Earn 2X miles on American Airlines purchases made directly with American Airlines. Otherwise, earn 1X.
Our ratings are determined by the authors and editors on our team. Each individual card feature is compared against all other cards we offer and the total score is an average of those 4 ratings.
The right business credit card for you will greatly depend on your company’s expenditures and travel goals. However, the CitiBusiness/AAdvantage card is a great option for those who live near an American Airlines hub. With a $0 introductory annual fee (then $99 after the first year), it’s an affordable option if you have a small business and want to maximize the rewards earning potential for your expenditures.
With this card, you’ll earn both redeemable AAdvantage® miles for award flights and Loyalty Points to qualify for AAdvantage® elite status. For starters, you’ll earn 2x miles on cable and satellite providers, eligible American Airlines purchases, gas stations, select telecommunications merchants, and car rental merchants; and 1x miles on all other purchases (excluding cash equivalents).
Loyalty Points are much simpler: you’ll earn 1x Loyalty Point per dollar spent, no matter the purchase. Theoretically, a business owner who can spend $200,000 or more on this business credit card can earn top-tier AAdvantage® Executive Platinum elite status — even without flying!
Loyalty Points replaced American Airlines’ old AAdvantage® system of elite qualification via Elite Qualifying Miles. While those required flying, the new tier status system combines both flight miles and spending, including on AAdvantage® credit cards like this one.
The more you spend, the more perks you earn. By hitting $30,000+ in spend in a card membership year, you can earn a companion certificate that’s valid for domestic American Airlines flights. You’ll just have to pay $99 plus government taxes and fees, but this perk can help you save hundreds of dollars and get you “buy one, get one” flights.
From takeoff to touchdown, there are a few important benefits that will elevate your travel experience with American Airlines. You and up to four guests on the same American Airlines booking will get a first checked bag free (on domestic itineraries) and Group 5 preferred boarding. Not only that, but you’ll get a 25% discount that applies to inflight purchases, including food, drink and inflight wifi purchases.
With no foreign transaction fees to worry about, the CitiBusiness/AAdvantage credit card is a reliable option when you’re traveling domestically or internationally. Thanks to the card’s strong welcome bonus and solid earning rates on select business categories, you’ll be on your way to award flights in no time.
Business credit cards like the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® also help you organize your personal and business expenses. There are various online tracking tools to keep tabs on your finances in your credit card account. If you’d like to add employee cards to the account, there’s no additional fee to pay — and any spending on those cards will accrue miles to the primary cardholder account.
Ultimately, when picking a business card, you’ll have to decide between earning cash rewards, airline miles, or another form of loyalty currency.
If award flights are your goal and American Airlines is your favorite carrier, there’s no better business credit card than the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®.
Earn 20,000 bonus ThankYou® points after you spend $1,500 in purchases with your card within 3 months of account opening.
Our ratings are determined by the authors and editors on our team. Each individual card feature is compared against all other cards we offer and the total score is an average of those 4 ratings.
The Citi Rewards+ card comes with no annual fee but offers a unique value proposition among the sea of rewards credit cards on the market. In fact, it’s the only credit card to automatically round up to the nearest 10 points on all purchases made with the card. This can be vastly beneficial for small purchases you make on the card, as you’ll get to supercharge your ThankYou points® earning ability with the Citi Rewards+.
The card’s only bonus categories are gas stations and grocery stores, which will be useful for most households. You’ll earn 2x points on the first $6,000 spent every year in these categories combined, which breaks down to roughly $500 in monthly spend. If you exceed this spending cap, you’ll only earn 1x points per $1 spent.
Redeeming your ThankYou points is easy through your online Citi account, where you’ll get the best redemption value from travel or gift cards at 1 cent per point. While other rewards like “Shop with Points” or redeeming for a statement credit may be enticing, these redemption options present a poor value at just 0.8 cents and 0.5 cents, respectively. (Note: When we value the “minimum” redemption value of this card in our calculator at 1 cent per point, we are assuming you will take the maximum redemption option of gift cards.)
No matter how you redeem your points, you’ll get to earn 10% of all the points you redeem every year — up to the first 100,000 points annually. That’s a nice little boost to your ThankYou points balance.
Not only is the Citi Rewards+ a good choice for everyday purchases, but it also makes for a great supplementary card to any other Citi rewards cards you may have in your wallet since you can pool your points together.
If you already have the Citi Premier, a popular travel rewards card, you’ll earn 3x points on restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations, air travel and hotels, and 1x point on all other purchases. That’s where the Citi Rewards+ comes in: you can use the card for small purchases or non-bonus categories to take advantage of that favorable 10% automatic round-up feature.
Plus, if you also have a Citi Premier, you can cash out all of your Citi ThankYou points for 1 cent each or transfer them to ThankYou airline and hotel transfer partners.
(Please note: Without also holding a Citi Premier or Citi Prestige card, you will not be able to transfer these points to Citi’s ThankYou® airline and hotel transfer partners.)
Finally, you’ll have peace-of-mind with important coverages like purchase protection and extended warranty that can come in handy when your eligible card purchases are damaged or stolen.