Link: Apply now for the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® with 50K bonus miles offer
Airline credit cards are among the most popular co-brand credit cards out there. Many people may be loyal to an airline because of where they live or their travel patterns, and picking up a co-branded airline credit card seems like the most logical way to extend that relationship. In this post I wanted to look at one of the most popular cards of the world’s largest airline.
In this post:
Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card Basics For December 2024
American Airlines has credit cards issued by both Citi and Barclays, and in this post I wanted to look at the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®, which is a personal credit card that many American Airlines frequent flyers have.
There are a variety of reasons to get this card, including the card having a solid welcome bonus, an annual fee that’s waived for the first year, spending on the card can help you earn elite status, and the card also has some useful perks if you fly American frequently. Who should be considering applying for this card? Let’s break it down, point by point.
Earn 50,000 AAdvantage Miles
The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card is offering a welcome bonus of 50,000 American AAdvantage miles after spending $2,500 within the first three months. That’s a pretty reasonable spending requirement for a solid bonus. I value American miles at ~1.5 cents each, so to me, those 50,000 miles are worth about $750. There are so many great ways to redeem AAdvantage miles.
Keep in mind the general restrictions on being approved for Citi cards, which include that you can apply for at most one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days.
Furthermore, note that the bonus miles aren’t available to those who have received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 48 months (however, you are eligible if you’ve received a bonus on a different American Airlines credit card). If you’re not sure whether you’ve received a bonus on the card in the past 48 months, I’d recommend calling up Citi and asking, as they can easily pull that up.
$99 Annual Fee, Waived The First 12 Months
The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card has a $99 annual fee, though it’s waived for the first 12 months. This is a great way to try the card before you have to really pay for it. You can also add authorized users to the card at no extra cost.
Rewards Structure For Earning AAdvantage Miles
When it comes to actually spending money on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card, the card does have a few bonus categories:
- Earn 2x AAdvantage miles at gas stations (the best credit cards for gas stations)
- Earn 2x AAdvantage miles at restaurants (the best credit cards for restaurants)
- Earn 2x AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases (the best credit cards for airfare)
- Earn 1x AAdvantage miles on all other purchases (the best credit cards for everyday spending)
There are no limits to how many miles you can earn with this card.
No Foreign Transaction Fees
The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card has no foreign transaction fees, so this can be a good option for purchases you make abroad. That’s especially true if you’re spending in a category that’s eligible for bonus miles.
Earn AAdvantage Elite Status With Spending
Nowadays elite status in the AAdvantage program can be earned with Loyalty Points, which is the currency that determines your status. AAdvantage elite status requirements are as follows:
- AAdvantage Gold status requires 40,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Platinum status requires 75,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Platinum Pro status requires 125,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Executive Platinum status requires 200,000 Loyalty Points
Spending money on AAdvantage credit cards earns you Loyalty Points, as you earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent. This means your spending on the card can help you earn elite status (all the way up to Executive Platinum), and it can also help you earn Loyalty Point Rewards, allowing you to select from perks like systemwide upgrades, bonus miles, and more.
Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card Benefits
In addition to the generous welcome bonus and the ability to earn elite status through spending, there are some other reasons to get the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card, which could cover the annual fee over and over. Let’s talk about the perks you should be aware of with this card.
First Checked Bag Free On American Airlines
Receive a first checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for you and up to four companions traveling with you on the same reservation. There’s no need to actually pay for the ticket with your card, you just have to make sure it’s linked to your AAdvantage account.
American Airlines charges $40 for the first checked bag, so that’s a $80 value per person roundtrip (and if you had four companions all checking a bag, that would be a value of $400).
Preferred Boarding On American Airlines
Receive preferred boarding on American Airlines flights. Having this card allows you to board with Group 5 on American Airlines flights, which should help to ensure that you can board while there’s still room in the overhead bins. This applies globally, and there’s no need to pay for the ticket with the card, as long as you’re the primary cardmember with your AAdvantage account linked.
