December 10, 2024: Today we updated our guide to the American Airlines credit cards. This guide can help you compare the credit cards that are currently available so that you can find the best American Airlines credit card for you.
Here’s everything you need to know about the American Airlines credit cards.
In this article…
Our expert recommendations: The best American Airlines credit card for you
Want to find the best American Airlines credit card for you, but don’t want to worry about comparing the rewards, benefits, and features of each of the cards? Here are our expert recommendations.
For free checked bags, you have two options
If you want free checked bags on American, either the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® or AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® could be the better card for you. Both of these cards give you a free checked bag for you and up to 4 companions on domestic American Airlines flights.
If you want free checked bags on a planned upcoming trip, but aren’t sure whether you’ll be flying American in the future, get the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®. You’ll pay a $0 intro annual fee in the first year. When your card renews, you can choose to pay the $99 ongoing annual fee, convert your card to a Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, or cancel your card.
If you know you’ll be flying American Airlines consistently, the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® is probably a better bet thanks to its slate of travel protections which can cover certain trip cancellations and baggage delays.
If you’re a frequent American Airlines traveler, the Executive card pays off
If you fly American Airlines frequently, you’ll want to get the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®. The card offers the best combination of airport lounge access, loyalty point earnings, and redeemable mile earnings for the frequent flyer.
Airport lounge access. First, the Executive card is by far the cheapest way to buy access to the American Airlines Admirals Club® airport lounges. If you’re flying on American Airlines, you’re likely to be flying to, from, or through a city that is home to one of American’s 50 airport lounges or its 50 partner lounges.
Faster path to elite status. If you’re chasing American AAdvantage elite status, you’ll be interested in how the card can help you earn loyalty points. If you hold the Executive card, you’ll get a 10k loyalty point bonus when you earn 50k loyalty points in a year, and another 10k bonus after reaching 90k loyalty points. This bonus effectively lowers the number of loyalty points you’ll need to earn to get AAdvantage Platinum® status and above.
Earn more miles. Finally, you’ll earn far more American AAdvantage miles for your travel with the Executive card than you will from any other card. If you’re just putting your American Airlines purchases on the card, you’ll earn a market-leading 4x miles on your American Airlines purchases, and you can earn 5x with $150k spending on your card in a calendar year. If you’re not loyal to a particular hotel chain, you can also forego earning hotel points and book your hotels through aa.com. You’ll earn 10x miles on hotels and car rentals booked through the AA website.
Benefits on American: American Airlines credit card benefits when flying on American Airlines
Most likely, you’re getting an American Airlines credit card for the benefits you’ll get when flying on American Airlines. Here are the benefits you’ll get with each card when flying on American.
| American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card | Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® | AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® | Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® | Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  | |
| Annual fee | $0 | $0 Intro Annual Fee, $99 after the first year. | $99 | annual_fees | annual_fees |
| Earnings on American Airlines purchases | 2x | 2x | 2x | 4x 5x after spending a total of $150,000 in purchases during a calendar year. | 2x |
| Earns 1 loyalty point per $1 of purchases | |||||
| Loyalty point bonus | – | – | – | Earn 10k bonus loyalty points after reaching 50k and another 10k after reaching 90k in a qualification year. | – |
| Admirals Club® Membership | – | – | – | Yes | – |
| First checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries | – | Yes. Applies for up to 4 companions. | Yes. Applies for up to 4 companions. | Yes Applies for up to 8 companions. | Yes. Applies for up to 4 companions. |
| Flight credits and companion certificates. | – | Spend $20k in a year to earn a $125 flight credit. (See details, below.) | Spend $20k in a year to earn a companion certificate. (See details, below.) | – | – |
| 25% savings on food and beverage purchases | |||||
| Earlier boarding | – | Preferred boarding | Preferred boarding | Priority check-in and boarding | Preferred boarding |
$125 flight credit on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
If you hold the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®, you can earn a $125 American Airlines flight discount when you spend $20,000 or more during your cardmember anniversary year. Here’s how to earn the certificate:
- Spend $20,000 or more in purchases that post to your card during your cardmember anniversary year.
