9 Reasons To Get Citi’s American Airlines Business Card Now

by Gary Leff

I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.

CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® [See rates and fees]

I’ve had the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® both recently and in the distant past, and it’s spending on this card that largely accounting for my first lifetime elite status with American Airlines way back in 2006. American’s miles are the currency I’ve spent the most over the years, and there’s no longer a great way to earn miles through another credit card besides an American branded one and then transfer those miles to AAdvantage.

And AAdvantage miles remain my go-to right now too, whether it’s booking Qatar Airways QSuites for next year or Cathay Pacific awards to go back to Southeast Asia. Any awards booked this year can be cancelled, with miles redeposited, at no cost – so these miles are the perfect way to start planning travel again.

Here are 9 reasons I think it’s a great idea to get the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®:

  1. 65,000 bonus miles the initial offer for this card is generous, 65,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $4,000 within the first 4 months of account opening.
  2. Redeem that bonus for two of the best products in the world Earn the bonus and meet the spending requirement you’ll have 69,000 miles. 70,000 by the way is what it costs from the US to the Mideast, India or Maldives on Qatar. You can even fly Qatar’s Qsuites, which may be the best business class in the world. (There’s an argument to be made for the new ANA business class having the title.)
    Credit: Qatar Airways

    Flying business class from the US to Southeast Asia also costs 70,000 miles — and you can fly carriers including Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and Cathay Pacific.


    Cathay Pacific

  3. It’s almost like having Gold status, but without the upgrades Golds rarely get anyway. The card offers first checked bag on domestic American Airlines itineraries and preferred boarding on American flights.
  4. No annual fee the first year so the initial bonus doesn’t come with the card’s $99 annual fee, and the other card benefits like free checked bags and boarding privileges don’t either.
  5. First class awards. AAdvantage miles are great if you want to redeem for international first class because they have some of the best airlines in the world as their partners, airlines that offer an international first class product, and that make first class available to partners on points.I’ve been fortunate to regularly redeem my miles for Qantas first class, Cathay Pacific first class, and Etihad first class — not to mention that first class is available on Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and British Airways.


    Qantas First Class

  6. Doesn’t add to 5/24 Citibank business cards you carry aren’t reported to your personal credit so do not count towards Chase’s 5/24 restrictions. You can get this card without pushing up that numerator.
  7. Can get personal and business from both Citi and Barclays Miles you earn from this offer aren’t the end of the story. Citibank has a personal AAdvantage card too and American also partners with Barclays for its co-branded credit cards. As I’ve frequently heard flight attendants remind customers on flights, you can get AAdvantage cards from both Citi and Barclays. That’s four cards you can get earning the same mileage currency.
  8. No credit cards earn American AAdvantage miles faster. Delta and United have bank partners whose own products earn points faster than the co-brands do, where it makes sense to put your spending on another card and then transfer (from Amex) to Delta or (from Chase) to United. However there’s no bank card out there that earns American AAdvantage miles faster. The card earns 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases, and on purchases at telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and at gas stations; 1 AAdvantage® mile per $1 spent on other purchases; 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible mile earned from purchases. This isn’t my go to card for spending but it’s a great way to earn elite status.
  9. Anecdotally easy to get I’ve had this card in the past but I was approved without difficulty when I last became a cardmember. Readers have had great success with it as well.

CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

Comments

  1. I’ve had this card in the past (foolishly closed it late in 2014 when I opened the Barclay’s Aviator card). Will I (ever) be able to earn a signup bonus for opening this card again?

  2. Unfortunately Qatar is very spotty with award availability, and what they do have comes with horrifically long connections/layovers and 2-3 stops along the way. Hardly sounds like an award. Cathay first award space is (as of last week) non-existent from anywhere in the USA, unless someone else has had luck besides me?

  3. Do I have to wait 48 months as per the terms and conditons of the offer?

    American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® account in the past 48 months.

  4. 2 Reasons Not to Get This Card

    1) Citi combines ancient IT with low-end outsourced customer support to produce a worst-in-class experience. If a simple transaction can’t be completed on their website, expect to spend hours on the phone and get a completely random response.

    2) Having AAdvantage miles might tempt you to try flying American again. Unfortunately, this isn’t something that has gotten any better over time.

  5. @Narayana, – No, terms and conditions don’t apply for you because you’re special.

    @AlwaysTraveling – If you’re flying on Qatar, you’d have at most 1 stop in Doha, so your comment makes no sense.

  6. Always Traveling —

    Just booked Cathay F JFK-HKG for Feb ’22. Biz was also available, as is
    F and Biz for return.

    Can’t wait!

  7. Chase sapphire preferred card has a 80,000 point signup with $50 credit for groceries on 4k spend. Weird we don’t see any mention of that offer on this blog. Must mean there is no referral kickback for bloggers.

