Updated on December 14, 2023
You can qualify for a Citi American Airlines credit card bonus again, even if you have had an AA bonus already. How? The main way is recognizing that there are many different AA cards, some of which you might not have heard of before.
Brief Recap of the Past 5 Years
Back in 2011, Citi was famous for its two browser trick. On my very first attempt, many went for the perfect trifecta, two Citi Personal AA cards (100K + 75K signups) via the two browser trick followed by one Citi Business AA card (75k signup) the next day, for a total of 250k bonus AA miles.
The two browser trick continued for ~2 years until January 2013 when Citi finally put controls in place.
Fast forward to 2014, Citi bumps the signup bonus for the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® to a whopping 100k + $200 statement credit. The catch was that the 100k bonus required $10,000 in spend and the $450 annual fee was not waived the first year. It wasn’t long before some wizards at FlyerTalk figured out that:
- The card was obtained several times so long as you followed the 9/65 day rules
- The $450 AF would be refunded if the card was cancelled within 37 days from the date you were billed the AF
- The $10,000 spend can be attained by eating the 3% fee from manufactured spending, and having the $300 fee mostly offset by the $200 statement credit
With many reporting having received the signup bonus over 6x, the Citi Executive AA card was hands down the best credit card signup of the year! It eventually came to an end in June 2015 via a zombie link.
List of American Airlines Branded Citibank Credit Cards
Moving on to present time, a colleague recently asked me which Citi AA credit card signup bonus he was eligible for if he had recently closed the Citi Executive AA card. Before we get into the rules, were you aware that Citi issues the following American Airlines branded credit cards? Here they are:
Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard®– 75k signup bonus; $450 annual fee not waived 1st year [EXPIRED]- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® – 50k signup bonus; $95 annual fee waived 1st year [EXPIRED]
- CitiBusiness® – 50k signup bonus; $95 annual fee waived 1st year [EXPIRED]
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold Card – 25k signup bonus; $50 annual fee waived 1st year [EXPIRED]
- Two other cards, the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World MasterCard® and the Citi® Bronze® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard® found here do not currently have signup bonuses and are excluded from this post.
Sign-up Bonus Eligibility Rules
Check out the FlyerTalk Wiki for an extensive list of rules. The following is an excerpt as it addresses my colleague’s question:
- Can I get the sign up bonus on these these AA cards be obtained more than once?
Yes and No. The general rules are:
- Personal AA cards: As of February 1, 2015, all new links require you to wait 18 months from the date of opening or closing an account of the same type (AmEx, Visa, MC) and category (Gold, Platinum, Executive). Opening or closing a Gold MC will not affect getting the bonus on a new Platinum MC but will prevent you from getting the bonus on a new Gold MC. This means that you can get a Gold Mastercard (25K) and a Platinum Mastercard (50K) a week apart as long as you have not opened or closed an AA Personal MC in the past 18 months, even if you opened or closed an AA Personal Visa or AA Executive card in the last 18 months. If you received a Platinum World MC which was converted to a World Elite MC (as indicated on the back of the card) prior to early March 2015, you should be able to get another Platinum MC even if it has been less than 18 months since you opened the World MC. See posts #1069, #1314, and #1586. Citi has also changed their policy and will now approve cards for which you are not eligible for the bonus. If you violate the 18-month rule, Citi may still issue you the card but the documentation that comes with the card and with your approval letter will not mention a bonus. If this occurs, you will not get the bonus.
- Business AA cards: some people have obtained the sign-up bonuses repeatedly without restriction other than the general Citi application rules. Apply once every 91-95 days. Note that beginning in late 2014, new Citi AA business card offers began including the explicit requirement that the applicant not be an existing AA business cardholder. However, this does not appear to be limited. For unknown reasons, some people have been unable to do this with business cards at all. Some (but not all) people need to completely cancel their previous business account (send an SM or call and request that the account, ending in XXXX and the associated cards, ending in YYYY (etc.) be closed) before they can apply for another business card, regardless of the absence of restrictive offer language. The Master Account is the actual line of credit, while the cards are the individual cards associated with each employee of the business. To find the Master Account number, go to your online account and select the card you want to close. In the bottom left corner there is a dropdown box next to “Cardholder:” that has the Master Account and any Card accounts listed. There is no telling into which bucket you fall prior to applying.
Confused? So What Does All This Mean?
- Citi Executive AA – You may have cancelled your Citi Executive AA card within the past 3 months. That means you will not qualify for the Citi Executive AA signup bonus again until 18 months from the date of cancellation. But that’s ok – there are 3 other Citi AA cards you can get.
- Citi Personal AA – Dig through your email / Citicards account to see when you cancelled your account. A good way is to see the date and month Citi generated your last statement. Add 18 months to that statement date and that’s the next time you will qualify for the bonus again for the Citi Personal AA credit card.
- CitiBusiness AA – Dig through your email / Citicards account to see when you cancelled your account. A good way is to see the date and month Citi generated your last statement. Call up Citi and make sure they have cancelled your Master Account number. If yes, add 3.5 months to the date the Master Account was closed and that’s the next time you will qualify for the bonus again for the CitiBusiness AA credit card.
- Citi Gold AA – I didn’t know this card existed until this past month when I was looking to rack up some more AA miles. You are truly ahead of the game if you have signed up for this card before. If yes, add 18 months to that last statement date and that’s the next time you will qualify for the bonus again for the Citi Gold AA credit card. If not, feel free to sign up for this during your next round of applications.
Signup Links (No Landing Pages for Some)
Offers have EXPIRED. Click here for the latest offers.
- Citi Executive AA – 75k signup bonus; $450 annual fee not waived 1st year
- Citi Personal AA – 50k signup bonus; $95 annual fee waived 1st year
- Citi Gold AA – 25k signup bonus; $50 annual fee waived 1st year
It’s like drinking from a fire hydrant. My question is will you qualify for any of the bonuses if you have the same card currently (even if older than 18 months). I assume if you have an open account you won’t qualify again unless you close the account and wait 18 months?
No need to close the account first before reapplying. Since all the cards came with an annual fee, this post was drafted with the assumption that readers had cancelled the card. Follow this for updates – so far it looks like it works: http://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/citi-credit-card-churning/
I got the Executive card over 18 months ago, and have been using it steadily. I renewed after being offered a nice bonus. I’m glad to know that I can get another without cancelling. Thanks for the verification.
As previously noted, please look for updates from Miles to Memories (http://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/citi-credit-card-churning/ ) on this matter. While he was approved for another citi card, we are all anxiously waiting to hear from him once he actually gets the signup bonus.
Do you know if you can get a sign up bonus if you closed a visa in the past 18 months and applied for the same card that is now only offered as a mastercard?
Don’t hold me to it but taking the 18 month language as is “American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles are not available if you have had a Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard opened or closed in the past 18 months.” it specifies MasterCard so if you closed your Visa today, it should not reset the clock and in theory you qualify for the bonus again. Great question but unfortunately I don’t have a solid answer.
I’m confused on the 6 months wait before qualifying again for the CitiBusiness AA bonus. I thought it was every 91-95 days (approx. 3 months)? Please explain how you came up with the 6 months. Thanks.
So you telling me there aren’t 15 days in a month?!? Typo – will update to reflect 3.5 months.
I’ve got the personal Citi AA Platinum, Citi Platinum Gold, and Citi AA Amex. Are the rules the same on the Amex? Feel free to apply if opened over 18 months ago?
FYI. I did get the Citi Premier Thank You card in April of this year. Also have two Hiltons with no AF.
To my knowledge Citi stopped issuing AA branded credit cards in Amex form. Does this answer your question?
If i click your link shows 50k bonus but if i just go to aa.com it shows 30k bonus miles for the aa personal card. If i use your link will i still get 50k or is it expired?
Andrew,
The 50k link is a public link from AA and is better than the regular 30k offer you’ll find on the AA website. If it loads (it just loaded for me), you should be good to go. If you want to be extra safe, take a screen shot before you apply and after you are approved, ask customer service to confirm the 50k offer. I have a 30k link where I get a commission but I didn’t list it here b/c its not as good.
I just had a Citi representative tell me that even though the language within the Gold card (and assuming the others) states that the bonus is only eligible to people who have not had the gold card within the last 18 months, that the 18 month rule actually applies to all AA cards. She said she would be submitting this language error so it is corrected in the future.
The Citi AA biz card would be the only one that does not have the 18 month language. I would actually welcome this change since it takes the ambiguity out of the equation. Thanks for the data point.
AAdvantage question — I want to help my brother. He’s had a Citi Personal AA MC for a while and is building up miles. Can I get a Citi Personal AA MC and sign up with his AA number to put the bonus miles directly into his account? Or will AA not let two cards be linked to one account?
names must match between citi account and AA account so no
still not 100% sure i understand..i have a citi AA platinum select world MC..opened about two years ago..would i still qualify for bonus if i apply for a new card? while keeping my current?
thanks!
ps
love your site!
Yes you qualify
thanks! last question..could i apply for the executive elite as well to receive 100k total?
Yes just make sure you stick w the 8/65 rule and the 18 month rule (if you were previous exec holder)
I currently still have the old design Citi AA Personal VISA (old 75k bonus). Can I sign up for the 50k Citi AA Personal MASTERCARD still (bc my current is a Visa)?
Yes, besides the visa and MC being considered two diff products, the language says opened or closed within the past 18/24 mo – which doesn’t fit your case since you still have it open.
If the terms and conditions of the Citibusiness app has 24 month language than you can get the bonus again after that time period. Follow the wiki within the FT link above to keep up to date with changing conditions.