About that AA Executive card you kept…

KennyBSAT

Moderator
Staff member
Just about a year ago, Citi gave us a perfect storm of offers with the American Airlines Executive card: a 75K miles bonus that then ballooned to 100K, statement credits that worked to reduce the annual fee, and best of all it was a churnable offer. Many of us got 5 or more. But a new wrinkle has surfaced in the past couple of days, and I’d pull your nearly-a-year-old card out of the sock drawer if you still have an Executive card from that offer!

The statement credit on all of those offers was very simple, or so it seemed: you got a $100 (on the 75K) or $200 (on the 100K) credit towards your first $100 or $200 in purchases. So you opened a card or a few of them, and a statement credit showed up on your first statement as you were working towards meeting the minimum spending. It was a nice little bonus on an already-great offer.

H/T Flyertalk member hypnos:

However, since January 1st, reports have been surfacing of mysterious new credits on these cards! It seems as though, for one reason or another, Citi has actually coded this statement credit to be an annual credit. Even better, it seems to be a calendar year benefit, not one you have to wait until your anniversary (with that fee you may have been planning to avoid by cancelling the card) to get them! All you have to do is use the card that initially had a statement credit as part of the offer, and it makes sense to go ahead and do so now while this unadvertised benefit may be working!


Yes, Citi still sends out these boxes!


We wound up cancelling all of our Executive cards that had statement credit offers before January, and the only one we have was recently opened under the current 50K offer. You can find details on that one, and on churning it, in the same Flyertalk thread. If you’re new to this offer, I’d recommend reading the wiki in that thread as well as 10 or 15 pages starting with post #77 of the original thread. The only thing that has really changed over the course of the year is the offer specifics, from 60K to 75K and then 100K before falling back to 50K.

If you have a card that had a statement credit offer and you spend on it and don’t see a credit on your next statement, by all means please let me know so I can update this post. But if you have one, I’d say it’s worth dusting off the card just in case!

– Kenny

Continue reading...
 
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bayguy

Level 2 Member
I have 100$ credit appear mysteriously and was wondering about it. I am planning to cancel next month when annual fee hits.
 

nickelfish1

Level 2 Member
Ok...hold on. You and the wife got five cards each. Did you cancel before the fee or you actually paid the fee?
I got one and hubs got two and we left all of them open. I felt bad about canceling and taking the miles for free.
Not really...I didn't want to be kicked off Citi.
 

bayguy

Level 2 Member
I was a little conservative, I got 4 and my wife got 2 cards. Should have followed Kenney's lead on it ;)
 

Pat

Silver Member
Glad I have read this post. I was trying to convert one of my AA Exec cards to something else earlier today, but I couldn't do so since I have the card for less than 1 year. I have got 2 cards only but I will definitely give it a try on both of them. :)
 

Kendon

Level 2 Member
Thanks for the tip! I just loaded US Buxx with my two, if a credit posts I think I'll go ahead and cancel so it doesn't mysteriously disappear :)
 

ElainePDX

Level 2 Member
What is the timing for this?

Based on the comments at Kenny's blog, it looks like the credit may not be more than the purchases made. But when do the purchases need to get made and is that timing related to your anniversary date?
 

KennyBSAT

Moderator
Staff member
What is the timing for this?

Based on the comments at Kenny's blog, it looks like the credit may not be more than the purchases made. But when do the purchases need to get made and is that timing related to your anniversary date?
I wish I knew! Based on the timing of reports, it could be calendar year, or it could be being triggered at ~11 months. All very odd. If I had one to play with I'd hit it for $200 each month until it's time to cancel.
 

Annie H.

Egalatarian
If I had one to play with I'd hit it for $200 each month until it's time to cancel.
I have two to play with, mine & SOs, I'll do it for ya! Thanks, Kenny, still kicking myself for not listening to you earlier and getting a half dozenX2 of these, yep should be doing the 50k. First FT link in your article doesn't work for me.
 

MileHighYuppie

Level 2 Member
When I called to recon for one of my 5 AA100k cards last year, I vividly remember the Citi rep saying that the card would have a $200 statement credit after the first year. I chalked it up to it just being a clueless Citi rep and didn't press further, so maybe the statement credit was intentional, but the calendar year issue doesn't make any sense though.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
When I called to recon for one of my 5 AA100k cards last year, I vividly remember the Citi rep saying that the card would have a $200 statement credit after the first year. I chalked it up to it just being a clueless Citi rep and didn't press further, so maybe the statement credit was intentional, but the calendar year issue doesn't make any sense though.
Calendar year issue? If you mean why they would pay it out calendar year it makes a lot of sense (with enough Salvia)

All the other top tier cards issue annual statement credits- perhaps this was coded into AA too?

I'm giving it a shot, worst case we lose a fractional rebate between this and a 2x card. Got mine in summer.
 
F

Fuerza

Guest
Sad that I didn't hit this deal harder. 2x cards one 100k (canceled) the second 75k (still active). I was going to cancel that 2nd card as it gets closer to the annual fee date. A $200 statement credit would be nice... What to buy..
 
R

RamboAroundTheWorld

Guest
There are some reports that the credit is only for airline spend. No idea if that's accurate or not.
 

kidooo

Level 2 Member
I went through my cards and have 4 cards still active that got a $200 credit, (the AF actually never posted on them, is that normal?)

is it safe to assume they all have a $200 credit waiting?
 

Pat

Silver Member
Personally I would not assume so. I will be happy if I can get those extra $200 credit per card, but I won't do much if the credit is not posted automatically.
 

kidooo

Level 2 Member
Personally I would not assume so. I will be happy if I can get those extra $200 credit per card, but I won't do much if the credit is not posted automatically.
Guess just gotta take the risk on one card and see if it posts or not..
 

manicsocks

Level 2 Member
Data point: I spent 33.80 on AA and it got credited Jan 6.

Tried an AGC shortly after Kenny posted this. That transaction is still pending, so no data point on that yet.
 

ddavidch

Level 42 Member
Opened my account in August of 2014 and successfully received the inital $200 credit immediately...
Just check the most recent statement and current activity and do not see any additional credits for 2015 as of yet.
Another $200 would be nice.
Thanks for the info.
 
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Fuerza

Guest
My first billing cycle for 2015 has already closed. I made a $200 purchase to see if I get a statement credit for 2015 but I won't know till Feb. For reference this was made on a 75k AA bonus with $100 credit Ex card.
 

raccah

Level 2 Member
I made a 50 dollar purchase on it, I should receive 50 bucks back - no? Do I get it on the statement? When I did this the first time, some 9 months ago, the credit was applied immediately, on any purchase. So far, I have seen no credit of any sort.
 

MotownMan

Level 2 Member
Received the 100k offer with $200 statement credit originally and posted purchases from a variety of merchants, including American Airlines, in 2015 with no statement credit.
 
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