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3 Reasons Why Applying for the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select Card was a “No Lose” Decision

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A few months I began feeling antsy because it had been over five months since my last new credit card. No new credit cards means no access to lucrative credit card sign-up bonuses! The problem is that I’m in “new credit card purgatory” due to being over Chase’s 5/24 limit. Being over this limit means that I’m not able to apply for a new credit card from Chase until May 2020!

However, I recently learned a workaround to this rule that will allow me to apply for a new card now. Keep reading to learn a little about the Chase 5/24 rule and how I got around it.

What is the Chase 5/24 Rule?

Simply put, Chase will not approve you for a new credit card if you’ve opened five or more new cards, from any bank, in the last 24 months. They introduced this rule several years ago to prevent card churning and it’s known as the Chase 5/24 rule. In other words, they don’t want you to get a bunch of credit cards just for the sign-up bonuses.

Note: This is not a published policy, but there are enough data points available to determine what it is

All personal credit cards from any bank count towards your total. You can’t get around the 5/24 rule by applying for non-Chase cards.

My Chase 5/24 Status

In my case, in the last 24 months, I’ve opened the following cards:

I officially hit the Chase 5/24 limit on October 13, 2018 when I applied for the United Explorer Card. At that point I was at Chase’s limit, having opened up five new credit cards over the last 24 months. This did not prohibit me from opening the American Express Gold Card in January 2019, but I haven’t been able to open a new Chase card since October.

According to the Chase 5/24 rule, I will be under the limit after April 5, 2020 and at that point, will be able to apply for a new Chase credit card. Data points suggest that Chase may still deny a new application until the first of the next month, so May 1, 2020 is really the next time I can apply for a credit card from Chase.

3 Reasons Why Applying for the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select Card was a "No Lose" Decision
Applying for 5 credit cards in a 24 month span will put you over the Chase 5/24 limit.

Now if I didn’t care about opening a new credit card from Chase, I could apply for whatever cards I want from other banks. The issue with this is that Chase has very desirable credit cards in their portfolio. If I apply for more cards from other banks, it’ll only delay my ability to apply for a new Chase card in the future.

I’ve had my eye on the Chase Ink Business Preferred℠ Card and it’s 80,000 point sign-up bonus! Chase also has many great cards with partners like Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Marriott, IHG, British Airways and Amazon Prime.

Instead of waiting until May 2020 to apply for my next credit card, I started researching if there were any workarounds to Chase’s 5/24 rule. As it turns out, applying for business cards will not impact the 5/24 limit!

Applying for Business Cards will not Impact Your Chase 5/24 Limit

So which credit cards can you apply for?

To avoid opening new cards that count toward Chase’s 5/24 limit, you can apply for certain small business credit cards. Even if you think, “well what if I don’t have a business”, you probably do without even knowing it. As long as you have a for-profit venture or “side hustle”, you can qualify for valuable small business credit card sign-up bonuses! Things like selling items on eBay, tutoring, pet sitting, and driving for a ride-sharing service qualify as for-profit businesses.

This was a revelation! Even though I was over the Chase 5/24 limit, I didn’t have to completely stop applying for credit cards. With my pet sitting side hustle, I qualify as having a for-profit small business.

Business cards issued by American Express, Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, Chase and (sometimes) Barclays do not appear on your personal credit report. And because these business cards do not appear on your personal credit report, they don’t count toward Chase’s 5/24 card limit.

Note: Just about any small business card is safe unless it’s issued by Capital One, Discover or TD Bank. Those issuers report business cards to the credit bureaus and they will show up on your personal credit report. Thus they will count towards your Chase 5/24 limit.

Since Chase is one of the banks that don’t report business cards to the credit bureaus, you may be asking if I could’ve applied for a Chase business card. The answer to that is no. I need to be below the Chase 5/24 limit to get approved for a Chase business card. However, once I’m below the limit, getting approved for a Chase business card won’t add to my total number of new accounts under the 5/24 rule.

So this past May, I decided to apply for the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card.

So Why Did I Choose the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card?

American Airlines is one of the largest carriers and flies a ton of routes out of O’Hare airport, so it’s always useful to have miles in their program. Besides that fact, there were three main reasons why this was the right card for me at this time.

1. To Save $99

At the time I owned the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card, which is a personal credit card. I’ve gotten plenty of value from the card over my four years of ownership and didn’t want to give it up. However, my annual fee was coming due and it got me thinking.

Having no annual fee this year means more money in my piggy bank.

The CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card provides essentially the same benefits as my personal card does, but the annual fee is waved in the first year.

So I applied for the business card and downgraded my personal card to the no-fee Citi AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card. Taking these steps saved me from paying an annual fee this year on my AAdvantage cards.

2. I’ll Earn 70,000 American Airlines Miles

When I applied for the business card, I had around 130,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles in my account. The business card was offering an increased sign-up bonus of 70,000 miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months (up from the normal 60,000 miles after spending $3,000). 70,000 miles would push my account over 200,000 in total and set me up nicely for a future redemption.

American Airlines 737-800 Aircraft
70,000 miles is enough for a round-trip main cabin ticket to Europe!

3. To Not Impact my Chase 5/24 Standing

As discussed above, applying for this business card will not impact my standing within Chase’s 5/24 rule. The next time I can apply for a personal card remains May 2020. In the meantime, I’ll save $99, earn 70,000 bonus AA miles, and probably apply for another business card sometime between now and next May.

Tucson: Illinois at Arizona Basketball Planning

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My wife, Annie is a die-hard fan of her University of Arizona men’s basketball team. And I’m equally as big a fan of my University of Illinois team. So we were really excited to learn that our schools had agreed to play each other in basketball in 2019 and 2020. Our schools do not play each other often, so we knew we had to take this opportunity to see it in person. This year’s game is in Tucson on November 10.

Tucson Illinois at Arizona Basketball 2019 Planning

Arizona vs Illinois College Basketball History

These two schools have a storied history in college basketball. The University of Arizona owns the 14th most victories all-time, while the University of Illinois ranks 18th.

The two teams have been playing basketball since the early 1900s and yet have only played each other 14 times. Arizona currently owns bragging rights, winning 8 out of the 14 matchups. Arizona has won the last two meetings—a 2007 game in Chicago and a 2006 game in Phoenix.

But back in 2005, Illinois pulled off one of the most memorable comebacks in NCAA tournament history with a 90-89 overtime win to advance to the Final Four. The Illini came back from a 15-point deficit with only four minutes to go to force overtime and the eventual victory.

Illinois fans can re-live the comeback below (Arizona fans, please skip ahead):

During the 2000-2001 season, the teams squared off three times with Arizona taking the first game in Maui and the Illini returning the favor a few weeks later in Chicago. But the Wildcats got the last laugh, as they took down the one-seeded Illini 87-81 to advance to the Final Four.

For the first time in 12 years, our two schools are playing each other! We’re excited to visit Tucson, walk around campus, eat and drink at some of Annie’s favorite places and of course, attend this highly anticipated non-conference game.

For this quick trip, we’ll be spending two nights in Tucson and then driving to Phoenix. We’ll spend one night with family before heading back to Chicago.

Airfare

Annie and I have flown American Airlines to Tucson in the past and they have several flight options that work well with our schedule. Two tickets from Chicago to Tucson and Phoenix to Chicago in the main cabin are going for $870 total.

So I started reviewing our options to use points and/or miles instead of paying for airfare. We had two options involving American Airlines:

  1. Redeem American AAdvantage miles
  2. Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points and transferring to British Airways

American AAdvantage

The first, and most straightforward, option would be to redeem some of our American AAdvantage miles. If we use this option, American Airlines would charge us 12,500 miles per one-way ticket, or 50,000 miles in total for four one-way tickets.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

However, there was another interesting, and slightly more complex option—use Chase Ultimate Rewards points. British Airways is a Chase transfer partner and so we could transfer some of our Chase points to British Airways Avios program. But how would that help us fly American Airlines from Chicago to Tucson and from Phoenix to Chicago?

British Airways and American Airlines are partners via the OneWorld alliance. That means you can redeem British Airways Avios miles for flights on American Airlines. What’s great about this option is that British Airways uses a distance-based rewards chart to determine how many miles you need to redeem for a given flight. This creates some sweet spots where the same flight can cost less miles when booking through British Airways then through American Airlines.

Chicago to Tucson is 1,437 miles and Phoenix to Chicago is 1,440 miles. Flights in that distance range fall into Band 3 on the British Airways rewards chart. Prior to May 30, 2019, Band 3 flights cost 10,000 British Airways miles. Beginning May 30, 2019, redemptions for Band 3 flights went up to 11,000 miles. So a round-trip flight booked on or after May 30 would cost you 22,000 miles—which is better than using 25,000 American AAdvantage miles.

When it’s time to book the flights, I’ll do some calculations to determine whether it’s a better deal to book the flights using American AAdvantage miles or British Airways Avios miles via Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Hotel

For hotels in Tucson, there’s only two we’re looking at. We want to be as close to campus as possible so that we can walk to restaurants, bars, and the basketball game. There’s also a vibe you get when you stay close to campus that you don’t get when you stay a few miles away. The options are the Aloft Tucson University and the Tucson Marriott University Park.

