http://www.aa.com/AAdvantage
Rating (out of five stars): ****

When you access the AAdvantage home page at aa.com, your first thought might be, “… that’s a lot of text.” But then, if you are already a member of AAdvantage, you don’t need to be sold on the idea to join with attention-grabbing text and eye-catching graphics.

There is, indeed, a lot going on at aa.com/AAdvantage including an area where you can sign in as an AAdvantage member, rotating graphics featuring information such as sharing miles, voting in the Freddie Awards, information about the US Airways/American merger and information about the co-branded credit card. There is also a “What’s New for AAdvantage Members” bar you can click to find out more, as well as links to more information about Program Information, Elite Status Membership, Earn Miles, Redeem Miles, Buy & Share Miles and Stay Connected.

Other links include Watch Our Video, Request Mileage Credit, Deposit Miles and under a larger heading of News and Offers: Learn about Citi / AAdvantage card benefits and the new American.

You can click the Terms and Conditions and a host of links at the bottom of the page offers quick access to other areas of the website. We find the various fonts and sizes of text distracting, but members certainly can access the information they need from this one page. When you click the AAdvantage heading, you’ll find another list of links to information including Bonus Offers, News & Offers, Book Awards and others–this is the fastest way to get to the information most members need.

The link to join the program is small and easily missed under the member sign-in box. When you sign in as a member, the page looks very much the same, except you will see your current mileage balance, total mileage posted since your last summary and date of last activity as well as other information about your account.

Under the Email and Fare Alerts tab, you can opt in to receive emails containing your AAdvantage account summary, news and offers, flight deals, AAdvantage promotions and AAVacations travel picks. You can also select your preferred travel interests, which could generate more emails. But if you are looking for information about travel to Africa or Australia, for example, you would be out of luck because Africa and Australia are not listed as travel destinations.

One thing we like about the website is that the Award Reservations page clearly states AAdvantage ticketing service charges–something that sometimes is buried in the fine print of the terms and conditions on other program websites. Nine airline partners’ flight awards can be booked online. Another feature that is appreciated is the AAdvantage HotSpots page, which features award destinations with good availability listed by vacation type. For example, there’s currently good availability to Colorado Springs as a top adventure/ski destination and to London Heathrow as a top international destination. You can also access the Award Map to see where your miles can take you.

Along with one-way, roundtrip and multi-city flights, members can book other awards including car and hotel awards through the site.