Last Chance for Citi / AAdvantage Platinum 60k Offer

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We’ve been wondering when the shoe would drop with the limited time 60k sign up offers for Citi’s AAdvantage co-branded credit cards.

Since April, both the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard and the CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard have had 60,000 mile sign up bonuses for spending $3,000 on each within three months of opening them. The marketing for the cards reads limited time, but no end date was actually published.

The Points Guy broke the news yesterday that the 60k offer for the personal card would end as off July 13 (tomorrow). We’re not sure what the offer for the personal card is changing to, but if I had to guess I’d say it would revert to the standard offer of 30,000 AAdvantage miles for $1,000 of spending in three months.

Apparently the 60k offer for the business card will stick around a little longer. How much longer no one knows.

Breakdown of Offers

Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard

Quick Facts

• Sign Up Bonus: 60,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $3,000 on the card within three months of opening the account
• Category Bonus: 2 American Airlines miles for every dollar spent on American Airlines purchases
• First checked bag is free on domestic American Airlines flights for the cardholder and four others on the same reservation
• Preferred Boarding on domestic American Airlines flights
• 25% off of in-flight food and beverages purchased on the card
• 10% rebate of redeemed American Airlines miles (maximum of 10,000 miles returned each calendar year)
• Access to American Airlines’s Reduced Mileage Awards
• No foreign transaction fees
• Annual fee: waived the first 12 months, $95 thereafter
• Eligibility: subject to Citi’s sign up bonus rule

The offer for the CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard is practically the same, except there is no 10% rebate of redeemed miles and there are extra category bonuses as well as a potential to earn a $99 companion certificate:

Quick Facts

• Sign Up Bonus: 60,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $3,000 on the card within three months of opening the account
• Category Bonuses: 2 American Airlines miles for every dollar spent on American Airlines purchases, telecommuncations merchants, car rental merchants, and gas stations
• First checked bag is free on domestic American Airlines flights for the cardholder and four others on the same reservation
• Preferred Boarding on domestic American Airlines flights
• 25% off of in-flight food and beverages purchased on the card
• $99 companion certificate: If you spend $30,000 in a year on the card, you also get a $99 companion certificate for use within the continental United States.
• Access to American Airlines’s Reduced Mileage Awards
• No foreign transaction fees
• Annual fee: waived the first 12 months, $95 thereafter
• Eligibility: subject to Citi’s sign up bonus rule. Not sure you qualify for a business card? Read How to Be Approved for Business Credit Cards.

For a full analysis of these cards’ benefits, check out New 60k Bonus on Each Citi AAdvantage Card.

Why You’d Want American Airlines Miles

You probably don’t want AAdvantage miles for domestic redemptions as award space within the United States is notoriously lacking. You’re also better off redeeming Alaska or Etihad miles on American Airlines award space flights to Mexico, the Carribbean, Central America, or Northern South America, especially during Off Peak travel dates.

But if we’re talking big time international travel, then AAdvantage miles can get you places.

• United States to the Middle East or Indian Sub-Continent (like the Maldives) roundtrip in Etihad Business Class = 140,000 American Airlines miles
• United States to Africa roundtrip in Qatar Business Class (via Doha) = 150,000 American Airlines miles
• United States to Japan or Korea roundtrip in Japan Airlines Business Class = 120,000 American Airlines miles
• United States to Japan or Korea roundtrip in Japan Airlines First Class = 160,000 American Airlines miles
• United States to the Middle East or Indian Sub-Continent one way in Etihad First Class = 115,000 American Airlines miles one way (here’s a trick for how to reveal the outbound award space as often times only the return from the Middle East will show up)
• United States to Southeast Asia roundtrip in Cathay Pacific Business Class = 140,000 American Airlines miles. Yes, it costs a lot less Alaska miles to fly this same award–100,000 vs. 140,000, but if you can open all three of cards at once (third card explained below), you’ll earn the necessary miles in three months versus the six everyone would need to earn 100,000 Alaska miles from scratch)

  

• If you’re earning AAdvantage miles from scratch, the 126k miles (minimum) you’d earn from meeting the minimum spending requirements for both the personal and business Citi cards would not be enough for some of the redemptions listed above. However, there’s another American Airlines co-branded credit card issued by Barclays that will push your balance up another 50k for only one purchase!

Completing the Trifecta for Tons of AAdvantage Miles

The Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard offers 50,000 American Airlines miles after just one purchase (and paying a $95 annual fee).

Even if you had/have the Barlcaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World MasterCard that was product changed from the old US Airways card, you’re still eligible for this new Aviator card because it is considered a different product.

126,000 miles from the two Citi cards + 50,000 = 176,000 American Airlines miles!

Strategy for Applications

If you want all three cards, apply for the Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard first now. If you get a pending application response, call 866-408-4064 (8am-5pm, M-F)–that’s the reconsideration phone line–to see if there’s any other info you can provide to push the application through. I recommend applying for this card first as Barclays is known for being the most inquiry sensitive bank.

Then apply for the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard next. Submit your application before midnight (ET, just to be safe) to ensure that you get the 60k bonus. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to screenshot the sign up page that reads 60k bonus for spending $3k in three months just in case there’s any question down the line.

The collected wisdom is to put at least eight days between applications for cards issued by Citi, so wait at least eight days from today to apply for the business card. Hopefully the 60k bonus for the business card doesn’t drop before then–if we hear word, we’ll let you know ASAP.

Bottom Line

It’s been easy to earn heaps of American Airlines miles for months now, considering each Citi card has had a public 60k offer and Barclaycard has a 50k offer for no minimum spending requirement other than one purchase. Looks like that era is wrapping up.

Apply today if you want the 60k for $3k spend on the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard. Tomorrow, that bonus is changing, and chances are very high that it will drop (my guess, to 30k).