  8. Hey Bill,
    You need to get laid. Also, on this very same page, on the right hand side, I see a link for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

  9. I’m gun shy about applying for AA cards after their aggressive purge of people that opened too many cards last year

  10. @Brodie
    Chase sapphire preferred card has a 80,000 point signup with $50 credit for groceries on 4k spend. Weird we don’t see any mention of that offer.

  12. @John they didn’t purge people who opened too many cards. They purged people who gamed the system with targeted mailers that didn’t belong to them to get many cards.

  13. I’ve seen the question asked many times, but never answered: how long must one wait between cancelling this card and requalifying for the bonus?

  14. I collect all types of miles and points and I consider myself an expert. I have been at it for decades now. In terms of AA miles and credit cards, I have accumulated and spent millions of miles over the years and have wonderful trips and memories. I have used them for a number of one world partners. A lot on Japan and Cathay. I have around 450,000 still in my account and just got the Business Citi card for my wife and topped her account back up to 131,000 miles as she had used a ton for a couple of trips to Japan to see a sister that lives there. We always travel business or 1st class. At times, Japan Airlines 1st class tickets are only 70,000 miles each way, so why not? Used to use these miles for Air Berlin as well and they flew many places, including Israel. My wife will be on a AA flight from Sarasota to DCA next week that I got with British Airways miles and I will have her pick up a code from the Flight Attendants so I can get her a Barclays Personal card with the waived annual fee and 60,000 miles after 1 spend. It does not get better or easier than that.

  16. Please, could anyone refresh my memory on the rules regarding bonus eligibility. I’ve had this card in the past (closed it late in 2014 when I opened the Barclay’s Aviator card). Am I or will I (ever) be able to earn a signup bonus for opening this card again?

  17. @JimF- You’re good to go on a new bonus/account. 48 months between closing and opening new AA card(s).

  18. I thought that Citi measures dates differently e.g., opening a card and closing a card both reset the clock – It had to be 2 yrs after closing the card if my memory is right that you can get a bonus

  19. 48 month is questionable. I have records of two different chats to validate my eligibility and never received the miles. I reached out to a supervisor on the phone who stated if the chats indeed stated so I would receive the miles as well as a callback from her. No callback and she pushed out 5,000 miles, not the 65,000. I ain’t got time for their bullshit, so I will be cancelling this card, my double cash card, and my Citi Premier, which I downgraded from Prestige after 5 years because they continue to gut it. Bye Citi

  20. @Brodie
    Did you apply for this card?

    Mr. Leff once again fantastic job please use the links

  22. Notes for AA points seekers:

    – Both personal and business Citi AA co-branded cards have a 48-month rule
    – Citi cards other than co-branded cards have an account-closing rule — this rule does not apply to Citi AA co-branded cards.
    – Personal Barclays AA cards appear to have once-in-a-lifetime language.
    – Business Barclays AA cards appear to have no limiting language.

    Let’s all respect that some individuals are either new to the game or simply not as skilled. Imagine that the person asking a question or commenting is a single mom trying to make ends meet or a disabled war veteran trying to eek out a vacation. Each of us has the opportunity to help fellow players move the ball forward. Save the witty and insulting comments for a different forum.

    Thanks Gary.

  23. Barclays a few years ago hands down was the best card to have for AA. Regular lucrative bonuses like spend 500 a month for 3 months get 15000 miles type of lucrative. That’s kind of dried up. That being said Citibank bonuses to existing clients are piss poor and always have been and they don’t recognize big spenders. Maybe because Citi is so large spending 40-50K on their cards is a pimple on an elephant’s ass

    I would never say don’t sign up, grab the free miles and look for best deal for future spending

  24. Mets Fan in NC, you are absolutely right. It’s about the money. Or, rather, how much money.

    All of the big banks are putting their focus on the big money relationships — loan generation, wealth management, and investment banking are their primary sources of revenue. I was in the business for nearly three decades. (But, I’m not old.)

    Big clients generate big revenues and that’s where the attention will be paid. Small clients generate small revenues and that’s where the attention will NOT be paid. Whether it is the in-branch experience or the credit card customer service experience that suffers, this is why.

    $40k to $50k in household annual credit card spend is likely within the “average” part of a bell curve. And, there are 20 or 30 million like you out there. Service 100 accounts of $10k or service 1 account of $1M? Take your pick. You get the idea.

    I’m not saying that I like it or that’s how it should be. I’m saying that’s the way it is.

    Positions in the low-profit units of the bank are often filled with near-entry-level personnel. And, they suffer from substantial turnover. As such, these units are constantly training. Which means the unit is never fully up to speed. Which means service suffers. What’s a girl to do? Oh, did you know that you can do that online?

    Go into your local branch and ask yourself whether you recognize any faces. Go back in a year and ask yourself the same question.

  26. Barclays Business card signup offers are always better but Citi pays to have their cards promoted

  28. There was a brief mention of using AA miles to upgrade on BA. Personally, I’ve tried this a few times for BA flights with AA #s booked on AA and no luck upgrading so far. Usually, the agents say something like BA hasn’t released the seats yet, or mention that they rarely release seats to AA for points upgrades.

