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Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®
- Designed for businesses
- For a limited time, earn 75,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $5,000 in purchases within the first 5 months of account opening.
- First checked bag is free on domestic American Airlines itineraries to reduce travel costs and boost your bottom line.
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This travel rewards credit card for businesses has a relatively low annual fee, offers double reward miles on purchases that businesses make often, and gives VIP perks to employees who find themselves in airports frequently. Citi, a Credit-Land.com advertising partner, offers the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® that gives you tools like quarterly and year-end reports, the Citi Personal Business Assistant, and the ability to set spending limits on employee cards.
Special offers
Spend $5,000 in the first 5 months of account opening and get 75,000 bonus miles to use on flights with American Airlines or any of its partner airlines. You will also get double miles on select purchases. Thus, you will earn 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases. Plus, you will earn 2x miles on purchases at telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and at gas stations. All other purchases will earn 1 AAdvantage® mile per $1 spent on other purchases.
The Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® cardholders can also earn a companion certificate each year with qualifying purchases and renewed cardmembership. Plus, the card will allow you to save 25% on American Airlines inflight Wi-Fi, save time with preferred boarding on American Airlines flights, and get a free first checked bag on domestic American Airlines itineraries for you and up to 4 travel companions on the same reservation.
Earning rewards
Miles are earned at the rate of two miles per dollar spent on American Airlines purchases, on purchases made at car rental agencies, telecommunications, cable and satellite providers, and at gas stations. All other purchases will earn a basic one AAdvantage mile per dollar spent.
Thus, if you spend $25,000 on American Airlines flights and $10,000 in select purchases during a year, you will earn 50,000 miles and 20,000 miles accordingly. That totals 70,000 miles a year. Add here the welcome offer of the first year - 75,000 bonus miles - and your total earnings for the first year of your cardmembership will be 145,000 miles. Those 145,000 miles will get you at least two one-way trips in business class.
Redeeming rewards
Use your miles to fly on American Airlines or any of its 13 oneworld alliance partners, including British Airways, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways. Fares start from 7,500 miles up to 260,000 miles depending on the type of fare and how you travel. A business class round-trip starts at around 30,000 miles for domestic trips and a business class round-trip starts at 150,000 for trips to Europe. Economy round-trip awards can be available for as low as 7,500 miles plus applicable taxes and carrier-imposed fees.
You can also use AAdvantage miles to upgrade on flights operated by American Airlines or American Eagle, book a hotel room or rent a car with your miles, buy or renew an Admirals Club membership, reserve seats, or enhance your travel journey with AA luxury experiences like Five Star Essentials™ or Five Star Service™. As for non-travel redemptions, you can use your AAdvantage miles for a newspaper subscription or donate miles to charities and organizations American partners with.
Benefits
This card offers many benefits for businesses, including the ability to set separate spending limits for each employee and get spending reports each quarter that are broken down by employee. You'll have access to Citi's Personal Business Assistant, which is a concierge service for businesses. The assistant can make reservations at restaurants and hotels and help make travel arrangements.
When traveling with American Airlines, you'll get VIP treatment including preferred boarding, first bag checked for free for you and up to four travel mates. Each year that you spend at least $30,000 on the card and renew your membership you'll earn a companion certificate - pay just $99 plus taxes and fees to take someone along when you purchase a qualifying domestic round-trip fare.
Considerations
This card is similar to the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (expired offer), but with added benefits for businesses. Both cards have a sign-on incentive, and both offer reward redemption on American Airlines and its partners. The Mastercard package of benefits and services is comparable to the Personal Business Assistant, but it's geared toward everyday consumers, not businesses. Businesses will want to take advantage of features like employee cards with spending limits, quarterly reports and year-end summaries, and double miles on common business expenses. Other popular business cards, like the Spark cards* from Capital One, do give business reports and double miles, but they don't offer the same VIP treatment for travelers and don't have the Personal Business Assistant that this card does.
Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®
- Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases, and on purchases at telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and at gas stations
- Earn 1 AAdvantage® mile per $1 spent on other purchases
- Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases
- $99, waived for first 12 months
