This week, our household received three credit card offers from Citibank, all for American Airlines AAdvantage credit cards. Each came with a different sum of bonus miles: 30,000, 50,000, and 75,000 miles. (Two of the envelopes were addressed to my wife, one to me.) Talk about mixed messages!
The 75K bonus (with $1,500 in purchases within 6 months) and a 100K bonus (with $10,000 in purchases within a year) first hit the inter-tubes about a month ago. I thought I had posted about it, but looking back, I didn’t. (Gary Leff was on the scene.)
This sort of deal usually doesn’t last long, but the fact that they’re sending it out to folks via snail mail (with an application deadline of October 31, 2010) and not just electronically suggests that it has some legs.
Some caveats/warnings: 1) If you can’t manage your credit, stay away from these cards. It’s not worth messing up your finances for a chunk of miles. 2) The cards have an annual fee, but it’s waived the first year. You can collect the bonus and cancel the card before the fee kicks in, but you’ll need to likely need to hold the card for 8 to 10 months after qualifying for the bonus in order to receive the miles. And 3) choose the right card. If you’re not going to spend $10,000 on a card in 12 months, don’t sign up for the 100K mile cards.
But, caveats aside, and in the interest of beefing up your mileage accounts, here are the links, via Gary.
75,000 miles after $1500 in purchases within 6 months, no fee the first year:
- 75,000 mile bonus: Visa
- 75,000 mile bonus: Visa Business
- 75,000 mile bonus: American Express (issued by Citi, not Amex)
100,000 miles: 50,000 miles after $750 in purchases within 4 months, and another 50,000 miles after $10,000 in purchases within 12 months, no fee the first year
- 100,000 mile bonus: Visa
- 100,000 mile bonus: Visa Business
- 100,000 mile bonus: American Express (issued by Citi, not Amex)
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September 2nd, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Can you use the American Express at Costco if it’s issued by Citi?
September 3rd, 2010 at 12:31 am
I’ve given up on miles. I’ve tried to use them several times in the past couple of years, for free flights and for upgrades (for my pregnant wife!) and they would never let me use any of them. I don’t see what the point is anymore.
September 3rd, 2010 at 8:29 am
These are great offers, but aren’t they restricted to first-time holders of Citi AA cards? I churned lots of Citi AA cards for the miles until about a year ago, when they started refusing to issue more.
And in contrast to Mike’s experience, my family has used miles to fly free on many occasions.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:08 am
Curious about your comment that “you typically have to keep the card for 9 months to keep the bonus.” I’ve not seen that before anywhere. Sources?
September 5th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
@Miles, the conditions in the snail-mail version I received state 1) “This Citi / AAdvantage card offer is valid only for new Citi / AAdvantage accounts applied for pursuant to this offer by October 30, 2010, and excludes any other Citi / AAdvantage cards offered.” and 2) “If you are an existing City / AAdvantage cardmember, you are not eligible for this offer on your existing account.” No word on previous cardholders… Perhaps worth trying?
@Ralph, Hmm. You are right, there’s nothing in the terms that refers to a nine-month period. I think I’m confusing this with Chase, which has a clawback provision with their United Mileage Plus cards. What the Citi offer does say is that you have to wait 8 to 10 weeks after you meet the requirements for the bonus in order to receive the miles. Miles may post sooner, of course. I would hold the card for at least that amount of time. I’ll amend the post to reflect that.
September 14th, 2010 at 8:20 am
I see “only” 30,000 American Airlines:
https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/filter1Search.do?constituent=CONSUMER&attrs=CC_TRAVEL_REWARDS&x=62&y=10
September 14th, 2010 at 8:34 am
The link you’re providing, John, is the main Citicards page. The links in my post go directly to applications that are not widely advertised. I assure you, from personal experience, that the big-mileage links I posted were working, as recently as this past week. I called Citibank to confirm that, indeed, I would be getting the huge bonus, and it was confirmed to me on the phone.
October 25th, 2010 at 7:12 am
[...] AAdvantage Citibank mega-bonuses: Only one week leftPosted by: Mark Ashley Back in September, I posted about the amazingly huge mileage bonuses which Citibank was offering new American Airlines …. For no annual fee in the first year, you could get 75,000 or 100,000 miles for reaching spending [...]
November 28th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Don’t even bother collecting Aadvantage miles. I’m Gold for life on American and it’s impossible to get a business class flight to Italy using miles. We’ve called a dozen times. We are TOTALLY flexible on dates. We’ve even called at midnight for the 300+ days in advance when they first ‘release’ mileage seats. Nothing. After all these years, I’m re-thinking why I even bother.
December 24th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
http://www.digitizedlogos.com“Over 1,000,000 Promotional Products to choose from with your choice of 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles or 25,000 United Airlines Mileage Plus. American Airlines AAdvantage Miles gives multiple choices when you purchase Promotional Products, Embroidered and Screen Printed Corporate Apparel “