Looking for a No-Annual-Fee Airline Card? The Citi American Airlines MileUp May Be Just What You’re After

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A couple of months ago Citi introduced the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card and converted folks who had the older Citi American Airlines Bronze card to it.

My wife had her American Airlines Bronze card converted and we’ve found the Citi American Airlines MileUp card to be a surprisingly useful no-annual-fee airline credit card.

And with the generous amount of domestic award flights I’ve been able to find with American Airlines recently, American Airlines miles are as valuable to me as they’ve ever been!

You can apply for the Citi American Airlines MileUp card here.

I Used American Airlines Miles to Book Award Flights Home for Thanksgiving

Here’s more about why this card is surprisingly valuable!

No Annual Fee and 2X on Groceries:  Citi American Airlines MileUp Card

Apply Here:   American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card

Read our review of the Citi American Airlines MileUp Card

In the past, I have been disappointed with earning rates of no-annual-fee airline credit cards.  But with the updated Citi American Airlines MileUp card, you’ll earn double American Airlines miles (2X) per $1 spent with American Airlines and at grocery stores and 1 mile per $1 on all other purchases.

The Citi American Airlines MileUp card comes with a 10,000 American Airlines mile bonus and a $50 statement credit after you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.  I only used 7,500 American Airlines miles to book a one-way flight around Thanksgiving.  Over the holidays, this flight would typically cost $200+, so the bonus is a nice haul for a no-annual-fee card.

Citi has some strict application guidelines.  Typically, they restrict you from opening a card under the same brand of cards (American Airlines cards in this case) if you have opened or closed a card in that “family” within the past 24 months.

But the Citi American Airlines MileUp card is exempt from this rule (you are only limited from applying for the card if you have had a Citi American Airlines MileUp card opened or closed in the past 24 months)!  And if you have the card, you can still qualify for other cards, like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® or the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard®!  So by applying for it, you aren’t limiting your opportunities to earn more American Airlines miles from other Citi cards! The information for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

But if you are concerned about staying under the Chase “5/24” rule, this isn’t the card for you because it will count toward Chase’s “5/24” limit.  And there are other cards out there with much better bonuses and benefits.

Do you have the Citi American Airlines MileUp card?  How does it stack up to other no-annual-fee airline credit cards?

Jason Stauffer was a writer for Million Mile Secrets where he covered points, miles, credit cards, airlines, hotels and general travel. His work has appeared in The Points Guy and NextAdvisor.

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

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