Citi American Airlines AAdvantage MasterCard Review – 50,000 Mile Limited-Time Bonus

Limited-time bonus. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ MasterCard®, from our partner Citi, has increased their sign-up bonus with a limited-time offer. Here are the updated card highlights:

For a limited time, earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after making $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening*
First checked bag is free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for you and up to four companions traveling with you on the same reservation*
Enjoy Group 1 Boarding on American Airlines flights*
No Foreign Transaction Fees on purchases.
Receive 25% savings on in-flight food and beverage purchases when you use your card on American Airlines flights*
Double AAdvantage® miles on eligible American Airlines purchases*
Earn 10% of your redeemed AAdvantage® miles back – up to 10,000 AAdvantage® miles each calendar year*
Annual fee is $95, waived for the first 12 months.

Note the following fine print:

OFFER AVAILABILITY
American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have had any Citi® / AAdvantage® card (other than a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® card) opened or closed in the past 24 months.

To clarify, you can have one of both the consumer version of this card and the CitiBusiness business version under your name. The bonuses are also separate. You can get one consumer bonus every 24 months, and you can also get one business bonus every 24 months.

American Airlines MileSAAver awards are still 25,000 miles for a round-trip ticket within the contiguous 48 states. If the trip is less than 500 miles, then it is only 15,000 miles roundtrip within the contiguous 48 states. Under-500 miles routes include Las Vegas to/from Los Angeles, Charleston to/from Miami, New York to/from Washington DC, Philadelphia to Boston, and many others.

This card also makes you eligible for Reduced Mileage Awards, where you save up to 7,500 miles on roundtrip MileSAAver® awards to select destinations on American Airlines operated flights. Combine this with the 10% rebate on redeemed AAdvantage miles, and you can stretch your miles a lot further.

Bottom-line. This limited-time offer is a 20,000 miles increase from the previous 30,000 mile offer. The annual fee is also waived during the first year. Since you can only get one of these bonuses once every 24 months, it it is best to wait for such a bumped-up bonus. As with most of these co-branded cards, a lot of the potential value comes when you fly on American and use the free first checked bag benefit ($50 per person, roundtrip) and also when you redeem miles.

Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite MasterCard® application page

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.”

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