American Airlines and Citi have a co-branded credit card agreement, and that includes issuing a variety of personal cards, plus a business card. Two cards offer the ability to earn an annual companion certificate, and in this post, I’d like to take a closer look at the details of that.
Which cards offer companion certificates, how can you redeem them, and are they even worth pursuing?
Link: Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® and Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®
In this post:
The cards earning American companion certificates
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (review) and Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (review) both offer the ability to earn a companion certificate.
The $350 annual fee Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers a companion certificate as an annual perk on your cardmember anniversary, with no spending required. This means that you start earning this on your first cardmember anniversary (so not your first year).
In addition to a big welcome bonus, this card offers a huge number of valuable benefits, including an up to $100 annual Splurge Credit, an up to $100 annual inflight credit, up to 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year, four Admirals Club passes per year, and more. This is a card that I’ve already applied for.
The $99 annual fee (waived for the first 12 months) Citi AAdvantage Business Card offers a companion certificate as an annual perk after spending $30,000 or more on purchases in a cardmember year, and then renewing your card. So that’s a pretty substantial spending requirement to unlock the reward.
This card also has a big welcome bonus, and offers many perks that could more than justify the annual fee. It’s also a card that I’ve picked up.
Details of redeeming the American companion certificate
Regardless of whether you earn a companion certificate through the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card or Citi AAdvantage Business Card, the terms are the same. Specifically, this is a $99 domestic economy companion fare, with the following restrictions:
- The companion certificate is typically deposited within 8-10 weeks of the cardmember anniversary, and the card must remain open one full billing cycle after your anniversary month
- When redeeming the companion certificate, you must pay $99, in addition to government taxes and fees
- The companion certificate can’t be redeemed online, but instead, it requires calling American Airlines Meeting Services, at 800-433-1790
- The companion certificate has to be used with the primary cardmember as one of the travelers, plus any other traveler on the same itinerary
- The companion certificate is valid for 12 months from when it’s issued, and must be redeemed for travel that is completed by the expiration date
- The companion certificate is valid for roundtrip travel within the lower 48; for residents of Alaska, Hawaii, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, the companion certificate is also valid from that origin to anywhere in the lower 48
- The companion certificate requires booking a “Main Cabin” fare, so basic economy fares don’t qualify when redeeming the certificate
- The companion certificate is valid for flights that are marketed and operated by American and/or American Eagle, so it’s not valid for travel on partner airlines
- Tickets booked using the companion certificate are still upgradable, including for cash upsells, complimentary elite upgrades, etc.
- The primary person on the companion certificate does earn AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points for the cost of their ticket, while the companion traveling with the primary person doesn’t earn rewards
My take on the value of the American companion certificate
The American Airlines companion certificate isn’t the most valuable companion ticket option in the world, but I think it has the potential to be quite useful.
What I find frustrating about the certificate is that you have to book by phone, which just seems like an inefficient annoyance in this day and age. Furthermore, it’s not ideal that it’s limited to the lower 48, and that basic economy is excluded.
That being said, beyond that I actually find it to be reasonably valuable. The primary guest still earns Loyalty Points and AAdvantage miles, and you can still upgrade to first or business class with cash or miles, or with complimentary elite upgrades.
To state the obvious, this companion certificate is best used on an expensive domestic economy fare. So it’s ideal if you’re flying to Aspen in winter, or something like that, where cash fares can be really high.
How do I view this companion certificate in terms of the overall value propositions of the cards?
- The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers the companion certificate as a reward just for being a cardmember, with no spending requirement, so there’s no reason not to use this; I’ll definitely get some value out of this
- The Citi AAdvantage Business Card requires $30,000 in spending annually to earn the certificate, so personally I wouldn’t spend on the card solely (or primarily) to be able to earn the companion certificate, unless you’d spend that amount anyway (which there potentially could be merit to)
I try to be conservative with how I value things, and I’d say that I probably consider this companion certificate to be worth somewhere around $100-200. Of course it can be redeemed for a lot more value than that, as you could use this to be the companion on a $1,000 economy ticket. However, personally I consider the value to be fairly niche, given that I don’t travel that much domestically, you have to book roundtrip, etc.
