The Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Executive card is once again offering an increased 100,000-mile welcome bonus after $10K in purchases in the first 3 months. I think this will likely appeal most to those who yearn for Admirals Club access and the Loyalty Point boosts.
The Offer & Key Card Details
Card Offer and Details
100K miles Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler
100K miles after $10,000 spend in first 3 months$595 Annual Fee
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
FM Mini Review: Good choice for those who need Admirals Club® access and those who value the Loyalty Points boosts at 50K and 90K Loyalty Points earned. Plus, it offers the usual collection of perks for flying AA (free checked bag, priority boarding, etc.) and some handy credits for Avis or Budget rentals and GrubHub.
Earning rate: 4X AA ✦ 10X hotels booked through AA.com/Hotels ✦ 10X car rentals booked through AA.com/Cars ✦ 1X everywhere else
Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees.
Noteworthy perks: ✦ First Checked Bag Free ✦ Admirals Club® access for both primary and authorized users ✦ Up to $120 per 12 monthly billing cycles for GrubHub purchases (up to $10 per monthly billing cycle) ✦ Up to $120 back on eligible Avis or Budget prepaid car rentals every calendar year ✦ $10 monthly Lyft credit after you take 3 Lyft rides that calendar month ✦ 10K bonus Loyaty Points after earning 50K Loyalty points through all channels and another 10K bonus Loyalty Points after earning 90K Loyalty Points through all channels ✦ 25% savings on eligible in-flight purchases on American Airlines flights ✦ Up to $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit every 4 years
Quick Thoughts
The initial bonus on this card is a large number of miles that could easily get you a one-way business-class ticket on a partner airline to almost any region of the world.
However, the main attraction here is, of course, the Admirals Club lounge access. The primary cardholder gets access to Admirals Clubs. Unfortunately, authorized users are no longer free and are pretty expensive at $175 for the first three, then $175 for each thereafter. Still, if you frequently use Admirals Club lounges, the cost could still be worth it — but it’s fairly expensive if that’s your only reason for carrying the card.
The card also has a few key benefits that may be of interest.
For starters, there is a rental car benefit that sounds broadly useful: get up to $120 in statement credits each calendar year for car rentals booked directly with Avis or Budget. That’s great since it means that you should be able to use any corporate codes that you’re eligible to use, so long as you book directly with Avis/Budget. Furthermore, I bolded the words “calendar year” to be clear that you could double up and get this credit twice in your first cardmember year. In other words, you could get the card now and use the credit for a rental car next week, and then you could use the benefit again in January, getting up to $240 in statement credits before your next annual fee comes due.
The card also features a monthly $10 credit for GrubHub purchases, which will be useful to some and not at all for others. I don’t get very excited about GrubHub statement credits simply because GrubHub doesn’t exist in my nearby area, but if I lived in a city where I passed by a place where I might want to place a GrubHub pick-up order once a month, I’d surely feel differently.
There’s also a Lyft benefit, though it isn’t as generous as it sounds. It gets billed as “up to $120 in Lyft ride credits”, but that’s a $10 Lyft credit after you take 3 qualifying rides in a month. All Mastercard World and World Elite cardholders can get a $5 Lyft credit after 3 Lyft rides in a month, so the AAdvantage Executive card is only adding another $5 to that. This benefit seems kind of gimmicky to me: you have to use Lyft frequently to get the credit, and then you also have to forgo the chance to earn better rewards with a different card.
You also earn 4x on American Airlines purchases, which is a nice bump that Greg has noted might make the card worth using instead of a transferable currency card that would earn 3x points. You can also get 10x for hotels booked at AA.com/hotels, which might make sense when you don’t care about elite credit or benefits, and you’ll get 10x for cars booked at AA.com/Cars, but I imagine that you’ll rarely get a competitive price on a car rental through that portal.
Those chasing elite status will enjoy the bumps in Loyalty Points: with this card, you’ll get 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points after you earn 50,000 Loyalty Points (from all sources combined) in an elite status year and 10,000 after you earn 90,000 Loyalty Points. You could presumably earn all of those Loyalty Points through the shopping portal without ever using the Executive card at all, and you’d still qualify for those 10K Loyalty Point bonuses just by virtue of having the card.
Overall, I still suspect this card will be a good fit for some, though it won’t be a good fit for those who want it primarily for cheap access to Admirals Club lounges for a group. However, if you value the other parts and pieces, this offer could still be intriguing.
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