Showing posts with label Citi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Citi. Show all posts

February 11, 2017

Another 60,000 AA Miles from Citi

In late 2015, Emily received a targeted offer via mail from Citi.  Apply for a new American Airlines AAdvantage card and receive 60,000 AA miles after spending $3K in 90 days.

She met the spend requirements, received the 60,000 miles, and we used them to fly to Abu Dhabi.  We cancelled that card in late 2016 and unbelievably, Citi is back with the same targeted offer 60 days later.  Not one but two pieces were received in the mail this past week.

The offer is identical:

  • 60,000 AA miles after spending $3K in 90 days
  • $95 annual fee waived for the first year
  • No language around the offer only being valid if you haven't had the card for 24 months (standard Citi language)
Not only is this a great offer but Citi's loosening their grip on people churning this card.  Emily's already been approved and we'll likely meet the spend requirement in April.  I suspect that the 60,000 miles will post no problem given the extent Citi has gone (multiple direct mail pieces) to win back her business.  If so, that will be 3 bonuses from this card in <3 years.  I'll report back once the miles post.  Check your mail as this is a great offer! 

January 15, 2017

Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Card $50 Statement Credit

Citi's offering a $50 statement credit (targeted) for adding an authorized user and spending $3,000 on the card by 3/31/2017.  While I won't be taking advantage (too many other spending requirements to meet) this is actually a decent deal if you don't have anywhere better to put the spend.


The card earns 10x points on Hilton spend, 5x on airfare and car rentals, and 3x everywhere else.

Even if all of your spend is unbounded (unlikely) you'd be earning 9,000 Hilton HHonors points and $50.  I value the HHonors points around .6 cents/point so you're getting $104 in value from $3,000 in spend.

That's a roughly 3.5% return.

November 5, 2016

American Airlines Credit Card 10% Mileage Rebate

At the end of 2015, I picked up the Citi American Airlines AAdvantage card for Emily.  The targeted offer provided 60,000 AA miles after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days.  The card also offers a 10% mileage rebate (up to 10,000 miles) on award tickets booked with American Airlines miles.

We were able to take advantage of this in late 2015 for our trip to London and Abu Dhabi in March of this year.

Citi AAdvantage Award Ticket Rebate
We were also able to take advantage of this benefit this year for our upcoming trip to Dubai.  While we booked separate tickets with miles from each of our accounts, Emily's 115,000 mile award redemption triggered the credit and the next day she had 10,000 miles back in her account.

This turned out to be a pretty amazing card offer.  We earned 60,000 miles from the signup bonus and 20,000 miles in the form of award ticket rebates.

Going forward, the 10,000 mile rebate more than offsets the $95 annual fee (waived for the first year).

May 8, 2016

Getting Started With Credit Card Signup Bonuses

This is an update to a post I wrote back in 2014.  While the specifics have changed a bit, the strategy remains the same.

The last few years of traveling have been unreal.  We've taken trips to Hong Kong, Maldives, Dubai, London, Singapore, Amsterdam, Paris and Bangkok!

Hong Kong!
Many of you have asked us how we afford to go on all these trips.  The answer is pretty simple…we pay less per trip than the price of an economy ticket from the US to Europe.

Etihad First Class Apartments

April 10, 2016

Citi ThankYou Premier 10,000 Point Bonus

I received a pretty lucrative bonus offer from Citi via email this morning,

10,000 bonus point offer

By spending 3,000 (between 4/15 and 7/15) on my Citi ThankYou Premier card, I'll earn an additional 10,000 bonus points.  Note that 10,000 points are on top of the already strong earnings potential of the ThankYou card which earns 3x on travel and 2x on dining and entertainment.

Citi ThankYou earnings potential

Let's assume that your spend is split evenly between travel, dining, and other.  If you received this promotion and take meet the spend requirements, you'd earn:

  • 10,000 bonus points
  • 3,000 points for travel spend
  • 2,000 points for dining and entertainment spend
  • 1,000 points for all other spend

That is a total of 15,000 points for 3,000 in spend of 5x.  VERY hard to top that with any other easily achievable method.  This card is 100% going back in my wallet for the next few months.

Interestingly enough, the promotion lines up with my card anniversary which is in late June.  I'll work to receive the bonus prior - if the points post, I'll cancel the card.  If they don't, I'll give Citi a call for a retention offer.

