The other day I wrote about the amazing offer from Citi for the Executive Aadvantage World Elite Mastercard which gives 100,000 miles after spending $10,000 in three months on the card. This card also gives Admiral’s Club membership, but comes with a hefty fee of $450 per year. Even with that fee, I think the offer is worth it, but they also sweetened the deal with a $200 statement credit after spending $200. That essentially lowers the cost of this card to $250.
After debating back and forth, I couldn’t resist applying. Citi received so many applications for this card that their systems were backlogged and almost everyone had to call in. For me, it took two days to reach someone who could give me an answer and without even a question, I was approved. My wife applied as well and went through a similar situation. 200,000 AAdvantage miles will soon be in our coffers!
Amazingly this offer is still up and open. If you haven’t applied yet, there is still time. Since I tend to focus on family travel and showing readers how they can redeem coach tickets for their family, I just want to highlight once again what this amount of Aadvantage miles means.
- Two round-trip tickets to Hawaii with 10,000 miles leftover. (Not the best value.)
- Two round-trip off peak saver tickets to Europe with 20,000 miles leftover.
- Two round-trip off peak saver tickets to Japan or South Korea.
- Two round-trip off peak saver tickets to South America with 20,000 miles leftover.
There are literally countless redemptions you can make with these miles. I believe by making one of the redemptions above, that I will get between $1,500-$2,000 in value for the miles earned on each card’s bonus.
For example, during Spring break in April, the cheapest ticket to Japan from my hometown of Las Vegas is $936 roundtrip on Delta. Since these miles get me two tickets, that is $1872 in value. (Note: You would be earning elite credit and miles with Delta, so you can factor how much that is worth. Even subtracting that out you come out way ahead.)
If we look at flying to Europe, for the same dates, the cheapest flight to Berlin is $1153. I can get two and a half of those, meaning my value would be $2882.50 with the same stipulations as above. Or if I chose to fly to London, United is the cheapest at $1106 roundtrip, giving me a similar value.
You can check out the AAdvantage award chart here and decide which redemptions are the best for you. My point here is that this card pays for the good part of a family vacation. If both you and a spouse apply, then you literally will have four tickets to Japan or South Korea, or five tickets to Europe during their off peak times which do include Spring Break, but don’t include the summer.
Whether you redeem these miles for coach tickets or blow them all on a first class redemption, there is no argument that $250 for 100,000 miles plus Admiral’s Club membership is worth it! Personally, we will be using the 200,000 miles for a couple of family trips next year. Since the goal is to go somewhere new, we are thinking Ecuador & Peru and another mystery trip later in the year! Dream big and spend small!
You can apply for the card here and please note that I DO NOT receive any referral commission if you apply!
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Hi Shawn! Thanks for the info on the great Citi offer. But tell me, please, on what should I spend the first $10,000 in 3 months in order to get the 100,000 mile points? I’m perplexed. Terri K in Las VEGAS. Say hi to Your family.
Terri there are ways to accelerate spending in order to hit a credit card bonus. I suggest reading the articles about Bluebird on the site and send me an email if you have any other questions.