- Keep your card open for one full billing cycle after your anniversary month.
Once you qualify to receive a flight discount certificate, you’ll see your discount in your AAdvantage account within 8-12 weeks. Terms and conditions apply to the $125 flight credit. Here are the most important:
- Usable on AA-coded flights. The flight discount can be redeemed toward flights marketed or operated by American Airlines. You could, for example, use your certificate for a British Airways flight sold with an AA flight number.
- U.S. origins only. You flight must originate in the U.S., Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands and be sold in U.S. dollars.
- Can be used for airfare only. Your certificate is valid for airfare and taxes/fees directly associated with that airfare. It cannot be used to pay the cash portion of an award ticket booking or used for in-flight products/services.
- Expires after 1 year. Your flight discount certificate expires one year from the date of issue.
Earning a companion certificate with the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®
With the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®, you can earn a companion certificate each cardmember anniversary year when you spend $20,000 on your card. To earn a companion certificate, you must do the following:
- Spend $20,000 on purchases during your account anniversary year.
- Keep your account open for 45 days after your anniversary date.
If you earn a companion certificate you’ll receive your companion certificate within 1-2 weeks, deposited to your AAdvantage account. This companion certificate comes with several restrictions:
- Domestic travel on American. The companion certificate is good for 1 companion domestic economy airfare on American Airlines or an American Airlines-marketed flight on one of its regional partners.
- Not valid to Alaska and Hawaii. The companion certificate may be used for a round-trip ticket within the contiguous U.S. 48 states. (Residents of Alaska and Hawaii may use their companion certificate for a round trip originating in either state, to the 48 contiguous United States.
- Co-pay of $99, plus taxes. You’ll pay $99, plus government taxes and fees. As of publication, taxes and fees ranged from $37.23 to $55.83 per ticket.
- Fare-class restricted. The terms of the companion certificate specify that it must be booked and purchased from “select economy inventory.” This likely means you won’t be able to use your companion certificate for last-minute full-fare tickets or during some high-demand travel times.
- One-year validity. The companion certificate expires one year from the date it is issued.
Admirals Club membership: The best perk of the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® offers the least-expensive way to get a membership to the Admirals Club®, American Airlines’ network of airport lounges.
Normally, an individual membership to the Admirals Club costs between $700 and $850, depending on your frequent flyer status with American Airlines. That makes the annual fee of the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (annual_fees) a relative bargain in comparison.
With your Admirals Club membership, you and up to two guests or your immediate family can access the following lounges:
- All Domestic and International Admirals Club locations when flying on any airline.
- All Alaska Airlines Lounges (when departing or arriving on flights marketed and operated by American or Alaska Airlines)
- All Qantas Clubs (when departing or arriving on same-day flights operated by Qantas, or operated by American out of Auckland, New Zealand or Sydney, Australia)
- Select partner lounges operated by third parties (on same-day flights operated by American)
American Airlines defines “immediate family” as your spouse, domestic partner, and/or children under 18.
Rewards: Earn AAdvantage miles for spending.
Airline credit cards are typically less rewarding for purchases than either cash back or transferrable point credit cards. With most of American’s credit cards, you’ll earn 2x AAdvantage miles in a handful of categories, which likely makes a cash back credit card or transferable point credit card a better choice to use for spending.
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® does offer 10x points on hotels and car rentals booked through American Airlines’ website. This might be compelling if you’re not invested in hotel loyalty programs—most hotel loyalty programs only award points and give you the perks of their programs when you book directly.
In most cases, you’ll want to use other cards for spending, including booking your American Airlines flights. Here are some things to consider:
- Loyalty points. All spending on American Airlines credit cards earns loyalty points, the points you need for American Airlines status. It might be worth foregoing rewards elsewhere if you’re chasing American Airlines frequent flyer status.
- Companion certificates and flight credits. The ability to earn a companion certificate or flight credit makes spending $20k a year on either the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® or the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® slightly more compelling, but it’s probably only worth it if you’re also trying to get status by earning Loyalty Points.
