Are you sitting on a mountain of United MileagePlus miles but dreaming of flying American Airlines? Perhaps you've had a change in travel plans, or you simply prefer American's routes or their AAdvantage program. Whatever the reason, you're likely wondering: can I transfer my United miles to American Airlines?
Let's cut to the chase right away: Directly transferring United miles to American Airlines miles is generally not possible. United Airlines and American Airlines are direct competitors and belong to different airline alliances (United is part of Star Alliance, while American Airlines is a founding member of the oneworld alliance). This means their loyalty programs operate independently, and there's no direct mechanism to move miles from one to the other.
However, don't despair! While a direct transfer isn't an option, there are indirect strategies you can employ to potentially leverage your United miles for travel on American Airlines or to gain value from them in other ways. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know.
Understanding the Landscape: Why Direct Transfers Are Rare
Before we dive into solutions, it's important to understand why direct transfers between competing airlines are so rare.
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| How To Transfer United Miles To American Airlines |
The Alliance System
Airlines form alliances (like Star Alliance, oneworld, and SkyTeam) to offer a broader network of destinations and seamless travel experiences to their customers. Within an alliance, it's common to use miles from one airline's loyalty program to book flights on another airline within the same alliance. For example, you can use United miles to book a flight on Lufthansa (a Star Alliance partner) or American Airlines miles to book a flight on British Airways (a oneworld partner).
However, these alliances are designed to retain customers within their ecosystem, not to facilitate transfers to competitors.
Protecting Program Value
Frequent flyer programs are valuable assets for airlines. They incentivize customer loyalty and generate revenue through mile sales and partnerships. Allowing direct transfers to competing airlines would undermine this value proposition, as it would enable customers to easily jump ship without any real commitment.
Step 1: Let's Face the Music Together – Acknowledging the "No Direct Transfer" Reality
So, you've got United miles, and you want American Airlines. The first and most crucial step is to accept that a direct conversion or transfer simply doesn't exist. This isn't a hidden trick or a secret loophole you're missing. Trying to force a direct transfer will only lead to frustration.
Instead of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, we need to think creatively about how to maximize the value of your United miles, even if that means not directly seeing them as American Airlines miles.
Step 2: Indirect Strategies to Leverage Your United Miles for American Airlines Travel (or Equivalent Value)
Since a direct transfer is out, let's explore the indirect methods. These strategies focus on using your United miles for other flights that might serve your travel needs, or extracting value that can then be used for American Airlines.
Sub-heading 2.1: Booking Flights on American Airlines' Partners (If Applicable)
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This is where the alliance system comes into play, but in reverse. While you can't use United miles directly on American Airlines, you might be able to use your United miles on a Star Alliance partner airline that also codeshares or has a separate partnership with American Airlines on a specific route. This is a very niche scenario and not a guaranteed solution for all routes, but it's worth checking if your desired route happens to align.
How to check:
Identify your desired route and dates: What American Airlines flight are you looking at?
Search for Star Alliance flights on that route: Go to the United website and search for award travel for your desired route and dates. See if any Star Alliance partners fly that route.
Check for codeshares/partnerships: If a Star Alliance partner flies the route, then you'd need to research if that specific Star Alliance airline has a separate codeshare or interline agreement with American Airlines for a connecting flight. This is highly unlikely to be practical or cost-effective for a full itinerary, but for very specific segments, it might exist.
Important Note: This is a very indirect and generally inefficient method. It's rare to find a truly advantageous connection this way.
Sub-heading 2.2: The "Book for Someone Else" Loophole (United to any airline)
This is arguably the most practical way to indirectly use your United miles for someone else's travel, regardless of the airline they fly. You can book an award flight on United or a Star Alliance partner airline for another person. If that person was going to fly American Airlines anyway, and you can find a suitable alternative on a United or Star Alliance partner flight, you can essentially "gift" them a flight using your miles, freeing up their cash to buy an American Airlines ticket.
How to do it:
Log in to your United MileagePlus account.
Search for award travel: Find flights on United or any of its Star Alliance partners (e.g., Lufthansa, Air Canada, Turkish Airlines, etc.) for the person you want to help.
Enter the recipient's details: When prompted for traveler information, enter the full legal name and date of birth of the person who will be flying.
Complete the booking with your miles.
Send them the itinerary.
Benefits:
No transfer fees for booking for someone else.
The recipient doesn't need a MileagePlus membership.
This indirectly frees up their money to be used for American Airlines flights.
