100,000 Miles Offer for the Citi Executive American Airlines MasterCard
I learned from View from the Wing that there is a great new 100,000 miles sign-up bonus for the Citi Executive American Airlines. I’ve written quite a few posts on redeeming American Airlines miles and find them valuable. With that in mind, 100,000 miles can go a long way toward earning free flights all over the world.
That said, this 100,000 miles is not extremely easy to earn and this particular offer may not be right for everyone. The spending requirement is $10,000 within 3 months of account opening and the card comes with a $450 annual fee. That’s quite a large spending requirement and annual fee, but there are a few benefits to offset the two:
- $200 in statement credits on purchases within 12 months of account opening.
- Admiral’s Club membership for American Airlines lounges.
- Priority Boarding and 25% savings on eligible in-flight purchases.
- Your first eligible checked bag is free
- Earn 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles after spending $40,000 in purchases each calendar year.
(In the interest of full disclosure, the link for this card is not my personal affiliate link and I do not earn a commission. Although I always write about the best offer I can find regardless of commission, I cannot personally guarantee the terms. I would take screenshots before applying in case there is any discrepancy later on.)
Although it doesn’t make sense to put much spending on the card after meeting the initial spending requirement given the card only offers 1 mile per dollar on base spending, the 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles may be a good way to boost your way to AAdvantage Elite status. I am currently Platinum Elite with American Airlines and will need 50,000 miles to requalify next year.
As always, make the right decision and don’t stretch your spending more than you otherwise would.
Tips on Redeeming American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
American Airlines miles can be super valuable especially if you know the right tricks for using them. You can check out some of my favorite tricks from my previous posts:
- American Airlines AAdvantage Off-Peak Award Chart
- How to Add Free One-Way Trips on American Airlines Awards
- From Caribbean in Winter + to Europe in Summer for 20,000 American Airlines miles TOTAL
- Search American Airlines Caribbean Award Space To Every Island At Once!
- Adding “Better Than Free” One-Ways on American Airlines: Fly to South America for 20,000 Miles All Year!
- Planning a Trip to Asia with American Airlines Miles: Part 1 of 2
- Planning a Trip to Asia with American Airlines Miles: Part 2 of 2
- How to Redeem American Airlines AAdvantage Miles on Cathay Pacific
- The Trick to Create American Airlines Off-Peak Award Pricing to the Middle East And Save 30,000 Miles
any thoughts on how to fulfill the spending requirement in NYC? The CVS near where I live (CP) seems to be out of VRs all the time. Any DRs that have them in stock?
Good question! Duane Reades do have them fairly frequently, but every one I’ve encountered has a register coded not to take credit cards for them. That seems to be everyone else’s experience also. I usually find Vanilla Reloads at CVS when I visit my parents in NJ and fill up for the month (and sometimes here in NYC, though that’s been tougher this past month).
Great Offer , thank you ! If I have the Citi® Platinum Select / AAdvantage® World MasterCard , which I opened about 3 months ago, can I apply for this card and still be eligible for the 100k offer?
Also good question! According to what others have been reporting, this is considered a different product from the other Citi AAdvantage credit cards. However, you cannot apply for more than two Citi cards within two months so just make sure that isn’t the case.
How do you get the $200 statement credit?
According to the offer, it says you get a $200 credit for any purchases within the first 12 months. It should hopefully appear automatically, but I usually take screenshots of limited time offers just in case I need to follow up later on.
The $200 credit sounds like the 1st $200 you spend will get a credit which is easy if you have to spend 10,000 dollars in 3 months. Don’t they really mean 200 spent just on AA flights?
Frequent Miler reported that the phone representative believed this to be the case so, most likely, that is what they meant to say that it is on spending at American Airlines. However, given that they did write it in a way that suggests it’s for any purchases, a reasonable argument can be made that they should honor the terms as written so we should take screenshots before applying. In case I don’t end up with $200 in American Airlines purchases in the first year, I will most likely ask for the $200 as in the terms and hope it works out!
Did u see this deal before? Do Aa miles have expiration date? I m debating if I should get this deal now or wait for the next promotion.
AA miles expire after 18 months with no activity in the account, but they’ll continue to be active otherwise. The American Airlines credit cards used to offer 75,000 per card, but they’ve been at 50,000-60,000 for a while. I honestly don’t know how long this may last or when it will be available again. I am always in favor of not having miles sit around without a plan so, if you don’t have an immediate use for the miles, it may not be a good idea to stretch your credit and budget when you’re not comfortable doing so.
Hi TMP! I need to pick your brain =)
I have two options. Apply for the
1) 50k Citi AA Personal + 50k Citi AA Business rather than the
2) 100k Citi AA exec card
Both options give me 100k AA miles.
I don’t have any of these cards and a friend pointed out that the first option is better since the annual fee is waived for the first year for both cards. I’m just afraid I’ll miss out on this 100k offer. It seems like the first option is better?
What do you think? I don’t have issues meeting the min. $10k requirement and have no debt.
