There is a new welcome offer out for the Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select card: earn 75,000 miles after $3,500 in purchases within the first 4 months. This is a 25K increase from the previoous public offer and matches the best that we’ve seen on this card. In addition, the annual fee is waived in the first year.
The Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
75K Miles Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. 75K miles after $3,500 spend in first 3 months $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99 Alternate Offer: There is an alternative offer of 30K + $400 AA credit that can be found when doing a dummy booking on aa.com. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 75K miles after $3,500 spend in 3 months (ended 10/14/24) FM Mini Review: Excellent choice for a great intro bonus. Plus it offers the usual collection of perks for flying AA (free checked bag, priority boarding, etc.) Earning rate: 2X restaurants ✦ 2X gas ✦ 2X AA Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: $125 AA Flight Discount with $20K membership year spend Noteworthy perks: ✦ First checked bag free ✦ Priority Boarding ✦ Save 25% on inflight food and beverage purchases |
Citi Application Tips
- 48 Month Rule: With most Citi cards, you can only receive a welcome offer every 48 months. This applies to the same exact card, not families of cards and is counted from the date that you receive the welcome offer, not from when you're approved.
- Velocity Limits: Citi allows a maximum of one card per 8 days and a maximum of two cards per 65 days (includes both business and personal).
- Inquiries: Citi is thought to be more credit inquiry-sensitive than other issuers. We've heard reports that it's difficult to be approved for a new Citi card if you've had more than 6 hard inquiries within the last 6 months. That said, data points abound of people being approved despite being above that, so it's certainly not a hard and fast rule.
- Card Limits: Citi doesn't have a strict limit on the amount of cards that you can have, but it does place limits on the total amount of credit that they will issue you across all cards. Unfortunately, unlike most banks, Citi does not allow you to move credit from one existing card to the another card.
- Application Status: Call (866) 606-2787 or go here to check your application status. For Costco cards, call (877) 343-4118.
- Reconsideration: If denied, call (800) 695-5171 for personal cards or (866) 541-7657 for business cards.
Quick Thoughts
In the midst of the incredibly strong credit card offers that we’ve seen these past couple of years, welcome offers of 100K+ have become commonplace…sometimes making five digit offers of cobranded cards look skimpy by comparison.
In this case, things are a bit different, since AA credit cards are the primary, most meaningful way to quickly accumulate a large sum of AAdvantage miles.
Along those lines, keep in mind that the Barclays-issued Aviator Red card is currently offering 60K miles after one purchase whereas the Citi card requires $3,500 in purchases within the first 4 months. That might make the Barclays card more appealing for some. However, if your goal is to simply accumulate as many American Airlines miles as possible and/or you aren’t eligible for an Aviator bonus, this is a great deal.
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Any idea how long the 75,000 bonus will be on? Asking on March 21.
I have the business card and wrapping up the SUB. Can I get this SUB as well? I have held the Strata for years.
Best to use AAdvantage points before they gut their award chart. Problem is, this card can be very hard to get approved for as Citi prefers customers who carry a balance.
In your text comparing this card with the Barclays Red Aviator card, I think it could be clarified by noting that the Barclays card requires a $95 annual fee and that this card’s annual fee is waived for the first year.
How know if still within the 48 months?
Oh blurg! I signed up for this card a few weeks ago when the offer was 50k. Do you have any tips on how to ask them how to honor the 75k offer? Is that even a possibility with Citi?
You can certainly give them a call, but I haven’t heard of much success getting Citi to match.
I applied to for the card literally the day before the 75K offer came out and received the 50k offer. I called Citi and was told to email them the new offer. So I emailed them a screenshot of the offer on their website.
I just received a letter through the mail stating that ‘the offer copy must directly display your name and address or have been emailed to you”.
So if anyone knows how to receive the offer through email or with your name and address on it it would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Tim, the “The Offer & Key Card Details” section still shows the 50K offer.
Must have been a caching issue. It’s displaying correctly now.
anyone know how to transfer these business miles to your personal account?
Thanks, Tim! Within the last year, Nick was researching and writing about another potential Citi application rule where applicants are automatically declined if they’ve applied for another credit card in previous 5-8 days. Was that ever confirmed?
I was researching this after P2 was denied attempting the elevated CapOne Venture bonus. Am thinking of trying for the Citi Strata Premier next. Data points seem to pretty strongly indicate an auto-denial from Citi if any other bank has a hard pull on your credit in the past ~5 days. It’s not as widely reported as other rules but I couldn’t find much for exceptions.
I can confirm that Citi AA Business and Personal in the same day is possible – I opened both at the elevated 75K offers in April less than an hour apart and I’ve since earned both bonuses. Unfortunately it was two separate hard pulls.
Not directly related to this SUB but Stand Up to Cancer started a donation campaign today where you can get 50 miles per dollar donated (minimum $25) if you use an AA Mastercard.
Thanks! Just posted about that earlier today.
I’m tempted. But I already have one of these cards (a Citi AA Platinum Select MC). It has been well over 48 months since I last received a welcome offer for that card. Am I eligible for the bonus on a SECOND card if I already have the same card still open? Thanks.
Yes. The card rules are 48 months from when you last received a welcome offer (ie, when the points actually hit your AA account, not when you were approved).
So I have this card, opened back in 2017 and rcvd welcome bonus that year as well, do I need to close this and apply again to receive this welcome bonus? Are they going to frown on me closing it and not approve me for a new one?
I am wondering the same. Received bonus in 2019. I still hold this card. Do I need to cancel before applying again or can I hold 2 of the exact same card?
Good solid card. Note that the gas is 2x but it’s only 1x loyalty + 1x regular miles which is dumb.
To be clear, every dollar of credit card spend on any AA card earns only 1X LP, not just gas on this particular card.
Gas/Dining is 2 Miles + 1 Loyalty Point.