Sub-heading 2.3: Consider Transferring Miles to a Shared Transferable Points Program (If Applicable)
This option is only relevant if your United miles originated from a flexible points program, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards. If your United miles were earned directly from flying United or through a United co-branded credit card, this strategy won't work.
However, if you have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you can transfer them to United MileagePlus. The key is that some flexible points programs also partner with American Airlines' AAdvantage program, or with another program that can transfer to AAdvantage.
Example scenario (Hypothetical, as direct transfer partners for AA are fewer):
You have flexible points (e.g., from a bank credit card like Marriott Bonvoy points).
Some hotel loyalty programs (like Marriott Bonvoy) allow you to transfer their points to multiple airline partners, including both United (MileagePlus) and American Airlines (AAdvantage).
If you have these hotel points, you could choose to convert them to AAdvantage miles instead of United miles.
How to check if your flexible points are transferable to American Airlines:
Identify your flexible points source: Is it a bank program (Chase, Amex, Capital One, Citi) or a hotel program (Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors)?
Check their transfer partners: Go to the respective loyalty program's website and look for their airline transfer partners. See if American Airlines AAdvantage is listed.
Reality Check: While some programs partner with many airlines, finding one that partners with both United and American and allows flexible transfers to both at a good rate is uncommon. Marriott Bonvoy is one of the few exceptions that partners with many airlines, including both United and American, allowing you to choose where to send your points. If your United miles are already in your MileagePlus account, this strategy is not applicable.
Sub-heading 2.4: Sell Your Miles (Use with Extreme Caution!)
There are third-party brokers who buy airline miles. You could sell your United miles to one of these brokers and then use the cash you receive to purchase American Airlines tickets.
Why use with extreme caution:
Against airline terms and conditions: Most, if not all, airline loyalty programs explicitly prohibit the sale or transfer of miles outside of their approved mechanisms (like gifting miles within the family, or official transfer programs, which usually involve fees).
Risk of account closure: If the airline discovers you've sold your miles, they can zero out your mileage balance and even close your account permanently. This means you lose all your miles and future earning potential with that airline.
Lower value: You will almost always receive significantly less cash value for your miles than their theoretical redemption value. Brokers need to make a profit.
Fraud risk: There's a risk of dealing with unscrupulous brokers.
Recommendation: We do not recommend this option due to the high risks involved. It's better to find legitimate ways to use your miles, even if they aren't directly with American Airlines.
Sub-heading 2.5: Consider the "Money + Miles" Option with United
If you have a significant number of United miles but not enough for a full award ticket, United offers a "Money + Miles" option. This allows you to pay for a portion of your flight with miles and the rest with cash. While this doesn't directly help with American Airlines, it helps you deplete your United mileage balance and save cash, which you can then allocate towards American Airlines flights.
Tip: Reading twice doubles clarity.
How it works:
Sign in to your MileagePlus account on united.com or the United app.
Search for flights: Enter your desired origin, destination, and dates.
Select the "Money + Miles" display option: This will show you flight prices with a combination of miles and cash.
Choose your flight and the amount of miles to use at checkout.
Benefits:
Flexibility in using smaller mileage amounts.
Helps reduce cash outlay for United/Star Alliance flights.
Cash saved can be used for American Airlines travel.
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Step 3: Focusing on Smart Redemptions of Your United Miles
Since a direct transfer to American Airlines isn't an option, the most sensible approach is to maximize the value of your United miles within the United/Star Alliance ecosystem. This might mean using them for a different trip, and then paying cash for your desired American Airlines flight.
Sub-heading 3.1: Redeeming for United or Star Alliance Flights
The most straightforward and often best-value way to use your United miles is for award flights on United Airlines or its Star Alliance partners. This network is vast, covering thousands of destinations worldwide.
Tips for maximizing value:
International Business/First Class: You often get the highest per-mile value when redeeming for premium cabins on international flights, especially on Star Alliance partners.
"Saver" Awards: Look for "Saver" level award availability, which requires fewer miles. These can be harder to find, especially for popular routes and dates, but offer significant savings.
United's Excursionist Perk: This unique benefit allows you to get a free one-way flight within a multi-destination itinerary that starts and ends in the same MileagePlus region, but has a different region for the middle segment. For example, a trip from North America to Europe, then an intra-Europe flight, then back to North America, could yield a "free" intra-Europe flight. This requires careful planning.
Off-peak travel: Award availability is usually better, and mileage requirements lower, during off-peak seasons or less popular travel days.
