In our last podcast, Loyalty Program Changing Fortunes, Nick and I discussed how we were loving the fact that we bought over 1 million AA miles each when it was briefly possible to do so for less than half a cent each in December of 2021. We both wish we had bought even more. AA miles became more valuable than ever when AA removed award cancellation and change fees. And even though they’ve taken away the award chart for flying AA itself, the partner award chart remains and it can offer fantastic value. Personally, I’ve used AA miles recently towards great value booking Japan Airlines business class, Qantas business class, Qatar QSuites business class, British Airways business class (on a route with low surcharges), and Etihad first class. In most of those cases, I probably wouldn’t have booked the flights at all if I didn’t have a big stash of American Airlines miles, or if cancelling wasn’t free.
The problem is that there are no longer any great ways to buy large numbers of AA miles cheaply. The best alternative is to earn miles from credit card welcome bonuses and through spend. But there are lots of AA credit cards on the market. Which are worth getting? Which is best overall? See my subjective answers, below.
Overview
- Issued by Mastercard
- 25% inflight food and beverage discount (except the Silver card which offers $25 back per day)
- Earn 1 AA Loyalty Point per dollar spent (details about Loyalty Points can be found in the Elite Status section of our AA guide).
- No foreign transaction fees
- Free first checked bag and preferred boarding for you plus multiple companions on the same ticket
| Card | Annual Fee | Bonus Categories | Additional Perks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citi AAdvantage MileUp Card | $0 | 2X AA, Grocery | None |
| Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select | $99 | 2X AA, Gas, Dining | $125 AA Flight Discount with $20K membership year spend |
| Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red | $99 | 2X AA | $99 + tax domestic companion certificate after $20K membership year spend; $25 annual inflight Wifi Credit; |
| Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver | $195 | 3X AA, 2X Hotel, Car rental | $25 per day inflight food and beverage credit; $50 annual inflight Wifi credit; Companion certificate good for 2 guests at $99 each (plus taxes and fees) after $20K membership year spend. Up to 15K bonus Loyalty Points: 5K at $20K spend, 5K at $40K spend, and 5K at $50K spend during the status qualification period; $100 Global Entry application fee credit |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive | $595 | 4X or 5X AA, 10X via AA.com/Hotels and AA.com/Cars | Admirals Club membership; 10K Loyalty Points when reaching 50K Loyalty Points during the status qualification period and another 10K when reaching 90K; Up to $120 Avis/Budget rebate per calendar year; Up to $10/Month Grubhub rebate; $100 Global Entry application fee credit |
| CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select | $99 | 2X AA, Gas, Telecom, Car rental | $99 plus taxes domestic companion certificate after $30K membership year spend |
| Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business | $95 | 2X AA, Office supply, Telecom, Car rental | $99 plus taxes domestic companion certificate after $30K membership year spend. Earn 5% AAdvantage mileage bonus each anniversary. |
Best Welcome Bonus
Welcome bonus details change regularly. Rather than a written analysis of the best offer available right now, you’ll find below a list of current offers sorted from best to worst according to our First Year Value formula. Note that the Aviator Silver card isn’t listed because the only way to get that card is to upgrade from the Aviator Red card.
