American Airlines Aviator Red Card

A while ago, I posted a series of comparisons of the major US airlines’ credit cards. The “entry-level” ($95 annual fee) comparison had two offerings from American Airlines: one from Citi and one from Barclays, which is the topic of this post. I figured I’d start with the Aviator Red Card because that’s the card that I have. 

American Airlines has done a really good job encouraging people to pick up its credit cards through its Loyalty Points scheme.

I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card.  The information on this page has been collected independently, and all information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.

Welcome Offer

At the time of posting, the Aviator Red Card has a 60 000 bonus miles offer but no annual fee waived. The default offer on this card, I believe, is 50 000 bonus miles with the annual fee waived. When I picked up the card, the bonus offer was 70 000 bonus miles but no annual fee waived. The best part of this bonus is that you get it after making your first purchase and paying the annual fee on the card within the first 90 days, which is awesome. In general, I’ve been able to get good value out of AA miles and so value them at 1.5 ¢/pt.  That makes this current welcome offer worth at least $900, which is good for a $99 annual fee card.

Earnings

The Aviator Red Card has a very basic points structure. It earns 2x miles/$ on American Airlines purchases and 1x mile/$ on everything else.  That’s it. It also earns 1 loyalty point/$ spent (in all categories).

Benefits

For its $99 annual fee, this card provides the standard benefits you’d expect on an airline credit card. It offers a first checked bag free, preferred (group 5 of 9) boarding, and $25 back on inflight Wi-Fi purchases per anniversary year. In addition, if you spend $20 000 on this card, you can earn a Companion Certificate (good for 1 guest at $99 plus taxes and fees) in economy.

How to use the points

The main use for American Airlines miles is to redeem them for American Airlines, Oneworld, and other partners’ flights.  American Airlines has dynamic pricing for its own flights but still uses an award chart for its partners. American Airlines is not a transfer partner of Citi, but they are a transfer partner of Bilt, so American miles are not quite as hard to come by as Alaska miles.

The other type of point earned, Loyalty Points, is used for American status: you need 40 000 LP for Gold (Oneworld Ruby), 75 000 LP for Platinum (Oneworld Sapphire), 125 000 LP for Platinum Pro (Oneworld Emerald), and 200 000 LP for Executive Platinum (Oneworld Emerald). 

Examples of using the card

These examples assume you spend all your airfare budget on American Airlines.

Spend per month

	Example A		Example B		Example C		Example D
Groceries (1x)	$300	300	$200	200	$600	600	$400	400
Gas (1x)	$0	0	$100	100	$200	200	$100	100
Airfare (2x)	$700	1 400	$200	400	$0	0	$400	800
Hotels (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$200	200	$0	0	$300	300
Gen Travel (1x)	$400	400	$0	0	$300	300	$100	100
Dining (1x)	$600	600	$300	300	$300	300	$0	0
General (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$500	500	$500	500	$400	400
Total	$4 000	4 700	$1 500	1 700	$1 700	1 700	$1 700	2 100
Average points/$		1.18		1.13		1.0		1.24

The weak earning structure means that the average points earned has a small, low range of 1 – 1.24 points/$, which is worth 1.5 – 1.86 ¢/$.  That’s not a great return, even for an airline co-branded credit card with a $99 annual fee.  Given that American miles are otherwise harder to come by, this earn rate is not too bad.

Specific examples

Card	American Airlines Economy class ($750)  (% return)	Marriott Hotel night ($230/night)	Points values (American/Hotel)
No rewards card	3 500 AM (7.0%)	2 200 MP (7.3%)	$52.50 / $11.00
General 2% cashback card ($0)	3 500 + $15.00 (9.0%)	2 200 MP + $4.60 (9.3%)	$67.50 / $15.60
Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95)	3 500 + 1 500 UR (10.0%)	2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.3%)	$75.00 / $17.90
Amex Green Card ($150)	3 500 + 2 250 MR (11.2%)	2 200 MP + 690 MR (11.5%)	$84.00 / $21.35
Aviator Red Card ($99)	5 000 AM (10%)	2 200 MP + 230 AM (8.7%)	$75.00 / $14.45

Is this credit card right for you?

I’m not really sure. I largely think this card only has values if you want to use it to help you earn American status or want the checked bag or companion voucher benefits. If you frequently pay to check a bag, then this card can pay for itself in two roundtrips. Realistically, in any other situation, you can earn American miles more at a faster rate from the Bilt Card.