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Citi has brought out a couple of new welcome offers on its CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard and although both offers are very similar there’s a slight difference between them that may see you prefer one offer over the other.
CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard
First I’ll go over what exactly this credit card offers then I’ll delve into the two welcome offers that are currently available.
Annual Fee
- $99 (the fee is waived for the first 12 months)
Earnings
- 2 AAdvantage Miles/dollar on spending with American Airlines
- 2 AAdvantage Miles/dollar on spending on telecommunications
- 2 AAdvantage Miles/dollar on spending on cable & satellite services
- 2 AAdvantage Miles/dollar on spending on car rentals
- 2 AAdvantage Miles/dollar on spending at gas stations
- 1 AAdvantage Mile/dollar on all other spending
Key Benefits
- First checked bag free for the cardholder and up to four companions traveling with the eligible primary credit cardmember
- 25% saving on American Airlines inflight wi-fi when purchased using this credit card.
- Earn an American Airlines companion certificate for domestic main cabin travel after you spend $30,000 or more in purchases each card membership year and the card membership is renewed
- Preferred boarding
The Welcome Offers
Both welcome offers will see the annual fee waived for the first year but while the primary public welcome offer is for 70,000 AAdvantage miles there’s a second offer available which would see a cardholder earn 75,000 AAdvantage Miles.
Offer 1
Earn 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after $4,000 in purchases within the first 4 months of account opening.
Offer 2
Earn 75,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after $5,000 in purchases within the first 4 months of account opening.
Thoughts
As you cannot generate American Airlines miles from any of the major transferable currencies (Membership Rewards points, Ultimate Rewards points, ThankYou points) the number of ways of earning significant numbers of AAdvantage Miles is primarily limited to credit card bonuses/spending and transfers from Marriott Bonvoy….and that’s where this card can come in useful.
Here are a few facts:
The Positives
- Only the AAdvantage Aviator Silver card ($199/year) offers more points/dollar for American Airlines spending (3 miles/dollar)
- No other American Airlines co-branded credit card offers bonus miles for spending on telecommunications or cable and satellite bills.
- No other American Airlines co-branded credit card offers more points on car rentals
- No other American Airlines co-branded credit card offers more points at gas stations
The Negatives
- The card doesn’t offer a way to earn bonus Elite Qualifying Miles or Elite Qualifying Dollars
- You have to spend $30,000 on this card to earn a companion pass when other cards offer the same for $20,000 in spending.
Overall, if you’re focused on earning American Airlines AAdvantage Miles this is actually a pretty good credit card to have as it offers a number of ways a cardholder can earn a reasonable number of AAdvantage Miles outside of purchases made directly with American.
As far as the welcome bonuses go, both look pretty good and I like the way the offers have been structured.
- I like the fact that the spending requirements aren’t overly aggressive
- I like the fact that you get 4 or 5 months to meet the spending requirements instead of the more common 3-month time frame
- I like that those who can easily meet the spending requirement can go for a slightly elevated bonus (75,000 miles) while anyone who may find $5,000 in spending a little challenging can choose to earn slightly fewer miles (70,000 miles) in return for a lower spending target ($4,000).
Bottom Line
I have to admit that I no longer go out of my way to earn AAdvantage Miles but based on some of the emails I get I know that there are still a lot of people out there who treat them as their primary airline currency…and that’s at whom this credit card and its welcome offer are pitched.
Because I don’t care to earn AAdvantage Miles day-to-day this card wouldn’t get a lot of time in my wallet (although I’d love the welcome offer) but if you’re an avid collector of AAdvantage Miles this is definitely a card you should be considering.
With no annual fee in year one you get to try this card out for free while you work out if it’s a card that works for you, and with the welcome offers set as high as they are that’s not a bad deal at all.
Are you sure this card doesn’t waive foreign transaction fees?
On the card’s landing page to which you posted a link, clinking on the Additional Benefits tab reveals the following statement:
“No foreign transaction fees on overseas purchases to stretch your business budgets further*”
My mistake (now corrected). I looked for FT fees on the Citi page and must have missed the mention.
I would have to agree with you. This card is probably not the best way to go. I signed up for the business card in March, 2018 and spent around $33K in purchases by December, 2018 (typical for my business). However, I did not read the fine print and learned when booking an international flight using my AA miles, that a free checked bag when using my AA card is only good on domestic flights. I have several other travel credit cards all allowing free checked bags on any trip I book paying with my credit card. I did go back to my paperwork and it did say in the benefits the free checked bag was for domestic only. The printed marketing materials just say “free checked bag when using the card” and does not distinguish that its for domestic only. So, that’s on me for not reading the details. I qualified for the companion travel certificate, which is also only good on domestic travel as well, but cannot get AA or Citibusiness to come through with it. They say they have mailed it twice and I have not received it (yes, my address is good). One Customer service agent says it will be in my AA account, while another says they only mail them. I cannot get a straight answer out of them to save my life. So, while I did appreciate the boost to my AA frequent flyer mileage account for opening the account, the card benefits are a bust for me. I will be closing my account as soon as I verify if I will lose the miles I earned when opening the account.
American offers a free checked bag on all international flights as long as you don’t buy a Basic Economy (hand baggage only) fare which is probably why the literature says “domestic only” – the card won’t get you a free checked back if you book a hand baggage only fare (in all other circumstances American should have allowed you to check a bag for free).
The service from the AA desk sounds appalling (if not really surprising) but before you hurry to close the card why not see if you can get a retention bonus (e.g waived annual fee)? Admittedly this is only a good idea if you actually want to earn AAdvantage miles (there are a lot of better Business Cards out there if you’re happy earning another currency).