Confirmed: I Got A Second Sign-Up Bonus On The Citi Executive AAdvantage World Mastercard
Quick summary
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
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Back in March, I applied for four new credit cards - and a 230,000 points/miles bonus haul - including the current offer on the Citi Executive AAdvantage World Mastercard of 100,000 American Airlines miles when you spend $10,000 in 3 months.
I actually had already signed up for this card back in October 2013 when I had received a targeted offer of 60,000 miles. After hitting the spend threshold for the bonus and the elite-qualifying miles ($40,000 in a calendar year for 10,000 EQM's), I was already thinking about canceling the card since the one main benefit it offers that no other card soon will was Admirals Club membership, but I usually get access anyway since I fly business or first transcontinentally.
The thing is, I still had my card account open when I applied for the offer again to get the new 100,000-mile bonus. That's because I had read reports that this card was "churnable," meaning you can get the bonus multiple times. I decided that it was worth trying to cancel and reapply for the current 100,000-mile offer and seeing what happened – and it paid off because I was instantly approved!
That's right - at the time I applied for the new offer, I already had an open Citi Executive AAdvantage card, for which I'd gotten the 60,000-mile sign-up bonus:
And I just hit the minimum spending requirement on my new card and found that American had already credited my AAdvantage account with the new 100,000-mile bonus:
So it just goes to show that you can, in fact, score the sign-up bonus on this card multiple times, and when it's as high as 100,000 miles, it's worth trying!
Why Get It?
I personally found the 100,000-mile offer too enticing not to try for it, but that $10,000 spending requirement and $450 annual fee might hold some people back. However, there are plenty of fast ways to meet minimum spend for bonuses, and this is the highest we've seen the bonus offer on this card – and as high as it's likely to go in my opinion – so now is the time to apply if you've been thinking about it.
Here are the rest of the terms:
- Apply now, get the card and earn 100,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after making $10,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of cardmembership. Also, earn up to $200 in statement credits — earn $1 in statement credits for each $1 spent on purchases within the first 12 months of cardmembership.
- Elevate the way you travel with these luxury benefits: Admirals Club membership (a membership value of up to $475)
- Earn 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles after spending $40,000 in purchases each calendar year
- No foreign transaction fees on purchases
- Earn two AAdvantage miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases, including US Airways codeshare flights booked on aa.com
- Priority Boarding and 25% savings on eligible in-flight purchases
- Your first eligible checked bag is free
- SmartChip technology
- Expert Concierge Service
- $450 Annual Fee
That $10,000 spending requirement is steep for some folks, but there are plenty of fast ways to meet minimum spend for bonuses, and this is the highest we've seen the bonus offer on this card – and as high as it's likely to go in my opinion – so if you have been holding off on getting it, now is the time.
The other major factor that seems to hold people back on getting this card is that hefty $450 annual fee. One thing to consider is that you get $200 in statement credits the first year on pretty much any purchase, so that brings the expense of the annual fee down to $250 in my opinion - much more reasonable, and that also means that you're getting Admirals Club membership at a significant discount. Not only that, but this card is the only one that will give you Admirals Club and US Airways Club access now that the The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express will no longer allow access to American Admirals Clubs or US Airways Clubs.
Apart from the lounge access, which as I mentioned I usually get anyway, the main value this card has for me is that you can earn 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles each calendar year you spend $40,000 or more in purchases, which is one of the best travel credit card calendar year spending bonuses since so few cards earn EQM's instead of just regular redeemable miles. Those EQM's are sometimes just the bump I need to requalify for top-tier Executive Platinum status, which includes valuable perks like unlimited complimentary domestic upgrades (no more banking on 500-mile upgrade requests), 8 annual EVIP systemwide upgrades on any published paid fare – which can equate to thousands of dollars per flight in value – a 100% elite mileage bonus (Platinums get this as well), waived fees on ticketing and award mileage reinstatement.
So all in all, this is great news, because this is a valuable card to have in your wallet, and in contrast to Amex's changing sign-up bonus policy which will allow you to get the bonus on each of its cards just once in your life starting in May, you can get this bonus multiple times.
Have any of you applied for this card multiple times as well? Share your experiences in the comments!