points

If you’re starting out with points and miles, it may seem like the Chase Ultimate Rewards program is all you need, with its 14 airline and hotel transfer partners and seemingly endless redemption options. And while it’s definitely one of the best, American Airlines enthusiasts would probably beg to differ.

That’s because American Airlines isn’t one of its transfer partners, so it’s not possible to convert your hard-earned Chase points to AAdvantage miles directly.

Thankfully, there are a few workarounds, so you can still use your Chase points to fly with the carrier. For instance, you could always book American Airlines award flights through the Chase Travel portal or transfer your Chase points to a Oneworld alliance partner that is part of the Ultimate Rewards program, like British Airways or Iberia Plus, and redeem them that way.

Here’s what you need to know about booking American Airlines flights with Chase points, from using the Chase Travel portal to transferring points to partners.

Booking American Airlines flights using the Chase travel portal 

Thanks to an intuitive platform, booking flights and other parts of your trip (like hotels, cruises, or rental cars) with points through the Chase Travel portal is pretty straightforward. However, there are a few things to be aware of.

Since bookings through the portal are considered non-refundable, non-transferable third-party reservations, you’re left at the mercy of the airline’s rules for cancellations and changes to your itinerary — if they’re even allowed. You may also have a tougher time reaching customer service if you need assistance since it wasn’t booked directly.

Make sure you’re using a Chase credit card that will deliver the most value per point for your Chase Travel portal redemption. Points are worth up to 2 cents each for Chase Sapphire Reserve members or up to 1.75 cents apiece for Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred cardholders. But that value decreases to one cent per point if you’re using the Chase Freedom Unlimited, Chase Freedom Flex, Chase Freedom Rise Credit Card, Ink Business Cash Credit Card, or the Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card.

To book an American Airlines flight with Chase points, go to the Chase Travel portal at chase.com/travel and log into your Chase Ultimate Rewards account. Click on “flights” to choose a round trip, one way, or multi-city flight, the class you want to fly in, and the number of passengers. Then, enter your desired airports and travel dates. 

For this example, let’s try looking for a round-trip economy main cabin flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) in early May. When the search results come in, choose the “All filters” button in the top right corner, scroll down to where it says “Airlines,” then click on “American Airlines” and “Apply.” 

Select a flight to see how many Chase points your redemption will cost. In this case, it will be 103,248 points for a round-trip economy main cabin seat, including taxes and fees. 

The last page lists all the pricing details. Scroll down to choose how many Chase points you’d like to redeem, whether that means covering the entire flight or just using a portion and paying cash for the remaining balance. The example below is what it looks like if you don’t have enough points to cover the entire flight.

The same flight on the American Airlines website would cost 95,500 AAdvantage miles plus $105.71 in taxes and fees, so it’s a pretty comparable option. 

Booking American flights using Chase points on partners 

Even though American Airlines isn’t directly connected to Chase Ultimate Rewards, it is still possible to transfer Chase points to one of its Oneworld alliance partners and complete your flight redemption that way. That means transferring points from Chase to British Airways Executive Club or Iberia Plus, which you can do at a transfer ratio of 1:1.

Most point transfers happen immediately and are irreversible, so make sure you have a solid redemption plan first. It’s also a good idea to check your Chase account for transfer bonuses and, if there are multiple stops involved, double-check award availability for each segment.

If you’re part of another transferable rewards program, you can “pool” your points from each of them to help cover your redemption with a common airline partner. For instance, British Airways Executive Club is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards, so you could always transfer Chase points and Bilt points to British Airways at a 1:1 ratio to bump up your balance. 

Points can also be transferred to British Airways Executive Club from American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Capital One Rewards at a 1:1 ratio or from Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:1 ratio.

Oneworld alliance members: British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus

Both loyalty programs use Avios as their main currency, though it’s important to note that each has its own rules and partners. British Airways is tied to the rest of the Oneworld alliance carriers, while Iberia’s partner list includes Oneworld, plus other airlines like Vueling, Level, Binter, and LATAM. You may also save more on taxes and fees by booking award flights through Iberia Plus versus British Airways, so always run a search through point.me to see the full price comparisons first.

Once Chase points are converted to Avios, they can be transferred to any other Avios-associated program at a 1:1 transfer ratio.

As for using Chase points to book American Airlines flights, going through the British Airways Executive Club offers a wide variety of award availability options for both domestic and international flights. The carrier uses a distance-based award system, so the farther you’re flying, the more Avios you’ll need to redeem. Awards are also priced by segment, with multi-segment itineraries costing more than round trips. That means you can typically save more points by using Avios to book short-haul domestic flights on American Airlines within the U.S. 

Start by using Great Circle Mapper to calculate the distance between your desired airports. You’ll need that to determine how many Avios your redemption will cost, which can vary by airline partner and where you’re flying to/from (more on that below). 

Alternatively, you can enter your flight details into the website’s Reward Flight Finder to see how many Avios you need. Just choose a flight on American Airlines metal; other options will appear for British Airways and Oneworld alliance partners.

When you’re ready to book, log into your British Airways Executive Club account (or create a new one for free) and select “Book a Flight With Avios” from the “Book” tab at the top. 

Searching for one-way flights from Tampa (TPA) to Philadelphia (PHL) in early September shows economy flights from 16,000 Avios and $5.60 in taxes and fees.

This follows the British Airways Avios guidelines for redemption flights on American Airlines within North America since the distance from TPA to PHL is 920 miles. 

• Zone 1 (0–650 miles): 12,000 Avios in economy or 24,000 in business/first

• Zone 2 (651–1,150 miles): 16,000 Avios in economy or 32,000 in business/first

• Zone 3 (1,151–2,000 miles): 18,000 Avios in economy or 40,000 in business/first

• Zone 4 (2,001–3,000 miles): 20,000 Avios in economy or 50,000 in business/first

For comparison’s sake, the same one way economy flight costs 20,000 AAdvantage miles (and $5.60 for taxes) when you book it through American Airlines’ website. So you’ll save 4,000 miles by transferring Chase points to British Airways Executive Club.

The process is similar for international flights on American Airlines metal. However, you’ll have to use the British Airways award chart for partners outlined in this article. 

A recent search for one-way economy seats between New York (JFK) and London (LHR) in early September revealed a variety of options, including flights on British Airways, Aer Lingus, and American Airlines.

Clicking through the results showed economy flights priced at 20,750 Avios plus $268 in taxes and fees when traveling in the off-peak season.

This follows the British Airways partner redemption guidelines for flights between 3,001 and 4,000 miles (20,750 in economy, 41,250 in premium economy, 62,000 in business class, and 82,500 in first class) since the distance between JFK and LHR is 3,451 miles.

For comparison, American Airlines AAdvantage requires between 19,000 and 26,500 miles for these flights, depending on the time of day. Either way, taxes and fees were only $5.60 per ticket, considerably less than British Airways. While booking through American only saves you 1,750 to 5,750 miles, it shaves off $262.40 in taxes if that’s a dealbreaker for you.

The best AA flights to book using Chase points

It really comes down to your travel needs. As we said above, transferring Chase points to British Airways to book short-haul domestic hops in economy can be a great redemption option. Just follow the steps above to see how many points you’ll need.

You can also use those hard-earned points to treat yourself to a fabulous Flagship business or Flagship first-class experience, complete with lounge access, signature onboard dining, and lie-flat seats.

How point.me helps you book American Airlines flights with Chase points

You’re able to search for the ideal flight redemption easily since point.me reveals every available option. Just enter your travel dates, desired airport(s) or cities, and which class you prefer to fly in. Then, filter your search results by loyalty program. 

Creating an account allows you to narrow results down further to see flights that correspond with the airline loyalty programs and credit cards you’re already a member of. Best of all, there are never any surprises — retail prices are always provided for comparison, as are all taxes, fees, and the number of points you’ll need to transfer, including any points transfer bonuses that might be active.

Summary

The Chase Ultimate Rewards program may not be a transfer partner of American Airlines, but there are still some ways to use Chase points to book award flights. For example, you could transfer them to one of American’s Oneworld partners that’s also a Chase travel partner — in this case, British Airways Executive Club or Iberia Plus — to book your awrd flight. 

Depending on the Chase credit card you have, you could score a higher redemption rate of 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point (versus the regular rate of 1 cent per point) by redeeming through the Chase Travel portal — a terrific option for booking non-partner flights with Chase points.