We stayed at the Aloft once before. It’s a newer hotel, built in 2013 and we had a pleasant stay there several years ago. It’s located on the northwestern edge of campus and is close to the basketball stadium. The Marriott is on the east side of campus, but more in the heart of everything then the Aloft is. Not only is it on campus, it’s very close to several popular bars and restaurants.

Even though we’ve read that the Marriott is old and in need of a renovation, I think it’s likely we’re going to give it a try on this visit. We like the idea of being on campus and since we’re only staying two nights, if the rooms are in terrible condition, at least it’s only two nights.

Car Rental

Finding a cheap rental has been difficult. It could be due to high demand during this time of year. It’s also partly because we’re picking up the car in Tucson and returning in Phoenix. Many car rental companies will assess a one-time drop charge or mileage charge in addition to the rental rate on one-way rentals. Whenever I search for rental cars, I always start with the car rental companies themselves. I also always check Costco Travel and the Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express travel portals.

The next post will detail which airfare, hotel and car rentals I booked and how we saved over one thousand dollars!

Trip Report Index

  1. Introduction and Planning
  2. Using Points and Miles to get to Tucson
  3. Tucson Marriott University Park
  4. Illinois vs Arizona Basketball Game

Citi AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card Review

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The Citi AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card could be a good fit if you want to earn American Airlines miles, but don’t want to pay an annual fee. New cardmembers can earn 10,000 American Airlines miles after meeting the minimum spending requirements, but the card doesn’t offer popular benefits like free checked bags or priority boarding.

Frequent American Airlines flyers will better value with the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® card. While it has a $99 annual fee, it offers a 75,000 mile sign-up bonus and has the perks most travelers want. Plus the annual fee is waived for the first year so you can try it out risk free. Then at the end of the first year, you can decide whether to keep it or downgrade to the MileUp card.

Who is this card for?

This card is a good fit for people who live near an American Airlines hub and are new to the miles game. It’s a simple way to dip your toes in the water without committing to an annual fee.

American Airlines 737-800 Aircraft
The MileUp card doesn’t offer many travel benefits, but it could help you earn elite status!

A Path to Elite Status

When American Airlines revamped their loyalty program in 2022, they tied earning elite status more to spending than actually flying. In fact, elite status, and the perks associated with it, can be achieved without flying at all. Spending on an American Airlines credit cards and with the airlines’ partners is all that’s needed to earn status.

You earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar spent on AAdvantage credit cards and can also earn huge amounts of Loyalty Points via the AAdvantage eShopping portal, from personalized SimplyMiles offers, dining out through the AAdvantage Dining program, and spending through several other partners. Even better, you can double or triple dip to earn tons of Loyalty Points on the same purchase.

Example: Let’s say you purchased something from Lululemon for $150. You’d earn 150 Loyalty Points from using your MileUp card to make the purchase. In addition, if you navigated to Lululemon’s website via American’s shopping portal, you could earn anywhere from 1 to 10 Loyalty Points per dollar spent (the bonus amount fluctuates day to day). If you time it right, and earned 10 points per dollar spent, that would give you another 1,500 Loyalty Points. Finally, if SimplyMiles happened to have a Lululemon offer and you added it to your card before making the purchase, you’d get whatever amount of Loyalty Points were tied to that offer. So that’s a triple dip — three ways to earn Loyalty Points all on one purchase!

Achieving 40,000 Loyalty Points would earn you Gold Elite Status, which includes perks such as priority boarding, a free checked bag, complimentary preferred seats at booking and complimentary access to Main Cabin Extra Seats at check-in, if available.

You can apply for the Citi AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card here.

Card Features

Bonus Offer

You’ll earn 10,000 miles and a $50 statement credit after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months.

Annual Fee

This card has no annual fee.

Earning Rates

The Citi AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card earns:

  • 2 miles per $1 spent on purchases from American Airlines
  • 2 miles per $1 spent at grocery stores
  • 1 mile per $1 on all other spending

The earning rates are nothing special, but they are basically in line with other no annual fee airline cards.

Redeeming Miles

American Airlines makes it very easy to redeem miles on their website. Plus, you can use them to book travel on OneWorld partners, like British Airways, Air Berlin, Iberia, Japan Airlines and more.


