Link: Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard®
American Airlines and Citi have a suite of co-branded credit cards. We’ve just seen the newest of these cards introduced, which is the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard®. In this post, I’d like to take a look at the details of this card, and talk about who should consider it.
The card has a phenomenal welcome bonus that many people should be eligible for, so that’s a huge incentive to apply. On top of that, the card offers lots of perks that could make it worth holding onto in the long run. Broadly speaking, think of this as a card that’s ideal for someone who is between an occasional flyer and a very frequent flyer (though American loyalists may find this card appealing as well, thanks to the bonus Loyalty Points opportunity).
Citi AAdvantage Globe Card welcome bonus & fee basics
Of American’s four co-branded personal Citi cards, the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card is the second most premium card in the portfolio. To start, let’s cover the welcome bonus, eligibility rules, annual fee, and more.
Welcome bonus of 90,000 AAdvantage miles
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card is offering a limited time welcome bonus of 90,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $5,000 within the first four months.
This is an excellent welcome bonus, and a major incentive to pick up the card. The minimum spending requirement is even quite reasonable. Personally, I value AAdvantage miles at ~1.5 cents each, so to me, those 90,000 miles are worth around $1,350.
American AAdvantage credit card eligibility rules
If you’re applying for the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card, there are some restrictions to be aware of, as you’d expect. First, there are Citi’s general application rules, which include that you can only be approved for one Citi credit card every eight days, and at most two Citi credit cards every 65 days.
On top of that, there’s also the 48-month rule on this card, which means you can’t receive the bonus on this card if you’ve received a bonus on this exact card in the past 48 months. Fortunately this card was just launched, so that means virtually everyone should be eligible for the welcome offer. Eligibility for this card (including the bonus) is unrelated to having any other American Airlines credit card.
$350 annual fee & $0 authorized user fee
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card has a $350 annual fee. That puts the annual fee roughly in between the $99 annual fee and $595 annual fee personal products. You can add authorized users to the card at no cost, and of course their spending will help you earn AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points.
Citi AAdvantage Globe Card rewards structure
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card has a number of bonus categories that cardmembers can take advantage of, and on top of that, spending can also count toward elite status. Let’s talk about how that works.
Earn 1-6x AAdvantage miles on spending
When it comes to actually spending money on the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card, there are some categories eligible for bonus miles:
- Earn 6x AAdvantage miles on AAdvantage Hotels bookings
- Earn 3x AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases
- Earn 2x AAdvantage miles on restaurants, including takeout and delivery
- Earn 2x AAdvantage miles on select transportation purchases, including taxis, rideshares, and public transit
- Earn 1x AAdvantage miles on all other purchases
These are actually reasonably lucrative bonus categories. If you use AAdvantage Hotels, being able to earn 6x miles on those purchases is great. Furthermore, it’s nice to see bonus miles on restaurants and select transportation spending.
Earn 1x Loyalty Points per eligible dollar spent
Nowadays elite status in the AAdvantage program can be earned with Loyalty Points, which is the currency that determines your status. AAdvantage elite status requirements are as follows:
Spending money on AAdvantage credit cards earns you Loyalty Points, as you earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent. This means your spending on the card can help you earn elite status (all the way up to Executive Platinum), and it can also help you earn Loyalty Point Rewards, allowing you to select from perks like systemwide upgrades, bonus miles, and more.
Note that the welcome bonus miles don’t count toward your Loyalty Points total. However, any spending achieved to earn that welcome bonus would count toward your Loyalty Points total. As I’ll explain below, the card offers a further opportunity to earn an additional 15,000 Loyalty Points per year, unrelated to spending on the card.
No foreign transaction fees
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card has no foreign transaction fees, so this can be a good option for purchases you make abroad.
Citi AAdvantage Globe Card benefits & perks
In addition to the great welcome bonus and the ability to earn elite status with spending, the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers some strong perks that that will for many people justify the annual fee.