- Opportunity cost. Be aware of the. If you’re earning 2x miles with your American Airlines credit card but you could easily be earning 3% cash back on another card, you’re effectively paying 1.5 cents for each mile. Be sure that it’s worth it to you.
- It’s hard to earn American miles. Since American Airlines does not partner with any of the major transferable point programs, the only way to get American Airlines miles from credit cards is through bonuses or spending on American’s own credit cards. If you make use of AAdvantage award redemptions frequently and get good value from the program, you may prefer AAdvantage miles to cash back or transferable points.
Here’s what each of the American Airlines credit cards earns on spending.
| American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card | Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® | AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® | Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® | Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | |
| Annual fee | $0 | $0 Intro Annual Fee, $99 after the first year. | $99 | annual_fees | annual_fees |
| Earnings on American Airlines purchases | 2x | 2x | 2x | 4x 5x after spending a total of $150,000 in purchases during a calendar year. | 2x |
| Hotels and car rentals booked through AA website | – | – | – | 10x | – |
| Grocery stores including grocery delivery services | 2x | – | – | – | – |
| Restaurants | – | 2x | – | – | – |
| Gas stations | – | 2x | – | – | – |
| Business categories telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants and at gas stations | – | – | – | – | 2x |
| Other purchases | 1x | 1x | 1x | 1x | 1x |
Travel benefits: American Airlines credit card travel benefits
Some of the American Airlines credit cards offer a handful of additional travel benefits. If you plan to use your card to book travel, you’ll get the best travel benefits with either the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® or the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®. Here are the details.
| American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card | Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® | AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® | Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® | Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | |
| Annual fee | $0 | $0 Intro Annual Fee, $99 after the first year. | $99 | annual_fees | annual_fees |
| Trip Delay Protection | – | – | – | – | |
| Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection | – | – | – | ||
| Worldwide Car Rental Insurance | – | – | – | ||
| Baggage Delay Protection | – | – | – | – | |
| Lost Baggage Protection | – | – | – | – | |
| Trusted Traveler credit | – | – | – | – | |
| Lyft credits | – | – | Up to $5 monthly. | Up to $10 monthly. | – |
| Grubhub credits | – | – | – | Up to $10 monthly. | – |
| Foreign transaction fee | 3% | None | None | None | None |
Trusted traveler credit: Get a credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
With the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®, you can receive one statement credit of up to $100 every four years when you charge your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® enrollment fee to your card.
Payment of an enrollment fee does not guarantee approval and Citi is not notified of and has no influence over an approval decision—you will receive up to a $100 a credit to offset your application fee rewardless of the outcome of your application.
Travel protection benefits on the Executive card
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® features travel protection benefits including the following:
- Trip Delay Protection
- Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection
- Worldwide Car Rental Insurance
- Lost Baggage Protection
Citi does not provide details of the travel protection benefits to non-cardholders. The details of the protection benefits will be provided with the Guide to Benefits you receive with your card.
Travel protections on the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®
If you’re looking for travel insurance protections on an American Airlines credit card and don’t want to jump to the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®, the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® has the best benefits. Here’s what the card offers.
- Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection can reimburse you for pre-paid travel expenses if your travel is interrupted for one of several covered reasons, including injury, severe weather, military orders, jury duty, and physician-imposed quarantine. You can receive payment for pre-paid, nonrefundable travel expenses like tours, hotels stays, resort accommodations, flights, and other travel by common carrier. Coverage is up to $5,000 per covered trip and $10,000 per eligible account, per 12 months.
- Baggage Delay Insurance reimburses you for up to $100 per day for up to 3 days to pay for essential items. Essential items are generally considered items like toiletries, phone chargers, and essential clothing that you might need to buy if you don’t have access to your luggage.
- MasterRental Car Insurance covers physical damage to or theft of a rental vehicle when you charge the rental to your card. The coverage provided by this card is secondary coverage.
Other benefits of the American Airlines credit cards
Unfortunately, the American Airlines credit cards are fairly stingy when it comes to other benefits. None of the cards appear to offer any sort of purchase protection, extended warranty, or return protection benefits.