Redeem American AAdvantage® miles for award travel on any oneworld Alliance airline

The sign-up bonus of 10,000 miles isn’t much, but it could be enough for a free flight. At the MileSAAver award level, you can snag a one-way flight that’s less than 500 miles long using only 7,500 miles.

Card Benefits

With this being a free card, the other benefits are pretty weak. If you’re looking for perks like free checked bags or priority boarding, the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card offers those and more.

25% back on In-flight Purchases

When you use your card to pay for food and beverages onboard American-operated flights, you’ll get 25% back as a statement credit. This doesn’t include Wi-Fi.

Citi Merchant Offers

Citi Merchant Offers is a free cash-back program for targeted Citi credit cardholders. It saves you money on shopping, dining and more. You choose offers from brands you love and get cash back in the form of statement credits.

To redeem an offer, simply select the offer you want to add to your card by clicking the “See Details” link. Then, click “Add Offer” to enroll your selected Citi card in the offer.

Warning: Make sure to review the requirements and restrictions listed on each offer so you know what is needed to trigger the cash back.

Finally use your card to pay and within a few days, the cash back will be applied to your credit card as a statement credit.

Who should look for another card?

If you’re considering the Citi AAdvantage MileUp card, I strongly encourage applying for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card instead. While it does have a $99 annual fee, there are a bunch of notable perks that the MileUp lacks. That includes the first checked bag free (for you and up to four companions), no foreign transaction fees, and a $125 American Airlines flight discount after you spend $20,000 on the card per cardmember year and renew the card.

A checked bag typically costs $30, so checking four bags will more than make up for the card’s annual fee after just one trip. Plus you have a year to try the card before the first annual free posts. If it didn’t meet your needs, you can always downgrade to the MileUp card but you’ll keep the 75,000 mile sign-up bonus!

If you like the idea of this card but fly other airlines more often, look at Delta’s no annual fee Blue SkyMiles card or United’s no annual fee Gateway card.

Bottom Line

The lack of an annual fee makes this card perfect for those who don’t travel enough to justify paying one. While the card’s everyday spending rates aren’t great, the 2x miles for groceries can be somewhat useful. Even if the MileUp card is the card you eventually want to own, I still recommend starting with the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® card and downgrading after a year. If you can meet the minimum spending requirements, earning 75,000 bonus miles will get you much further than the 10,000 welcome bonus on the MileUp card.

Apply here for the Citi AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card.

Waldorf Astoria Chicago

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My wife and I recently used the free weekend night perk from my Hilton Aspire Card for a stay-cation at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria Chicago. This hotel offers the top-of-the-line luxury you expect of a Waldorf Astoria, but with an intimate, boutique feel. Originally developed as The Elysian, Hilton purchased the property in 2011 and converted it into a Waldorf Astoria.

215 luxurious rooms and suites are spread over 26 stories.

The first thing you notice as you pull up to the hotel is that the property is set back from the street. The cobblestone courtyard is a quaint Parisian-style roundabout with a beautiful flower-surrounded fountain in the middle. This gorgeous entrance makes you feel like you’ve been transported to a Parisian mansion instead of a big city hotel.

The beautiful cobblestone courtyard at night.

In This Post

Location

The Waldorf Astoria Chicago is located on East Walton Street, just a few steps from the nightlife on Rush Street and surrounded by many popular bars and restaurants. It’s also only a block from boutique shopping on Oak Street and a couple blocks from high-end shopping on Michigan Avenue. Also within walking distance are the Museum of Contemporary Art and Hancock Observatory.

Lobby

In additional to serving hotel guests, the building contains 51 private residences, so the amenities are shared between guests and condo owners. This gives much of the hotel a residential feel, including the lobby.

The bright lobby has tall ceilings and is filled with artwork, glass and elegant white marble. After entering the lobby, you’ll find reception to the right and the French patisserie, Petit Margeaux to the left.

The bright lobby is filled with beautiful marble and glass.

Upon entering the hotel, the doormen greeted us warmly. While I made my way over to reception, the concierge started chatting with Annie. She shared some information and history about the hotel and let Annie know that she was available to help with anything we might need during our stay.

Meanwhile at reception, the front desk associate was extremely friendly and professional. He acknowledged my Diamond status, but unfortunately an upgrade wasn’t in the cards since the hotel was completely sold out.

The Room

Before we even got to our room, we took notice of how elegant the hallways were. Instead of looking like typical “hotel hallways”, this hotel’s halls look like what you’d expect to find in a new, ritzy downtown condo building.

Our room was located at one end of the hallway. So we snaked our way through the gorgeous halls and around a few corners until we got to our room.