January 23, 2016

Getting TSA Precheck for Free

One of the must have travel tools these days is TSA Precheck (stylized with a check mark for some unknown branding reason).  I've saved countless hours breezing through security while my shoes stay on, and my liquid bag/laptop stay in my backpack.  It's amazing.  For international travelers, Global Entry is a life saver.  No waiting in immigration lines to talk to an officer - you hit the kiosk, answer some questions and snap a selfie.  You're through in a handful of minutes.  This has enabled us to make tight international to domestic connections.  A huge benefit when you're tired and just want to get home.  Both Emily and I have TSA Pre with our Global Entry.  You can get TSA Pre on it's own but if you're going to take even one international trip (it's good for 5 years) in the next 5 years, you should apply for Global Entry.

The fee is $100 and I think worth it.  You can do better than that though.  There are a couple of credit cards that provide a $100 credit towards the fee every 5 years.

American Express Platinum:


Citi Prestige:


Both Emily and I are in the middle of our 5 year "term."  My parents are headed to Europe this summer for their anniversary and they have a tight connection coming home.  I suggested that they get Global Entry for their upcoming trip which will also give them TSA Precheck for their domestic travel.  We both used our fee waivers from previous cards so had a couple left.  My parents applied and they put one application on my Amex Platinum and the other on my Citi Prestige.  The fee credit is applicant "agnostic" so you can "sponsor" a friend or family member if you already have Global Entry or TSA Pre.

My Amex Platinum credit has already posted.


While this benefit is often trumpeted as a $100 credit, in reality you can only get it once every 5 years.  So if you're keeping the card and paying the annual fee, it's more like $20 a year.  That said, I was happy to save my parents $200 and I know that there travel experience will be much improved once they are fully enrolled for Global Entry!

January 9, 2016

Citi Prestige $250 Air Travel Credit Overview

I've periodically written about the Citi Prestige card but have yet to do a full overview (forthcoming). The card is probably the best "new" card on the market given the extensive list of benefits and directly competes with the American Express Platinum Card at the upper end of the market.

One of the best benefits of the card ($450 annual fee) is the $250 annual air travel credit.  This is a straight $250 reimbursement for air travel including airline tickets.  This differs from the Platinum Card which requires some finagling (i.e. buying gift cards in smaller increments) to get the $200 credit to trigger as "cash."

The credit is a (calendar year) annual benefit meaning you can signup for the card now and receive the $250 credit in 2016.  You're also entitled to the benefit in 2017.  So in theory you're paying $450 in fees to get $500 in air travel reimbursement - assuming you consider that close to cash which I do. Anecdotally(and it seems the example below supports this) you can actually get the credit for December spend as long as your December billing statement has closed.

Here's how Citi defines the Air Travel Credit:

"Airline Fees are defined as purchases made with airlines including Air fares, baggage fees, lounge access and some in-flight purchases. Please allow 1-2 billing cycles after the qualifying air travel expense is charged to your Card Account for statement credit(s) to be posted to the account."

I've had no trouble with the credit posting automatically much faster - usually in a handful of business days.

Last week, I booked a United domestic flight for our Etihad First Class Apartments trip and the credits have already posted!



Kudos to Citi for creating such a great benefit and supporting it with IT that actually works!

January 3, 2016

10,000 Mile AA Rebate Posted

I recently picked up the Citi American Airlines Advantage card for Emily after she received a sweet targeted offer in the mail.  The card offers a 10% (up to 10,000 miles) annual rebate on award tickets booked with American Airlines miles.  While the card hasn't even arrived yet, the 10,000 mile bonus for 2015 already posted!

10,000 Mile Rebate from AA

I booked our award on Etihad using miles from Emily's account and the rebate posted the same day!  I suspect that we'll be able to earn the rebate again in 2016 when we book our next award.  I didn't expect the rebate to trigger so fast - in the past it has definitely taken more like a week to post.  This is turning about to be quite the deal - 60,000 miles for meeting the minimum spend + a 10,000 mile rebate in both 2015 and 2016 with no annual fee for the first year!

December 24, 2015

60,000 AA Mile Offer from Citi (Targeted)

One thing I've found over the past few years is that targeted credit card bonus offers are awesome.  You typically receive an offer via direct mail, email, or via online advertising. Since I've been heavily leveraging credit card sign-up bonuses to fund my travel addiction, I've noticed that the targeted offers have largely dried up.  No worries as I still managed to earn more than 1,500,000 miles and points in 2014.  Stay tuned for the 2015 review - I thin we're going to beat that number!!