Sub-heading 3.2: United Upgrades
If you're already flying on a paid United flight, you can often use your MileagePlus miles to upgrade your seat to a higher cabin (e.g., economy to business class). This can be a great way to experience a premium product without paying the full cash price.
Sub-heading 3.3: Other Redemption Options (Use with Caution!)
United MileagePlus offers other redemption options, such as:
Hotel bookings: You can use miles to book hotels through United Hotels. Generally, this offers poor value compared to flight redemptions.
Car rentals: Similar to hotels, mileage value here is usually low.
Gift cards or merchandise: These redemptions almost always yield the absolute lowest value for your miles and should be avoided unless you have no other use for them.
Recommendation: Prioritize using your United miles for flights (especially premium cabins on international routes) to get the best return on your mileage investment. Avoid non-flight redemptions unless absolutely necessary.
Step 4: Focus on Earning American Airlines Miles for Future Travel
If your primary goal is to fly American Airlines, the most direct solution is to start earning American Airlines AAdvantage miles.
Sub-heading 4.1: American Airlines Co-Branded Credit Cards
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American Airlines has partnerships with credit card issuers like Citi and Barclays. Applying for and meeting the spending requirements on one of their co-branded credit cards can quickly earn you a substantial AAdvantage mileage bonus.
Sub-heading 4.2: Flying American Airlines or oneworld Partners
Naturally, flying with American Airlines or any of its oneworld alliance partners (e.g., British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways) will earn you AAdvantage miles.
Sub-heading 4.3: American Airlines AAdvantage Dining and Shopping Portals
Similar to United, American Airlines has dining programs and online shopping portals that allow you to earn AAdvantage miles for everyday spending.
Conclusion: Plan Strategically
While the dream of seamlessly transferring United miles to American Airlines remains just that – a dream – you now have a clear understanding of the limitations and the practical strategies available.
The core takeaway is this: You cannot directly transfer United miles to American Airlines miles.
Your best approach is to:
Acknowledge this reality.
Maximize the value of your United miles by using them for high-value redemptions within the United/Star Alliance network (especially for flights, and consider booking for others).
Separately focus on earning American Airlines AAdvantage miles if American is your preferred airline for future travel.
By planning strategically and understanding the nuances of airline loyalty programs, you can still achieve your travel goals, even if it's not through a direct mile transfer.
10 Related FAQ Questions
How to transfer miles between different airline alliances?
It is generally not possible to transfer miles directly between different airline alliances (e.g., Star Alliance to oneworld). Each alliance operates its own independent loyalty programs.
How to use United miles for flights on airlines other than United?
You can use United MileagePlus miles to book award flights on any of United's Star Alliance partner airlines, such as Lufthansa, Air Canada, EVA Air, ANA, Singapore Airlines, and more. You search for these flights directly on the United Airlines website.
Tip: Reading carefully reduces re-reading.
How to book an American Airlines flight with United miles?
You cannot directly book an American Airlines flight with United miles. These airlines are competitors and belong to different alliances.
How to transfer United miles to another person?
You can transfer United miles to another MileagePlus member through the "Transfer Miles" option on United's website. However, be aware that United charges a significant fee for this service ($7.50 per 500 miles, plus a $30 processing fee), making it often very expensive. A better option to "transfer" miles to someone is to simply book an award flight for them using your miles, which incurs no transfer fees.
How to convert United miles into cash?
You cannot directly convert United miles into cash with the airline. While third-party brokers exist who buy miles, this practice is against airline terms and conditions and carries a high risk of account closure. It's generally not recommended.
How to use American Airlines miles for flights on airlines other than American?
You can use American Airlines AAdvantage miles to book award flights on any of American's oneworld alliance partners (e.g., British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways) or other non-alliance partners like Etihad Airways or JetBlue. You can search for these flights on the American Airlines website.
How to get the most value out of United miles?
The best way to get value from United miles is typically by redeeming them for international business or first-class award flights on United or its Star Alliance partners, especially by looking for "Saver" award availability.
How to avoid paying fees when using United miles?
While award tickets usually require you to pay taxes and carrier-imposed fees, you can avoid transfer fees by booking an award flight for someone else directly from your MileagePlus account, rather than transferring miles to their account.
How to earn American Airlines miles quickly?
The fastest ways to earn American Airlines miles are typically through sign-up bonuses on American Airlines co-branded credit cards and by flying on American Airlines or its oneworld partner airlines.
How to know which airlines are partners with United?
United Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance. You can find a full list of Star Alliance member airlines on United's website or the Star Alliance website.
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