While catching up on the new offers that came in while I was on vacation, I noticed that the Citi AAdvantage Executive card is now offering 125,000 bonus miles—but with a massive spending requirement. But before you get this card, read my commentary below. I actually think that the (reduced/normal) offer on the lower-tier Platinum Select card is better overall.
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.
American Airlines miles are not easy to earn—the AA cards don’t really have compelling rewards for spending and the program does not currently partner with any of the major bank transferable point programs. So your best bet to earn a bunch of AAdvantage miles in one go is with a credit card sign-up bonus.
In my view, the best of the bunch is the online offer on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®, considering the amount of spending required and the number of miles you can get. If you’re in the market for this card, now is the time to get it.
My take: The Platinum Select is still 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 50,000 miles, giving an effective 20% rewards on the first $2,500 of spending. That’s pretty nice. (But the in-flight offer on this card is even better.) 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 excited 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.
