You can now use AAdvantage miles for concerts and sports events— but is it a good choice?

A new option has emerged for redeeming your American Airlines miles that doesn’t require flying.

Starting Tuesday, the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline now allows American Airlines AAdvantage redemptions for tickets to concerts, theater performances, and sports events through the AAdvantage Events portal. You can fully cover the ticket cost with miles or combine them with cash in increments of 1,000 miles.

This new feature is already available on the AAdvantage Events portal, but it can be a bit challenging to locate the redemption option.

Once you’ve searched for tickets, find your desired event and move to the checkout page. (This portal is in collaboration with Ticketmaster, so you should have access to most standard and resale ticket options they provide.) The search results will show how many miles you could earn with a cash payment, but ignore that number if you plan to use miles instead.

To redeem your miles, simply enter your AAdvantage number on the contact information page.

When you reach the payment screen, you'll see a new option labeled "Redeem Miles." You can specify how many miles you'd like to use to reduce the ticket price from this section.

Be aware that resale tickets that aren't verified, or those from partner sites connected to Ticketmaster, will be disabled and can't be bought through AAdvantage Events.

As for whether this redemption option is worthwhile, most travelers might find it doesn't offer significant value.

American informed TPG that the redemption rates will remain uniform across various events; however, members with AAdvantage status and those holding American cobranded credit cards will benefit from better redemption rates.

As an AAdvantage Executive Platinum member and a holder of a cobranded credit card, I checked the redemption rates for upcoming New York Yankees games.

The AAdvantage portal indicated that all redemption methods—whether through a combination of cash and miles or solely miles—resulted in a value of 1 cent per mile.

I then conducted the same searches for my wife, who lacks any status or American credit cards, and found her rates to be 0.9 cents per mile.

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According to TPG's July 2024 valuations, American miles are valued at 1.55 cents each. Based on this valuation, most travelers may not benefit from using miles for tickets. However, if you have an excess of miles or a few unused ones, this could be a worthwhile option.

Ultimately, having more options is preferable to having fewer. (American appears to understand this, as they have been actively expanding nonflight redemption options, including Wi-Fi packages, recently.)

As for myself, I'm simply hoping that the upcoming Oneworld alliance mileage upgrade program offers more value than this latest redemption opportunity.