Is The American Airlines Executive Card Worth $595 Fee? 10 Reasons To Apply

I feel like there have been several stories regarding this card in the past few months. Not sure why.

Anyhow, my response is the same as those other times: The Platinum card offers 2x miles at gas stations and restaurants all for as lower fee. Individual goals differ, but if the goal is to earn as many miles as possible to redeem for flights, then the Platinum card is the way to go. I guess I'm just a bit frustrated that the higher cost card earns fewer miles. If it even matched the Platinum, I'd go for it. For someone who flies AA a few times annually the Admirals Club membership isn't worth it; indeed, I could buy access as needed and still realize a net savings accounting for the higher card fee. Obviously, the calculation may differ for a more frequent flyer, and the 10x on hotels vs the 8x on my CSR is worth consideration. Still, I think the lower earnings merits at least a mention.

If you travel enough like many more expensive travel cards (annual fee) it's worth it.

This card is a no brainer if you fly AA even just a couple of times a year. The lounge access is essential. If you fly DL and AA for instance, get an Amex Plat and the AA Exec and enjoy your travels that much more.

And as you noted, AA Hotels can often have amazing value. If you book a hotel for $1000 you'd get 10k miles with the card (plus 1k LPs). Plus if you have any status with American you'll get an elevated additional mileage offer with AA Hotels. It's not unusual to be able to get 10-15k extra base points through AA Hotels bookings. Yes you need to price shop the AA Hotel rate versus direct versus other portals, but if you can get 10k miles / 1k LPs with the card and then another 15k miles and LPs with the card, you'd get a total of 25,000 miles and 16,000 LPs on one booking. If you earned 60k LPs and are in the 25% LP bonus? 19,750 LPs. For one stay.

If you value AA miles at 1.5cpp (and I can routinely get that value from AA miles), that's $375 of value. With the (admittedly not overly generous) coupons, card basically pays for itself.

I've said this before, but as a flyer based out of HNL that typically flies AS or HA, the lounge benefit is definitely better than priority pass offerings. I'd be able to access the Admirals Club/Sakura Lounge at HNL, which looks better than the HA Plumeria Lounge. I'd have access to the AS lounges in SEA/SFO/PDX and the Admirals Club lounges at some of these airports as well. I may end up trying to fly AA more from HNL as well.

When CSR fee went up, I decided to cancel and applied for the AA WEMC card since I only travel on AA and AS. This turns out to be a good move for me. Admirals access before departure and, esp. after arrival are great when you're flying red eye and need breakfast before leaving the airport. The up to 20k loyalty points upon reaching certain threshold also helps.

My family pretty much flies AA/OneWorld exclusively and I have this card BUT, I never use it for car rentals or purchasing even American Airlines tickets because IT DOES NOT INCLUDE TRAVEL INSURANCE (as the Chase Sapphire Reserve does) and does not include car rental coverage insurance. In the end, I use the Americanexecutive card for a cheaper AAdmirals Club lounge access and for the extra point.