Underrated Reasons Why You Need a CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard

This business credit card gives you access to discounted award flights and higher miles earning on your spending.

Keith M. RossoAugust 26, 2020
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Choosing the best business credit card can make a big difference in the rewards you’re earning for your company’s spending. Whether you want to earn a lucrative welcome bonus or get ongoing travel benefits, take time to assess whether it’s worth applying for a new credit card. If you’re a business owner and American Airlines loyalist, you might consider the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®.

Here’s a review of the card’s popular benefits, along with some lesser-known perks, which can help you decide if this card is a good fit.

The well-known reasons

The CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® comes with these well-known benefits:

  • Welcome bonus: Earn 65,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $4,000 in purchases within the first 4 months of account opening. At NerdWallet, we value American Airlines miles at 1 cent apiece.

  • Bonus miles on purchases: Earn 2x miles per dollar spent on eligible American Airlines purchases and with telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and gas stations. Depending on your business spending needs, these bonus categories can help you accumulate miles.

  • First checked bag free: Applies to the primary cardholder and up to four companions on the same reservation for domestic flights.

  • No foreign transaction fees: If you travel internationally, having a card with no foreign transaction fees can save you money. Some other cards charge up to 3%, so this can be a valuable benefit.

  • Annual fee of $0 intro for the first year, then $99: You can test the features of this card during the first 12 months before you have to pay the annual fee. Before renewing, you can assess whether the perks offset the annual fee expense.

» Learn more: American Airlines AAdvantage program: The complete guide

Underrated reasons

Book discounted flights with reduced-mileage awards

Cardholders can use fewer miles to book award flights by using American’s Reduced Mileage Awards. For certain discounted round-trip domestic MileSAAver award flights, you can save 7,500 miles on longer flights or 2,000 miles on shorter ones. This discount applies to economy, business and first-class tickets, subject to award availability. American updates the list of cities monthly, so you can take advantage of the discounted award flights to explore multiple travel destinations.

» Learn more: The complete guide to American’s reduced mileage awards

You can have the small business and personal versions of the card

Pairing a personal and small business card can help you to accumulate miles more quickly. Besides earning the sign-up bonus with each card, you can access different bonus rewards spending categories. Plus, it’s easier for business owners to separate personal and business expenses by using different cards. The catch is that you have to be sure you’re earning enough rewards to justify annual fees on two cards.

If you have the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®, you’re still eligible to apply for the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® because the personal and business versions of the card are considered different products.

But if you’ve had the business card before, you might have to wait before you’re eligible to earn the welcome bonus again. The terms and conditions indicate you can’t receive the card’s bonus if you have received a new cardmember bonus from this CitiBusiness AAdvantage card in the past 48 months.

Companion certificate

You can receive a $99 companion certificate each year you spend $30,000. This means you can take a partner, family member or friend with you on a domestic trip for $99 plus applicable taxes and fees. Besides hitting the $30,000 spending threshold, you must also renew your card membership and pay the card’s annual fee to take advantage of this perk.

The bottom line

With the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®, you can earn a lucrative sign-up bonus and get access to several bonus rewards spending categories, including gas stations and cable companies. Plus, you can use American’s Reduced Mileage Award program to book discounted award flights.  Keep in mind, this small business card is different from any personal Citi American Airlines cards, so it’s possible to have both.

The information related to the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product or service.

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