Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard Review

Note that Citi restricts approvals for co-branded American Airlines credit cards. You won’t be eligible for another bonus if you’ve received a sign-up bonus from this card in the last 48 months. However, you are eligible for this bonus even if you recently applied for a different American Airlines card.

Cardholders enjoy the following perks when flying American:

• Admirals Club membership: Access to nearly 100 Admirals Club airport lounges (as well as partner lounges for the primary cardholder) for you and your immediate family or two guests of your choice (a value of up to $850)
• First checked bag free: You and up to eight companions on the same reservation will receive your first checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries (normally $30).
• Priority privileges: Enjoy priority check-in, screening and boarding (Group 4) when traveling with American Airlines
• Savings on in-flight purchases: Receive a 25% discount on in-flight food and beverage purchases when you use your credit card to pay.

Those chasing American Airlines elite status will appreciate this card’s Loyalty Point boost. Just for having the card, you can receive up to 20,000 elite-qualifying Loyalty Points per year. You’ll get 10,000 Loyalty Points after you earn 50,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year and another 10,000 Loyalty Points after earning 90,000 Loyalty Points in the same period.

The card recently introduced various statement credits, which can help further offset the card’s annual fee. However, some of these credits are complicated and may not be useful for you. Cardholders can get:

Cardholders are also protected with trip cancellation/interruption insurance, trip delay protection, lost baggage insurance and rental car insurance.

Earning

• 10X miles per dollar on eligible rental cars through aa.com/cars
• 10X miles on eligible hotels through aa.com/hotels
• 4X miles on eligible American Airlines purchases
• 1X mile on all other purchases

If you’re a big spender, you have an opportunity to slightly boost your earning on American Airlines. Cardmembers who spend $150,000 on their Citi AAdvantage Executive card earn 5X miles on American Airlines purchases for the remainder of the year.

Every dollar you spend on any American Airlines credit card also earns the card member one Loyalty Point, which is how you qualify for American Airlines elite status. Bonus miles and the additional miles you earn from bonus spending categories don’t earn Loyalty Points, which means you would only earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent with American Airlines even though this card earns 4X miles on those purchases.

Redeeming

You can redeem American Airlines miles for flights, rental cars, hotels, travel packages and upgrades. However, using miles for flights with American Airlines and its partner airlines is typically the best way to maximize the value of your American Airlines miles.

There is no longer a fixed award chart for American Airlines award flights. Instead, American Airlines has shifted to dynamic award prices, with a chart that simply offers “starting” prices. One-way tickets within the contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada should start at 7,500 miles in economy, though we’ve seen some flights available for even less than that. To see how many miles you’ll need for a specific flight, you’ll have to search on the American Airlines site.

You can also use American Airlines miles to book award flights with 20+ partner airlines, and there is an award chart for those flights. You could book a one-way partner award flight from the U.S. to Europe in economy for only 22,500 miles during off-peak dates or fly in business class for 57,500 one way. Or you could fly to Japan in business class for 60,000 miles one way.

American’s Oneworld and non-alliance partner airlines include:

• Air Tahiti Nui
• Alaska Airlines
• British Airways
• Cape Air
• Cathay Pacific
• China Southern Airlines
• Etihad Airways
• Fiji Airways
• Finnair
• GOL Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Iberia
• IndiGo
• Japan Airlines
• JetSMART
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian Airlines
• Silver Airways
• SriLankan Airlines

The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select also comes with some similar perks like a free checked bag for the cardholder and up to four other people traveling on the same domestic American Airlines flight, 25% off inflight American Airlines food and beverage purchases, no foreign transaction fees and preferred boarding.

The Citi AAdvantage Executive has more valuable benefits than the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select, but it’s significantly more expensive. So if you won’t be able to take full advantage of the AAdvantage Executive’s perks, then the AAdvantage Platinum Select card could be a better and affordable more option.

Citi AAdvantage Executive vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve®

However, some of the card’s benefits are complicated or only benefit you when you’re traveling with American Airlines. So if you don’t anticipate flying with American Airlines very often, you might want to consider a more flexible travel card.