Now, in addition to the 125k bonus on the Executive card, Citi and American Airlines are offering increased bonuses on the MileUp and the Platinum Select cards. The MileUp card now has its best-ever offering and the Platinum Select card’s bonus is high enough to make our list of best offers.
Here are the updated best welcome offers on American Airlines credit cards.
American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card welcome offer
Offer: Earn 15,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
This bonus is awarded at AAdvantage® bonus miles.
Annual fee: None
Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® welcome offer
Offer: Earn 50,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after $2,500 in purchases in the first 3 months.
Learn how to apply.
You can likely get a better bonus than the public online bonus. See our article on the in-flight bonus on the American Airlines Platinum Select card for more.
This bonus is awarded as American AAdvantage® bonus miles.
Annual fee: $99. However, the annual fee is waived for the first 12 months.
Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® welcome offer
Offer: Earn 60,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
This bonus is awarded as American AAdvantage® bonus miles.
Annual fee: $350
Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® welcome offer
Offer: Earn 125,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after $15,000 in purchases in the first 5 months.
This bonus is awarded as American AAdvantage® bonus miles.
Annual fee: $595
Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® welcome offer
Offer: Earn 65,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles for your business after $ 4,000 in purchases within the first 4 months of account opening.
This bonus is awarded as American AAdvantage® bonus miles.
Annual fee: $99. However, the annual fee is waived for the first 12 months.
My take: The Platinum Select is the current best offer
Aaron Hurd
Executive Editor of Cards and Points
Most content creators would point to the card offering the largest number of points as the “best” offer. However, I think that out of this current crop of bonuses, the lower Platinum Select is the best offer. Here’s why
While the amount of miles you can get from the Executive card is impressive, the bonus require both a massive amount of spending AND a high annual fee in the first year. When I do the math, assuming 1 cent per point of value for simplicity, earning the bonus is just like getting 4.4% cash back on this card. Not terribly compelling. You can find many, many better offers on our Best Offers page.
Looking at the Platinum Select the same way, you get the annual fee waived in the first year and you have a relatively low amount of spending required to earn the 80,000 miles, giving an effective 22.9% rewards on the first $3,500 of spending. That’s pretty nice. And since you get the first year annual fee free, your effective cost of earning this bonus is even lower.
Of course, the MileUp card gives you an even higher percent cash back by the same analysis, but the 15,000 miles you’ll get probably won’t excite anyone.
Bottom line: If you’re looking to get an American sign-up bonus, go for the in-flight offer on the Platinum Select card.
Eligibility: Can you get a bonus on a new American Airlines credit card?
For Citi-issued American Airlines credit cards, you can typically get a bonus on a new card once every 48 months or if you’ve received a bonus on an an account that you converted to a specific card product within the last 48 months.
The terms and conditions on all of Citi’s American Airlines credit card offers are similar. Here’s what the terms of the AAdvantage® MileUp® bonus say:
American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a AAdvantage® MileUp® account in the past 48 months or if you converted another Citi credit card account on which you earned a new account bonus in the last 48 months into a AAdvantage® MileUp® account.
Bonus terms for the AAdvantage® MileUp® card.
My reading of this is that if, for example, you applied for and received a bonus for the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® 24 months ago, but converted the account to an American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card, you would not be able to receive a bonus on either card for an additional 24 months.
