The Surprising Benefit That Makes My AAdvantage Business Card A Keeper After The First Year - View from the Wing

Oct 23, 2024

by Gary Leff on October 22, 2024

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Citibank’s American Airlines small business card, Citi® / AAdvantage BusinessTM World Elite Mastercard®, has a limited time offer to earn 75,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $5,000 in purchases within the first 5 months of account opening. The card’s $99 annual fee is waived for first 12 months. [See rates and fees]

My wife was approved for this card. Her small business is… very small. I was approved for the card this year, also. What I really like about the card beyond the initial bonus:

The card’s annual fee is $99, waived for the first 12 months. It’s a no brainer to get, but does it make sense to hang onto?

I’m going to keep it because for me, it will more than pay for itself with a lesser-known benefit. And then I’ll get to continue earning an additional Loyalty Point per dollar spent on tickets and also being able to transfer points out of my AAdvantage Business account to associated travelers.

Here’s why it makes sense to hang onto for me. AAdvantage cards promote a benefit of 25% savings on inflight food and beverage purchases on American Airlines flights. This card also offers 25% back on inflight wifi purchases. That includes American Airlines wifi subscriptions.

25% savings on inflight Wi-Fi purchases

Receive a 25% savings when you use your Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ Mastercard® credit card for the purchase of inflight Wi-Fi service from American Airline’s Wi-Fi merchants Gogo, Viasat, or Panasonic, and on American Airlines’ Wi-Fi Subscription Plan. This benefit applies to flights marketed and operated by American Airlines or on flights marketed by American Airlines and operated by Envoy Air Inc., Republic Airways Inc., SkyWest Airlines, Inc., Air Wisconsin Airlines LLC, PSA Airlines, Inc., or Piedmont Airlines, Inc. This benefit is not available on codeshare flights booked with an American Airlines flight number but operated by another airline. Savings will appear as a statement credit 8-10 weeks after the transaction is posted to the credit cardmember’s card account. Applicable terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.

I spend $49.95 per month for this, almost $600 per year, so yielding a rebate of nearly $150 against a $99 annual fee. I’d come out ahead spending nothing on the card by my inflight wifi.

I’m not saying this is the most rewarding card for spending, although it can be an important part of American AAdvantage status-earning. But it makes clear sense to get, given the value proposition of the upfront bonus offer, and for me it makes a lot of sense to keep because I get value out of the wifi rebate alone and then can continue to have the benefits of the card.

Citi® / AAdvantage BusinessTM World Elite Mastercard®

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