Now 30K miles for Citi AA card

All the prior threads on this topic have been archived.

I'm one of those who flip Citi AAdvantage cards a couple times a year (my wife does the same). We usually get 25K AA miles. I recently got an email offer for the same deal ($750 purchases in 4 months, no annual fee first year) except now it's 30,000 miles. Clicked the link and got instantly approved with a hefty CL. I do not know if this is a targeted offer or open to all.

Available cards are MC Platinum, AMEX, and MC Business.

Really tight credit market these days, huh? I still don't understand how or why they do this -- it's even easier than the old game of buying I-bonds or Charter One gift cards, LOL.

The 30k AA Miles may be a targeted portion, because I see on CitiCards.com that the standard offer is still 25k. Maybe they haven't updated their website yet, who knows.

This is because many of the economy tickets now cost 30,000 miles, and they need to keep it as "earning a free ticket".

If I got the 25,000 already, they will only give you the difference between the 30,000 and 25,000 which is 5,000 miles. Am I right? ... or will they give you another 30,000 miles if you have already got the 25,000 miles previously?

Just be careful. They sent me an offer of 30K miles after 1k purchase and I applied for the card presuming that the annual fee. Well that was not the case and I had to make 2 calls to get i tout of my account. Not a big deal, but make sure that you may have to deal with it.

Just cancel/re-consolidate within the first year and you won't pay an annual fee.

I've found so many threads on AOR for credit cards offering 0% interest and no BT fees. I have yet to find any about doing an AOR for airline miles. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Much appreciated.

ArbitrageInc said: I've found so many threads on AOR for credit cards offering 0% interest and no BT fees. I have yet to find any about doing an AOR for airline miles. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Much appreciated.Maybe Flyertalk.

IAskStupidQuestions said: Since they got rid of the reduced mileage awards for international flights, the card is not worth it anymore.I guess that depends. Right now I'm looking at NY-->Lima-->Denver for next June for 30K miles total. The cash price for a ticket is around $800-900.

Here is a link to a 30K offer which I got from this FlyerTalk thread.

30K link

I just got an email for the 30K mile offer (Plat MC, AMEX, Business MC) with the same terms as usual EXCEPT they do NOT waive the annual fee.

Maybe this is how Citi expects to pay for all those miles they bought from AA, by charging the annual fee? It might even be worth it. For some of our trips, we can pretty easily get 3 cents, almost 4 cents, a mile.

These are American Airlines miles, used in their AAdvantage program. Check with AA for more details on how to use their miles.

I use them to travel on AA and associated airlines.

Any active links for 30k?

Obviously, it's best to use AAdvantage Miles for airline tickets. Still, AA charges $20 if ticketing 21 days or more prior to departure time (waived for AAdv.ExecutivePlatinum members). If award is made at the airport or a travel center, it's $30. Travel ticketed 20-7 days prior to departure is $50 (waived for AAd.Exec.Plat); 6 days to 2 hours prior departure is $100 fee. But, you can use them also use AAdvantage Miles for non-airfare rewards, such as newspapers, magazines, car rentals, hotels (from redeemAAmiles program at AA-- $30 processing fee applies to each redemption transaction). for example: 1Night HolidayInn and Express=12.5k; 18.75k; 31.25k (depends on location). 1Night Staybridge Suites=25k. CrownPlaza-31.25k; InterContinental Hotels & Resorts=37.5k or 50k. National Car Rental 2day weekday rental midsize=12k; 3day weekend midsiz/full=13.5k. However, taxes, fees, surcharges are not included. ALTERNATELY, you can set up an account with points.com , which is free, you'll get 100 AAdvantage miles, and you will be allowed to convert miles into points to get gift cards/certificates at over 200 participating partners. However, I do not know the conversion rates.. and they change occassionally.

Just got clinched with the annual fee, any luck getting this reversed?

bankdealsrule said: Obviously, it's best to use AAdvantage Miles for airline tickets.

Why is that so obvious? I had a ton of AA miles I couldn't use for years due to their cruddy availability (eg no 25K awards available unless you want to leave at 4am, have to use 42K miles for a decent flight, $100 fee to change, etc, etc).

Then I got a tip on FW that you can convert to hilton honors points at 2X (eg 30,000 AA miles --> 60,000 HHonors). The hilton points are extremely useful and flexible, you can book at the last minute (I think the very same day if there is a room available), you can cancel up to the last day, no fees etc. 60K can land you 2 last minute free rooms at a nice $200/night property, easily worth more that one sh*tty inflexible AA ticket with tons of fees.

kjgco said: With mileage awards, I think it's safe to say that it's definitely YMMV. I've redeemed AA miles on several occasions (Europe, Mexico, Cent & So America - all during high season), and have gotten the equivalent of 1.5-2.5 cents per mile after fees. The trick, of course, is to book many months in advance, which i admit doesn't work for everyone
How many months in advance? I'm trying to book Chicago to Paris in mid-to-late March, and when I checked in December, there was one 20k award but it was in early March, and it's no longer available. Now there is one date with a 20k award for the returning flight but it lands in JFK, requires an overnight stay at a hotel, and then a flight out of LGA into Chicago. You've got to be kidding me.

I figured since there are a bunch of 20k flights available in February, maybe there will be more 20k March flights made available in February, but maybe my thinking is flawed.

Am I understanding the Citi AAdvantage card rewards program correctly in that there is no particular benefit to using this card to book an AA flight [i.e. no extra miles]? It's 1 mile per dollar spent anywhere, including AA.com?

Also, here's the updated link to the 30k miles Citi AAdvantage Visa app with no annual fee for the first year (expires 2/28/10):
http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc/Travel/AA/Multi/Nov09/Doubl...

(The link posted by juggler451 no longer works)