MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.


The American Airlines eShopping portal is offering 50 miles per dollar spent at magazines.com through today (May 27, 2016.)

Screen Shot 2016-05-27 at 3.46.35 PM Portals are a way to earn extra miles. You start your online shopping at a portal, click a link that adds cookies to your browser to prove you started in the portal, and then purchase things on other sites at normal price while getting bonus miles.

Portals generally offer small miles per dollar at stores that have small margins. For instance, you can get 1 bonus mile per dollar at walmart.com through the American Airlines portal. But at stores with big margins, you get more miles, like the normal 25 per dollar at magazines.com and today’s 50 per dollar there.

To get the 50 miles per dollar, start on the American Airlines’ portal and sign in, then click “Shop now” under the magazines.com offer.

There are many magazines available for subscription.
Screen Shot 2016-05-27 at 3.47.32 PM

I am not an expert on magazine prices, but I expect that magazines.com is selling subscriptions at an inflated price to be able to afford to offer so many American Airlines miles. And indeed these prices for The Economist look quite a bit higher than I recall seeing by mail and other places.

Screen Shot 2016-05-27 at 3.47.47 PM

 

Good Deal?

You get 51 miles per dollar for subscriptions, 50 from the portal and 1 from your credit card. I value American Airlines miles at 1.5 cents each, so you are getting–in my estimation, and yours could vary–76.5 cents worth of miles for every dollar spent.

That means this is a good deal if that magazine is worth at least 23.5% of the price on magazines.com AND there is nowhere else you can buy the magazine for less than 23.5% of its price on magazines.com.

Example: One year of The Economist is $152 on magazines.com. You should purchase that subscription if:

  • you value AA miles at 1.5 cents each
  • you value a year of The Economist at more than $35.72 (that’s 23.5% of $152)
  • there is nowhere else to subscribe to The Economist for less than $35.72 for a year

Bottom Line

The American Airlines portal is offering 50 miles per dollar on magazines.com purchases today only. Take a look if you’re in the market for magazines.