# American Airlines 75,000 mile offer and Southwest



## rickandcindy23 (Jan 25, 2014)

I wish AA had more flights out of Denver.  Rare to see anything nonstop from DEN, but this might be good for you:

http://millionmilesecrets.com/wp-co...00-American-Miles-Lounge-Access-For-450-1.jpg

I read Million Mile Secrets almost daily.  It's my go-to place to learn about credit card offers that suit my travel needs.  

Currently, Southwest is giving 50,000 miles for all four of their cards.


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## DebBrown (Jan 25, 2014)

That card has a $450 annual fee.  I won't be jumping on it anytime soon.

Deb


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## rickandcindy23 (Jan 25, 2014)

*More information on the card.  Lounge access is pretty important to some*

he regular offer for the Citi American Airlines Executive card is for 60,000 miles after spending $5,000 within 3 months.

So the 75,000 mile offer gets you an additional 15,000 miles, but you have to spend an extra $2,500 within 3 months.  Spending $7,500 within 3 months is a lot of money, so do what you’re comfortable with.

Emily and I don’t earn a commission on this card, but the mother-in-law rule says that I let you know of the best possible offer for a card whether or not it pays a commission.

And 75,000 miles is certainly better than 60,000 or 30,000 miles!

This FlyerTalk thread also talks about a potential 100,000 mile targeted offer, but there is no direct link to the card.

Citi American Airlines Executive Card
Link:  75,000 Miles Citi American Airlines Executive Card

The 75,000 miles offer is currently the largest sign-up bonus of any publicly available airline credit card.

But the 75,000 miles offer comes with a big string attached – an annual fee of $450 a year – which is NOT waived for the first year.

But you might be able to get up to $100 in statement credits.  The Points Guy writes that you can get up to $100 in statement credits for every $1 you spend on American Airlines in the first 12 months of having the card.

You can usually buy American Airlines gift cards to get the statement credit.

There isn’t a landing page for this offer so your miles may vary (YMMV).  That said, you almost always get the bonus as long as you can access the card application page.

American Airlines Lounge Access
The $450 annual fee is very expensive but you get an American Airlines lounge membership which costs up to $500.

If you normally buy an American Airlines Admiral’s Club lounge membership, the Citi American Airlines Executive card could definately be worth it.  That’s because you not only get 75,000 miles, but you also get lounge membership, and up to $100 in statement credits for purchases on American Airlines!

And as an Admirals Club member you also have access to the US Airways Club lounges.  That’s because US Airways and American Airlines are merging.

Admirals Club Members Get Access to US Airways Club Lounges


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## rickandcindy23 (Jan 25, 2014)

The American Express Platinum card is losing access to American Airlines & US Air lounges on March 22, 2014.

But with an American Airlines Admiral’s Club membership (either paid or from the Citi American Airlines Executive card) you and 2 guests get access to the lounge (they don’t have to be traveling with you) and you don’t have to fly on American Airlines.

Other Card Benefits
In addition to the Admiral’s Club membership, the Citi American Airlines Executive card gets you:

2 miles for every $1 spent on American Airlines
Free checked bag
Priority check-in (where available)
Priority boarding
No foreign transaction fees
Up to 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) per year after spending $40,000 in a calendar year
Buying American Airlines Miles for 0.47 to 0.6 cents per Mile
If you’re not interested in American Airlines lounge access and are just in it for the miles, this could still be a decent deal.

If you get the full $100 statement credit for buying American Airlines gift cards directly from American Airlines, you are essentially paying 0.47 cents per American Airline mile ($450 annual fee less $100 statement credit / 75,000 American Airlines miles).

If you don’t get the $100 statement credit, you’re buying American Airlines miles for 0.6 cents per mile ($450 Annual Fee / 75,000 American Airlines miles).

This is much cheaper than buying 75,000 miles directly from American Airlines.  It costs $1,804 to buy 75,000 miles (including 15,000 bonus miles) directly from American Airlines (which isn’t a bargain).

