Twenty-thousand mile awards may fast be going the way of the dinosaur, unless, that is, you are a holder of one of the following cards: the Citi Gold AAdvantage, Gold/ AAdvantage World MasterCard, Platinum Select AAdvantage World MasterCard or the Platinum Select AAdvantage Business Card.
Every quarter 20,000-mile domestic awards are launched, some even take you to Mexico for 20,000 miles, Europe can be as low as 35,000 miles. The fourth quarter of this year, Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, feature Honolulu for 30,000 miles, Brussels for 35,000 miles and St. Thomas for 20,000 miles.
Within the 48 contiguous states the following cities are available for 20,000 miles: Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Cincinnati, Ohio; Colorado Springs, CO; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Houston; Indianapolis, IN; Jacksonville, FL; Long Beach, CA; Memphis, TN; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; Oklahoma City, OK; Orange County, CA; Richmond, VA; Rochester, VA; Sacramento, CA; San Francisco; San Jose, CA; Tulsa, OK; West Palm Beach, FL and Wichita, KS.
To Honolulu (from Chicago/O’Hare or San Jose) or Maui (from San Jose) redeem 30,000 miles.
Destinations in Mexico range from 20,000 miles to 25,000. For example, cardholders can fly to Guadalajara, Leon, Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico for 20,000 miles through Nov. 14 and 25,000 miles between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31.
If you prefer the Caribbean, you can redeem 20,000 miles for flights to Montego Bay, Jamaica; Port of Spain, Trinidad or St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands through Nov. 14. This redemption rate increases to 25,000 miles for travel between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31.
Brussels, Belgium is the only European destination on the list and costs 55,000 miles for travel through Oct. 14 or 35,000 miles for travel through Dec. 31.
If you’re flying to Rio de Janeiro or Santiago, Chile — redeem 35,000 miles through Nov. 30 and 55,000 miles between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31.
For more information about any of these cards or the awards offered go to http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/cardserv/worldcard/globe/globe.htm. There are a few caveats; AAdvantage Dial-In Service is not available to claim these awards and the mileage awards may only be claimed from the primary cardmember’s Citi AAdvantage account. For information call (800) 882-8880.
With the ability to get awards for at least 5,000 miles less than the normal redemption rate, you are effectively earning 1.25 miles per dollar spent. So what credit card is in your wallet?