    Has anyone had any success upgrading from economy to business or business to first on BA w/AA points? If so, how did you do it?

  32. Reno Joe, Thank You for speaking up. I’ve been at the “cards/points game” for just 3 years now (and I’ma disabled veteran). 4 CC cards total, PP with AA/400k miles, TIT with Marriott/700k points. I’m still SUPER new to this world and often feel like I can’t write an “excited sounding” comment OR ask a general question due to many of the responses I’ve read on this blog and others. We’re not all experts, many of us are just trying to use our work travel to take a spouse along with us for a vacation or even put Mom up somewhere nice when she comes in town. That’s all. I wish I could open up cards left and right or travel to the Maldives every year in F. But I’m too Chicken to ding up my Credit Score, and I’d rather upgrade a couple friends to an Ocean View room in South Padre Island Texas than go on a lavish trip to wherever by myself. Appreciate you reminding the commenters that people of all walks of life read these blogs for various bits of information and tips.

  33. Well said Mr. Benjamin G. Guttery Thank You for the service I have learned it’s always better to create memories from these miles Wherever it maybe

  35. This is a lie ,gold status gets you no upgrade but gets you preferred seats including emergency exits seats, enough with the pushing credit application’s

  36. Is there any reason not to dump Barclays for this card? I have both now and can’t justify 2 annual fees.

    That said I would never use the miles on Qatar. There is no reason to fly out of the way via Middle East when there are so many better routing options.

  37. Why? Zero international business saver seats anywhere on AA’s routes through the end of the schedule.. they have not released any in months.

  38. Can you comment on the fact that 99% of the people reading this already have a Citi AADVANTAGE card of some kind and therefore CANNOT RECEIVE ANY BONUS OF ANY KIND FOR 4 YEARS? Doesn’t matter of it’s personal or business. If it’s the same name, address, or Aadvantage Account you don’t get it. And AA & Citi will do WAYYYYY more than claw back the miles these days. They will shut you down and take everything they legally can from you. Plus, no availability on Cathay Pacific or Qatar. Better update these blogs before just reposting them every few months again.

  39. Gary

    any insight into how much longer AA 70k asian fairs will last before the go up like United ?

  40. Currently Barclays has a deal for 3 miles per dollar spent for a limited time, check the offers in your account.

    I second the comment on respectful communication. If what someone says is wrong, correct the info without sarcasm or rude comments, please.

  41. I thought about it but then applied to the aviator biz instead. Better 80k/$2k SUB

  42. Yesterday
    15 reasons why American Airlines is headed for bankruptcy

    Today
    Better go get the AA credit card

    Tomorrow
    Better burn those miles before they are further devalued

  43. In my opinion AA awards have gone from the most useful before Covid, to the most useless after it. I used to love AA awards mostly for its partners CX and JL, but those airlines are now barely flying from the US, have hubs which foreigners can’t enter without quarantine, and even if you were willing to deal with flying through an airport that is mostly closed they don’t have any availability anyway.

    It would be nice if you could use AA miles on QR to fly to Asia, but you can’t do this without cashing in 2 separate awards and they have no real availability anyway.

    AA miles used to also be useful on AA metal to South America, but AA has all but abandoned this franchise, and the route network is a fraction of what it used to be. There is some availability on the new DEL route (which is two hours longer than alternate flights on CO and AI), but the prices for the seats are absurd (175K miles each way in J). Right now I have a million or so AA miles I can’t find a way to use.

  44. Benjamin terms say

    American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® account in the past 48 months.

    Can someone clarify?

  45. I won’t ever get a citibank AA card again. I had a citibank AA card since 1991, and used it 2-3x a year, always paying off the monthly balance, Then suddenly in 2020, citibank cancelled the card, closed the account without giving me any advance notice, because I hadn’t used the card in 12 months . Despite my numerous calls and emails, citibank wouldn’t re-open the account. But they sure encouraged me to apply for the card again.

  46. A very outdated post. While I’ve redeemed AAdvantage miles since 2016 10 times on CX for business class and 4 times on QR, I’ve see nothing for months ahead. To Doha, AA wants you to redeem 125 K AAdvantage miles via JFK from wherever you are in the U.S , less on BA but with hundreds of dollars in junk fees. Crap.

  47. Any idea of the best way to figure out when you were last given a bonus? It’s about 4 years ago, but I can’t figure it out!

  49. AA is the worlds number One airline and I am a CK (so is my wife). These cards enable people to manufacture spend to earn miles and also status. What’s there to complain? Being from Abbotabad, Pakistan this is like living the American Dream. God bless you Gary.

  50. I’ve been checking on flights to s.e. asian weekly for seats early next year, ( san bkk, or san hkt) those 70k flights are scarce

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