Review: Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select Card

For as long as I can remember, I have been a Star Alliance guy.  By “Star Alliance”, I mean United Airlines.  United had always felt like home.  From the flights to/from Okinawa in the late 2000s to a few years back when I reached United MileagePlus Platinum status. I still fly United, but quit flying them exclusively after some missed and delayed flights.  During this calendar year, I have flown Delta and American Airlines more than United.  I have flown American Airlines so much that I, inadvertently, achieved Gold status.

I have a few redeemable miles on American, just enough to get me a domestic roundtrip trip (a little more than 30,000).  If you have been following this blog for some time, you know I like to travel at the last minute, much like my last trip to Asia.  I decided that I needed increase my redeemable miles for future use on American, so I applied for and received the American Airlines AAdvantage card from Citi.

The card offered the following benefits:

• 50,000 redeemable miles after spending $2,500 USD in less than three months
• $99 USD annual fee, which is waived the first year
• First checked bag free for you and up to for others on the same reservation when traveling domestically
• Preferred boarding on American Airlines’ flights
• A 25% discount on inflight food/drinks when using the card
• Receive 2X miles on every dollar spent on American Airlines, restaurants, and gas station purchases
• Receive 1X miles on every purchase
• No foreign transaction fees on purchases
• 10% discount on American Airlines vacations
• Ability to earn $125 flight credit after spending $20,000 or more during the cardmember year
• The interest rate is determined by the customer’s creditworthiness

I applied, and was instantly approved for the card after reading about it.  The card arrived less than four days, a few days before my trip to Hawaii with my mom.  I will easily surpass the $2,500 USD spend for the 50,000 redeemable mile bonus by using the card for everyday purchases.  The next benefit I value is the waived annual fee for the first year, but $99 USD is not bad each year after.

I look forward to more travel on American Airlines and their OneWorld Partners.  The hope is that these miles will help me get back from New Zealand a few days after the new year.