CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard — Full Review [2023]

Great Card If

• You and your employees fly often for business
• You prefer traveling on American Airlines
• Your business expenses are aligned with the bonus categories

Don’t Get If

• You travel primarily by car for business
• You don’t have the option to fly American Airlines at your local airport

Earning Categories and Points

You’ll earn 2 miles for every dollar you spend on American Airlines purchases and select business categories, which include telecommunications services, car rentals, and purchases at gas stations!

Earn 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases. The annual fee is $99 per year, waived in year 1.

Bottom Line: The CitiBusiness Platinum Select card earns 2x miles for AA flights and purchases at telecommunication merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants, and at gas stations. Earn 1 mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.

CitiBusiness Platinum Select Card Benefits

Boarding and Baggage Benefits

Nobody likes paying extra to check their bags. With the CitiBusiness Platinum Select card, check your first bag free when traveling on domestic flights.

Up to 4 people can share this benefit if they are traveling with you under the same reservation.

Plus, get complimentary Group 5 boarding on American Airlines domestic flights.

In addition, there are no foreign transaction fees on card purchases, saving you money when you fly internationally.

Bottom Line: First checked bag free, Group 5 boarding, and zero transaction fees add great value to the CitiBusiness Platinum Select card.

More Card Benefits and Discounts

The card really is jam-packed with benefits and discounts.

First, the $99 annual fee is waived for the first year. That gives you 12 months to enjoy everything that comes with the card without having to pay for any of it!

Next, save 25% on inflight Wi-Fi. This discount can add up quickly when you fly often for business.

Reduced mileage awards provide another fantastic discount. Redeem round-trip flights with reduced mileage awards for 7,500 fewer miles and save your points for other awards.

Finally, earn an American Airlines Companion Certificate after spending $30,000 or more in purchases each card membership year.

Bottom Line: The CitiBusiness Platinum Select card comes with tons of perks like no annual fee the first year, 25% off inflight Wi-Fi, reduced mileage awards, and more.

Big Business Benefits

As a business owner, you’ll enjoy the features that come with the card.

Rack up the points faster than ever by requesting employee cards at no additional cost. That means you’ll get the miles for everyone’s purchases. You can set the credit line and cash advance limits on each employee card.

You’ll also get 24/7 access to a dedicated small business customer service team (866-458-4216) and a personal business assistant to help with travel, hotel, and dining arrangements (800-301-5584).

Another business benefit is online account summaries, which make it easier to track your quarterly and annual expenses.

Bottom Line: Business owners will find the CitiBusiness Platinum Select card has useful features such as free employee cards, dedicated customer service, and online account summaries.

Best Way To Redeem AAdvantage Miles

When you are ready to redeem your American Airlines AAdvantage miles, try to get the highest value possible.

Here are some options for redeeming points earned on the CitiBusiness Platinum Select card:

Tip #1: International flights provide the best value for your American Airlines miles. The table below shows some of the many redemptions available for main cabin and business class seats for domestic and international travel.

See the American Airlines AAdvantage site for a complete list.

Destination	Main Cabin	Business
48 contiguous U.S. states	12,500	25,000
Canada and Alaska	15,000	30,000
Hawaii	22,500	40,000
Central America / Mexico / Caribbean	17,500	27,500
Europe	22,500	30,000

Tip #2: Save 7,500 miles when booking round-trip domestic travel using the MileSAAver rate. You must call to book your ticket, and the discount is good on specified round-trip routes every other month.

Tip #3: Redeem miles to upgrade to a higher cabin on American Airlines and American Eagle flights. Upgrades start at 5,000 miles for full-fare economy upgrades.

Tip #4: Redeem miles or combine miles and cash for hotel stays and car rentals. You need at least 1,000 miles for each reservation, and there are no blackout dates.

While you can’t change car rentals and hotel stays once they are purchased, you can buy them for family members and friends by entering their information during the redemption process.

Go to the American Airline AAdvantage site to search for available hotels, car rentals, and vacations.

For even more tips, check out our guide on the best ways to use 100,000 AAdvantage miles.

Best Way To Maximize AAdvantage Miles

The fastest way to accumulate miles with the CitiBusiness Platinum Select card is by charging everything to the card in the 2x bonus categories.

These are telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and gas stations.

The following list includes even more ways to earn tons of American Airlines miles with the card.

Tip #1: Purchase all American Airlines flights and services with the card to earn 2x miles. Remember, you also get a 25% discount for inflight Wi-Fi.

Tip #2: Earn elite status with the AAdvantage loyalty program to bank points rapidly with a bonus: Gold (40%), Platinum (60%), and Executive Platinum (120%).

The benefits of Gold status definitely outweigh the cost. In addition to getting a 40% bonus on miles, you’ll also get free upgrades, priority check-in, complimentary same-day standby, and a discounted Admirals Club membership.

There are even more benefits for Platinum status!

Tip #3: Enroll your card with car rental agencies to multiply points quickly. First, earn 2x points because car rentals are in the 2x bonus mile category.

Plus, earn up to 500 points per rental depending on the agency. Avis and Budget are preferred partners, which means you will earn the most miles with each rental. Platinum and Gold status AAdvantage members earn 1,000 points per rental!

Tip #4: Earn points at restaurants by registering your card with the AAdvantage Miles Dining Program.

Get 1 AAdvantage mile per $2 spent. Agree to receive emails from the program and get 3 miles per $1 spent. Make 12 qualified dining transactions in a calendar year and get 5 miles per $1 spent!

That’s a lot of miles for dining you would probably be doing anyway!

Plus, you aren’t limited to enrolling American Airlines AAdvantage credit cards in the program. As long as your credit cards are not enrolled in another miles-earning dining program, you can add up to 5 of any of your credit cards to the program.

Tip #5: Stay at hotels to earn AAdvantage miles. Check out all hotel partners on AA’s website, or look at the table below to help you decide which hotel you might stay at next to earn bonus AAdvantage miles:

Hotel	Miles/Stay	Hotel	Miles/Stay
AAdvantage Hotels	Varies	Marriott	Up to 2 miles/$1
Hyatt	500 miles/stay	RocketMiles	Varies
IHG	Up to 2 miles/$1

Tip #6: Earn miles for flights on American Airlines, Oneworld partner airlines, and non-alliance partner airlines.

Tip #7: Earn up to 2,200 miles per ticket to various performance art shows with Audience Rewards. Enroll with your AAdvantage account number and find tickets to Broadway shows, operas, cabarets, and more in participating cities.

Tip #8: AAdvantage offers you the chance to earn miles by shopping through its eShopping Mall at stores like Kohl’s, Sears, and BestBuy. You can even search for coupon codes, sales, and deals for free shipping.

Bonus Tip:  Check out ways to earn 100,000 AA miles in just 90 days!

Alternatives to the CitiBusiness Platinum Select Card

The biggest drawback to the card is that its value is directly tied to American Airlines. If you and your employees don’t fly American Airlines on a regular basis, the card won’t be useful.

If you want to earn points for your business expenses but have the freedom to redeem them with a wide variety of travel and business partners, the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is an option.

With the Ink Business Preferred card, earn 3x points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year.

Points earned with the Ink Business Preferred card can be used with travel partners like United MileagePlus, British Airways Executive Club, and Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, as well as many online retailers.

Bottom Line: Businesses that don’t fly American Airlines will not find value from the CitiBusiness Platinum Select card.

The information regarding the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.