9 Reasons To Get Citi’s American Airlines Business Card Now

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CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® [See rates and fees]

I’ve had the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® both recently and in the distant past, and it’s spending on this card that largely accounting for my first lifetime elite status with American Airlines way back in 2006. American’s miles are the currency I’ve spent the most over the years, and there’s no longer a great way to earn miles through another credit card besides an American branded one and then transfer those miles to AAdvantage.

And AAdvantage miles remain my go-to right now too, whether it’s booking Qatar Airways QSuites for next year or Cathay Pacific awards to go back to Southeast Asia. Any awards booked this year can be cancelled, with miles redeposited, at no cost – so these miles are the perfect way to start planning travel again.

Here are 9 reasons I think it’s a great idea to get the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®:

  1. 65,000 bonus miles the initial offer for this card is generous, 65,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $4,000 within the first 4 months of account opening.
  2. Redeem that bonus for two of the best products in the world Earn the bonus and meet the spending requirement you’ll have 69,000 miles. 70,000 by the way is what it costs from the US to the Mideast, India or Maldives on Qatar. You can even fly Qatar’s Qsuites, which may be the best business class in the world. (There’s an argument to be made for the new ANA business class having the title.)
    Credit: Qatar Airways

    Flying business class from the US to Southeast Asia also costs 70,000 miles — and you can fly carriers including Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and Cathay Pacific.


    Cathay Pacific

  3. It’s almost like having Gold status, but without the upgrades Golds rarely get anyway. The card offers first checked bag on domestic American Airlines itineraries and preferred boarding on American flights.
  4. No annual fee the first year so the initial bonus doesn’t come with the card’s $99 annual fee, and the other card benefits like free checked bags and boarding privileges don’t either.
  5. First class awards. AAdvantage miles are great if you want to redeem for international first class because they have some of the best airlines in the world as their partners, airlines that offer an international first class product, and that make first class available to partners on points.I’ve been fortunate to regularly redeem my miles for Qantas first class, Cathay Pacific first class, and Etihad first class — not to mention that first class is available on Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and British Airways.


    Qantas First Class

  6. Doesn’t add to 5/24 Citibank business cards you carry aren’t reported to your personal credit so do not count towards Chase’s 5/24 restrictions. You can get this card without pushing up that numerator.
  7. Can get personal and business from both Citi and Barclays Miles you earn from this offer aren’t the end of the story. Citibank has a personal AAdvantage card too and American also partners with Barclays for its co-branded credit cards. As I’ve frequently heard flight attendants remind customers on flights, you can get AAdvantage cards from both Citi and Barclays. That’s four cards you can get earning the same mileage currency.
  8. No credit cards earn American AAdvantage miles faster. Delta and United have bank partners whose own products earn points faster than the co-brands do, where it makes sense to put your spending on another card and then transfer (from Amex) to Delta or (from Chase) to United. However there’s no bank card out there that earns American AAdvantage miles faster. The card earns 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases, and on purchases at telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and at gas stations; 1 AAdvantage® mile per $1 spent on other purchases; 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible mile earned from purchases. This isn’t my go to card for spending but it’s a great way to earn elite status.
  9. Anecdotally easy to get I’ve had this card in the past but I was approved without difficulty when I last became a cardmember. Readers have had great success with it as well.

CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

Comments

  1. Serious question: have you really been able to regularly redeem AA miles for Qantas first class? If so, what tricks am I missing?

    thanks

  2. I applied for my wife last night (personal) card as we already both had the business. She was instantly approved 18.5k CL. We just met the downs on the AA Citi Exec MC and the 80 k mikes were deposited

  3. Mike Murphy I just booked my wife and daughter two seats on CP J class JFK -Cebu for next July. Plenty of availability. I used AS miles. 100k total.

  4. The Bilt Card can transfer to AA and it earns 2X on travel purchases and 3X on restaurants so actually there are other cards that earn AA miles faster. Oh and you can earn points by paying your rent.

    Oh and no annual fee. And no foreign transaction fee. If you want to try it out please consider using my referral link. https://bilt.page/r/BPUI-SP96

  5. What’s the best card to get if I’m planning to put 250k on it to get EP and the benefits at 175k and 250k come 3/1/23?

  6. About AA airlines, I have flown AA business class on several different aircraft. I cannot ever do it again.
    They’re seats do not have a leg rest for during very long flights! Unless you want to completely recline and or have the bed made up, you must sit with your feet on the floor.
    This is very bad for circulation and swelling.
    Every other airline I have traveled business class with has leg rests that come up without reclining your seat. So, it is the choice of AA to have these uncomfortable seats.

  7. “However there’s no bank card out there that earns American AAdvantage miles faster.” Except for Wells Fargo Bilt with 3x Dining & 2x Travel everyday (double that first of each mth). Points can then be transferred to AA

  8. Just curious, Gary – you & other bloggers purchased mill of AA miles thru the Simply Miles promo late 2021. Seems you wouldn’t have much of a need for a paltry addtl 65k AA miles with so much in bank already? Or free bags already carrying AA status?

  9. As I’ve frequently heard flight attendants remind customers on flights, you can get AAdvantage cards from both Citi and Barclays. That’s four cards you can get earning the same mileage currency.

  10. Citibank business cards you carry aren’t reported to your personal credit so do not count towards Chase’s 5/24 restrictions. You can get this card without pushing up that numerator.