Our take: What we think of the American Airlines credit cards
What do we think of the American Airlines credit cards? Here’s our overall take on the lineup of American Airlines credit cards.
We like that the cards are simple products with low annual fees and offer a generous lounge access benefit at an affordable price:
- Lounge access. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® offers the cheapest way to buy a membership to the Admirals Club. This card’s benefit is worlds more generous than the limited number of lounge visits you’ll get with Delta’s most premium credit cards. The fact that you can access the Admirals Club® when flying on any airline means American’s offering also beats what you can get with a United credit card.
- Simple products with low annual fees. Our biggest criticism of the Delta credit cards is that the cards have generally higher annual fees, coupled with myriad statement credits. Needing to track and shift spending around to capture multiple statement credits creates a hassle that we just don’t need in our lives. In contrast, the American Airlines credit cards are simpler and have lower annual fees.
What disappoints us is the overall lack of benefits and mediocre points earnings of the cards:
- Lack of consumer insurance benefits. None of the credit cards appear to offer any sort of consumer insurance benefits like extended warranty or purchase protection. This is particularly disappointing when these benefits are common on cards with no annual fee.
- Limited travel insurance benefits. You can get much better travel insurance benefits on a premium travel credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Capital One Venture X than you will with the American Airlines credit cards. This means you have to choose between earning airline miles and loyalty points or getting good travel insurance protections.
- Mediocre point earnings. This is a common criticism we have about most airline cards, but the American Airlines cards are particularly stingy when it comes to earning miles. As a point of comparison, the United and Delta offer more miles in more categories on their lower-tier cards.
What to look for in an airline credit card
When you get an airline credit card, you’re essentially buying a subscription to a suite of benefits, most of which are related to flying on the airline. Here are some of the benefits you can get with American Airlines credit cards:
- Free checked bags
- Admirals Club membership
- Earning loyalty points toward frequent flyer status with American Airlines
Don’t use an airline card for spending.
Airline credit cards typically offer lower rewards for spending than other cards, making airline cards a poor choice to use for most purchases. Even if you want to use a card for spending to achieve a higher level of elite status, understand that using an airline card for purchases has an opportunity cost—you usually could be earning more rewards with another card.
A few notes on applying for Citi credit cards
- Citi has limits on the number of applications you can submit. You can only apply for one personal card every eight days and no more than two cards every rolling 65 days. Business cards are subject to the same eight-day limitation, but you can apply for no more than one business card every 95 days.
- You can get a new customer welcome bonus on Citi cards multiple times, but Citi has rules on how often you can earn a welcome bonus.
- ThankYou Point welcome offers are typically not available if you’ve received a new account bonus on the same card in the past 48 months.
- Welcome bonuses on AAdvantage cards are only available if you have not received a welcome bonus for the same card within the past 48 months.
- There is no limit to the number of Citi cards you can hold.
- You can check your application status on the Citi website or by calling 1-866-606-2787.
Upcoming changes to the cards: Citi to become the sole issuer
As reported by Frequent Miler and others, American Airlines and Citi have announced that Citi will become the exclusive issuer of American Airlines AAdvantage credit cards starting in 2026. Frequent miler also mentions that Citi is both acquiring the Barclays AAdvantage card portfolio, meaning that Barclays cardholders can expect to have their American credit cards converted to Citi cards at some point in the future.
The biggest potential upside of this move is that, with Citi as the sole AAdvantage partner, ThankYou Points® might become transferable to American Airlines at some point in the future. This would be a welcome development and would dramatically increase the usability of ThankYou Points.
Frequently asked questions
Which bank partners with American Airlines?
American Airlines partners with both Citibank and Barclays to issue its cobranded credit cards.
How many miles do I need for a free flight on American Airlines?
American Airlines prices its award flights based on a combination of the published ticket price and seat availability. Generally, the higher the cash price of a ticket, the more expensive the same flight will be in terms of miles. We’ve seen American Airlines flights price out as low as 7,500 miles.
Can I redeem AA miles for cash?
Airline miles typically cannot be redeemed for cash. American Airlines miles cannot be redeemed for cash back.