Emily is a bit "behind" me in terms of applying for cards and is still receiving targeted offers.  She received a pretty awesome 60,000 mile AA bonus from Citi last week.  She's had the card before but the terms specify "new accounts only" vs. "first time applicants" so we should be good.  She applied this morning and Christmas came early - approved instantly!


To earn the bonus, you must spend $3,000 in 90 days which is pretty low for such a high payout.  The 63,000 miles earned is nearly enough (67,500 pre-devaluation) AA miles for a one-way first class award ticket on Cathay Pacific to Asia. The annual fee ($95) is waived for the first year and the card provides some great benefits (group 1 boarding, free checked bag, no foreign transactions fees) as well.

I hope some of you were targeted for this offer - it's one of the strongest offers we've seen from Citi all year!

October 31, 2015

What's in My Wallet November 2015

Here's an update on what's in my wallet (and why) as we go into November.


1) Chase Freedom

The Chase Freedom card offers "rotating" 5x spend categories by quarter.  For this quarter (ending 12/31/15) Freedom is offering 5x at Amazon and Zappos.com on $1,500 worth of spend during the quarter.  Given the holidays and everyday spend, I'll probably get pretty close to maxing the $1,500 earning me 7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards points!

2) Chase Sapphire Preferred

All of my extra (not contributing to sign-up bonuses) travel and dining spend goes on the CSP.  I've had the card for over 3 years and gladly pay the $95 annual fee given my credit history, limit, and the earning power of the card.  Don't forget to leverage the CSP for 3x points on dining on the first Friday of each month.

3) Amex Platinum

I actually don't put spend on the card at all (other than to earn the sign-up bonus) but have kept it in my wallet strictly for the benefits.  Specifically Centurion lounge access in cities where I have upcoming travel (New York, San Francisco, and Dallas).

4) Citi Hilton HHonors Visa

I'm working on the minimum spend for this card ($2,000 in 90 days) which I picked up for the increased 75,000 point sign-up bonus.  I had depleted my stash of HHonors points over the last year and 75,000 will go a long way in boosting my balance.  This card is "churnable" in that you can get it over and over - with no annual fee it's great to take advantage when the bonus is increased.

June 14, 2015

What's in My Wallet - June 2015 Edition

It's been awhile since I've posted about the credit cards currently in my wallet.  I'm going to try and keep this up quarterly.  You can check out other posts here:

What's in My Wallet?  March 2015

What's in My Wallet?  October 2014

What's in My Wallet?  April 2014

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

1)  Citi Prestige

I've yet to write about this card but have it on my list to do so.  I am almost done with the $3,000 minimum spend to earn the 50,000 Thank You point bonus.  While the card comes with a hefty $450 annual fee, you can easily make that up (and then some) as there's a $250 annual travel credit that credits automatically and can credit against air fare. So but a $250 ticket, get $250 credited back to your account.  I've already redeemed my credit for 2015 and will look forward to another $250 credit in January of 2016.

2)  Chase Freedom

The Chase Freedom card offers "rotating" 5x spend categories by quarter.  For this quarter (ending 6/30/15) Freedom is offering 5x at restaurants.  This is a pretty easy 7,500 points as it's not hard to spend $500 per month at restaurants when you include coffee, lunches, dinners, bars, etc...I'm pretty close to completing my 7,500 points and we're working on getting Emily there by 6//30 for a total of 15,000 bonus UR points this month.

3)  Chase Sapphire Preferred

All of my extra (not contributing to signup bonuses) travel and dining spend goes on the CSP.  I've had the card for over 3 years and gladly pay the $95 annual fee given my credit history, limit, and the earning power of the card.

4)  Amex Starwood Preferred Guest

This card is perpetually in my wallet and the card I leverage for all non-bonused spend.  So if I still have spend to hit a sign-up bonus (as I do above) I'll wait to put additional spend on this card until that's been complete.

April 12, 2015

Earn 3x AA Miles with Citi Executive AAdvantage Card

Update:  Looks like the email is targeted as several readers have reported not receiving the offer.  Perhaps you will receive tomorrow.