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
75K miles ⓘ Non-Affiliate 75K miles after $5K spend in first 5 months$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99 Alternate Offer: There is an alternative offer of 30K + $400 credit that can be found when doing a dummy booking on aa.com. 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: This card usually has a great welcome bonus, but if you're looking for a card to keep long term, you'll find better options. Earning rate: ✦ 2X AA ✦ 2X certain telecommunications merchants ✦ 2X car rental merchants ✦ 2X gas Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Earn $99 plus taxes domestic companion certificate after $30K spend Noteworthy perks: ✦ First checked bag free ✦ Priority Boarding ✦ Save 25% on inflight purchases |
70K Miles ⓘ Non-Affiliate 70K miles after 1st purchase and paying the annual fee within 90 days $99 Annual Fee Recent better offer: Up to 75K: 60K miles after first purchase and 15K after adding an authorized user and making one purchase on that card [Expired 2/24/24] Earning rate: 2X AA ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Earn $99 + tax domestic companion certificate with $20K membership year spend. Noteworthy perks: First checked bag free ✦ Preferred boarding for the primary cardmember and up to 4 companions traveling on the same reservation ✦ 25% off in-flight purchases ✦ $25 wifi credit per membership year ✦ Flight cents: round up purchases to earn more miles |
50K Miles ⓘ Non-Affiliate 50K miles after $2,500 spend in first 3 months $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99 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. Recent better offer: 75K miles after $3,500 spend in 3 months (ended 10/14/24) FM Mini Review: Excellent choice for a great intro bonus. Plus it offers the usual collection of perks for flying AA (free checked bag, priority boarding, etc.) Earning rate: 2X restaurants ✦ 2X gas ✦ 2X AA Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: $125 AA Flight Discount with $20K membership year spend Noteworthy perks: ✦ First checked bag free ✦ Priority Boarding ✦ Save 25% on inflight food and beverage purchases |
75K miles ⓘ Non-Affiliate 75K miles after $7,500 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 |
15K miles ⓘ Non-Affiliate Earn 15K AA miles after $500 spend in 3 monthsNo Annual Fee FM Mini Review: Not bad for grocery spend if you highly value AA miles Earning rate: 2X grocery ✦ 2X AA ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Save 25% on inflight food and beverage purchases |
About Elite Status and Loyalty Points
Since many of the benefits of AA credit cards now have to do with the ability to earn Loyalty Points from spend, I thought it would be helpful to summarize the benefits you can earn from Loyalty Points. Each of the following are based on the number of Loyalty Points earned from March through February each year.
| AAdvantage elite status | Gold | Platinum | Platinum Pro | Executive Platinum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loyalty Points Required | 40K | 75K | 125K | 200K |
| Mileage Bonus | 40% | 60% | 80% | 120% |
| Preferred Seating | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Main Cabin Extra Seating | Upgrade at Check In | Y | Y | Y |
| Domestic First Class Upgrade | 24 hour window | 48 hour window | 72 hour window | 100 hour window |
| Upgrade on Alaska Airlines | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Free checked bags | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| OneWorld Status | Ruby: Access to biz class check-in, preferred seating | Sapphire: Access to OneWorld Business Class lounges | Emerald: Access to OneWorld First and Business Class lounges | |
In addition to earning elite status from Loyalty Points, the following benefits can be earned at various spend-tiers:
| Loyalty Points Earned | Loyalty Point Rewards |
|---|---|
| 15K | Automatic Benefit: Group 5 Boarding Choose 1: • Priority privileges & Group 4 boarding for a trip • 5 Preferred seat coupons • 1,000 Loyalty Points |
| 40K | Automatic Benefit: AAdvantage Gold Status |
| 60K | Automatic Benefits: • 20% Loyalty Point Bonus (AA Vacations, SimplyMiles, AAdvantage eShopping, AAdvantage Dining, and AA Hotels) • Avis Preferred Plus |
| 75K | Automatic Benefit: AAdvantage Platinum Status |
| 100K | Automatic Benefits: • 30% Loyalty Point Bonus (AA Vacations, SimplyMiles, AAdvantage eShopping, AAdvantage Dining, and AA Hotels) • Avis President's Club |
| 125K | Automatic Benefit: AAdvantage Platinum Pro Status |
| 175K | Choose 1: • 2 systemwide upgrades • 20K bonus AA miles (25K w/ AA credit card) • 6 Admirals Club One-Day Passes • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • $250 donation to select nonprofit organization • 15% award rebate • 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status • 35K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience • 5,000 Loyalty Points |
| 200K | Automatic Benefit: AAdvantage Executive Platinum Status |
| 250K | Choose 2: • 2 systemwide upgrades • 20K bonus AA miles (30K w/ AA credit card) • 6 Admirals Club One-Day Passes • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • $250 donation to select nonprofit organization • 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices) • 1 Flagship lounge single visit pass (2 passes w/ AA credit card) • 35K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience • 15,000 Loyalty Points |
