Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard Review
Updated February 18, 2024.
The Facts
The Math
Currently, AA cobranded credit cards are the best way of earning AA miles as well as AA Loyalty Points (LP) via credit card general spending. Citi AA Executive stands out by offering potential 10K + 10K LPs not directly tied to spending as well as Admirals Club memberships.
To see how Citi AA Executive competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex Marriott Brilliant, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United MP Club, Citi Prestige, Citi AA Executive, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
The Conclusion
Citi AA Executive Card will be your card of choice if Admirals Club and American Loyalty Points are your primary concern. It is currently one of the Top 10 Credit Card for Perks.
The Facts
- Annual Fee: $595 for primary card, and $175 for the first 3 authorized users and $175 per authorized user thereafter. The annual fee on the primary card is reduced to $495 for Citigold or Citi Priority clients.
- Signup Bonus: 70,000 miles after spending $7,000 within 3 months of new account opening. This bonus won't be available if you have received a new account bonus on this card in the past 48 months. Historical Best Bonus: 100,000 miles in 2014 and 2023; 80,000 miles in 2022; 75,000 miles a couple of times in the past years.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 10x miles on hotels and car rentals booked through aa.com, 4x on American Airlines purchases (5x after you spend $150K in a calendar year), and 1x everywhere else. In addition, you earn 1x Loyalty Point (LP) per dollar spent on the card, and you also earn 10,000 LP bonus after reaching 50,000 LPs in a status qualifying year and another 10,000 LP bonus after reaching 90,000 LPs in the same status qualifying year. The LP earning feature means you could achieve AAdvantage Gold status solely with the card by spending $40K, Platinum status by spending $65K (usually requiring 75K LPs to qualify), Platinum Pro status by spending $105K (usually requiring 125K LPs to qualify), or Executive Platinum status by spending $180K (usually requiring 200K LPs to qualify), in a calendar year.
- Best Use of AAdvantage miles: AAdvantage is the frequent flyer program of American Airlines, a member of oneworld alliance. AAdvantage miles are generally valuable when redeemed on American Airlines or it partners flights.
- $120 annual credit towards Avis or Budget car rentals each calendar year.
- $10 monthly credit towards Lyft after taking 3 eligible rides each calendar month, up to $120 per year.
- $10 monthly credit towards Grubhub each billing cycle, up to $120 per year.
- American Airlines Benefits: (1) The biggest perk come with the $595 annual fee is the annual Admirals Club membership, which entitles the primary card holder unlimited access to 80+ American, Qantas and select Alaska lounges. You may bring your immediate family or up to two guests for free. Starting December 2015, an authorized user has access to American lounges without having to fly American Airlines and s/he can also bring the immediate family or up to two guests for free. Note that the difference in the lounge access for the primary card holder and the authorized user is that the primary card holder has the full Admirals Club membership (Admirals Clubs, Flagship lounges, Qantas, and select Alaska lounges) while the authorized users only have access to Admirals Clubs. Please see our featured review to learn more about airport lounge access. (2) Reduced Mileage Awards (saving up to 7,500 miles on certain routes). (3) Check the 1st bags free for you plus 8 passengers on your reservation. (4) Receive priority check-in, priority security screening, and priority boarding for you plus 8 passengers on your reservation. (5) 25% discount for in-flight food and beverage purchases.
- World Elite MasterCard Benefits: MasterCard Luxury Hotels & Resorts (a collection of 2,000+ luxury hotels worldwide that offer complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, early check-in, late check-out, and a special amenity such as a certain amount of hotel credit up to $100 per stay, free internet, or welcome gift, etc.), MasterCard Travel & Lifestyle Services (offers for hotels, airfare, private jets, airport concierge, car rentals, chauffeured cars, cruise lines, tours, vacation packages, golf, sports and entertainment event tickets, etc.), complimentary ShopRunner membership (free two-day shipping and returns at participating stores), complimentary DoorDash benefits (3 months of complimentary DashPass membership & $5 off first two orders per month through 9/30/2022), monthly $5 Lyft credit after 3 rides each month, 5% discount for every HelloFresh order, $5 rewards for every $20+ Fandango purchase, the Dining Program (special amenities at participating restaurants), the Nightlife Program (exclusive access to and recognition at participating night clubs), Priceless Cities, Priceless Surprises, Priceless Causes, Priceless Golf, 24/7 World Elite concierge service, MasterCard Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection (up to $800 for a stolen or damaged phone as long as you charge your monthly cellphone bills to the card), MasterCard ID Theft Protection, etc.
- Other Benefits: (1) Waived foreign transaction fees. (2) Get reimbursed the application fees for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85), for quicker custom and security check point clearing. (3) Citi Entertainment - special access to entertainment, sports, dining, and virtual events, in terms of presale and preferred tickets, exclusive offers, etc.
- Other Facts: this card has a metal design and weighs about 18 grams.
- History: The Admirals Club membership has always been the signature perk of this card; however, in early 2014 Citi gave its own Prestige Card similar access with slightly reduced coverage and obviously made the co-branded AAdvantage card look like an overpriced product considering Prestige offered better additional perks in general. In December 2015, Citi finally enhanced the co-branded AAdvantage card by offering Admirals Club access to the authorized user(s) and adding Global Entry reimbursement. In July 2023, Citi introduced a major revamp of this card by increasing the annual fees from $450 to $595 for primary cardmember and from $0 to $175 for authorized users ($175 for the first three and $175 per user thereafter), and adding the following: (1) 10K LP bonus for $50K annual LP earning and an additional 10K LP bonus for 90K LP earning, (2) 10x miles earning on hotels/car rentals through aa.com, (3) 4x or 5x miles earning on AA purchases, (4) three types of credits ($120 annual for Avis/Budge, $10 monthly for Lyft, and $10 monthly for Grubhub), and a few categories of protection coverage (trip cancellation/interruption, trip delay, lost baggage, and rental cars).
The Math
Currently, AA cobranded credit cards are the best way of earning AA miles as well as AA Loyalty Points (LP) via credit card general spending. Citi AA Executive stands out by offering potential 10K + 10K LPs not directly tied to spending as well as Admirals Club memberships.
To see how Citi AA Executive competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex Marriott Brilliant, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United MP Club, Citi Prestige, Citi AA Executive, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
The Conclusion
Citi AA Executive Card will be your card of choice if Admirals Club and American Loyalty Points are your primary concern. It is currently one of the Top 10 Credit Card for Perks.