Last year, I was able to take advantage of not one but three 100,000 mile offers from the Citi Executive AAdvantage Card.  Those bonuses enabled us to fly First Class on Cathay Pacific back from Hong Kong and to Hong Kong with my brother in June.  I'm finding a ton of value in AA miles so will continue to rack them up whenever possible.


While two of the three cards are cancelled, I have kept one card for Admirals club access.  Yesterday, I received an email from Citi offering 3x AA miles during Q2 in a handful of categories:
  • Restaurants
  • Gas Stations
  • Department Stores
  • Grocery Stores
I certainly won't put any restaurant spend on this card (I'd rather earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points) but will for sure put gas and grocery spend on the card for 3x AA miles...which I value at around $.02.  That's a 6% rebate on everyday purchases - not bad!  

You could also use this bonus to triple dip with a shopping portal at department stores.  For example, Macy's is offering 6x miles through the American Airlines Advantage Shopping Mall.  In addition, they are offering a tiered bonus for spend through the mall which would earn you another 2x miles on $125 in spend.  

Add it all up and you're looking at 11x when shopping through the mall and leveraging your Citi Executive card.  It took about seven seconds to register - just click the link in the email if you received.  The bonus is limited to 2,500 bonus miles ($1,250 in spend) so should be pretty easy to max out during the quarter.

August 3, 2014

Another 100,000 Mile Bonus from Citi

Earlier in the year, I posted about the amazing Citi Executive AAdvantage card.  Citi was offering 100,000 American AAdvantage miles after spending $10,000 in 3 months.  In addition, they were also offering a $200 statement credit to offset the $450 annual fee.  In recent months, I've read stories about dozens of people getting their second (and sometimes even third and fourth) version of this card along with the bonus.  I've also read that the offer was slated to go away (which seems to have happened) so I applied for another card a few weeks ago.

Citi Executive # 2

Typically, I apply for cards in chunks every 90 days or so.  But this offer was too good to pass up so I applied for it "off cycle."  I value 100,000 AAdvantage miles at $2,000 so earning $2,000 for a $250 annual fee is a no-brainer for me.  Hitting the minimum spend requirement is a bit challenging but with Amazon Payments and  couple of big expenditures (estimated taxes, car insurance) coming up in the next 90 days, it shouldn't be an issue.

So I applied for the card and wasn't approved immediately.  I was on vacation and then have had a busy few weeks so just forgot to call Citi and see if they would approve my application.  Last week I received a letter from Citi stating that they would approve me for a second card if I cut my credit line on the first card by 30%.  That wasn't a big deal to me so I signed the letter, sent it back, and receive my card in the mail yesterday.

Once activated, I wrote to them to confirm the bonus and received a nice confirmation back from customer service.



110,000 AAdvantage miles (with the minimum spend miles) is enough for a roundtrip business class ticket to Europe or a one-way first class ticket to Asia with 42,500 miles leftover!   Thanks to Citi for offering such a great deal!

June 9, 2014

My Latest Round of Credit Card Applications

As I discussed in this post, I apply for a new round of credit cards every 90 days.  Remember, this is not for you if you are a) working on improving your credit b) planning on applying for a loan such as a mortgage in the near future or c) if you periodically carry a balance on your cards.  The rewards that you'll gain in these cases will be heavily offset by either not being able to qualify for the lowest lending rate (due to recent inquiries on your credit report) or actually paying interest if you carry a balance.  Each application will typically ding your credit 2-5 points (those inquiries fall off over time and your score will go back up) thus the reasoning for applying for cards every 90 days on the same day.  The inquiries fall off roughly at the same time and on the day you apply, the other banks don't see that you applied for a card earlier in the day.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way...Here's an overview of my most recent card application including what I applied for and why.

1)  American Express Everyday Preferred

This is a new card from Amex that offers 15,000 miles after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days.  The annual fee (not waived for the first year) is $95.  Even though this sign-up bonus kind of sucks, I needed a quick way to rack up some Membership Rewards points to top off my account for an award and wanted to try out the new offering from Amex.  I value MR points at $.02 teach so this bonus is worth $300.

Result:  Instantly approved

2)  Chase United Explorer Business

This card offers 50,000 United miles after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days after approval.  The annual fee is normally $95 but is waived for the first year.  It is essentially the same version as the consumer card which I have had a couple of times in the past.  I wanted to pick up a couple of cards for my business and also need to work on replenishing my United mileage balance.  I value United miles at $.02 each so this bonus is worth $1,000.