Even if you value premium cabin travel, the good thing is that American so frequently sells reasonably priced upgrades for cash, so it should be possible to end up in a premium cabin when redeeming one of these certificates.
Citi AAdvantage American companion certificate FAQs
Bottom line
Both the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card and Citi AAdvantage Business Card give cardmembers the ability to earn a $99 annual companion certificate.
The bad news is that it’s only valid for (non-basic) economy tickets within the lower 48, and that you have to book by phone. The good news is that there are otherwise fairly few restrictions associated with redeeming these, and most American flyers should get decent value from this perk.
In particular, it’s great that this is just a standard anniversary perk on the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card with no spending requirement, while the Citi AAdvantage Business Card requires $30,000 of spending.
What’s your take on the value of the American Airlines companion ticket?
@Ben, so close but no cigar, or in other words, AA tries but...
From Alaska's website: "The [$99]companion fare entitles the cardholder to purchase one round-trip or one-way saver or main cabin Companion Fare within North America on Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines from $122 (USD) ($99 base fare plus applicable taxes and fees from $23 depending on your flight itinerary) when traveling with another guest on a paid published coach airfare on the same...
@Ben, so close but no cigar, or in other words, AA tries but...
From Alaska's website: "The [$99]companion fare entitles the cardholder to purchase one round-trip or one-way saver or main cabin Companion Fare within North America on Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines from $122 (USD) ($99 base fare plus applicable taxes and fees from $23 depending on your flight itinerary) when traveling with another guest on a paid published coach airfare on the same itinerary, booked at the same time. Travel must be booked at AlaskaAir.com using your eligible Atmos™ Rewards credit card. Points cannot be used as a form of payment, however points credit accrual is allowed for both travelers."
-- AS lets you book online; AA makes you call.
-- AS lets you buy round trip or one way, Saver or Main Cabin; AA is round trip and Saver fares are not eligible.
-- AS awards points to BOTH the traveler *and* the companion; AA awards points only to the traveler.
Hmmmmm...
Ben, once your kids are in school you will probably realize just how useless these certificates are, as the blackout dates make them nearly impossible to use during school holidays. I've earned these for years and never used them...
The blackout dates are the problem. Inevitably when you want to travel, either your outbound date or return date will be blacked out.
I have had this with the Aviator card (precursor to this card) and I never used it. Although the article states that it is only available in the lower 48, it was available to Hawaii users, but the seats were so scarce as to be useless. As a previous poster stated, there are a lot of blackout dates. Also, it is only for round trips. I called several months out for dates that were not...
I have had this with the Aviator card (precursor to this card) and I never used it. Although the article states that it is only available in the lower 48, it was available to Hawaii users, but the seats were so scarce as to be useless. As a previous poster stated, there are a lot of blackout dates. Also, it is only for round trips. I called several months out for dates that were not blacked out and even the person to whom I spoke was surprised at there being no available seats in the time I wanted. She found one, however that was not good for me. Perhaps if you don't make plans until you find out when there are seats available, it might be useful.
We've been earning these yearly on our Aviator Business card for many years and have only used one. There are too many blackout dates to make these certs valuable.
Recently used this certificate. Important caveat: you must book into an appropriate fair class. Reservations must be booked in L, M, N, Q, S, V, G or O inventory. The "new" wrinkle: the same fair class must be available on each one way leg of a trip. For example, I want to go to Rapid City (weekend in South Dakota, never been to Mt. Rushmore) and found appropriate fair class availability to CLT or DFW,...
Recently used this certificate. Important caveat: you must book into an appropriate fair class. Reservations must be booked in L, M, N, Q, S, V, G or O inventory. The "new" wrinkle: the same fair class must be available on each one way leg of a trip. For example, I want to go to Rapid City (weekend in South Dakota, never been to Mt. Rushmore) and found appropriate fair class availability to CLT or DFW, but could not get the same class to RAP. You can go N class in one direction and O class back home (as an example), but each leg on the one way trip must be the same class. So instead, heading to the Upper Peninsula. Got a companion fare for about $500 less than current retail, not a bad deal.