What you need to know about earning another American Airlines card welcome bonus

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. Each credit card issuer has its own set of restrictions it uses to guide approvals and determine welcome offer eligibility. Criteria include the number of cards you can apply for, the timing of your applications and how often you can earn …

Apr 25, 2025 - 19:39

What you need to know about earning another American Airlines card welcome bonus

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

Each credit card issuer has its own set of restrictions it uses to guide approvals and determine welcome offer eligibility. Criteria include the number of cards you can apply for, the timing of your applications and how often you can earn a welcome bonus on the same card.

With American Airlines offering substantial welcome offers on its lineup of cards, those of you who have had one of its cards in the past may be wondering whether you’re eligible for a second bonus.

For the time being, both Citi and Barclays issue AAdvantage credit cards, so there are multiple sets of application restrictions to be aware of if you’re considering adding another American Airlines card to your arsenal. Here’s what you need to keep in mind.

AAdvantage credit cards

Let’s start with the lineup of card options.

Credit card	Welcome bonus	Annual fee	Welcome bonus value (based on TPG’s April 2025 valuations)
American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp®*	Earn 15,000 miles after spending $500 in purchases within the first three months of account opening.	$0	$248
AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®*	Earn 60,000 miles after making a purchase and paying the annual fee within the first 90 days of account opening.	$99	$990
Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®*	Earn 50,000 miles after spending $2,500 in the first three months of account opening.	$99 ($0 introductory annual fee for the first year)	$825
Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees)	Earn 75,000 miles after spending $5,000 in purchases within the first five months of account opening.	$99 ($0 introductory annual fee for the first year)	$1,238
Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees)	Earn 70,000 miles after spending $7,000 within the first three months of account opening.	$595	$1,155

*The information for these cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Citi / AAdvantage card application restrictions

If you’ve earned an AAdvantage welcome bonus on a specific Citi / AAdvantage card, you won’t be eligible to earn the bonus again for another 48 months.

Here is the fine print under the card application link for the Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard:

American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive account in the past 48 months or if you converted another Citi credit card account on which you earned a new account bonus in the last 48 months into a Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive account.

The terms apply for each individual card, as opposed to the entire Citi / AAdvantage card family. For example, if you recently applied for the Citi Platinum Select, you do not need to wait 48 months to apply for a Citi Executive Mastercard to receive that card’s welcome bonus.

The only exception is if you product-change your card to another AAdvantage card after earning the welcome bonus. For example, if you changed your Platinum Select to a Citi Executive Mastercard, you’d still need to wait 48 months from when you earned your welcome bonus on the Platinum Select to earn one on the Executive.

Man talking on the phone while holding a credit card — ROB LEWINE/GETTY IMAGES

An important distinction that you should know is that the 48-month waiting period starts when you “receive a new account bonus” for a specific Citi / AAdvantage card. That is not the same as when you were “approved for the card,” “received the card,” “activated a card” and other common phrases you might see from an issuer.

In this case, semantics matter because the bonus posted to your AAdvantage account may have been posted several months after you were approved for the card itself.

Barclays AAdvantage Aviator card application restrictions

Barclays is a bit more vague than Citi when it comes to welcome bonus restrictions. Keep in mind that Barclays currently accepts applications for just one of their AAdvantage cards, the Aviator Red.

A person using a computer while holding a credit card — JUSTIN PAGET/GETTY IMAGES

Based on our data points, if you’ve closed a card, you generally need to wait six months to be eligible for the welcome offer again. However, some application pages, like the one on the AAdvantage Aviator Red, state the following:

You may not be eligible for this offer if you currently have or previously had an account with us in this program.

In this case, the “may not” in this sentence means that you could be approved for a new card as a previous cardholder, meet the minimum spending requirement and still miss out on the welcome bonus. Again, your mileage may vary, particularly with Barclays.

Citi and Barclays are separate issuers, so you’re allowed to open an AAdvantage credit card with both issuers while also receiving the welcome bonus. TPG credit cards writer Danyal Ahmed earned the welcome bonus on both the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select and Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red.

Keep in mind that Citi is set to become the sole issuer of AAdvantage credit cards in 2026. If you’ve exhausted your Citi card options, consider a Barclay-issued AAdvantage card while you still can.

Bottom line

Citi and Barclays both have distinct rules regarding application approvals and welcome bonus eligibility for their AAdvantage credit cards.

While Citi is less vague with restrictions, it also imposes a lengthy waiting period of at least 48 months before you can receive another welcome bonus. The rules with Barclays are a lot more subjective, giving the company more power to deny approval or a bonus should it consider your application unworthy.

In any case, if you’re approved and eligible for a welcome bonus, make sure you can complete the minimum spending requirements within the period allotted. Welcome bonuses can make the difference between taking your dream trip or being stuck at home, so it’s important to earn them when you can.