25% Inflight Savings On American Airlines
Receive 25% savings on inflight food & beverage purchases on American Airlines flights when paying with the card. You’ll pay the full amount in advance, and then you’ll receive a statement credit for 25% of that amount. If you fly American with any frequency and make inflight purchases, this could save you a bit of money.
$125 American Airlines Flight Discount
Receive a $125 American Airlines flight discount after you spend $20,000 or more on purchases during your anniversary year and renew your card. With the card offering Loyalty Points for spending, many might find it worthwhile to spend $20,000 on the card in order to earn Loyalty Points plus this flight discount.
Is The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card Worth It?
The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card offers a nice welcome bonus with the annual fee waived for the first year.
Furthermore, the card offers some benefits for those who travel with American on occasion, including a first checked bag free, preferred boarding, inflight savings, and more. With spending on the card counting toward elite status, I know many people find that to be worthwhile, and the $125 flight discount for spending can add value as well.
Let’s take a closer look at a few other considerations — how does this card compare to American’s no annual fee card, which cards should you be using for your everyday spending, etc.?
What About The No Annual Fee AAdvantage MileUp Card?
There’s also the American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® (review), which has no annual fee and offers some potentially valuable benefits, like 2x miles on supermarket purchases, and 25% savings on inflight food & beverage purchases.
However, I’d still highly recommend applying for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card. Why?
- The card’s $99 annual fee is waived for the first 12 months
- The card has a much larger welcome bonus
- If after a year you decide the card isn’t right for you, you should be able to downgrade to the MileUp Card, so you can get a no annual fee option long term
Citi Platinum Card Comparison: Business Vs. Personal
How does the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card compare to the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (review), aside from the obvious distinction that one is a business card and one is a personal card?
- The business version of the card has a better welcome bonus
- The business version of the card offers a companion certificate after spending $30,000, while the personal version offers a $125 American flight discount after spending $20,000
- The business version of the card offers 2x miles on eligible American Airlines purchases, telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants, and gas stations, while the personal version of the card offers 2x miles on eligible American Airlines purchases, gas stations, and restaurants
As you can see, the cards are quite similar, though the better bonus on the business card is a reason to consider that option.
What Cards Should You Be Spending Money On?
In general, I’d only recommend spending money on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card if your goal is to earn Loyalty Points toward AAdvantage status.
Otherwise I’d say there are more lucrative cards to spend on, though the best option depends on whether you want to earn cash back or travel rewards. I think a few of the otherwise most compelling cards include the following:
- The no annual fee Citi Double Cash® Card (review) offers 1x points when you make a purchase, and 1x points when you pay for that purchase, in the form of ThankYou points
- The $95 annual fee Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) offers a big welcome bonus, 3x points on dining and online groceries, 2x points on travel, flexible points, and much more
- The $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (review) offers a big welcome bonus, 3x points on dining, groceries, gas, hotels, and airfare, and other valuable perks
- The $395 annual fee Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees) offers a generous welcome bonus, 2x miles on all purchases, and all kinds of awesome perks
Bottom Line
The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card is offering a nice welcome bonus with the annual fee waived for the first 12 months.
The card also offers some potentially valuable perks, like a first checked bag free on American itineraries, preferred boarding, inflight savings, and more. Furthermore, spending on this credit card can help you earn AAdvantage elite status, which I know will interest many.
You can always get this card and then after a year decide if you want to keep it, or downgrade to the no annual fee AAdvantage MileUp Card.
If you want to learn more about the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card or apply, follow this link.
I have trouble using it internationally, since I travel globally for business I went ahead and cancelled it not worth the aggravation.
@Ben can you update this offer .... It's noe expired! The new offer is $200 statement credit + 40K bonus miles, $0 Ann fee first year. Is this new offer with the $200 statement credit worth it more than the 50K or 75K bonus miles record highest was?
This is actually a huge problem.
Also applied for this card. Also denied. Also credit score of 800+ and, like others who read this blog or those who follow advice from places like CreditKarma, pay off my credit cards before the end of the billing cycle.
What Citi essentially does here is misinterpret the data given to them by the credit bureau (Equifax). They see month-over-month low credit utilization and defer from that the customer...
This is actually a huge problem.
