If you fly American Airlines frequently, you may consider getting one of their cobranded cards from Citi or Barclays.
At the top of the hierarchy is the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees), which offers the most AA-specific perks of any credit card. But it comes with a hefty $595 annual fee.
So, is it worth it — both in the first year and from the second onward? Let’s do the math.
Related: How to decide if a credit card’s annual fee is worth paying
Welcome bonus
The Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard is currently offering 100,000 bonus miles after spending $10,000 within the first three months of account opening. This bonus is worth $1,700, based on TPG’s June 2024 valuations.
100,000 miles is the highest welcome bonus we’ve seen on this card, with 70,000 miles being the standard offer.
That means that the value of a 100,000-mile welcome bonus covers the annual fee for almost three years — and that’s not even taking into account the other perks we’re about to get into. (A 70,000-mile bonus covers it for two years.)
Lounge access
Arguably, the most valuable ongoing benefit of this card is the complimentary Admirals Club membership you get — when you present a same-day boarding pass for an eligible flight — every year that you hold the card.
A yearly membership costs $700-$850, depending on your status level. Given that this card carries a $595 annual fee, it does not make sense to buy an Admirals Club membership on its own (unless you aren’t eligible for this card.)
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You’ll access nearly 50 Admirals Clubs and more than 60 partner lounges worldwide when flying American or one of its Oneworld partners. Notably, this includes Alaska Lounges in hubs like Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
You can bring in either your immediate family members (spouse or domestic partner and children under 18 years of age) or up to two guests. And they don’t need to be on the same flight as you — just any American or Oneworld flight with a same-day boarding pass.
Living in Austin, Texas, I often fly through AA’s largest hub, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. This means I can access the lounges on departure in Austin and when connecting through Dallas Fort Worth.
I also value accessing select Qantas Club and Qantas International Business Lounges when I fly home to Australia and travel throughout the country.
Travel benefits
The card offers valuable perks when flying American, including priority check-in at business-class counters (where available) and priority boarding privileges (where available) for you and up to eight travelers on the same reservation.
You also get your first checked bag free on domestic itineraries with American Airlines. (Note that this is only for domestic flights; I had to pay $35 recently when I traveled to Mexico, forgetting the restrictions of this perk.)
Additionally, you can enjoy a 25% discount on inflight food and beverage purchases (excludes Wi-Fi) and receive an up-to $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck. (I suggest maximizing your credit by applying for Global Entry, as it includes PreCheck anyway.)
Furthermore, the card includes travel protections, such as trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, lost baggage protections, and car rental insurance coverage.
And there are no foreign transaction fees, making this card a great option for international travel.
Elite status
If chasing AAdvantage elite status is important to you, this card will help you achieve it. You’ll earn 1 Loyalty Point for every mile you earn from purchases.
On top of that, you’ll receive a 10,000 Loyalty Points bonus upon reaching 50,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year. An additional 10,000 Loyalty Points bonus will be granted once you hit 90,000 Loyalty Points in the same year.
Statement credits
Citi introduced three new statement credits in its July 2023 refresh of the card to help offset an increase in the annual fee from $450 (no longer available) to $595. You’ll receive:
- Up to $120 back on eligible Avis or Budget car rentals every calendar year
- Up to $120 back on eligible Grubhub purchases (up to a $10 statement credit on each month’s billing statement)
- Up to $120 in Lyft credits ($10 Lyft credit each month), but you have to take three eligible rides each month first to receive this credit
The Grubhub credit is the only one I’ve used in the past year. I find it easy to max out the $10 monthly credit by ordering pick-up food when I’m on the road.
Given that I tend to rent from Europcar, National Car Rental or Hertz, I don’t maximize the car rental credit, but it would be easy to use on one rental each year if Avis or Budget offered a good price for an itinerary.
And I don’t value the Lyft perk because you don’t get the $10 credit until after you’ve taken three (non-discounted) rides in a month. Instead, I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve® to earn 10 points per dollar spent on Lyft purchases (through March 2025).
Related: Frequent Uber or Lyft user? These are the best credit cards for you
Earning and redeeming miles
If you’re looking to supercharge your points-earning across several programs, we’d suggest putting your spending on a card that earns transferable points. However, if you want to maximize your AAdvantage mile balance specifically, this card will earn you:
- 10 miles per dollar spent on eligible car rentals and hotels booked through American’s car rental and hotel booking sites, respectively
- 4 miles per dollar spent on eligible American Airlines purchases (jumps to 5 miles per dollar for the remainder of the calendar year once you’ve spent $150,000 on all purchases in a calendar year)
- 1 mile per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases
AAdvantage miles are the most valuable of any U.S. airline program, according to our June 2024 valuations. They are significantly more valuable (at 1.7 cents each) than United miles (1.35c) and Delta SkyMiles (1.15c).
After picking up this card after its refresh in mid-2023, I redeemed part of the welcome bonus I received for a luxurious flight redemption. I used 70,000 miles plus $174 for a one-way business-class flight in Qatar Airways’ fantastic Qsuite from Doha to Houston.
Given this flight retails for $3,910 one-way, I got a very high 5.3 per-mile value from this redemption, more than triple TPG’s valuation of AAdvantage miles.
Related: The best uses of American Airlines AAdvantage miles
Authorized users
Finally, this card is a great option if you want your friends and family to get Admirals Club access for cheap.
You can add up to three authorized users for $175 total (working out to be around $58 each) and additional authorized users for $175 each after that.
Each authorized user receives Admirals Club access (with a same-day boarding pass for an eligible flight) for themselves and up to two traveling companions. Just be aware that authorized users only get Admirals Club access, as opposed to a full Admirals Club membership.
Bottom line
In short, if you fly American Airlines frequently, this card is a great choice. Furthermore, if you want Admirals Club access and don’t have AA or Oneworld elite status, this card is a no-brainer.
Maximizing statement credits can reduce the effective cost of the annual fee. It’s a great deal to add up to three authorized users for a total of $175. This card will also help you reach AAdvantage status by earning Loyalty Points on everyday spending and when you reach certain spending thresholds.
However, if you wouldn’t get value out of lounge access, I’d suggest one of Citi / AA’s more affordable credit cards.
To learn more about this card, read our full review of the Citi / AA Executive World Elite Mastercard.
Apply here: Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard
