I love the AA Citibank Mastercard Frequent Flyer Program!!! If you know how to ‘work the system’, you can receive incredible discounts, along with lots of FREE round trip tickets. I use my AA Citibank Mastercard for ALL business purchases, along with all my travel expenses for lodging and rental cars.
AA allows a maximum accrual of 100,000 miles earned (per year) on their regular Mastercard. They allow a maximum accrual of 150,000 miles (per year) on their business card. Once you hit 1,000,000 miles, you obtain their "Elite" or "Gold" status. THIS WILL EXEMPT YOU FROM ALL THEIR MILES ACCRUAL GUIDELINES. At that point, your miles accrued per year are unlimited. Once you hit 2,000,000 miles, you get "Platinum" status, with even more benefits.
I just went through this last week, after spending a couple hours on the phone with people from various departments at AA and Citibank. I realized that I've not been getting too many miles posted to my account for the past 3 or 4 months. When I called, they informed me that I had hit my maximum (100,000 miles for 2006) in June, therefore the only miles that I'm entitled to (for the rest of the year) would ONLY be the miles flown "in the seat", but no more miles (for purchases on the credit card) would be credited for the 2006 calender year.
At this point, they talked me into getting their “Business†card, which would allow me another 150k miles per year, in addition to the 100k miles on my “regular†card. Plus, they’d give me a 20,000 mile bonus for signing up. It sounded like a good deal. So I did the application process over the phone for the new card, yada, yada, yada…. Ok. That’s done.
But I wanted to see if I could re-coop all the miles that I’d lost (approx 60,000) over the past 3 months. After a few more phone calls to different departments at AA and Citibank, I finally got connected to the right person. But, unfortunately, they would not put those “lost†miles back onto my account.
But, here’s the kicker:
After almost 2 hours with the phone to my ear, the very last woman that I spoke to, asked me why I had applied for the new “business†card. She said that, after looking at my account history, along with the total miles on my account (940,000), that I would be at 1 million miles in a few months anyways, and I really didn’t need the 2nd card, because my miles accrued would be unlimited within a few months, once I hit the million mile mark.
Well, son-of-a-b*tch! Why didn’t anyone else tell me this? So, with the 20,000 mile bonus, along with business purchases through November & December, I will finally be at 1 million miles by year-end. This will allow me unlimited miles on AA Citibank for the rest of my life. In addition, as an “Elite†member, you are assigned a ‘personal assistant’, with whom you can call directly to book your flights, instead of calling their toll free number, or booking online. You can check in at the First Class or Business Class line at any airport in the world, without waiting in the ‘regular’ line. Plus, you can board the plane with the first group they call (Group 1 / Business Class / Elite Members / One-World Alliance Partners).
For any business owners out there, who purchase a lot of products, materials, inventory, etc., each month, this is a no-brainer. For example……with $20,000 per month on business purchases, you’ll accumulate a total of 240,000 miles per year. That’s a lot of free trips! But, the most important thing is….. As long as there are seats available (you should book with as much advance notice as possible), you’ll be able to fly virtually free, for the rest of your life (or until they change the rules). If you haven’t reached the 1 million mile / dollar mark yet, it doesn’t matter. The miles add up quick, when you’re using the card for business purposes.
With a regular card, along with a business card, you can get up to 250,000 miles per year. How long will it take to reach one million miles? You can do the math! Even if you don’t purchase that much per year, it’s still worth it, because as soon as you hit the 1 million mile mark, you’re Elite/Gold status forever.
So, in an effort to burn up the rest of my miles, I went ahead and booked trips to CR for Feb, March, April & May of 2007. Each trip cost 30,000 miles, plus a $25.22 fee. And I got the flights and times that I wanted.
Thank you AA & Citibank!
Mucho Gusto