Thanks =)
Those two choices are quite similar so it’s definitely a tough call, but there may be a third option here. Given you seem to be for getting two separate cards (business and personal) and maximizing miles, it seems to make sense to go for the 50,000 Business Card offer along with a personal card (provided you can meet the minimum spending and you already commented previously you can buy Vanilla Reloads). So then the question becomes which personal card should you go for among the two offers. The 50,000 one does waive the annual fee, but the 100,000 one provides $200 statement credit (though the terms on whether AA only purchases or all purchases are not clear) so we can factor that in to the $450 annual fee and say it’s $250 for the first year (assuming you’d spend $200 on AA purchases). The question then becomes: Is $250 worth an additional 50,000 AA miles and lounge access for a year? I personally value 50,000 AA miles higher than that so that’s probably what I’d go for… in addition, the 50,000 offer is typically around so I can always get that one later. It’s not clear when the 100,000 one will go away. All three cards are different products and don’t conflict.
Thanks for the quick reply =)!
I see what you’re saying. It never crossed my mind I can do both the 100k Exec card + the 50k Business card. So just to confirm, the third option would be
100k card + 50k business? Good to know the 50k personal card is usually around. I read I should wait at least 8 days and not to apply for more than one citi card a week. Does it matter which order I apply for them?
Haha, i feel like ever since I started this hobby I am always planning vacations!
Yes, that’s correct. Third option is 100k Personal + 50k Business. You as yourself and you as a business are separate entities so it may be possible to get approved for both a Business and Personal card at the same time. That said, both credit checks are on your personal credit report if you are a sole proprietorship so I’d apply for the card you want most first (and which offer is least available) just in case they don’t approve for both. The rule of thumb is to not apply for more than 2 Citi cards within 65 days so it’s best to wait a few months before applying for a second Citi personal card if you intend to get all 3 eventually. Or, if you apply for two and get declined for one, wait a few months before reapplying for the second one.
I am actually booking something this weekend that’s exactly 130k AA miles so I am glad my 100k offer will soon replenish mine … will post details soon if it works out!
Thanks! =) Oh wow! I can’t wait to hear about your upcoming trip! It’s always exciting reading your trip reviews! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Hello TMP! =) I did it! I decided to apply for the 100k card only along with the Club Carlson for me. I was also targeted for the US Airways 15k bonus so I have quite a lot of min spending to meet so the 100k was the best for me. Citi over nighted it via fedex for Saturday delivery which was pretty cool.
Do I need to do anything to link my AA # to this card to get lounge access or is it automatic? I tried searching everywhere and I can’t find an answer. Also, say you don’t have the card on you and you go into a partner lounge/AA longe, do you know if they’ll let you in? My bf flying back from HKG and it looks like the lounge AA partners with over there is Quantas. I was thinking I can take a picture of the card and he can show the picture or something since his card is in the US and I can’t get it to him. Or can they look him up? He won’t be flying on AA metal/Cathay. Probably United/slight chance of Cathay.
Wow, that’s great! When you apply for the card, there is a place where you can add your AA# and it automatically links to it. If you didn’t add it, it’s best to give them a call and have it sorted out so the miles go to the right place. As far as lounge entry requirements, with the Amex Platinum card, they usually ask for my card and id. For international lounges, I really don’t know the answers, unfortunately… but customer service line on this card may be able to help. They tend to be more knowledgeable than for usual cards… as it is a $450 annual fee. :)
Thanks!!! I did put my AA number when I filled out the app, but I’ll give them a call just in case to find out about the lounge entrance question.
Dear Miles Professor,
Do you know when this offer will expire? Thanks for this posting this great deal.
– Chris
There is no official word on this from AAdvantage though HackMyTrip reported his wife being mailed an invitation for this specific offer to apply by March 15. That’s probably the best guess we have of information concerning this offer ending though that may have been a personal deadline for his wife.
Can do at least 2 AA Exec cards and get 100K bonus x 2. Just approved for second card and confirmed would get 2nd bonus – was dealing with same CSR rep for both 100K Exec cards, so they knew I was getting 2 bonuses.
Why anyone has problems ginning up $10K spend these days is a complete mystery. You should be able to do it at negative net cost to boot.
Also – heard that you get the $200 on first use on any purchase – not just on AA purchases…
“Negative net cost to boot”, says Paul, regarding $10,000. spending.
Please explain? Vanilla Reloads cost $3.95 per $500. Visa cards?
I am a relative newcomer to the miles game, and I have a question. My husband & I are planning a 10th anniversary trip to Hawaii in May, 2016. This bonus would REALLY help us get there, but I don’t want to keep this card with the high annual fee for more than a year. You said upthread that AA miles expire after 18 months of no activity. Does “activity” mean charging something to the card? Here is what my plan is: get this card and meet the minimum spend (no problems here – I have easy access to VRs plus my kids’ school tuition is coming up). Hang on to the card until December, making a small charge or two up until then. Cancel the card. If I am understanding this correctly, I should still have access to those AA miles up until June, 2016. Is this correct?
Keeping the miles active means *any* activity in your account every 18 months. So if you redeem some miles for magazines or transfer in 1,000 miles from a partner or fly on American Airlines and credit the miles, that resets the clock. Your American Airlines miles account actually is completely independent of the credit cards and is fairly easy to keep active provided you don’t forget about it for 18+ months!
Awesome! Thanks for the fast response! I am applying today!
First of all, you’re beautiful ! :). And your picture is great.
Now back to business……
I got approved for this card yesterday through Citi’s website and I wasn’t aware of this offer. They only mention 30000 miles on their web. I feel short changed . Any suggestions to get the 100000 instead ? Thank you !