Also applied for this card. Also denied. Also credit score of 800+ and, like others who read this blog or those who follow advice from places like CreditKarma, pay off my credit cards before the end of the billing cycle.
What Citi essentially does here is misinterpret the data given to them by the credit bureau (Equifax). They see month-over-month low credit utilization and defer from that the customer must not use the cards.
As in other people's cases, this is completely wrong in my case. The reason for the denial is based on this false assumption of "low utilization = unused credit" and the further assumption of " unused credit = this customer only applies for the bonus of the card."
The issue at stake here is Citi using its own algorithm to calculate eligibility for the card, and the current calculation generates false assumptions and produces denials based on these false assumptions and misinterpretation of the credit bureau data.
To everyone impacted by this who thinks was wrongfully denied based on this misinterpretation of their credit history: I would urge you to call Citi's Credit Card Application reconsideration line and explain the situation to a Supervisor (anyone you first speak to when you call is not authorized to do anything other than read out the denial reasons to you.)
Make the supervisors aware of the issue and explain to them that this is a false assumption made by Citi and resulting in a wrongful denial of your application.
This is clearly a Citi issue, but they will want to point to the credit bureaus for this, don't let them fool you. They are using "snapshot" data from the end of the billing cycles reported to the credit bureaus, but more importantly, they wrongly interpret that data for many of us including Lucky.
I believe the more noise we can create the higher the chances are someone at Citi will hear and fix the broken system they attempted to implement.
Had the Gold version of this card until a few months ago, when Citi swapped me to Platinum Select. Am I still eligible for the mileage bonus or is that for new account holders only?
Does having an American airlines credit card give you access to more flights using miles similar to having an United airlines card?
Citi is so weird, just like Capital One. I already have this card, I had my wife apply. Perfect credit, all scores well over 800, have multiple credit cards with other companies that are 35k+ limits. Have a few other cards with Citi with 20k limites. denied instantly.
Don’t feel bad, the same thing happened to me. 800 plus credit score, no debt and six figure income and turned down instantly.
The restriction to only provide a checked bag on "domestic" itineraries is a big limitation. I had this card in the past when this limitation was even hidden further in the fine print and ended up with an unexpected bag charge on a flight to the Caribbean.
United and other airline credit cards provide a system-wide free bag benefit. Unless you fly American Airlines domestically, this card benefit has little value.
If i only travel lets say 2-3 times per year on American, does it make sense to apply for the card? Are the 75,000 miles even worth it anymore? I see main cabin to Miami around 30k roundtrip per person.
@ Mike -- I think the perks of the card (preferred boarding and a free checked bag) are most valuable for those who don't fly enough to earn status.
If you put some effort into redeeming them, there's huge value to be had with the 75K bonus miles. That's enough miles for a one-way business class ticket on airlines like Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways. You can see more uses of American miles here:
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/best-american-aadvantage-awards/
HI Ben
Agree-this is one of the best cards if you want long-haul travel on Qatar airways.
However, I have not found any Etihad redemption possibilities in a very long time- for which routes do you see them?
Separately, I don't know if others have noticed but with American now flying its own metal from JFK to DOH finding J seats on the Qatar-operated flights is close to impossible-
any thoughts?
@ AT -- As far as Etihad space goes, it often doesn't show through American's website. However, if Etihad has saver space (known as "Guest" availability) then it'll generally be bookable through American's call center, especially the one in Australia. So there are potentially some hoops to jump through, but it's not impossible to book.
As far as Qatar Airways goes, the airline tends to release award availability in spurts. Sometimes availability is great, while...
@ AT -- As far as Etihad space goes, it often doesn't show through American's website. However, if Etihad has saver space (known as "Guest" availability) then it'll generally be bookable through American's call center, especially the one in Australia. So there are potentially some hoops to jump through, but it's not impossible to book.
As far as Qatar Airways goes, the airline tends to release award availability in spurts. Sometimes availability is great, while other times it isn't. It all depends when you're traveling, but right now I see plenty of availability for Qatar business class in early 2024, from a variety of US gateways. Sometimes availability is even much better than that.