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If you fly American Airlines on a regular basis and you like to hit the Admirals Club lounge pre-flight, there is only one credit card you need on your application list. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® provides a complimentary Admirals Club Lounge membership for the primary cardholder, plus additional memberships for up to 10 authorized users!
- Complimentary Admirals Club membership for the primary cardholder
- Complimentary Admirals Club membership for up to 10 authorized user accounts
- No charge for authorized user accounts
- First checked bag free on domestic AA flights for you and up to 8 companions
- Priority check-in, TSA screening lines, and boarding
- 10,000 bonus Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) after you spend $40,000 in purchases within the year
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
- Earn 1X mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 10,000 AAdvantage Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) after you spend $40,000 in purchases within the year
Cardholders also receive valuable perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, in-flight discounts, and bonus Loyalty Points on spending. However, the decision to get the AA Executive Card will hinge on whether you want Admirals Club access.
Here’s the link to apply for the AA Executive Card, or read on for a full breakdown of the card’s benefits.
AA Executive Card Signup Bonus
Earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after making $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. If you value AA miles on the conservative side at around 1.5¢ per mile, the welcome offer on the AA Executive Card is worth roughly $750.
AA Executive Card Earning Potential and Bonus Categories
This is an area where the AA Executive Card struggles to provide value. You’ll earn just 2X miles per dollar on American Airlines purchases, and 1 mile per dollar spent everywhere else. If your goal is to rack up AAdvantage Miles, you would be better off with Citi’s mid-tier AA co-brand card, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®, which at least adds restaurants to its list of bonus categories.
Suffice to say; there are plenty of cards that will give you a better return on spending than either of the AA cards. The AA Executive Card is a card you acquire for the perks and benefits on offer, not the return on spend.
AA Executive Card Feature Benefits
Complimentary Admirals Club Membership
The hero feature of the AA Executive Card is the complimentary Admirals Club membership which provides lounge access to the primary cardholder, plus immediate family members or two additional guests. If you were to purchase an Admirals Club membership, you would pay between $550 and $650 depending on your level of elite status with American Airlines. The annual fee on the on the AA Executive Card is $450. You save up to $200 applying for the card and getting a complimentary membership as opposed to purchasing a membership from AA.
And, it gets better the more authorized user accounts you add. Each authorized user you add to your card qualifies for the same complimentary Admirals Club membership with guests. A household membership for Admirals Club will set you back a cool $1,250 without status, but you can add all of your family members as free authorized user accounts, potentially saving hundreds of dollars per year.
In all honesty, if you aren’t chasing AA lounge access, the mid-tier AA Platinum Select offers almost the same features without the lounge access benefits, but charges a much lower annual fee of $99, waived for first 12 months. Note that a same-day boarding pass on American or partner airlines will be required for entry.
Free Checked Bags
Another perk that can add significant value is free checked bags. You qualify for the first checked bag free for up to 9 people on the same domestic itinerary, including the cardholder. At $30 a bag, if you fly a family of two adults and two kids round-trip, you save $120 each way or $240 for the whole trip.
Priority Check-In, TSA Screening, and Boarding
While not traditionally flagship perks, these three benefits get you through the airport faster, with less waiting, less hassle, and on the plane with plenty of room in the overhead bins for your bags. Again, this includes you as the cardholder and up to 8 companions traveling on the same itinerary.
Earn 10,000 Bonus Loyalty Points
If you are in the hunt for elite status with American, you can score an additional 10,000 Loyalty Points towards your next elite status when you spend $40,000 on the card in a qualifying year. For 2022, the qualifying year runs from January 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023 (14 months total). Starting in 2023, and each year after, the spending window will run between March 1st and February 28th.
These 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points are in addition to the one (1) Loyalty Point per eligible dollar spent on purchases with your card.
If you have a high spending capacity, it's possible to earn elite status exclusively through spending on the AA Executive Card—or another AAdvantage credit card. But this approach isn't recommended for everyone.
The AA Executive Card isn't great for earning redeemable miles. Unlike competitors, you won't earn extra miles for purchases on popular categories like dining, groceries, or travel. So there is a big opportunity cost of spending $40,000 to earn the Loyalty Point bonus.
Related: American's New Loyalty Points System for Elite Status Qualification
Purchase and Travel Protections
Citi's travel and purchase protection benefits are not as strong as the ones provided by other issuers, with most cards only providing superficial protection perks.
Citi dropped many of its most valuable purchase and travel benefits in 2019. The AA Executive Card now only offers extended warranty coverage and purchase protection, no longer providing travel-focused perks like rental car insurance or trip delay reimbursement.
Application Restrictions
Multiple rules can impact your eligibility for cards or welcome bonuses from Citi. The first applies to all Citi-issued rewards cards and is known as the 8/65 rule:
- You need to wait at least eight (8) days from the last time you applied for any other credit card issued by Citi.
- You are allowed no more than two applications within a 65-day period.
The second application rule applies to Citi's AAdvantage® family of cards. For the AA Executive Card, you are eligible for a welcome bonus if you have not received a new account bonus for this card in the past 48 months.
Here's the language from Citi:
“American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive account in the past 48 months.”
The policy doesn't consider if you've opened or closed another AA card besides the AA Executive Card, solely focusing on whether you have received a bonus for this card in the previous 48 months. If you currently hold another Citi-issued AA card but have not had a bonus on this card in the last 4 years, you should be eligible to apply for this card notwithstanding normal Citi application restrictions.
Final Thoughts
With a solid offer of 50,000 miles available for new cardmembers, the AA Executive Card should be on the radar of any AA fan. In addition to the stellar signup bonus, you'll get top-tier lounge access benefits, and plenty of other perks to make flying with American a more luxurious experience.
If you use the lounge access regularly, it can save you hundreds of dollars per year, and potentially thousands of dollars depending on how many authorized user accounts you add. Ultimately, if lounge access isn’t high on your list of priorities, you will get better value out of the mid-tier AA Platinum Select, which offers similar benefits and better bonus categories, but charges less than a quarter of the annual fee.
- Complimentary Admirals Club membership for the primary cardholder
- Complimentary Admirals Club membership for up to 10 authorized user accounts
- No charge for authorized user accounts
- First checked bag free on domestic AA flights for you and up to 8 companions
- Priority check-in, TSA screening lines, and boarding
- 10,000 bonus Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) after you spend $40,000 in purchases within the year
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
- Earn 1X mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 10,000 AAdvantage Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) after you spend $40,000 in purchases within the year
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