I must be confused on something.

I was looking at the Citibank Business card which says it allows you to get up to 150,000 miles per year. I understood that to be 1 mile for each dollar you spend, right? So if I am doing $150,000 in purchases and then some on the card, then I would get 150,000 miles.

I also was looking at AA's website (the plan I prefer) and they mention that you must fly 4 qualifying segments per year - no problem because I probably average 20 segments a year. But those 20 segments are in the USA and probably total 20,000 miles total. If I could get 150,000 miles from Citibank using their business card, I could get 170,000 miles - putting me in executive platinum.

Or if not, what am I missing?

I read somewhere that Citibank gives 2:1 ($2 for each mile) points on debit card purchases, or 1:1 if you "upgrade" to a different kind of debit card. So I could move my petty cash account over to Citibank and give employees debit cards and (hopefully) I could reap the points. It would not be a ton but probably adds up to several thousand $$ a year.

Or is the only way to get exec platinum to actually fly 150,000 miles a year on the actual plane?

EDIT: I think I get it - you guys are saying that the miles generated from CC purchases are not "qualifying" miles that go towards your status, but rather miles that can only be "spent" on free tickets and the like, yes?