Earning To Burn: 2X AA Miles At Gas Stations

With the news of the American Airlines devaluation, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some ways to earn miles in preparation to burn them before March 22, 2016. I know many people have aspirational awards in mind and they will want to earn enough miles to book them before that dreaded date comes. So, here is one little thing that can help you with that earning to burn!

Earning To Burn: 2X AA Miles At Gas Stations

The Citi Business AAdvantage card can give you 2X miles at gas stations!

I wrote about this when it was revealed in the details and it was an official benefit of the Citi Business AAdvantage Platinum  Select card as of November 15. If you do not have that card, you can apply now and earn 50,000 miles after meeting the minimum spending. If you do have the card, you can start using this at gas stations – for gas and more!

*Note: This benefit is for the Platinum Select Business card with the $95 annual fee, not the regular Select card with the $75 fee. Thanks to Marty below for pointing this out and sorry for any prior confusion.

– Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Business Card Link

Details About The Offer

Here is what Citi/AA says about this new spending bonus benefit (bolding mine):

The primary cardmember will earn two American Airlines AAdvantage miles per $1 spent on eligible purchases with the CitiBusiness / AAdvantage card at certain telecommunications merchants, car rental merchants and at gas stations. Gas Stations are classified as merchants that sell fuel primarily for consumer use and may or may not be attended. … Purchases not eligible to receive double miles include, but are not limited to, purchases made at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores and convenience stores, except, you will earn Double Miles on gas purchases made at warehouse clubs and convenience stores. We do not determine how merchants or establishments are classified. Merchants who accept Visa / MasterCard credit cards are assigned a merchant code based on the merchant’s primary line of business and the kinds of products and services they sell. Sometimes a merchant will sell a particular item that appears to fit within the stated qualifying category, but that merchant may not have a merchant code that fits within that category. Therefore purchases with that merchant will not qualify for the stated rewards offer on category purchases. Citi reserves the right to determine which purchases qualify for this offer. AAdvantage bonus miles will be typically posted to the primary cardmember’s AAdvantage account 8-10 weeks after a qualifying purchase.

Buying Extras At Gas Stations

So, they say that purchases made at convenience stores will not earn the double miles, but it is possible that such purchases will be coded in a way that will still give you the double miles. It would be a good idea to do a test to see if you will earn the double miles for things like gift cards at your favorite gas stations.

If you do not currently have the Citi AA Business card, the offer available on it is for 50,000 miles after spending $3,000 in 3 months. Having a perk like that for gas could help a lot of people and may give you a reason to go ahead and apply for it – if the 50,000 miles alone was not enough incentive!

Summary

With the devaluation looming, you may find yourself short of the miles you need for that perfect award – whether it is Etihad’s First Apartment (hard to find availability on the US-Abu Dhabi route, though) or something like Cathay Pacific or Qantas. Take advantage of every way possible to get those miles. This is just one of those ways that you can build your AA account, and if things like gift cards at gas stations count, you can really build it up quickly!