American Airlines 50,000 Mile Credit Card Bonus and $150 Statement Credit

Over the summer I took advantage of the Citibank offers of 75,000 miles for new American Airlines credit cards, though I was a frequent churner of these cards in the past I hadn’t applied for one in about a year and a half and I had no problem getting the bonus.

Fortunate for me, it’s put me right on the cusp of 3 million mile status with American, right before American changes the criteria for awarding lifetime status thresholds. I’m already lifetime Platinum (2 million) and the next incremental million only earns me additional confirmed international upgrade instruments. But I’d like to reach that plateau before only flown miles count towards status. As it stands now, I expect to make my 3 million miles lifetime on the Oneworld Mega DO charter.

I’ve considered dropping some Starwood points into my American account now, though, to cross the threshold early – get those international upgrades – so that I can mileage run in style towards the American Airlines Executive Platinum challenge for Oneworld Mega DO participants that will only require me to fly 20,000 miles by January 13.

Sadly, that 75,000 mile signup offer seems to be gone, but but Million Mile Secrets brings us the new best current offer for a Citibank American Airlines credit card: 50,000 miles after spending $3000 within four months, no fee the first year, $150 statement credit after making any purchase from American Airlines, and two lounge passes.

As Million Mile Secrets observes, you can earn the $150 statement credit for a $150 American Airlines gift card (making it free) or with a cocktail onboard a flight.

Sadly, getting this card now won’t help with lifetime elite status. American was the only airline offering lifetime status based on total miles earned in an account from any source, but that goes away December 1. At this point it’s unlikely you’d get this card and a statement closing date prior to then. But it’s a still-worthwhile offer.

There are actually three different cards presented with this offer, a Visa, American Express (issued by Citi not by American Express), and a small business Visa.

If you want more than one card, the current best advice is still to use two different browsers to apply for two personal cards at the same time — use one browser (e.g. Google Chrome or Firefox) for the Visa and another browser (e.g. Internet Explorer) for the American Express. And then consider applying for the small business card 63 days or more later.

I’ve added this to the current list of Best Current Mileage Deals and Offers.

(Disclosure: this offer does not pay any signup commission to me.)