A hotel staff member told us we were in one of the more recently renovated rooms. It featured an entry area with closet and mini-fridge, finished in beautiful dark wood cabinetry.

The room contained a very comfortable king-sized bed, dresser, flat-screen TV and desk.

One of the reasons we chose this hotel was that it’s dog-friendly. On the website, it says that dogs under 30 pounds are welcome with a $75 fee per stay. I had called ahead and they said we could bring our dog even though he’s twice the size of the weight limit. Annie and I were excited to share our stay-cation with our dog, Murray!

Murray really enjoyed hotel amenities!

Service

About a week before our stay, the concierge emailed me to introduce herself. She asked if she could assist me in securing dining reservations, spa appointments, in-room amenities, or anything else. That really set the tone for the stay as the service throughout the hotel is impeccable.

During our stay, we called down to the front desk on two occasions. The first time, we asked for food and water bowls for Murray. When the hotel staff member showed up at our room, he also brought a dog toy and dog bed for Murray. The service for pets is just as good as for people!

The room even had low windows which were perfect for looking out over the city.

The second time we called, we asked for glasses so that we could enjoy a bottle of sparkling wine we had brought from home. The hotel staff member who showed up this time loved dogs and especially liked Murray. She even joked that we could call her back up to the room when he needed to go out for a walk. She couldn’t have been nicer and asked us a few times if there was anything else we needed.

Every staff member we encountered gave really exceptional service. They make you feel like serving you makes them happy and so you don’t feel guilty or that you’re annoying the staff with your request.

Another thing you don’t have to worry about is tipping. The Waldorf Astoria Chicago’s no-tipping policy means gratuity for everything from your bellman’s assistance to the hotel’s personal concierge program are refused with a smile.

The Bathroom

The marble-splashed bathroom is large and features a vanity with double sinks. And the cabinetry is the same beautiful dark wood as in the main room.

The beautiful double vanity.

There’s also a massive walk-in shower and soaking tub. The toilet is partitioned off from the rest of the bathroom, which is a nice feature.

The bathtub is large and inviting.

Dining

The hotel has two restaurants onsite. Margeaux Brasserie is an upscale restaurant while Petit Margeaux is a smaller cafe and bakery.

Margeaux Brasserie

This is James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Mina’s first foray into the Chicago restaurant scene. Located on the hotel’s third floor, it serves traditional brasserie fare with an elevated menu highlighting bold flavors and locally-sourced ingredients. Signature dishes include starters such as duck wings and escargots, as well as entrees like steak frites, dover sole and braised beef short rib.

Petit Margeaux

Located next to the lobby, Petit Margeaux is a cafe and patisserie serving savory sandwiches and decadent pastries. On the savory side of the menu, highlights include tartines, sandwiches, salads and a quiche of the day. While on the bakery side, you’ll find sweet treats like French macarons, croissants, scones, muffins and cookies. To quench your thirst, the cafe serves espressos, hot and iced coffees and teas, as well as wine and beer.

While complimentary breakfast is a Hilton Diamond status benefit, the Waldorf Astoria Chicago does not offer a free breakfast buffet. Instead, the hotel gives a $15 food credit per person per day.

On Sunday morning, we took Murray for an hour long walk on a raw, windy, 40 degree “spring” day. When we got back to the hotel, we both wanted to warm up quickly. So Annie ordered a hot tea and I ordered a hot chocolate. Both drinks were comped on the final bill as the total was under $15 per person.

Miscellaneous

The hotel has a gym, a full-service spa and blowout salon. While we didn’t use any of those amenities, we did walk through the space to check them out.

Photo courtesy Waldorf Astoria Chicago.

The gym is really big with lots of modern equipment. There was also a small lap pool, which is a nice touch for those looking for a low impact workout. The health club also offers Pilates, gyrotonics classes, kick boxing, aqua aerobics and more. There’s also a hot tub and sauna.

Another neat amenity the hotel offers is a Mercedes-Benz house car that will drive guests anywhere within a two-mile radius of the hotel.

Bottom Line

All in all, the hotel really lives up to the standards you’d expect of a Waldorf Astoria. It’s a gorgeous hotel with outstanding service. The only negative for me is the lack of complimentary breakfast. I would much rather have a delicious breakfast buffet instead of the $15 food credit.

One final note about our particular stay was the surprise on the final bill. When I reviewed the bill a few days after our stay, I noticed that we had not been charged the $75 dog fee. This was the Waldorf’s final gift of great service and it brought the total amount spent on our one night stay-cation to zero!

Trip Report Index

  1. Using My Hilton Annual Free Night in Chicago
  2. Waldorf Astoria Chicago