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Best Credit Card for American AAdvantage Miles

Right now, as of writing this on a cold, damp day in Brooklyn, the BEST credit card for quickly accruing AAdvantage miles is this one: 

 

Citi Select® / AAdvantage® American Express® card

Citi Select® / AAdvantage® American Express® card

 

Here is the link to the application. Note that it goes directly to the landing page and does not specify the terms of the application, but here they are:

  • 50,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $3,000 within four months
  • $150 statement credit on an American flight (I used mine to book a trip to Anchorage)
  • 2 Admirals Club lounge passes
  • $85 annual fee waived the first year

You also get the usual perks:

  • 1 free checked bag
  • Priority boarding
  • 10% of miles redeemed back (up to 10,000 miles per year)

Note that this card does carry a foreign transaction fee of 3%. So don’t pack it when traveling internationally.

There are two versions of this card, those being a Visa Signature and an Amex. The both have the exact same signup bonus, but I picked the Amex.

Here’s why: Small Business Sunday. Amex gives you $25 to spend for FREE every year at nearly any small business. I now have four Amex cards, so that’s $100 worth of free gifts from local businesses. And that’s pretty amazing. Amex also gives you the opportunity to sync your card to your Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook and offers lots of perks and statement credits for checking in, tweeting, etc. Having a Visa Signature gives you access to concierge service and the Visa Signature Hotels collection, but since I already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I don’t need another card with the same perks. I’d much rather have the $25 credit, which, when you think about it, brings the annual fee down to just $60. The ability to have access to sales and promotions throughout the year is also just a really nice way to stay engaged with the card. And, all else being equal, that’s why I picked the Amex version.

About the signup bonus: the link above is the exact same one I used to apply. I was a little leery about not getting it, but I’m close to making my spend, and called Citibank to confirm I’d get a statement credit before I booked the Anchorage trip. The rep went over the details of the signup bonus, and they were exactly what’s written above. 50K miles, club passes, $150 statement credit. When she told me, I hit the “Pay Now” button as I had my flights pulled up on aa.com at the same time. Also of note was that the call was answered immediately with no hold time. Pretty nice.

This offer will probably not be around for much longer, and 50K is as generous as the signup bonus gets. The usual offer is just 30K, so if you’re thinking of getting this, I’d go ahead and pull the trigger on it. As with all offers, YMMV, so make sure you keep an eye on your AAdvantage account when you expect the miles to post.

American has quite a few sweet spots in their award chart, including a discount for cardmembers every quarter and 10% of redeemed miles returned every year. This can really add up to some great discounted trips. I really love the idea of taking Qantas to Australia, airberlin to Europe, or Finnair to somewhere in Scandinavia. Of course that’s just the trip of the iceberg. I wish AAdvantage miles were easier to earn. Nevertheless, this card is a huge step in the direction of a great award booking, and, in my opinion, the best offer available at the time of writing.

Booked: Anchorage in August!

Yes! Thanks to this alert from The Flight Deal, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on this one. It’ll be a trip for my birthday, which is August 26. 🙂

As with everything travel-related, I had a few reasons for going through with this one:

  • Great deal, obvi. I’ve always wanted to visit Alaska
  • I just got the Citi AAdvantage Amex and called to confirm I’d get a $150 statement credit. I will, which made it a no-brainer. I also get 2 miles/dollar spent, and this counts toward the minimum spend to get 50,000 more AAdvantage miles
  • I plan on being Executive Platinum by that time and hope to get upgraded automatically, or can use e-certificates to upgrade the fare
  • It’ll will net me about 10,000 RDMs and EQMs, nearly halfway to a free R/T domestic trip
  • I have BusinessExtrAA, and get points there, too

Check out this sweet itinerary:

Screen shot 2013-03-11 at 9.14.27 PM

 

Looking forward to the trip, and to seeing how American fares on a long-haul flight. Be sure to sign up for The Flight Deal’s daily newsletter – they’ve been on fire with the great deals lately!

Update: Kaspresky Staples Rebates

See original posts here and here.

Valid

Valid

Looks like it’s gonna go through. I chatted the Help Desk on the rebate site, and they say I have to wait for 30 days – they want to make sure I don’t return it. But after that, the checks should come in. Thus giving me 1,500 free AAdvantage miles. But since it’s helping me to meet spend on my new Citi AAdvantage Amex, the real haul is way more.

Excited that it’s clearing just fine. That being said, I’ve got this software if anyone needs it… :p

Looking forward to getting those checks in early/mid April!

 

I Hope US Airways Doesn’t Ruin American’s Culture

Don't eff this up

Don’t eff this up

Being on a Delta flight today made me realize I’ve quite gotten used to the style of Delta. Everything from the blue seat covers to the logo to the service offered by the flight attendants. There’s a certain no-nonsense, practical attitude that just feels right – it’s what I like most about travel on Delta metal.

That being said, I’ve quite warmed up to American Airlines over the past year. I think their upgrade policies are a lot more lenient than Delta’s, and as an Executive Platinum later this year, I really look forward to putting that to the test. Although it’s a bad comparison, I’ve been Silver Medallion on Delta and have taken all sorts of flights: hub, non-hub, short-haul, mid-haul, direct, etc. Never once have I received an upgrade. Compare that then, with the free upgrade I received on American over Christmas with no status and on a discount economy fare. How did I do it? I asked. Nicely. I’ve tried that with Delta a few times, and they laugh and roll their eyes cuz it ain’t gonna happen.