So getting the 75,000 miles offer is a cheap way to get a bunch of American Airlines miles.  75,000 American Airlines miles will get you 3 domestic coach tickets or a flight to anywhere American Airlines or their partner airlines fly!

I don’t have the Citi Executive card with the $450 annual fee, but readers write that it is considered a different product from the regular Citi American Airlines cards.

So you may be able to apply for the Citi Executive card even if you have a Citi American Airlines credit card.  Remember to wait ~10 days between Citi applications, and don’t apply for more than 2 personal cards in a 65 day period.

If you don’t want to pay an annual fee or are new to miles and points, you’re better off with the other offers for 50,000 American Airlines miles which waives the 1st year annual fee.

How to Use American Airlines Miles
Here’s a link to a series on how to use your American Airlines miles.  It costs:

25,000 American Airlines miles for a round-trip coach award in the US
60,000 miles for a round-trip coach award to Europe or South America
50,000 miles for a one-way award to Europe in Business Class
For status-chasing Big Spenders, it could be worth spending $40,000 for 10,000 elite qualifying miles towards your American Airlines elite status, but if you aren’t chasing status, big spending on this card isn’t worth it.

Bottom Line
You can get 75,000 American Airlines miles from the Citi American Airlines Executive card and up to $100 in statement credits after spending $7,500 in the first 3 months.

But you’ll pay a $450 annual fee, so this card isn’t for everyone.

And here are 40+ ways to meet your minimum spending.

* If you liked this post, why don’t you join the 14,000+ readers who have signed-up to receive free blog posts via email (only 1 email per day!) or in a RSS reader …because then you’ll never miss another trip report!


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## LisaH (Jan 25, 2014)

rickandcindy23 said:


> Emily and I don’t earn a commission on this card, but the mother-in-law rule says that I let you know of the best possible offer for a card whether or not it pays a commission.



Who is Emily and what commission you are talking about?
In any cases, paying $450 a year fee plus spending $7,500 within 3 months to get 75000 points does not sound like a great deal. YMMV.


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## czar (Jan 25, 2014)

I've  this card for a year and will not be renewing it. I got it for all the bonuses miles and basically got 2 free RT domestic saver tix out of it (went to FL) so it was worth the $450. Haven't used it for much else. They make a big deal, you get a huge envelope and package in the mail, but for $450, I can't bring myself to renew. The only card I continue to pay for is Amex Platinum bc I get more back than I pay for in fees. But I would use this offer for the mileage if I could!


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## rickandcindy23 (Jan 25, 2014)

> Who is Emily and what commission you are talking about?



I copied and pasted this information from Million Mile Secrets.  It's Daraius and Emily who own the site, and they get commission when people click on the links they provide, but this link is to PointsGuy.  I only watch the site and don't benefit in any way from any links there.

Lounge access and free checked bags for FF of AA would be a great advantage for this card  We don't fly AA at all because they have so few flights out of Denver.  If I want to go to Texas, those are NS, but the others are stops in Texas and MDW and various other airports.  I cannot use the card but would get it if we flew AA.


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## LisaH (Jan 25, 2014)

rickandcindy23 said:


> I copied and pasted this information from Million Mile Secrets.  It's Daraius and Emily who own the site, and they get commission when people click on the links they provide, but this link is to PointsGuy.  I only watch the site and don't benefit in any way from any links there.
> 
> Lounge access and free checked bags for FF of AA would be a great advantage for this card  We don't fly AA at all because they have so few flights out of Denver.  If I want to go to Texas, those are NS, but the others are stops in Texas and MDW and various other airports.  I cannot use the card but would get it if we flew AA.



Thanks Cindy! That makes sense. I almost always fly United  so it's less value to me. There are cheaper ways to get similar amount of miles at least in the past. Maybe things are different now.


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## Bucky (Jan 26, 2014)

rickandcindy23 said:


> I wish AA had more flights out of Denver.  Rare to see anything nonstop from DEN, but this might be good for you:
> 
> http://millionmilesecrets.com/wp-co...00-American-Miles-Lounge-Access-For-450-1.jpg
> 
> ...