The card is described as offering over $750 in value annually on an ongoing basis, though some will get less value from the card, while others will get more value from the card. Let’s cover those perks, in no particular order.
Up to 15,000 Loyalty Points annual “Flight Streak” bonus
In addition to being able to earn Loyalty Points through spending, the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers another unique opportunity to earn Loyalty Points, referred to as the Flight Streak bonus.
Specifically, the primary cardmember can receive 5,000 bonus Loyalty Points after every four qualifying American Airlines flights taken each status qualification year. This can be earned up to three times, for a total of up to 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points, which would be unlocked after 12 flights.
This is unrelated to any spending requirement on the card, and it’s also separate from the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review) offering up to 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points for passing certain annual Loyalty Points thresholds.
So, how does the Flight Streak bonus work? A qualifying American flight is any flight segment that’s marketed or operated by American or American Eagle, which is eligible to earn AAdvantage miles. So that means the bonus is per segment, but award flights don’t qualify. Furthermore, qualifying flights before becoming a cardmember also don’t qualify.
Four annual Admirals Club Globe Passes
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers four Admirals Club Globe Passes annually, as they’re called. With this, every calendar year, the primary cardmember receives four Admirals Club lounge passes:
- These passes are issued digitally, and each pass is valid for 24 hours across multiple lounges
- One pass is required for each person 18+, but those under 18 can be brought in as guests, without requiring additional passes
- Passes can only be redeemed for adults accompanying the primary cardmember, so they can’t just be gifted to others
- You must be traveling same day on American or a oneworld partner, with a departing or arriving boarding pass
This could come in handy for someone who occasionally flies American, who doesn’t need a full Admirals Club membership, but still values lounge access in some form. This perk is very similar to the four Admirals Club passes offered on Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review).
American $99 companion certificate on anniversary
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers a $99 American companion certificate upon account renewal every year, with no spending requirement (other than paying the annual fee).
When it comes time to redeem the companion certificate, there are some restrictions to be aware of:
- It’s only valid for travel within the lower 48 states
- It’s only valid for a roundtrip ticket in economy
- You have to book your ticket through American Airlines Meeting Services, so it can’t be booked online
- The certificate is valid for one year from the date of issue
- You have to pay $99 plus taxes and fees when redeeming it
- The companion booked with this certificate isn’t eligible for mileage accrual or upgrades
First checked bag free on American flights
Primary cardmembers on the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card receive a first checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for themselves and up to eight companions traveling on the same reservation. There’s no need to actually pay for the ticket with the card, you just have to make sure it’s linked to your AAdvantage account.
American ordinarily charge $35-40 for the first checked bag, so that’s a $70-80 value per person roundtrip (and if you had eight companions all checking a bag — of course that’s a stretch — that would be a value of $630-720).
Preferred boarding on American flights
Primary cardmembers on the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card receive preferred boarding on American Airlines flights. Having this card allows you to board with Group 5 on American Airlines flights, which should help to ensure that you can board while there’s still room in the overhead bins.
This applies globally, and there’s no need to pay for the ticket with the card, as long as you’re the primary cardmember with your AAdvantage account linked. This also applies to up to eight companions traveling on the same reservation.
Up to $240 back annually on Turo spending
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers up to $240 in statement credits every calendar year for Turo purchases. Specifically, you can earn up to $30 in statement credits for each eligible Turo trip completed, for a total of up to $240 in statement credits annually. To qualify, you must link your card to your Turo account on turo.com/globe, and pay for the trip with your card. The statement credit will post within one to two billing cycles.
For those not familiar with Turo, it’s a car sharing platform, so think of it as a good alternative to the typical rental car companies. Obviously $240 sounds like a lot, though personally I probably wouldn’t do any math on the value proposition of this card based on the perk, since we’re talking about just a $30 statement credit per rental.
