The relatively new AAdvantge World Elite Mastercard has a great sign up offer of 100,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $10,000 on the card within the first three months. While this is one of the best currently available offers to earn American Airline miles or any other airline miles for that matter, it does come with a hefty $450 annual fee so you must take this into consideration. Unfortunately, this annual fee is NOT waived the first year like many other sign up offers.
So is this card worth it? There are some perks to the card, such as a $200 statement credit on purchases within 12 months of account opening, Admirals Club membership, and 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles per calendar year. While there are some other perks of the card, those three are unique to this card and most important.
Since you get a $200 statement credit, you can then think of the annual fee really as $250 – still a lot for a piece of plastic, but offsets the cost slightly. If you typically pay for American Admirals Club membership, then this card is absolutely worth it as it is significantly cheaper than purchasing a yearly membership directly from the Club.
Also, if you spend $40,000 on the card each year you’ll get 10,000 EQMs towards status. This is great for those that will be slightly shy of reaching your desired status.
But let’s say you don’t care about the EQMs or the Admirals Club Membership option, is it still worth it due to the high annual fee? You can think of it as purchasing 100,000 miles for $250. Personally I think it is worthwhile as that can get you, for example, 1) 4 roundtrip domestic economy class flights, 2) 1 business class seat to Europe, 3) 2 economy class seats to Europe during their off-peak award redemption and 20,000 miles left over; 4) 2 roundtrip economy class tickets to Hawaii. These are just a few of the many examples. This is not a card, however, that I would keep once the annual fee comes around again.
My Experience: I applied for this card and upon calling the number given on the application was approved on the spot. They also confirmed the 100,000 miles upon spending $10,000 within 3 months.
Disclosure: This is not an affiliate link and some have said this is a targeted offer. However, many have been approved for the card and confirmed they will be receiving the 100,000 bonus offer. Thanks to The Points Guy for sharing this new offer.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Did you already have a Citi AA card?
@freqflyer – yes I currently have a aa card but applied for it over three years ago id say
As someone who has been into card bonuses for a year or so, this is the largest spend I’ve ever seen required. Is it possible to manufacture 10k in 3 months?
@Nick Summy – Absolutely. Vanilla Reloads is the easiest way.
is there an expiration date for this offer?
@Eric – No known expiration date.
[…] Deals We Like mentions that Citi is now offering a 100k signup bonus and a $200 statement credit (for spending $10k in 3 months) for the AAdvantage World Elite Mastercard. This card has a $450 annual fee but includes an Admirals Club membership. […]
@Nick Citi had AA card bonus a few years ago with 50k after 1k spend and another 50k after 10k spend in 12 mos. Got all three at the time….
10k spend is very easy with vr.
@dealswelike Thanks. Think I’ll just go for it now before it disappears
@Freqflyer: How long before the card is received / how soon can it be used? I actually have a big ticket item that would fulfill the minimum spend but time is somewhat of the essence. Thanks in advance.
@Cristina – I received my card pretty quickly. I cannot remember the exact timing though – definitely within the week.