Last Flight for this American Airlines Card
Yesterday I wrote about closing a United Airlines Business credit card and calculated the value I'd gotten from it. I mentioned that around the same time I opened that card 12 months earlier I also opened a Cit American Airlines card. As the two new cards arrived at my house on the same day last January it only makes sense that I cancelled them on the same day this month. Let's tally the score for the AA card.
Two-Tier Bonus. I Got Three.
I signed up for the CitiBank American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select card (whew, that's a mouthful) with a two-step bonus offer. I earned 50,000 bonus miles after charging $3,000 in the first 3 months, then another 10,000 miles for charging an addition $3,000 within 6 months.
When I enrolled for this card I wasn't sure if I'd bother with the second tier of the bonus. I had two concerns. First, I thought I might not even be able to generate the level of charges to hit both bonuses here in addition to the $5,000 needed for the bonus on the United card I opened at the same time. That... "problem"... was solved when we decided to repair an older car rather than replace it and spent thousands with our mechanic. Second, I wasn't sure if the second tier of points would be worth it. But as I considered it, an extra 3.3 AA miles per dollar, on top of the 1-2 miles per dollar base paid by the card, was a much better deal than I could get elsewhere without opening a new card.
So, I got both tiers of the two-tier bonus. Then I got a third tier. I messaged CitiBank and told them I'd seen a better offer elsewhere. They credited me 15,000 extra points as a courtesy.
Over $1,000 Value! Maybe.
All told I racked up 82,765 AA miles from this card on charges of $6,110. I currently value AA miles at 1.4 cents apiece, so the value of what I earned is $1,159. From that figure I subtract an opportunity cost of $122- what I'd earn if I'd used my 2%-cash-back, no-annual-fee credit card instead- for a net value of $1,037. Over a grand; that's stupendous!
But is it really worth over $1,000? In my previous blog about United Airlines I noted that their miles are only worth 1.2 cents apiece now. American has devalued its mileage program, too, though not as badly as United has... yet. The value of the miles can drop further still and almost certainly will.
Devaluation is especially a concern with my AA miles as I have so many of them. At one point this past year my balance touched almost as high as 1 million miles. I spent some on our trip to the Virgin Islands in December, and I've used some recently for a trip we'll take in May, reducing my balance to a mere 726,000. By the time I find enough worthwhile opportunities to spend miles on trips we'd like to take- that's probably going to be a few years- their value will have deteriorated further.
The Gravy Train Grinds to a Halt
I noted when I signed up for this card a year ago that it was my tenth credit card earning AA miles. (I'm including in that count a few US AIrways cards as they merged with American and combined the mileage programs.) I also mentioned that I was considering opening an eleventh card later in the year, and indeed I did open number 11 six months ago. 🤣 I'll write about it when its anniversary comes around.
I mention all this because there's been a pretty nice gravy train with credit cards tied to American Airlines. My count of 11 cards is more than what any normal person would do but it's junior league compared to game hard-core churners have played over the past several years. I've spoken to people who've opened dozens of AA cards.
That game is coming to a halt now. It seems that after several years AA and Citi have wised up to people gaming the hell out of their system. They've instituted a 48 month exclusion (up from 24 months) on new cards. Now you can't get a bonus if you've had a card anytime in the past 4 years. They've also greatly reduced the flow of mail-out offers that exempt people from the 24/48 month rule. While it's still right to cancel this card I don't know that I'll be able to open another card like it for quite a while.
Pigs Get Fat, Hogs Get Slaughtered
For some people this gravy train isn't just rolling to stop; it has derailed. American Airlines is cracking down on people who gamed their system too flagrantly by freezing their mileage accounts and confiscating their miles. Those people I know who opened 30+ cards? They're getting whacked. My junior-league level play is below cut, so far at least.
There's a saying in advantage game play: "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered." Oink, oink.
Two-Tier Bonus. I Got Three.
I signed up for the CitiBank American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select card (whew, that's a mouthful) with a two-step bonus offer. I earned 50,000 bonus miles after charging $3,000 in the first 3 months, then another 10,000 miles for charging an addition $3,000 within 6 months.
When I enrolled for this card I wasn't sure if I'd bother with the second tier of the bonus. I had two concerns. First, I thought I might not even be able to generate the level of charges to hit both bonuses here in addition to the $5,000 needed for the bonus on the United card I opened at the same time. That... "problem"... was solved when we decided to repair an older car rather than replace it and spent thousands with our mechanic. Second, I wasn't sure if the second tier of points would be worth it. But as I considered it, an extra 3.3 AA miles per dollar, on top of the 1-2 miles per dollar base paid by the card, was a much better deal than I could get elsewhere without opening a new card.
So, I got both tiers of the two-tier bonus. Then I got a third tier. I messaged CitiBank and told them I'd seen a better offer elsewhere. They credited me 15,000 extra points as a courtesy.
Over $1,000 Value! Maybe.
All told I racked up 82,765 AA miles from this card on charges of $6,110. I currently value AA miles at 1.4 cents apiece, so the value of what I earned is $1,159. From that figure I subtract an opportunity cost of $122- what I'd earn if I'd used my 2%-cash-back, no-annual-fee credit card instead- for a net value of $1,037. Over a grand; that's stupendous!
But is it really worth over $1,000? In my previous blog about United Airlines I noted that their miles are only worth 1.2 cents apiece now. American has devalued its mileage program, too, though not as badly as United has... yet. The value of the miles can drop further still and almost certainly will.
Devaluation is especially a concern with my AA miles as I have so many of them. At one point this past year my balance touched almost as high as 1 million miles. I spent some on our trip to the Virgin Islands in December, and I've used some recently for a trip we'll take in May, reducing my balance to a mere 726,000. By the time I find enough worthwhile opportunities to spend miles on trips we'd like to take- that's probably going to be a few years- their value will have deteriorated further.
The Gravy Train Grinds to a Halt
I noted when I signed up for this card a year ago that it was my tenth credit card earning AA miles. (I'm including in that count a few US AIrways cards as they merged with American and combined the mileage programs.) I also mentioned that I was considering opening an eleventh card later in the year, and indeed I did open number 11 six months ago. 🤣 I'll write about it when its anniversary comes around.
I mention all this because there's been a pretty nice gravy train with credit cards tied to American Airlines. My count of 11 cards is more than what any normal person would do but it's junior league compared to game hard-core churners have played over the past several years. I've spoken to people who've opened dozens of AA cards.
That game is coming to a halt now. It seems that after several years AA and Citi have wised up to people gaming the hell out of their system. They've instituted a 48 month exclusion (up from 24 months) on new cards. Now you can't get a bonus if you've had a card anytime in the past 4 years. They've also greatly reduced the flow of mail-out offers that exempt people from the 24/48 month rule. While it's still right to cancel this card I don't know that I'll be able to open another card like it for quite a while.
Pigs Get Fat, Hogs Get Slaughtered
For some people this gravy train isn't just rolling to stop; it has derailed. American Airlines is cracking down on people who gamed their system too flagrantly by freezing their mileage accounts and confiscating their miles. Those people I know who opened 30+ cards? They're getting whacked. My junior-league level play is below cut, so far at least.
There's a saying in advantage game play: "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered." Oink, oink.