PrezVander

Apologies if this has been posted before, but while checking my Citibank account today I noticed that Citibank has improved the bonus offer for upgrading to an Aadvantage debit card from the normal debit card. The normal offer I have seen was 2,000 miles for the basic ($25/yr) card and 4,000 miles for the Premium ($65/yr) card, but for a limited time they are offering 5,000 miles for either card.

Per the terms, the annual fee is nonrefundable after 60 days, so it's even conceivable to be able to downgrade if the miles post before that, but YMMV.

Terms:

What You Need
• A Citibank Checking account
• An American Airlines AAdvantage® program account. If you don't have one, one will be set up for you. If you have one but forgot the number, call the AAdvantage® program at 1-800-882-8880.
• If you're already a customer and want to upgrade to the Citibank® / AAdvantage® Debit card, just sign on and click on ACCOUNT SERVICING.

What You Get
• Earn American Airlines AAdvantage® miles when you use your debit card
• Safer than carrying cash
• Less hassle than writing checks
• No finance charges2


How it Works
There are two Citibank® / AAdvantage® Debit card plans:
• Basic: Earn 5,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles for a limited time now through November 28th when you enroll.1 Then earn 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $2 you spend, up to 60,000 miles each calendar year.3 Annual Fee: $25.4
• Premium: Earn 5,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles for a limited time now through November 28th when you enroll.1 Then earn 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 you spend, up to 100,000 miles each calendar year.3 Annual fee: $65.4
• To ensure that your purchase earns AAdvantage® miles, you must select Credit (MasterCard) and/or sign the receipt when presenting your card or card number for payment.3
• The daily spending limit ranges from $1,000 to $10,000. ATM cash withdrawal limits also vary.

Tango

This is a a real scam since they will only give you miles if you use your debit card like a credit card. More and more merchants prefer pin based transactions becuase they are so much cheaper to process.

PrezVander

I have no interest in using this as a debit card, but for 5k miles I'll upgrade for a spell

salut0

Only a scam for the merchants -- unless we, as customers, are made to pay extra by the merchant for demanding that a transaction be put through as credit rather than debit where both options exist. Until that time, I'll take the inconvenience and earn the miles.

jkirsch

The fact that its more expensive for merchants to process is exactly why they're willing to give you miles. This sends the transaction through interchange while debit transactions avoid this sytem and thus the associated processing/interchange fees.

jkirsch

And its in fact illegal for merchants to charge a surcharge for customers to use their credit cards. They can however give a discount for cash

Tango

This is another example of how this has become the crack of the FF addicts.

rrgg

The merchants can choose to accept whatever form of payment they want. $25 for 5000 miles is a bargain even if you got nothing. I'll gladly buy them up at that rate.

acf573

Keeping this on topic, this was mentioned maybe two weeks ago in another thread (which I can't seem to find right now). Link on the Citi website:
https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-b...seBVCookie=yes

I've heard this offer expires soon, but haven't seen any concrete dates.

rbessler

For those of you who have recently opened up Citi accounts for the 10,000 mile promotion, here is a nice way to pick up another 5,000 miles!

MileageGoblin

Was holding off on upgrading my Debit card. Upgraded yesterday. Thanks OP! ^

PrezVander

Expires Nov 28 per the link you posted

jimcoddington

Thanks OP, great find in addition to the 10,000 AA bonus miles.

bpan0704

Got it. Thanks.

ElvisNYC

I just upgraded.. thanks !