The Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (review) is the newest Citi American AAdvantage card, which is currently offering a best-ever welcome bonus. I applied for the card several months back when it first launched (with the same bonus). I’d like to recap my experience getting approved for the card, for those who may be considering applying — while I ended up getting approved, it wasn’t quite an instant process.
Link: Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard®
Why I applied for the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card has a $350 annual fee, so it’s the mid-range card in the Citi AAdvantage portfolio. One incentive to pick up this card is that it’s offering a limited time welcome bonus of 90,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $5,000 within four months. This is an excellent offer, given all the great uses of AAdvantage miles.
Beyond that, though, the card offers lots of perks that potentially make it worth holding onto. Many people will appreciate the first checked bag free, preferred boarding, and four annual Admirals Club passes.
For those who are more frequent flyers with American, there are some other perks as well, that can help offset the annual fee. For one, the card offers up to 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year, in addition to the ones that you earn for spending. This includes 5,000 bonus Loyalty Points for every four American segments flown, up to three times per elite year.
The card also offers lots of credits and other benefits, including up to $100 back annually on American inflight purchases, up to $100 annually in “Splurge Credits,” and a $99 annual domestic companion fare. I’m figuring out how exactly the card will fit into my card portfolio in the long term, but I definitely think it’s a card that’s worth giving a try.
Citi AAdvantage Globe Card application rules & restrictions
Eligibility for the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card is really straightforward. The typical Citi credit card application restrictions apply, including that you can be approved for at most one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days.
On top of that, the bonus isn’t available to those who have received a new account bonus on this exact card in the past 48 months. Fortunately since this card is still new, a vast majority of people should be eligible for the bonus.
Eligibility is unrelated to having any other Citi American Airlines credit cards, though, whether personal or business. So you can pick up this card (and earn the bonus) even if you have the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review), Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (review), etc.
Citi AAdvantage Globe Card application process & approval
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card online application process is straightforward, and consists of just one page. It’s shorter than applications with most other card issuers. It asks for personal details — name, date of birth, social security number, address, phone number, income, etc. If you have an existing Citi account, you even have the option to log-in, and that will then pre-fill many details.
At the end of the application, you’ll be asked for your American AAdvantage number, so you’ll of course want to enter that. Not only is that where all your miles will be deposited, but it’s also where your Admirals Club passes will be deposited, as that’s an ongoing card perk.
I have to be honest, I was curious if I would be approved or not. Only weeks earlier I had applied for the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review), and when I was approved for that, I got only a $5,000 credit limit, which is the minimum credit limit one can get on the card while being approved.
That’s because I have a couple of other Citi cards that have massive credit lines, including the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review). So upon submitting my application, I was thanked for applying, and was given a number to call, along with an application ID.
I phoned up, and was connected to a friendly agent. She had no questions for me, but asked to have a couple of minutes to review my application. After a brief hold, she congratulated me for being approved, with a credit line of $5,900. I thanked her, and also immediately received an email confirming my account approval.
I figured I’d have to move around some of my credit line, so I was actually surprised that wasn’t the case. Interestingly, she called me back a couple of minutes later, mentioning that she saw I had a lot of credit on my other Citi cards, and asked if I wanted to move some of it over to this card. So I did that, and moved over an extra $10,000 in credit from another card.
By the way, I also instantly received an email confirming that the Admirals Club passes had already been deposited in my AAdvantage account. So if you are applying shortly before a trip and get instant approval, that’s great news.
Bottom line
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card is American’s lucrative new premium card, and I figured I should apply shortly after launch, to report back. I didn’t get an instant approval, presumably because I already had a lot of outstanding credit with Citi. Fortunately after a quick phone call, everything was taken care of.
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card has a big welcome bonus that makes it worth applying for, and between the up to 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points, up to $100 in annual American inflight credits, up to $100 annual Splurge Credit, $99 annual companion certificate, etc., I think I can make the math on this card work.
If you’ve applied for the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card, what was your experience like?