Result:  Application pended but was approved without a call after a couple of days

Chase MileagePlus Explorer Business Card Welcome Email

3)  Citi AA Advantage Business

This card offers 50,000 American Airlines miles after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days after approval.  The annual fee is $95 and is not waived for the first year.  I value American miles at $.02 each so this bonus is worth $1,000.

Result:  Approved after a quick 10 minute call to Citi

Summary:

So I went 3/3 on this round.  After spending $6,000 (should be a slam dunk thanks to Amazon Payments) in 90 days and paying $190 in annual fees, I'll earn 115,000 points/miles that I value at $2,300 which will be put to good use towards future airline and hotel awards.

March 27, 2014

What's in My Wallet - April 2014 Edition

I've been meaning to start a periodic series outlining the cards in my wallet and my rationale for spending on each.  I try to be as purposeful (and organized) as possible about the cards in my wallet and when each one comes out.  The best analogy is really a swiss army knife.  You want to have a handful of tools for different jobs and understand which tool to use for a specific job (purchase).  This will help you maximize your earning on spend.

Here are the four cards (in addition to my debit card) in my wallet for the coming month:

1)  HHonors Surpass Card from American Express 

I upgraded to this card from the standard HHonors American Express card during my January round of applications.  The upgrade will net me 50,000 HHonors points after spending $3,000 which I should complete in April.  The original offer netted me 50,000 points as well so I'm essentially earning 100,000 bonus points from one credit card application within a year.  Pretty good.  Since this card is still short of the minimum spend, I'm not worried about category bonuses.  I will use the points for a free night at the Conrad Centennial Singapore during out trip to Bali in July.

2)  Citi Executive AAdvantage World MasterCard 

I've already completed the minimum spend on my own version of this card.   So I'm actually an authorized user on Emily's version of the card helping her work towards the high ($10K in 90 days) minimum spend threshold.  But thanks to both of us using the card for everyday spend, Amazon Payments, and some taxes due, hitting the threshold should be no problem.  After we complete the minimum spend on this card, we'll have earned 217,500 American Airlines miles from both bonuses.  Good enough for 2 roundtrip business class tickets to Europe! 

3)  Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Card 

No minimum spend needed on this card.  Just my workhorse everyday card earning 2x (actually 2.14X when you include the annual 7% dividend) on travel and dining. This card is also linked to my United dining program account.

4)  Chase British Airways Visa Signature Card 

I've already met the minimum spend on this card but am working towards the secondary bonuses which will net me an incremental 25,000 points after spending $10,000 and another 25,000 points after spending $20,000 in the first year of cardmembership.  The second bonus tranche is a lot of incremental spend is going to be a bit of a stretch.  So I keep this card in my wallet and will use it on non dining/travel expenses after meeting the minimum spend thresholds for the first two cards.

March 26, 2014

Have I Hit the Minimum Spend Yet?

In the past couple of days, several people have asked me how I keep track of minimum spend requirements for all the cards in my wallet.  Generally speaking, when I apply for a new card I add the following detail to a simple spreadsheet:

  • Name of the Card (i.e. Amex Starwood Personal)
  • Date of application
  • Bonus (i.e. 25,000 points)
  • Spend threshold (i.e. spent $1,000 in 90 days)
  • 1st year annual fee
  • Annual fee in subsequent years
  • Whether or not I want to keep the card when the annual fee comes due (if applicable)

I'll look back at the spreadsheet (example above) every month to make sure I'm on track to hit the minimum spend required for each bonus.  That said, sometimes I want to validate where I stand and there's no real way to do that without contacting the card issuer or adding up multiple statements online.  

March 12, 2014

Citi Executive AA 100,000 Miles Posted

As I posted about here and here, I applied for the 100,000 mile Citi Executive World Elite MasterCard offer in late January.  Well a couple of months later, the 100,000 total bonus miles have posted to my AA account.  Since I initially applied for the offer when it was just 75,000 miles (which Citi later adjusted to 100,000) the miles posted in two separate transactions.



I should note that the $200 statement credit and the $450 annual fee have both posted to my account.   So I did net 107,500 miles (including the $7,500 in spend) for $250.  Keep in mind that this card offers a 10% rebate on AA awards per year up to 10,000 miles.  A roundtrip first class flight to Asia is 135,000 miles.  Subtract the 10,000 mile rebate and that's 125,000 miles.  So this offer will get you pretty darn close to the amount of miles required to redeem for that ticket that retails for $5,000 - 10,000!

