Citi has quietly rolled out a new perk on its premium American Airlines credit card: $200 a year in dining credits through the restaurant app inKind. The benefit appeared in the Citi app before vanishing, but the bank has confirmed it is live as of today for eligible Citi / AAdvantage Executive cardmembers.
The credits are split across the year in two chunks: $100 valid from January to June, and another $100 from July to December. Because we are already in the second half of the calendar, cardholders can put $100 toward meals through the end of December, with a fresh $100 arriving in January.
Using it is straightforward. You download the inKind app, link your Executive card to your account, and when you eat at a participating restaurant you simply ask for the bill, find the venue in the app, enter the check number, and pay from your phone while selecting the credit. No reservation through inKind is required, and tips are charged to your linked card rather than covered by the credit.
This is the latest sweetener on a card that got a significant overhaul over the summer, when the annual fee rose from $595 to $695. The refresh brought up to $500 a year in American Airlines Vacations statement credits (two $250 instalments), up to $100 back on inflight and eligible Admirals Club purchases, and two extra 10,000 Loyalty Point milestone bonuses at 165,000 and 240,000 points. It also added Omni hotel Champion status plus an annual free night after a qualifying two-night direct booking.
The inKind credit sits well alongside the card's lounge story, too. American and Citi are rebranding and upgrading Admirals Club locations, with refreshed spaces at Washington National, Denver, Newark and Philadelphia, a new Chicago O'Hare L-concourse club in development, more room planned in Miami, and a large 40,000 square foot club on the way in Charlotte. Austin is also getting a new 12,000-plus square foot club with an outdoor terrace.
There's a side deal worth knowing about even if you don't hold the card: inKind has revived a doubled referral bonus through October 31. New users get $25 off a first qualifying bill of $50 or more, and the person who referred them pockets $50 in inKind Cash Back, so a couple can extract $75 of discounts between them. The model behind the app, incidentally, is that inKind gives restaurants upfront financing in exchange for future dining credit, which is how it can discount meals while funding the businesses.
Whether the new card benefit is genuinely worth anything depends on your local inKind network. In cities with a decent roster of participating restaurants, it is effectively money off dinners you were already paying for. Combined with the other credits, it makes the Executive card's maths easier to justify for frequent American flyers. Details via View from the Wing.