Up to $100 back annually on American inflight purchases
Those with the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card receive up to $100 in statement credits on American and American Eagle inflight purchases every calendar year, when paying with the card. So you could apply this toward food and drinks that are purchased.
You’ll pay the full amount upfront, and then you’ll automatically receive a statement credit within 8-10 weeks (typically much faster than that), reimbursing you up to that limit.
Up to $100 annual “Splurge Credit”
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers up to a $100 annual Splurge Credit, as it’s described. The way this works, each calendar year, you can receive up to $100 in credits for purchases with select businesses.
This is valid with 1stDibs, eligible AAdvantage Hotels bookings, Future Personal Training, and Live Nation, and exclusions apply. You need to register with merchants to do this, and you can register for up to two merchants at a time, at this link.
This benefit is modeled after the $200 annual Splurge Credit on the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review), though the list of retailers is a bit more limiting. Some people might find it to be worthwhile to book AAdvantage Hotels stays this way, given the ability to earn lots of Loyalty Points for these bookings.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every four years
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit once every four years. Simply charge the purchase to your card and it will automatically be reimbursed within one to two billing cycles. You don’t have to be the one signing up, as you can always pay for a friend or family member who is signing up instead.
Personally, I always recommend applying for Global Entry, because Global Entry automatically comes with TSA PreCheck, while the inverse isn’t true.
Is the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card worth it?
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card is a well thought out product, in my opinion, as it’s nicely positioned between the less premium and most premium card in the portfolio. Given that this card is brand new, what’s my take on it?
For one, I think just giving the card a try is a no brainer, thanks to the strong welcome bonus. The bonus miles more than offset the annual fee, and this is a card that virtually everyone should be eligible for, given that it’s brand new. It’s also a card that people might find to be worthwhile in the long run.
The first year value is also strong, thanks to the fact that most of the benefits are based on the calendar year, rather than being based on the cardmember year. That means before the second annual fee is due, you’ll potentially be receiving two sets of many of the credits and other benefits, making the value even stronger.
Everyone will have to do their own math as to how much the various credits and benefits offset the annual fee. A few thoughts:
- If you fly economy frequently, the ability to get up to $100 annually in statement credits for inflight purchases of food and drinks potentially adds quite a bit of value
- The annual Admirals Club passes are awesome if you fly American every so often, while they’re less valuable if you otherwise have an Admirals Club membership, especially since they can’t be gifted to others not traveling with you
- The up to $100 annual Splurge Credit is valuable in theory, though unlike on the Citi Strata Elite Card, it’s not valid for American flights and Best Buy, which I’d consider the best uses of the similar credit on the Citi Strata Elite Card; can anyone think of any sweet spots with this credit, other than AAdvantage Hotels?
- The $99 annual companion certificate is potentially valuable, though the lack of mileage earning plus having to book by phone makes this a bit of a headache to use (hopefully this will be simplified a bit over time)
- I wouldn’t value the annual Turo statement credits much, since we’re talking about just $30 per rental
For frequent American flyers, I think the single most compelling perk of this card is that you get 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points for flying 12 revenue segments per year. That helps quite a bit with qualifying for status, and I think many people would value those Loyalty Points at somewhere around $150-300, give or take.
So yeah, I think there’s a lot of merit to giving this card a try, given the excellent welcome offer and very strong first year perks. Then you can decide based on your experience whether you think the card is wroth keeping in the long run.
Bottom line
The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card is American’s newest co-branded credit card, and it has a $350 annual fee. The card has a huge welcome bonus and very strong first year perks, making it worth considering.
On an ongoing basis, the card offers basic benefits for travel on American (like a free checked bag and preferred boarding), several credits and benefits that can help offset the annual fee, and even up to 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points, without any card spending required.
Personally, I think this card is worth giving a try, and it’s a product I plan to apply for. I think the perks could very well justify the annual fee on an ongoing basis, but I guess we’ll see!
If you want to learn more about the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card or apply, follow this link.
