Updates to Citi's American Airlines Executive Card

[PaunchyPirate]

In the last few days, Citi has modified the American Airlines AAdvantage Executive credit card features. While a little costly, I decided to get it to leverage the 100,000 bonus miles that it now offers. There is a $595 annual fee (I will likely only keep it one year), but it also includes free access to the Admirals Clubs in airports. There are no international transaction fees and they have re-added in several travel insurances (including rental cars) that had been removed previously. There is a hefty $10,000 required spend within 3 months to get the 100,000 miles. But I think I can reach that by directing all my spending to the card plus my September trip to Switzerland plus one or two airfare/cruise purchases that I can make in that timeframe. I'll have to track my progress closely on that.

The card is definitely not for everyone, but I think I will benefit from it for the year.

 

[OldConch]

DW and I each have one and a couple of other AA cards as well. Using the miles to fly back and forth to Tokyo in October, to Aukland in December, and to Dublin next June. Probably won't renew when the annual fee posts but we've made very good use of the miles.

You can also use the card for entry into partner lounges. We fly through Sea-Tac fairly frequently and the Alaska lounge in the North Satellite is pretty nice.

The Barclay's Aviator Red is another card to keep an eye on if you need to stock up on AA miles. DW and I each got one last month when the offer was 70k miles after ONE purchase and payment of the $99 annual fee. That's more than enough for SEA LHR DUB flights in the front of the plane.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

DW and I each have one and a couple of other AA cards as well. Using the miles to fly back and forth to Tokyo in October, to Aukland in December, and to Dublin next June. Probably won't renew when the annual fee posts but we've made very good use of the miles.

You can also use the card for entry into partner lounges. We fly through Sea-Tac fairly frequently and the Alaska lounge in the North Satellite is pretty nice.

The Barclay's Aviator Red is another card to keep an eye on if you need to stock up on AA miles. DW and I each got one last month when the offer was 70k miles after ONE purchase and payment of the $99 annual fee. That's more than enough for SEA LHR DUB flights in the front of the plane.

I follow all the AA cards. I had the Barclays card too recently to get it again. For now. But once some more time has passed, I’ll hopefully pounce on another good bonus from them.

 

[Route246]

I just got 70K Citi Platinum select with first year waived and 6000 spend in 2 months but I bought a fully loaded Mac Studio and normal household expenses for $7K and the first month's bill already had the miles of 77,000+change credited back! That was amazing as the fine print said I may have to wait 4 months to get the miles credited.

I have another Citi with $99 annual and they have a new game (for me) they play to retain you. I called in to cancel the card and they offered to rebate $99 it if I spent $99 in the next month. Pretty clever, pay the fee and get paid back exactly the $99 for the fee, instead of in the past they just remove the fee or credit it back. This time they get you to spend at least the fee amount.

As a high dollar user who pays in full every month I am sure they get full value selling my name as you sign off on that when you agree to getting the card.

In the last few days, Citi has modified the American Airlines AAdvantage Executive credit card features. While a little costly, I decided to get it to leverage the 100,000 bonus miles that it now offers. There is a $595 annual fee (I will likely only keep it one year), but it also includes free access to the Admirals Clubs in airports. There are no international transaction fees and they have re-added in several travel insurances (including rental cars) that had been removed previously. There is a hefty $10,000 required spend within 3 months to get the 100,000 miles. But I think I can reach that by directing all my spending to the card plus my September trip to Switzerland plus one or two airfare/cruise purchases that I can make in that timeframe. I'll have to track my progress closely on that.

The card is definitely not for everyone, but I think I will benefit from it for the year.

 

[athena53]

I dodged this bullet through sheer dumb luck- got the Executive Card just before they changed it so I'm good through the end of next May. This was my first high-fee card but I've already used the lounge at ORD twice with my granddaughters (arrival and departure lunches) and have two more trips planned with them and another with the whole family. (I know there will be a limit on how many I can get into the lounge at CLT without extra charges- may not have a layover long enough anyway. There will be 3 adults and 3 kids, one under 6.) I also collected the 60,000-mile sign-on bonus.

I made the $6,000 spend MOSTLY on American- had to add a payment on an upcoming tour (non-AA) to get the total to $6,000. High spend requirements can be a bit of a drawback- my usual tactic is to use branded credit cards only for spending on that brand and using my Fidelity and Costco Visa cards for everything else to get cash back. I'm on a road trip now and my Hilton Amex will go back into the sock drawer when I get home, where the AA MasterCard already resides.

Maybe I'll look at the Barclay offerings when this comes up for renewal- I've gotten greedy about churning cards for sign-on points.

 

[Route246]

Rule of thumb for budgetary purposes AA miles is 2-cents per mile, give or take, your mileage may vary. Use 2-cents as a guideline, like the prime interest rate. It is just a guideline so don't attack me for characterizing it as a hard price.

I dodged this bullet through sheer dumb luck- got the Executive Card just before they changed it so I'm good through the end of next May. This was my first high-fee card but I've already used the lounge at ORD twice with my granddaughters (arrival and departure lunches) and have two more trips planned with them and another with the whole family. (I know there will be a limit on how many I can get into the lounge at CLT without extra charges- may not have a layover long enough anyway. There will be 3 adults and 3 kids, one under 6.) I also collected the 60,000-mile sign-on bonus.

I made the $6,000 spend MOSTLY on American- had to add a payment on an upcoming tour (non-AA) to get the total to $6,000. High spend requirements can be a bit of a drawback- my usual tactic is to use branded credit cards only for spending on that brand and using my Fidelity and Costco Visa cards for everything else to get cash back. I'm on a road trip now and my Hilton Amex will go back into the sock drawer when I get home, where the AA MasterCard already resides.

Maybe I'll look at the Barclay offerings when this comes up for renewal- I've gotten greedy about churning cards for sign-on points.