Back in February, there were fears that the Citi AA Platinum Select World Elite loophole was dead. I did my 3rd round right about when the reports that public links would not trigger the bonus. Fortunately, I applied with a targeted mailer and I did receive the signup bonus. Data points collected in March suggested that public links were failing, targeted links had a mixed success rate, and targeted mailers had a 100% success rate.

I’ve been pretty fortunate as my parents seem to be consistently able to receive targeted mailers for the Citi AA Platinum Select card. Two months later, I still see some uncertainty about whether targeted mailers still work, and if there are any restrictions around them. So time to put it to the test! I applied last week for round 4 using a new targeted mailer, even though the mailer said the bonus offer was not valid for existing Citi AAdvantage cardholders, and the yes, I did get the bonus language in welcome letter, and the bonus tracker online.

I accidentally used a code 40,000 for $3,000 spend, 10,000 additional miles for $5,000 spend code as I wasn’t paying attention, but there are definitely 50,000 mile for $3,000 offers out there as my friend gave me one.

Whoops, signed up with the wrong code

Whoops, signed up with the wrong code

A note about targeted mailers from Citi: you can use anyone’s code, and the codes are multiple use. You are free to change the pre-filled name and address to whatever you want. So feel free to share codes as long as you don’t mind people knowing the name and address of the person who received the mailer. And feel free to ask your friends if they have received any mailers!

Targeted application page. You can change the name and address to anything you want

Targeted application page. You can change the name and address to anything you want

Next on the list of things to test is whether closing or downgrading/product changing Citi AA Platinum Select cards invalidates the loophole. I just product changed one, so next round we’ll know!