The single best way to earn American AAdvantage Loyalty Points with credit card spending often flies under the radar, so I’d like to talk a little more about that in this post, especially since this tends to cause some confusion. Furthermore, this was recently made an “official” card perk, rather than something that just unofficially applied to most cardmembers.
Link: Double dip your Loyalty Points earning with the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®
Best way to earn American Loyalty Points with credit cards
With the American AAdvantage Loyalty Points program, you can typically earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent on a co-branded American credit card. However, there’s one card that’s an exception, and by far the best.
The Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® is the co-branded Citi and American Airlines business card. There’s a quirk to the card, though, when it comes to authorized user rewards. On the surface, the authorized user ordinarily earns the Loyalty Points for their spending, and not the primary cardmember, which is an unusual policy for a small business card.
However, through December 31, 2028 (and it’s possible this will be extended again, as it has been in the past), both the primary cardmember and the authorized user earn Loyalty Points for authorized user spending. It basically means you earn two Loyalty Points per dollar spent, just in different accounts. Just to be abundantly clear here:
- If an authorized user spent $100K, the primary cardmember and authorized user would each earn 100K Loyalty Points
- If the primary cardmember spent $100K, only the primary cardmember would earn 100K Loyalty Points
So the key is for the spending to be on the authorized user’s card, so that this spending unlocks double Loyalty Points (spread across two accounts).
Either way, the Citi AAdvantage Business Card offers several valuable perks, and also has an excellent welcome bonus, making it a good time to apply. So if you are eligible, I’d consider applying even if the double Loyalty Points opportunity doesn’t work out (though hopefully it does).
Why this Loyalty Points double dip is a good deal
Personally, the Citi AAdvantage Business Card Loyalty Points double dip is how I qualified for AAdvantage elite status last year. I had a hard time justifying putting spending onto co-branded American cards compared to some other cards out there, when I was only earning one Loyalty Point per dollar.
But if I can qualify for elite status for two people at once, and earn the corresponding Loyalty Point Rewards perks, the math on that spending starts to look much better:
- Earning 125,000 Loyalty Points would earn you Platinum Pro status for two people, which unlocks oneworld Emerald perks
- Earning 175,000 Loyalty Points would allow each person to pick from a choice of valuable Loyalty Point Rewards perks, with each person being able to pick perks like two systemwide upgrades or up to 25,000 AAdvantage bonus miles
- Earning 200,000 Loyalty Points would earn you Executive Platinum status for two people, which unlocks the top tier status with published requirements
- Earning 250,000 Loyalty Points would allow each person to pick two Loyalty Point Rewards perks, with options including two systemwide upgrades or up to 30,000 bonus miles (so each person could choose up to four systemwide upgrades or up to 60,000 bonus miles)
For example, earning 250,000 Loyalty Points per account could potentially earn you a combined total of 12 systemwide upgrades or 170,000 bonus miles. That’s a pretty substantial reward, beyond just the miles you earn for spending and the status!
Bottom line
The Citi AAdvantage Business Card offers an easy opportunity to double dip Loyalty Points earning through authorized user spending. This opportunity is available to all cardmembers, and is currently valid through December 31, 2028 (though has the potential to be extended beyond that). This is a great opportunity, so if you’re pursuing AAdvantage elite status, I’d highly recommend this method.
Have you been taking advantage of this Loyalty Points double dip opportunity?
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