$100 Citi AAdvantage Globe Card Inflight Credit: How Can It Be Used?

Link: Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard®

The Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (review) is American Airlines’ new premium credit card. The card has a huge welcome bonus, which makes it worth considering, and it’s one of the reasons I already applied for the card. If you’re eligible, there’s no reason not to give the card a try, especially with the current incentive of a big bonus.

While the card has a steep $350 annual fee, it offers lots of perks that can help offset that, whether you’re an occasional or frequent flyer on American. In this post, I’d like to take a look at the up to $100 annual Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight purchase credit that’s offered. How exactly does this perk work, and how useful is it?

Citi AAdvantage Globe Card $100 inflight credit basics

The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers up to $100 in credits for inflight purchases every year. As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:

The up to $100 in statement credits is issued per calendar year rather than per cardmember year, so that potentially offers outsized value in the first year
You have to charge the purchases to your eligible card, and you can use the credit across one or more transactions
This benefit applies to domestic flights that are marketed and operated by American and/or American Eagle; it doesn’t work on codeshare flights on other airlines
Savings will appear as a statement credit within 8-10 weeks of the transaction posting to the account, though in practice, the credits typically post much faster than that

There are no restrictions as to what kind of inflight purchases qualify for this credit, so the credit can be used for inflight food and drink purchases, as well as inflight Wi-Fi purchases.

Get up to $100 per year in inflight credits with the card

How can the inflight credit actually be used efficiently?

As someone who often flies American, I’ve been thinking of how this Citi AAdvantage Globe Card credit could most efficiently be used. American doesn’t have inflight duty free sales (not that duty free would be available on domestic flights anyway), so your options are either inflight food and drink purchases, or Wi-Fi (unless I’m missing something).

On the surface, this is useful for purchasing inflight Wi-Fi, though there are two catches:

American recently introduced free Wi-Fi for AAdvantage members, on planes with Viasat and Intelsat high speed satellite connectivity, which is a vast majority of the fleet
The American planes that don’t have free Wi-Fi (namely wide body planes with a Panasonic system) primarily fly internationally, and this credit is specific to domestic flights, at least per the terms

Now, we’ll see whether that domestic policy is actually enforced (is Wi-Fi really billed differently by Panasonic based on the type of flight?), but that’s how the rules are written. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that wide body planes with Panasonic Wi-Fi still operate domestic routes, and Wi-Fi on those planes continues to come at a cost. So that actually presents a pretty obvious way that these credits could be used, in my opinion.

Use your inflight credit for Wi-Fi purchases

The other obvious thing these credits could be used for is inflight purchases of alcoholic drinks and food. On the plus side, American has been improving its buy on board selection in recent times, and I imagine that trend will continue, as the airline tries to become more competitive. So this will actually be more useful than it would’ve been in the past, which is great.

However, do keep in mind that AAdvantage Executive Platinum members in economy receive one complimentary food and drink item, and Main Cabin Extra customers receive free alcoholic drinks. So this won’t necessarily be that useful for everyone.

If nothing else, you could buy some drinks or snacks for others on the plane, if you truly have no other way to use the credit. 😉

Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit FAQs

What is the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit?

With the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit, cardmembers can receive up to $100 in statement statement credits annually for eligible inflight purchases on domestic American and American Eagle marketed and operated flights.

What purchases qualify for the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit?

The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit can be used for inflight purchases on domestic American flights, including for food, drinks, and Wi-Fi.

How often is the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit valid?

The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit is valid once per calendar year. You should receive a credit shortly after account approval (valid through the end of the calendar year), and can then receive another credit in the new calendar year.

Can the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit be used for Wi-Fi?

Officially, the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card inflight credit can be used for Wi-Fi purchases on domestic American flights. The catch is that American offers free Wi-Fi on most domestic flights, so this would only be useful on flights where there’s a cost for Wi-Fi (this generally includes wide body flights).

Bottom line

The Citi AAdvantage Globe Card offers many benefits, and among those is an up to $100 inflight purchase credit every calendar year. This can be used for all inflight purchases on domestic flights, so it can be applied toward alcoholic drinks, food, and even Wi-Fi, for flights where it isn’t free.

I wouldn’t consider this credit to be worth face value, but I still think it’s quite useful, and it certainly contributes to the overall value proposition of the card. The card is absolutely worth picking up for the welcome bonus, and the suite of perks will make the card a keeper for many. This includes everything from the up to 15,000 Loyalty Points Flight Streak bonus, to the $100 Splurge Credit, to the $99 companion certificate.

What’s your take on the Citi AAdvantage Globe Card $100 inflight credit? Any good uses I’m missing?