Thanks for the Southwest news Cindy. I missed it last time. We used to have the Southwest card but decided to close it a couple of years ago and get the Marriott one. Now we will close the Marriott and open a new Southwest one.


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## bryanphunter (Jan 26, 2014)

If you want to get into the credit card reward points game, I'd recommend following Boardingarea.com 

Multiple bloggers giving tips about credit card rewards, elite mileage runs, how to book award flights for cheap, vanilla reloads, etc.  

It has been a great education on how to get the most value out of airline / hotel rewards programs.  Much like TUG has helped me get the most value out of my resale timeshare weeks

It's been a fun activity for me and despite opening 8 new credit cards in the past 3 months, my credit score has increased by 30 points to 758!


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## bryanphunter (Jan 26, 2014)

rickandcindy23 said:


> I wish AA had more flights out of Denver.  Rare to see anything nonstop from DEN, but this might be good for you:
> 
> http://millionmilesecrets.com/wp-co...00-American-Miles-Lounge-Access-For-450-1.jpg
> 
> ...



If I lived in the Denver area I'd make sure I went for the free companion pass with Southwest (Apply for Personal and Business card at the same time, i.e App-a-rama style) and Daraius also recommends Frontier Airlines Barclay Mastercard.  40,000 miles for only a $500 spend in 3 months.


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## x3 skier (Jan 26, 2014)

I subscribe to The Points Guy for FF stuff. Pretty good site, among lots of others. 

I have switched to primarily AA from primarily DL. If Useless Air hadn't trashed my 1.3 MM lifetime miles, I would be lifetime Excutive Platinum when the merger happens. 

Cheers


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## Pedro (Jan 26, 2014)

x3 skier said:


> I subscribe to The Points Guy for FF stuff. Pretty good site, among lots of others.
> 
> I have switched to primarily AA from primarily DL. If Useless Air hadn't trashed my 1.3 MM lifetime miles, *I would be lifetime Excutive Platinum* when the merger happens.
> 
> Cheers



There is no lifetime Executive Platinum in AA, USAir miles or not.


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## x3 skier (Jan 26, 2014)

Pedro said:


> There is no lifetime Executive Platinum in AA, USAir miles or not.



Did not know that. I guess I will stay Platinum and be content. 

Cheers


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## twinmommy19 (Jan 26, 2014)

I guess if you own 5+ timeshares, hotel perks may not matter as much to you, but I once posted on here my opinion that the Hyatt card initial offer is pretty hard to beat and I'd still stand by that statement.  

The Hyatt card has a $75 annual fee, but the 2 free nights that come with card in the first year are truly unrestricted.  So if you and a spouse sign up for separate cards - you truly get 4 nights at ANY Hyatt hotel (not timeshare) and there are no black outs and they don't charge you tax or resort fees for the stay either.  This includes the 5 star hotels in Europe and the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek - during prime peak season in these places a single night can easily run over $1,000 and that's conservative.  Probably holiday weeks in Hawaii and Aruba are similar - nothing is blocked off though with the free cards - if the hotel isn't sold out for a regular room you can reserve it.  It used to be the free nights were activated as soon as you made your first purchase - I think now there is a modest spending limit.  In any event - this offer mathematically ends up being a lot more generous than any airline mile offers where there are either tons of black outs and 100 mile = $1 so 75,000 miles usually ends up translating into around $750 airline dollars (at least that's been my experience with mileage rewards).     

I am also considering signing up for the Starwood card, but want to wait until they offer 30,000 points again (I think the current offer is less right now).  That card has a really good conversion rate to mileage and flexible usage options for hotel stays.


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## sb2313 (Jan 26, 2014)

bonk2boy said:


> I am also considering signing up for the Starwood card, but want to wait until they offer 30,000 points again (I think the current offer is less right now).  That card has a really good conversion rate to mileage and flexible usage options for hotel stays.



The best starwood offer is usually late July/early August each year, so keep an eye on the blogs/flyertalk around then.


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