I find it surprising when I mention to people that they can fly to Europe roundtrip for as little as 20,000 points each way! One of the greatest parts of the American Airlines AAdvantage program, is their off-peak awards that allow you to book award tickets to different regions at a discounted rate. Refer to this previous post for American Airlines’ 80+ European Destinations Without Fuel Surcharges.

AA has great award ticket availability and seat redemption options that are even better when you take advantage of their MileSAAver off-peak dates. American Airlines’ award chart displays the amount of miles needed for an off-peak award ticket that can save you up to 20,000 miles round trip on flights to South America and Europe. The MileSAAver off-peak award tickets are only available for economy seating and they make American Airlines a very desirable reward program when other airlines are devaluing their programs and making it more difficult to earn and redeem points.

Off-Peak Dates by Region from North America:

– Hawaii: January 12 – March 13; August 22 – Dec. 15

• 17,500 miles each way, normally 22,500 each way

– The Caribbean and Mexico: September 7 – November 14

• 12,500 miles each way, normally 17,500 each way

– Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru & Venezuela: January 16 – June 14; September 7 – Nov. 14

• 15,000 miles each way, normally 17,500 each way

– Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay: March 1 – May 31; August 16 – November 30

• 20,000 miles each way, normally 30,000 each way

Fly to Brazil for only 20k points each way

– Europe: October 15 – May 15

• 20,000 miles each way, normally 30,000 each way

– Japan and South Korea: October 1 – April 30

• 25,000 miles each way, normally 32,500 each way

Fly all the way from Los Angeles to Paris for only 20k points!

Why It’s Such a Great Deal:

The great part about these off-peak awards is that they really aren’t so off-peak. I love to travel during most of these dates and they span over a really long period of time. Most of these regions have off-peak awards for over half of the year! Keep in mind that these off-peak awards only apply to the MileSAAver award ticket.

Ways to Earn AAdvantage Miles:

You’ll have more than enough for a roundtrip award off-peak ticket to any of these destinations with the Citi also has a 50,000 point AAdvantage sign up offer with the Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard® when you spend $3,000 in 3 months. For those of you that took advantage of the Citi Executive AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard that previously offered 100,000 points for spending $10,000 in 3 months, you’ll have more than enough points to take a nice family vacation to wherever your heart desires.

The Starwood Preferred Guest Card by Amex also offers great flexibility for transferring points to dozens of partner airlines including American Airlines. They are best known for their free 5,000 point bonus when you transfer 20,000 points to any partner airline – so make sure you transfer in increments of 20k!

So if you were waiting for an opportunity to fly at a reduced award rate, look no further and make sure to book during one of the off-peak dates at any of the regions listed above on American Airlines.