So, to the point. I’m warming up to American. But the things I see in US Airways, I don’t like at all. I know they have crazy generous routing rules with their Dividend Miles award redemptions, but what about service at a basic level? They feel stingy to me, nickel-and-dimed to death, and the markets they serve are places I don’t consider destinations. If I stick with American instead of Delta, I may connect in Charlotte or Philly every once in a while. I just hope US Airways doesn’t ruin the generous and attentive vibe that American has worked really hard to develop over the past few years.

I love that most of American’s FAs are “career” flight attendants. They run a tight ship, and I like that. They are also eager to serve snacks and meals in biz and first cabins, and overall just feel more open. I really dread Doug Parker stepping in and removing a lot of the things customers have gotten used to, introducing more fees, and overall cheapening the “New American.” I also hope US Airways simply fires all of their phone agents instead of combining them with American’s responsive crew.

Not to say American is all roses. In NYC, it’s a competitive market, obvi, and American loves to fly little regional jets out of LGA and JFK. Why, I’ll never know. They also don’t have a lot of transfer partners (I’m thinking Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards here). And their Admirals Clubs are set up to make you spend money, whereas I feel Delta is freer with the booze and snacks. Little things. But it’s the little things that end up mattering the most, right?

I’m cautiously watching from the sidelines as Delta implements a revenue component to their status program, and as American’s will undoubtedly take a few blows when it fully combines with US Airways. It’s not a question of if, it’s one of how much. Until then, I hope the “New American” doesn’t become worse.

I also cannot freaking wait to use Avios on the places US Airways flies. 2014 will certainly be interesting for the FF community.

Dilemma of the Day: Which Caribbean Island?

a blue water with islands in the background with Virgin Islands National Park in the background

St. John, USVI

 

Just what the subject says. As part of the signup bonus for the shiny new British Airways Visa Signature that I got during my recent App-O-Rama, I will soon get at least 75,000 Avios – and hopefully 100,000 Avios. They’re great for short hops or some mid-haul jaunts under 1150 miles. The caveat is that they can only be used on places where Oneworld has routes. So no Philadelphia, no Burlington, no Portland (Maine), no Albany… surprising, right? But then I pulled up the American Airlines route map and the British Airways Avios Calculator to see where all I could go on the East Coast. My eyes drifted toward the equator, and I saw St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Maarten, St. Kitts, and St. John just sitting there all lined up like a row of temptresses.

For 20,000 Avios R/T in economy, American will fly me to:

  • St. Thomas (STT)
  • St. Maarten (SXM)
  • St. Kitts (SKB)

But NOT St. Croix (and St. John doesn’t have an airport). I haven’t experiment with other islands yet, but I did notice it was the same rate to Cancun, though I’m not really interested in going there. Even though it’s not a short- or mid-haul, 20K R/T to visit the Caribbean from New York is pretty good, right? And it’s much less points the further south you start out from. Which brings me to my dilemma. Which Caribbean island should I visit first? I’ve been to none of them and don’t know where to start. I know they’re all probably amazing, but which one is best for a beginner? The research continues, into the islands as well as into the value of Avios.  I’d love to go sometime between April and June.

This redemption really got the thinking when I saw it, so I thought I’d share. It might be old news to some, but sure brought a warm feeling to imagine those bright, sandy beaches. Really liking Avios right about now. And open to ideas!

Thinking of doing an American Airlines Status Challenge

So I got in on the awesome fares to South America during American’s great fares that emerged around Valentine’s Day. I’m going to Easter Island, Chile in May. So excited. Round-trip in business/first class was a touch over $1,000. Check out this sweet itinerary:

There...

There…

and back...

and back…

 

So now I’m thinking of doing a status challenge on American Airlines.

You only need 10K points to get Platinum during a challenge, but there are reports that 20K will get you Executive Platinum.

Points are calculated as miles flown * fare class.
So 15,088 * 1.5 = 22,632.

Here’s the info I found:

Challenge (AA) – FlyerGuide Wiki

Here are the LAN earning rates, by class, on American:

http://aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/earnMiles/travel/airlines/lan.jsp

And the miles calculations:

Screen shot 2013-02-17 at 1.43.03 PM

 

I’ll also get 25K+ redeemable miles for another free domestic R/T at some point in the future based on the fare classes.

I’ve read that an Exec Plat status match is $250 – well worth it for the unlimited domestic upgrades and the 8 system-wide upgrades on ANY fare class. I’ll also earn 2 500-mile upgrade certificates on this trip (one for each 10K points earned), too.

So when I saw the fare and trip for the first time, I thought:

• EASTER ISLAND
• Exec Plat Status
• Eight system-wide upgrades
• Two upgrade certs
• Free domestic R/T
• and all in biz and first class

Can’t beat that with a stick.

I think there are still goes good fares to Buenos Aires and Santiago. You can play around on the Matrix and see what comes up.

matrix.itasoftware.com –> such a good tool.

American’s giving Delta a run for their money (literally) with this one! Excited to experience their premium products. And if all goes according to plan, I may switch the bulk of my flying over to American. At least until the ahem, MERGER goes through.

Thoughts, anyone? Are my calculations correct?