This is one of the best credit card offers in market today and I'm glad that I was able to take advantage of it.  There are rumors that the offer will be pulled by the end of March so if you're interested in taking advantage of this offer, now would be the time!

February 25, 2014

Emily's Latest Round of Credit Card Applications

Last weekend, Emily applied for her quarterly round of credit card applications.  If you haven't already, check out these posts for my last round as well as background on the whole process.  Here is the overview and results.

1)  Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card

One of the best all around cards out there.  The current bonus is 10,000 SPG points after first purchase and an additional 15,000 SPG points after spending $5,000 in 6 months.  I will also receive 5,000 SPG points from the SPG Amex referral offer I posted about last week.  The $65 annual fee is waived for the first year.  30,000 total SPG points is good enough for 2-3 nights in a high-end Westin or W hotel in the US.  Or you could use 28,000 points for 5 nights (fifth night free) at the Le Meridien Bangkok!  I value SPG points at around 3 cents each so the value of this approval is $900.

Result:  Pended and then approved after waiting two days

2)  Citi Executive American Airlines World MasterCard

After getting in on this offer last month, I wanted to make sure Emily got to take advantage before the offer expires in March.  The $450 fee is not waived for the first year but the offer comes with a $200 statement credit and 100,000 AA miles after spending $10,000 in 90 days.  The annual fee and minimum spend are steep but it's well worth it in my book especially given the statement credit takes almost half the "sting" out of the annual fee.  100,000 AA miles is good enough for a free roundtrip business class ticket to Europe!  I value AA miles at 2 cents so the value of this approval is $2,000!

Result:  Pended.  Emily had to call, answer a few questions and was approved over the phone in about five minutes.



3)  Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card

I got in on this offer as well last month.  Emily was able to pick-up 30,000 miles with no spend requirement for a $75 annual fee.  For some reason, the offer is not showing up so the link above drives to an offer that provides 25,000 miles and a $100 statement credit after $1,000 in spend in 3 months.  Both pretty good deals.  We'll use these Alaska miles for a future first class flight on Emirates.  I value Alaska miles at 2 cents so the value of this approval is $600.

Result:  Auto approved.

Not a bad haul (three for three!) for about 30 minutes of work on Saturday.  Total "value" of approximately $3,500.  We'll need to spend $15,000 in 6 months but $6,000 out of that will be taken care of by Amazon Payments.  So $1,500 per month for 6 months is easily done.  And the end result will be well worth it.  Including minimum spend, we'll earn 175,000 miles and points for $325.

A very successful quarterly round of apps!

February 11, 2014

Citi American Airlines Credit Cards provide 10% Discount on Award Redemptions

I've long been a loyal United and Star Alliance flier but over the past year or so, I've started to diversify my mileage balances to provide more flexibility and enable us to experience new carriers and places.  One of the great perks of the American Airlines credit cards issued by Citi is the ability to receive 10% off an award booking.

I recently picked up the American Airlines Citi AAdvantage Executive Card which is one of the cards offering the 10% discount.  One other (which I also have) is the Citi Platinum AA World MasterCard.  I booked an award over the weekend (total price was 45,000 miles) and the credit posted automatically after the award ticketed.

You can earn the credit up to 10,000 miles per year.  I value AA miles at 2 cents each so if you take full advantage of this each year, it's like a $200 bonus!  Yet another great way to stretch your miles even further.


Citi AA cards provide a 10% discount on award redemptions

January 29, 2014

Update on Recent Citi AAdvantage Executive Application

As I wrote about here and here, I applied for the Citi AA Executive card with a 75,000 and $100 statement credit.  Three days after I applied (and was approved) Citi bumped the public offer to 100,000 miles and a $200 statement credit for $10,000 in spend.  Unfortunately timing I guess.  So I emailed Citi last night to see if they would honor the "better" offer.

Surprisingly, they offered to honor the "better" offer without increasing the minimim spend requirement.  So (factoring in the $200 statement credit) I will now earn 100,000 AA miles for $250.  Not a bad deal given that the miles can be used for a roundtrip business class ticket to Europe!  This is one of the best deals I've seen in a long time and I'm glad I was able to take advantage of it.

The full text of the response is shown below: