Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® Review

The Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® offers many benefits for frequent American Airlines (AA) flyers. Currently, the card also has a good welcome offer that deserves attention from even infrequent American flyers. In our Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® review we will look at the card's earning rate, card benefits, current welcome offer and share our overall thoughts.

Update 10/9/24: The 75K offer is back. (HT DoC)

**Travel on Point(s) has collected these direct links independently.

Current Welcome Offer

The current welcome offer for the Citi AAdvantage Business Mastercard is as follows:

• Earn 75,000 AA miles after spending $5,000 in purchases in the first 5 months from account opening.
• The annual fee is $99, which is waived for the first 12 months.

Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® Review: Application Rules

Citi will approve you for at most one card every eight days, and two cards every 65 days. Also, if you earned a welcome offer for this card in the past 48 months, you are not eligible for the bonus. Each American Airlines card is considered a separate product. They do not have a family rule like the Citi ThankYou point earning cards do.

Earning Structure

The Citi AAdvantage Business Mastercard offers the following earning structure:

• 2x American Airlines miles for every $1 spent in these categories:
  • American Airlines purchases
  • Telecommunications merchants (PayPal Digital Gifts may still code in this category)
  • Cable and satellite providers
  • Car rental merchants
  • Gas stations
• The card also earns 1x on all other purchases.
• Earn 1 Loyalty point for each mile as well

Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® Review: Card Benefits

The Citi AAdvantage Business Mastercard offers the following card benefits to cardholders:

• Free checked bag on domestic routes (including up to 4 companions on same reservation).
  • AA charges $30 for a first checked bag per one-way trip.
• 25% savings on AA inflight Wi-Fi, food, and beverage purchases when you use your card.
• You and up to four travel companions on your same reservation can board AA flights in Group 5.
  • This is after elite passengers but before most of economy passengers.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Earn a companion certificate each year after spending at least $30,000 after cardmember renewal.
  • Redeeming the certificate costs $99 for a “ticketing fee” plus government taxes and fees that range between $21.60 to $43.20. This means you can bring a companion on a flight for somewhere between $120.60 and $142.20.

ToP Analysis

The Citi AAdvantage Business Mastercard is a great card for the current welcome offer alone. With waived annual fee the first 12 months, this card offers an easy way to boost your AAdvantage miles balance. American Airlines miles are some of the hardest airline miles to earn, so this larger offer is welcomed. With this increased offer, the welcome offer is more than enough miles for a one-way business class flight on Q Suites to the Maldives or the Middle East at 70,000 AA miles!

Beyond the welcome offer, this is still a pretty good card that American flyers should consider keeping long-term. The free checked bag, 25% savings on inflight purchases, and preferred boarding are all helpful perks that are easy to use. The free checked bag alone can offset the $99 annual fee if used more than three times in a year.

The companion certificate could be a nice benefit, but the $30,000 spending requirement makes it not really worth pursuing for most folks. That is unless they are already chasing American Airlines status via spend.

When it comes to earning American Airlines miles, the AAdvantage Business offers some decent opportunity with 2x earning on multiple categories, including gas stations. so those looking for a constant source of AA miles should consider the AAdvantage Business.

Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® Review: ToP Thoughts

The Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® is a great option for those looking to earn a lot of AA miles through credit card spend, especially with its 65,000 – 75,000 mile welcome offer. After the first year, the card is very useful for frequent AA flyers. Benefits that should help flyers include one free checked bag, 25% savings on inflight purchases, and preferred boarding. This makes the Citi AAdvantage Business Mastercard a great business card to add to your wallet if you're looking to boost your stash of American miles. Especially for anyone trying to get under, or stay under, Chase 5/24.

What are your thoughts on the Citi AAdvantage Business Mastercard? Come join the discussion in our Facebook group!