  11. I have to disagree with you about the ease of access to biz class tix let alone access to partner miles….I have 1mm miles to blow but refuse to spent 200m each way to go to Asia when previous it was easy to grabs a biz class award tix to hkg, bkk, del for no more than 160,000 round trip…now it’s 400,000 round trip OR MORE…not sure where you are looking but definitely NOT possible

  12. Agree with Mike C regarding AA miles. My earned miles on AA seem to have devalued twofold. Business to Australia on AA is about a million miles for 2 passengers, regardless of the date. Miles to Europe on Business also increased proportionally. But, American does sell partner airlines to Australia (on Fiji) and Europe (on BA) for somewhat fewer miles. They also sell their tickets for fewer $$. Maybe there’s a pattern. AA did have a loyalty choice promotion to get 15% of your miles back on an award flight. So, I did get over 150,000 back on an Australia trip for me and my wife. But, it consumes a loyalty choice award (like a systemwide upgrade). Delta rebates 15% back every time on award flights for some of their card holders.

  13. Didn’t realize you hit AA 1MM so late in the game. 😉

    AA was my first airline lifetime elite status too, but I did it without credit cards. I did have a Citibank AA debit card, but the miles from it barely registered compared to my earning 300% of actual miles flown as a result of distance flown + 100% elite status bonus + c. 100% bonus from converting earned sets of 4 sticker upgrades into 10k miles. Actually that was more the way I made the 2MM mark than the 1MM mark but both were from distance based earning more than anything else. Most of my AA 1MM family and friends made it via bank card churning.

  14. I can’t find Biz class on AA metal anywhere internationally on any date, to any destination. I found London for 93k in off-peak early December, but Asia, if you can find anything, is 300k+. 65k is good for a domestic trip but that’s about all.

  15. Clarification of the post I just made.

    I can’t find Biz class on AA metal anywhere internationally on any date, to any destination for under 200 or 300k one way.

  16. @Dan You are not getting Qantas First class easily, or whenever you want. There was a limited amount of space last yr in F and there may have been some scattered this yr. Its a tough one. Their business class is still very good. If you only want this, in order to get space in F I dont think I would bother. Space to AU has been available due to lower demand. But it can be a tough award to book. If you are very flexible on time of year, that can help. I have also seen American drop last minute space from LAX at a very fair price. I saw that last yr when I was in Sydney.

  17. The card has become useless I’ve had it for 18 years.. no free bag or privileges on international flights.. the number of miles to take a trip have become astronomical under the new system. They stopped cleaning the planes between turn around. One captain got on the speaker and told us to hurry up he had to get back. And it’s not 99 anymore.

  18. Time for the scheduled reposting of this “article” huh Gary? Wonder if anything has changed since the first time you posted this advertisement more than a year ago? What should we believe: the countless times you post this or the numerous articles you post about how terrible AA & AAdvantage is?

  19. Anyone considering the Citi Business AAdvatange credit card should be aware that there have been major issues for the past few months with Citi / AAdvantage failing to credit earned miles, including the bonus miles upon meeting the minimum spend requirement. There is an extensive discussion about this on Flyertalk (i’ll provide a link below). In any case, I highly recommend not applying until these issues are resolved.

    https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/2143535-citibusiness-aadvantage-platinum-mastercard-loyalty-points-post-but-0-miles-2.html#post35823494

  20. Just a heads up, this credit card creates a “Business” account in your American Advantage account. After login you will see in the drop down menu a choice between “Personal account” and “Business account”. The miles get posted to your business account and then can be transferred to your personal account or the personal account of other members of your business account.

  21. With all the bad news about American Airlines and the airlines in general,
    DO NOT get this card!

  22. Interesting that you tout partner awards immediately after your post on how AA partners have gutted the availability to redeem for partner awards.

  23. “And AAdvantage miles remain my go-to right now too, whether it’s booking Qatar Airways QSuites for next year or Cathay Pacific awards to go back to Southeast Asia”

    Nothing like reading this one post after you talk about AAdvantage gutting partner award value

  24. Not impressed.

    1. I had signed up for a new AAdvantage Business account in Dec-23, prior to the end of the Business Extraa program. I then signed up for the Citibank/AAdvantage Business Elite Platinum card in Jan-24, at which time Citi didn’t ask if I had an existing Business Account, but rather created a separate/duplicate Business Account with a distinct number (that has been receiving AA miles) that I am unable to access with my AAdvantage number.

    “Our system is having trouble. Please try again or come back later.”

    No humans to assist, despite calls to EXP, Online Helpdesk, AAdvantage Dept. Impossible to close the duplicate account (same error message, as above).

    2. The low credit limit was completely inadequate. After charging the maximum amount and paying off completely shortly after it posted, the credit line remained at zero for an additional 2 weeks, because of “the size of the first charge on the card and the size of the first payment on the card.” Now, having made a second large purchase, I am hoping that the loyalty points post to the 2023/2024 fiscal year, per AA’s revised rules, since my next Citi statement date is in March.

    Meanwhile the AA miles, including bonus miles, are inaccessible until somehow the duplicate account problem is resolved. Extremely time-consuming and frustrating. Very doubtful if there will be much more use of this card.

  25. Two weeks ago, I was flying with AA and they announced about these promo. However, being Canadian, I won’t be able to avail it as explained by the flight attendant. So, I’m stuck with Aeroplan. lol

  26. Qantas awards using AA miles? I thought you said that Qantas doesnt release awards seats to partners?

  27. Although the above article is dated 3/22/2024, the Comments go back to over 3 years ago. Rinse and repeat? No wonder so many readers opine about your “click bait.”

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