| 400K | Choose 2: • 1 systemwide upgrade • 25K bonus AA miles • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices) • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices) • 2 Flagship® Lounge Single Visit Passes • 1 Flagship First Dining pass • 40K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience |
| 550K | Choose 2: • 1 systemwide upgrade • 25K bonus AA miles • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices) • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices) • 2 Flagship lounge single visit passes • 1 Flagship First Dining pass • 40K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience |
| 750K | Choose 2: • 1 systemwide upgrade • 25K bonus AA miles • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices) • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices) • 2 Flagship lounge single visit passes • 1 Flagship First Dining pass • 40K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience |
| 1M | Choose 1: • 4 systemwide upgrades • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum Pro status • Up to 100K miles back on award redemptions • 150K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience |
| 3M | Choose 1: • 6 systemwide upgrades • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status • Up to 300K miles back on award redemptions • 350K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience |
| 5M | Choose 1: • 10 systemwide upgrades • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status • Up to 500K miles back on award redemptions • 550K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience |
Best for Earning Miles and Loyalty Points
If your primary goal is to earn redeemable miles and Loyalty Points, then these are my recommendations:
- If you spend big at grocery stores, the Citi AAdvantage MileUp Card is your best pick. This one has no annual fee and it offers two redeemable points per dollar at grocery stores. Even though you’ll still only earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar at grocery stores, the redeemable points have value too and so this is the most rewarding and least costly card for earning Loyalty Points through grocery spend.
- If you spend big at gas stations, the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select and the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select each cost $99 per year and each offer 2 redeemable points per dollar at gas stations. Even though you’ll still only earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar at gas stations, the redeemable points have value too and so these are the most rewarding cards for earning Loyalty Points through gas station spend.
- If you spend a lot in general, but not necessarily within bonus categories, the $195 Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver is your best option. This one offers 5K bonus Loyalty Points when you reach each of these spend thresholds during the status qualification period (March through February): $20K spend, $40K spend, $50K spend. If you spend $20K within your membership year, you’ll also get a companion certificate good for 2 guests at $99 each (plus taxes and fees). That can be a valuable extra perk. If you spend exactly $20K or exactly $40K on the card during the status qualification period, then your Loyalty Point earning rate will average 1.25 per dollar. If you spend exactly $50K, your earning rates will average 1.3 per dollar.
Bilt Alternative
If you just want to earn redeemable AA miles from spend and you don’t care about earning Loyalty Points at all, your best bet is not an AA card at all. Instead, go for the fee-free Bilt card which offers 3x for dining, 2x for travel, and 1x for rent payments (even if your landlord only takes checks, Venmo, or ACH payments). Points earned with Bilt can be transferred 1 to 1 to American Airlines and a number of other valuable partners, including Hyatt.
Best Perks
The $450 Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive card, and the $195 Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver card offer the best perks, but they’re very different.
The $450 Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive card gives you Admirals Club membership, and you can add up to 10 free authorized users who will also get Admirals Club access. If you fly American Airlines often and you don’t have access to other airport lounges, this card is easily worth its price for lounge access alone.
Meanwhile, the $195 Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver card offers $25 per day inflight food and beverage credit and $50 annual inflight Wifi credit. If you tend to buy food and/or drinks on flights, the food credit alone could easily make this card a keeper. The Wifi benefit is a bit less exciting since AA has been trialing free ad-supported wifi on many of their jets. With $20K membership year spend, this card also offers a domestic companion certificate good for 2 guests at $99 each plus taxes and fees. With airfare prices these days going through the roof, this benefit alone could be huge.
Overall, the Aviator Silver card has perks that can save you money whereas the Executive card gives you a bit of luxury (lounge access). I can’t really say then which is better since they’re so different. I could even imagine some frequent flyers keeping both cards.
Best Overall
My pick for the best American Airlines card is the $195 Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver card. It offers a combination of credits and a companion ticket that can easily make up for the card’s annual fee and it offers the best path towards earning Loyalty Points with high spend. The only problem with this card is that you can’t apply for it. In order to get this card, it’s necessary to sign up first for the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red card. You can later request and upgrade to the Silver card.
Depending upon your situation, though, other cards may be better picks…
- If you value Admirals Club access, the Executive card is a winner, especially if you add family members as authorized users. That way, with just one $450 annual fee, you can give lounge access to up to 10 people besides yourself.
- If you just want free checked bags and priority boarding, go for any one of the $95 or $99 cards listed earlier in this post. If you think that you may spend $20,000 per year on the card, the best choice for many is the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card since it offers a $125 AA Flight Discount with $20K membership year spend, and that discount has very few limitations. The other $95/$99 cards offer companion tickets with $20K or $30K spend. Those companion tickets could be worth much more than $125, but they have many restrictions. They can only be used for domestic economy round-trip flights.
- If you just want to earn miles and Loyalty Points for grocery store spend, the fee-free MileUp card is your best choice.
- If you just want to earn redeemable miles and you don’t care about Loyalty Points, go for the Bilt card instead.
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The Bilt section in this post should be deleted. As noted below, AA hasn’t been an option for a few months.
Great article, only comment is that the Bilt relationship with American Airlines ends in June 2024.
For the Citi AA Platinum Select, they say 2x on gas stations, but it includes automotive services. I earned it at mechanic’s shop for maintenance and repairs more than once. (Of course you could use some 2x everywhere card.)
Greg, I believe there is a bug in this article. In your first table when the site is loading you can seen the credit card names, but once the site finishes loading there is only a blue box under Card.
I don’t see that issue. Does it still appear that way to you?
Yes, if you highlight the text you can see the credit card names.
Another Data Point, I see the same thing as Nate.
This is fixed now. Thanks for alerting us!
ISSUED BY MasterCard? Since when did Visa or MasterCard become card issuers?? Correct terms/descriptions: MasterCard networks or Visa networks.
Access to OW Biz class lounges for domestic US flights? WRONG. Go read AA T&C
Can I get more than one? Red flags for doing this?
no issues getting more than one aa card – only issues in past with people abusing rules and getting like dozens of the same aa cards using other ppl’s targeted mailer codes
I have the executive card and have enjoyed the admirals club benefit as I live on the west coast and fly out of Seattle with a lot of Alaska lounges.
However, I got a family memeber the card as an authorized user and it did not come with admirals club. The terms for the card says only the main card holder gets admirals Club, the authorized users get access to just american lounges, not actually admirals club.
That was disappointing, I would be curious if anyone else has been able to get real admirals club for authorized users?
Thanks
That’s true that AUs get club access not membership, but isn’t access to the club the whole reason to get membership anyway? What extra perks do you get as a member?
Most of the airports I fly out of don’t have Admirals club lounges, but with the partnership between American and Alaska, Alaska lounges allow admirals club members in.
I guess in reading here and elsewhere I misunderstood the AU’s as getting club membership vs club access.
Not having admirals club membership means you don’t get into Alaska which is what I was hoping to do with my family member.
Thanks!
That makes sense!
Is Nick on his way out the door?
Not at all. I was scheduled to be on vacation this week. That didn’t exactly work out as planned, but that’s another story. I’m not going anywhere (both this week and long-term).
Glad to hear that. With that being said , maybe it’s time for a post about “when things don’t go as planned”. Sounds like you had an amazing experience planned but had to settle for an extended stay in Vegas.
I too, recently had plans that were upended due to a once in a thousand year rain event at the FLL airport that shut down the airport due to flooding. Travel insurance helped take away some of the pain covering costs for hotel and food expenses.
On another trip in the state of Wasington, a deer decided to run directly into the side of my car, causing almost 5 thousand dollars worth of damage. THANK GOD for the Chase Sappire, which covered the damages, and I wasn’t required to notify my car insurance provider which save an untold amount on my insurance premium.
Hope you and your family are all doing better and even though things did’nt go as planned, you still got to spend time together and made a memory, which is the most important thing of all.
Kind regards
Just a note that I’ve seen a number of reports on the Insiders group about people getting turned down for the elevated Platinum Select bonus because their credit is too good (that is, low utilization).
Yes, this exactly for both P2 and I – low utilization of existing credit.
I just wanted to confirm that the Barclays AAadvantage Aviator Silver Card is a fantastic option! For instance, currently I am working on the following offer:
EARN UP TO
27,500 AADVANTAGE® BONUS MILES
As a valued AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver World Elite Mastercard® cardmember, you can earn up to 27,500 AAdvantage® bonus miles until 6/30/2023.1.
Here’s how it works1
Spend $10,000 or more in April, earn 8,500 miles
Spend $10,000 or more in May, earn 8,500 miles
Spend $10,000 or more in June, earn 8,500 miles
Earn an additional 2,000 miles when you spend $10,000 in all 3 months!
How do you get bonus offers on this card? Do I need to spend more? Spend less?
Actually, the annual fee that I pay for the Barclays AAadvantage Aviator Silver Card is $199. Great post, Greg!
I believe that if you have the Citi/AA money market, you get another 25% bonus on your spend up to the limit.
Citi Miles Ahead Savings, yes, but it requires you to tie up a relatively large chunk of dosh; the 1.25x multiplier only applies if you maintain a minimum $10k balance.
$50k maximum spending limit
Thinking about potential cards for Plastiq to earn points on mortgage payments the Barclays Aviator Silver has come up as an intriguing option to get a pretty good return. If your mortgage is somewhere around $20K/year you can annually end up with 20K AA points, 25K LP thanks to the bonus at $20K spend, and the domestic companion certificate for two guests. If you are flying AA enough to be interested in the points the dining and wifi credits can mostly offset the annual fee. Not as flexible as using a Citi DC card but for those at an AA hub it would be an easy way to get close to AA Gold each year with minimal effort and returns that outpace the 2.9% Plastiq fee (potentially by a lot – the companion certificate for two can easily be worth $600+ on longer domestic flights).
Good idea!
Same logic applies to tax payments, but the cost is lower.
However, those who are flying often enough to be interested in the points may well have Platinum status and so are in MCE seats, at least, with free booze so I’m not sure whether we’d get full value from the F&B credit.
The Barkley’s aviator business card also has
Earn 2X AAdvantage® miles
for every one dollar spent at eligible office supply, telecom and car rental merchants.2
It sure does. Fixing this now.
I have the Aviator Business and the Ink Cash. I hit up Office Depot when they have a sale on VGC and use them at Costco. So I have a little office supply spend but nothing crazy.
I’ve had AA platinum before, and now am gold for 2023. That said, I have enjoyed free MCE at the time of booking, plus complimentary upgrades on some longer flights (including lie flat in a 777 from CLT to LAX).
But I’ve decided for going forward, I’m better off focusing on 5X URs than 2X AA. So I don’t think I’ll push to requalify, meaning I’ll drop to nothingness in Mar 2024, and just hold the card for free bags.
I think it is worth noting that if you spend big on AA flights, the Barclays Silver is the only card that earns 3x AA. Only Amex Platinum (5x) does better without having to go through a travel portal. Earning 2x at hotels is also notable, given that non-branded CC hotel earning is usually 2x (Preferred, Venture X, Spark Miles) or 3x (Reserve, Ink Preferred, Amex Green, Citi Premier). It can earn a lot of loyalty points without having to give up redeemable points.
Good point