American AAdvantage Executive Card

Following up on the series of comparisons of the major US airlines’ credit cards, we’re jumping to one of the top-tier cards: The American Executive Card from Citibank. This card competes with the Delta Reserve Card and the MileagePlus Club Card.

Unlike Delta and United, all American Airlines credit cards earn points toward status at the same $1 = 1 pt rate with no limits, so the only incentive to select this card over the others is from the perks and reward miles earnings.

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 American Executive card has a 70 000 bonus mile offer after spending $7 000 in 6 months. 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 $1 050, which is decent for a $595 annual fee card, but better offers have been available before.

Earnings

The American Executive card has a simple base structure: 4x miles/$ on American Airlines and 1x mile/$ on everything else. The 4x miles bumps to 5x after you spend $150 000 on the card (on anything) in a year. The card also offers 10x miles/$ on hotels and car rentals booked through the AA partner program.

These earning rates are not amazing for a $595 annual fee card but are standard for a club card. The 4x miles/$ on AA purchases is, however, the most efficient way to earn AA miles other than directly on a flight.

These cards also earn 1 LP per $1 spent on the card as is standard.

Benefits

For its $595 annual fee, the main benefit this card offers is access to American’s Admirals Clubs when flying American. It offers a first checked bag free, priority boarding, and $25 back on inflight Wi-Fi purchases per anniversary year.

The card also offers a status boost benefit: if you earn 50 000 LP (through any means), you get a 10 000 LP bonus. And then again if you earn 90 000 LP. The first boost makes moving from AA Gold to Platinum status much easier and the second boost makes moving from AA Platinum to Platinum Pro much easier.

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 (4x)	$700	2 800	$200	800	$0	0	$400	1 600
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	6 100	$1 500	2 100	$1 700	1 700	$1 700	2 900
Average points/$		1.53		1.4		1.0		1.71

The weak earning structure means that the average points earned has a small, low range of 1 – 1.71 points/$, which is worth 1.5 – 2.57 ¢/$.  That’s not a great return, but that’s to be expected for a credit card that gives you airline club access. The range is entirely dependent on how much and what portion of your budget each month is spent on American Airlines. For non-airline cards with a similar annual fee, you’d expect much higher returns, but American isn’t the transfer partner of any US-based bank.

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
AA Executive Card ($199)	6 500 AM (13%)	2 200 MP + 230 AM (8.8%)	$97.50 / $14.45

Is this the right type of credit card for you?

I think it really comes down to one aspect with this card: if you value Admirals Club access and want the status boosts, this card will make a lot of sense for you. It’s the cheapest way to get an Admirals Club membership.

This card also has the biggest multiplier for earning AA miles from AA spend at 4x. If you don’t spend a lot on AA, you might be better off with a different AA card, but your options to earn AA miles are still somewhat limited due to the lack of transfer partners.