Amazing Deal: 100,000 American Miles With Citi Credit Cards
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Citi is a TPG advertising partner
Though Citi’s AAdvantage cards have been hovering around the 30,000-mile sign-up bonus mark for a couple months, according to this Flyertalk thread, the opportunity to score a combined 100,000 miles from applying for 2 cards is back (similar to this deal I posted about last year).
Just note, the application pages do not mention the 50,000-mile bonus, but you will be awarded the miles when you are approved and meet minimum spending requirements – you can call Citi to verify once you have applied and are approved. These are not my affiliate links, so I can't guarantee the bonus will work, but as with many things in life you need to take a greater risk to get a greater reward.
The Two-Browser Trick
For those unfamiliar with applying for Citi cards – you can get two personal cards on the same day and it will only be one inquiry on your credit and the credit line will be identical on both cards. Some people recommend using two browsers, but the last time I applied and got two in one day I applied using the same browser and did one right after another and I had no issues getting approved for both. I suppose it’s better to be safe than sorry, so if you want to go for both applications, then use two different browsers and make sure your cache is cleared just so you’re not automatically redirected to an application with a lower sign-up bonus due to cookies stored in your browser.
If you’re not approved for one or both cards, you can call the reconsideration line at: 1-888-201-4523. For some more details on the two-card application process and what to expect, you can check out this very informative Flyertalk post.
Also, these cards and bonuses are for first-time cardholders, though if you haven’t had a Citi AAdvantage card in the last 18-20 months, you might still be able to score these bonuses.
According to these terms and conditions:
As a cardmember, you'll benefit from:
-Earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after $3,000 in purchases within the first 4 months of cardmembership — enough for two domestic round-trip flight awards.
-One-time $100 statement credit for the first eligible American Airlines purchase made within 12 months of cardmembership.
-Receive one Companion Certificate after you become a cardmember. Use your Citi / AAdvantage card to purchase a domestic roundtrip coach fare on American Airlines and two fly for the price of one — no minimum fare restrictions apply. (Though you do have to book your ticket in one of the following fare classes: H, V, M, L, K, W, V, G, S, N, Q, or O).
-Two AAdvantage miles for every $1 you spend on eligible American Airlines purchases and one mile per $1 spent on other purchases for the first 12 months of cardmembership. After the first 12 months, continue to earn one mile per $1 spent on purchases
-$0 annual fee for the first 12 months, then $85 per year thereafter.
The Perks
There are a couple differences this time around compared to when this opportunity was available last fall. First, you don’t get any Admirals Club lounge passes, though that’s not a dealbreaker in my book since there are a lot of other ways to get lounge access. Second, with the old offer, you would have gotten a $150 statement credit, though this time around it’s only $100 when you make an American Airlines purchase (you can just buy a drink or a snack on a flight, or an AA gift card). Not as good, but hey, it’s a nice little perk and takes a bit of the sting out of having to spend $3,000 in the first 4 months.
Minimum Spend Requirements
Although there is a minimum spending requirement in order to earn the 50,000-mile bonus, the combined $6,000 in four months is still less than the $20,000 (in a year) you’d have to spend to earn the 100,000-Avios bonus on the British Airways Visa. However, you do have a shortened timeframe to get all that spending in, so think about whether you have enough expenses coming up to put on both cards before applying.
What You Can Do With Those Miles
100,000 American Airlines miles can get you a lot of places. That’s enough for four roundtrip domestic flights, a roundtrip business class flight to South America, Europe or Japan, and just shy of what you’d need to fly business class to China on Cathay Pacific (110,000 miles). You can find the full list of mileage requirements on AA’s award chart. So effectively, getting these two cards could be worth thousands of dollars in travel awards, offsetting the minimum spending requirements. That said, if you’re going to have enough expenses to put on these cards anyway to meet the spending requirements without overshooting your budget, you might as well use them to score the AAdvantage miles and earn a free trip (or several) in the process.
50,000 For the Citi/Business AAdvantage Visa - update: this offer is no longer available.
If you already took advantage of the two personal cards, or even just one of them, and are thinking of applying for the other now, you might still be able to score an additional 50,000 AAdvantage miles by applying for the Citi/Business AAdvantage Visa, which you can do at the same time as applying for a personal card. Remember, even if you don’t have a business, you can still apply for many business credit cards.
The information for the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Here are the conditions of this card:
-Earn 50,000 AAdvantage miles after you make $3,000 in purchases within the first four months of cardmembership.
-One-time $150 statement credit after a qualifying American Airlines purchase.
-2 Admirals Club one-day passes.
-$75 annual fee waived for first year.
And before you ask, no, you cannot get all three cards at the same time. Citi only allows 2 applications for any Citi cards (personal or business) within a 60-day period. Still, two out of three (and 100,000 miles to boot!) ain't a bad deal all.