Keeping My Daughters American Airlines Account Active

My 5 year old daughter has been on plenty of flights in her short life although most of them are paid for using points and miles. The majority of her flights have been on Southwest or JetBlue when we use points from mine or my husbands accounts to get her that free flight. On two occasions though, we actually paid for her flight on American Airlines. Once was on a flight to California when prices were ridiculously low and the other was on a flight to London when I received a travel voucher from getting bumped on our flight to California! Since these were paid flights, this has been her only opportunity to actually earn miles in her account!

I was just going through my miles and points tracking spreadsheet and realize that her American Airlines account is actually about to expire! She earned just over 7,000 American Airline miles from her two previous flights and there is no way I am going to allow those points to expire even though we are approaching the 18 month of inactivity mark. To keep her account active, all I have to do is earn or redeem at least 1 mile.

Here are the three easiest ways to keep a child’s American Airline account active if they are about to expire:

• Use the AAdvantage eShopping site – This allows you to make every day online purchases while receiving miles (this can be done through most of the major airline and hotel chains). Keep in mind though that some partners might take 6-8 weeks for the miles to post, but many post within just a week or two.
• Purchase a magazine subscription – You can redeem your miles by purchasing a variety of magazines. Either purchase a magazine you actually want to redeem or just pick the cheapest mileage option possible. Right now subscriptions start at just 300 miles, which is a very inexpensive way for keeping your miles active. The miles will be deducted from your account immediately which means your miles will be extended that day.
• Donate miles to an eligible charity – There are three different charities for donating miles. They require you to donate a minimum of 1,000 miles, which is definitely a lot of miles, but if you are looking for a feel good moment, this might be a great option for you. The miles will be deducted from your account immediately which means your miles will be extended that day.

I personally made a purchase through the AAdvantage shopping site for a purchase at Target. It was a purchase I was going to make anyways and instead of using my Advantage account number (which I typically do), I used my daughters account. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the miles post in time, but I made a note in my calendar to check the day before the account is set to expire. If the miles do not post in time, then I will be purchasing a subscription to Parents Magazine. It is only 300 miles, although maybe it would come in handy in my current life anyways with two kids!