American Airlines just gave AAdvantage members a new way to spend miles: dinner. On November 5, American announced a partnership with the MICHELIN Guide that will let members redeem miles for chef-led dinners and food-focused trips starting in 2027.
It’s a fun idea. It’s also short on the details that matter most, like how many miles any of this will cost.
What American announced
According to American’s press release, the partnership has three parts:
- Chef-led dinners: small dinners with well-known chefs, including collaborations with MICHELIN-Starred restaurants, that you book with AAdvantage miles.
- Culinary trips: custom trips planned with MICHELIN Guide experts, also booked with miles.
- MICHELIN Guide ceremonies: American becomes the official and exclusive restaurant partner for the U.S. ceremonies, where the Guide hands out its stars.
Dates and cities (as of November 2026)
- Los Angeles: first dinner planned for February 2027
- Miami: April 2027
- Chicago: June 2027
- Porto, Portugal: the first culinary trip, in September 2027, timed to American’s launch of service there
What’s missing: mileage prices, the restaurants and chefs involved, how many seats each dinner will have, and when and where booking opens. American’s release doesn’t cover any of that yet, so treat everything beyond the cities and months as unknown for now.
American’s Chief Customer Officer, Heather Garboden, framed it this way: “Food and beverage is an important driver of customer satisfaction.” That tells you where American’s head is. It’s trying to give miles more uses beyond flights and upgrades, and to make the program feel a bit more premium.
Who this is for and what to do now
If you live in or near LA, Miami or Chicago and you’ve got a big AAdvantage balance, this is worth watching. Chicago readers, June 2027 is your month. If Porto has been on your list, the September trip could be an easy way to pair a new route with a food-heavy itinerary, though we don’t know yet whether flights are part of the package.
There’s nothing to book today. For now, the practical move is to keep an eye on American’s newsroom and your AAdvantage emails for the launch details. Events like these tend to have very few seats, so if you’re serious, be ready to move quickly once booking opens.
Our take
We like the idea, but we’re holding off on any excitement until American shows us the prices. Here’s why. Spending miles on experiences instead of flights often gets you far less value per mile, because the program sets the price however it likes and there’s no cash fare to compare it to. A dinner that “costs” a huge pile of miles might be worth a lot less in real dollars than a business class seat to Europe. That’s not a reason to skip it, just a reason to do the math first.
We’d consider booking one of these if you’ve already got more AAdvantage miles than you can realistically use on flights, or if it’s a special occasion where the experience matters more than the cents-per-mile number. We’d pass if you’re saving for a big award trip, since a premium cabin redemption will almost always stretch your miles further. Once American publishes mileage prices, we’ll know which camp this falls into.
Related on Points Capital: Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Fee Rises to $150 in January; British Airways Raises the Bar for Silver and Gold in 2027.
Source: American Airlines Newsroom; additional reporting by InsideFlyer.
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