NEW Citibank Credit card that gets you to COL faster...

caslug says on Dec 9, 2004, 19:03:

fine print.. the only drawback of this card versus the regular Citibank AA card, is the $50 USD/yr fee. But if you use their reduce milage award once a year you'll come out ahead. 25,000 miles for r/t anywhere from the US to COL is VERY GOOD. It cost 25,000 miles to go from city to city in the USA already.

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ericthepro007 says on Dec 10, 2004, 09:43:

I'm researching miles cards When I fly to Colombia from my destination I have a three ticket stop. Like Detroit to Chicago, Chicago to Miami, and then Miami to Medellin. Would say a 55,000 (or 25,00-30,000 with this card) mile trip like above cover all three stops or would it be broken up?

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caslug says on Dec 10, 2004, 09:52:

Eric.. mile award is calculated on point A to point B. Irrespective of stops. For example, I can fly for X miles(25-35k for r/t fr USA to COL) from LA to BOG, But stops in Miamia or SNA(orange county) to dallas to miami to BOG. Either way it still only cost the same(25-35k, depending on date). Another great thing about mileage travel is that you can have different points of departure or RETURN and it's still consider country A to country B.

Lets say it cost 35k to goto COL this New Year, my plan is to fly from LA/SNA to Cali BUT leave from BOG back to LA/SNA. There's no additional cost, of course i have to somehow get from CALI to BOG to catch my return flight. Also, it's not just the country, it's the whole region so I can fly out of Lima, Peru if I wanted.

The reduce mileage travel is a little different, with that I don't think you can split your trips to two cities. To get the reduce award you need arrive&depart from the same COL city. Another perk of Mileage travel is IF you need to change cities it's ONLY $100USD flat AND there is NO charge to change dates(as long as they have seats).

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ericthepro007 says on Dec 10, 2004, 10:10:

Thanks Casug I think I'll a card since I plan on traveling more frequently and it may save me some cash. However, I wonder how long these 25-30,000 mile rates would last? I see they have there rates for this quarter and next but what after the end of the offer. I would be they go back up. Thanks.

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caslug says on Dec 10, 2004, 10:21:

Eric.. I don't think the offers will go away anytime soon, because if you look carefully many of the places w/ the reduce milage awards are NOT regular tourist traps. Fortunately for us COL is not going to be a tourist mecca anytime soon, so i think AA will keep this going. Notice that the other hot spots in S.A. (Buenes Aires & Rio) are not on the list, because AA doesn't need promotion to fill the seats. Beside if two years from now they drop the places you want go, then just cancel the card.

If you live in Detroit I would check to see what Northwest has for special offers, BTW NW partners w/ Continential.

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ericthepro007 says on Dec 10, 2004, 10:37:

Thanks again I think AA is the best way to go out of Detroit from my trying to book flights to Colombia.

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viewpoint says on Dec 10, 2004, 11:53:

Caslug - Excellent Post One thing you need to watch out for is that there is mileage caps on these cards (as one the standard CitiBank AA card). If you get a Bronze card there is no fee but the annual mileage cap is 25,000 miles per calendar year and you only get 1 mile per $2.00 in purchases ($50,000 purchases = 25,000 miles and no more for the year) , with the Gold card the annual fee is $50 and the annual mileage cap is 60,000 miles at the rate of 1 mile per $1.00 in purchases, then on to the Platinum card which has an annual fee of $85.00 and a annual mileage cap of 100,000 miles at the rate of 1 mile per $1.00 in purchases.

I got all excited about switching my Citi AA Platium Select "Signature" card with a $125 annual fee until I found out that my annual mileage cap is 150,000 (only signature card)at 1 mile per $1.00 spent. I am checking the mileage redemption requirements and terms vs. both cards. They did tell me that I can have both cards if I want. If you call the correct phone number or apply through the internet you can get 12,500 miles for the Platinum World AA card sign-up. To tap out the annual 100,000 mileage cap your average monthly purchases would have to exceed $8,333.33 per month.

In summary, watch out for the annual mileage caps or you will get a big surprise. Be sure and get the card that has a mileage cap adequate for your spending plans. The Bronze card is no good with the 1/2 mile per $1.00 spent and a 25,000 annual mileage cap.

If you have time try to find a creditcard (other than debitcard) that will allow cash advances for no fee (other than interest). The MBNA has the Quantum Card which allowed (to selected cardholders) cash avances with no fee. I discovered in 1998 that that feature worked outside the USA in foreign countries (with no fee). I drove their fraud department crazy with my Colombia cash advances until they final programed my account to allow cash advances to my cards limit. They closed that program in December of 2003. I am sure that some bank provides a creditcard with a "no fee" cash advance feature that works in foreign countries.

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santiBOG says on Dec 10, 2004, 16:18:

Caslug... http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/cardserv/worldcard/plat-bonus.jsp

I have the World AA Citibank MasterCard but I'm not sure understand what you're saying. I just read what the citibank web site says about the World card. There is no mention of the cardholder being able to book travel for less miles. The offers that you listed above in your original message, are you sure that they are only available to World cardholders?

I think ANY member of AAdvantage, regardless of them having a Citi card, is eligible for a reduced mileage award.

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caslug says on Dec 10, 2004, 16:24:

reduce mileage.. It's one of those features with all the other features.

http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/cardserv/worldcard/globe.jsp

I called AAtoday and told them i was a reduce mileage member and they did take that into consideration. I also call Citibank and asked them is there any CODE WORD to use when booking, they told me since I have the world mastercard just tell the AA people "reduce mileage" member from Citibank. That did the trick.

Don't know if ANY regular memember can just say that, maybe if they don't check.

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santiBOG says on Dec 11, 2004, 22:09:

Sounds great but ... the reduced mileage awards are actually available to all Citi AA cardholders, not just the World MasterCard users. Also, they don't offer any reduced mileage awards to Bogotá right now, only to Cali and Medellin, which apparently are the 2 destinations that they need to promote more.

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