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Continue reading: The Best Credit Card Offering American Admirals Club Access, And How It Works
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I like having the AA exec card. My gf and I fly 5 to 6 times or more on AA via cheap award tickets and like being able to go into Admirals Clubs during layovers and get some food and drinks in a not super crowded lounge. I have walked into Centurion lounges and turned right around and left because of how crowded they've been.
When I decided a year ago to switch from UA to AA for the bulk of my travel, I did two things immediately: status matched to AA (ExP in my case) and apply for this card. I have been very, very pleased with it and have transferred most of my incidental spending to it along with AA tickets. I easily retained my ExP with the spending in addition to the flights, enough so that I've dumped a lot of my spending on to my Atmos card to try to get bonus miles until the year cycles on March 1st. Having ORD as my home airport gives me three Admirals' Clubs to patronize, which is convenient. In other words, nothing but positive experiences.
Would you still be able to get lounge access if flying a oneworld partner and crediting your miles for that flight to that oneworld partner or a different oneworld partner? If you can, would you just show your credit card to gain access?
Yes, I’ve gone into Admirals Clubs with my Atmos # attached to my boarding pass. I just hand them my Exec card and I’m good to go. A little bit more effort than when I had my AAdvantage # attached, since they’d just scan the boarding pass (as the primary cardholder) and not require the CC.
Sean Combs? Aren’t you supposed to be at Fort Dix serving 50 months… no Admirals Club for you… no more baby oil either… freak off.
The authorized user deal is not what it once was, but it's still pretty great.
At the Alaska Lounge SFO and the Aspire Lounge at SAN (which is slowly transitioning to an AS Lounge, I don't know if my 2 samples are related), I have always had to present my credit card. This would be with an AA boarding pass that has my AAdvantage number attached.
To go a little deeper....
I used to use miles for my annual Admiral's Club fee. Back then, if anyone asked for a "card", I'd go into the AA app and get the digital Admiral's card. Somewhere along the way, the Admirals card was pulled from the app. I wonder if changing from "paid" membership to a cc membership did that.
I 1st noticed the digital card gone at Aspire SAN when the agent asked for my "card". I could not find the digital one. She eventually said, "oh here it is, it says 'platinum' on you boarding pass, so welcome in". That word 'platinum' was as in Exec Plat, so didn't grant access, but I didn't argue since I knew I had legit access.
Then at AS SFO, the agent also asked my "card". I started playing in the app while telling her that AA no longer displays the digital card. She confirmed my membership was via credit card. When I replied "yes", she said it's the credit card she needed. I handed it to her face up. She turned it over and immediately handed it back saying "welcome in". No swipe (she had already scanned the bp) or nothing. I guess having "Adimiral's Club" printen on the back of the card confirms that I'm the primary card holder ???
TL;DR I always make sure I have my credit card when traveling. When lounge agents ask for the "card". if your membership is via cc, it's the cc they want, not a lounge card.
Where did you read/hear that the Aspire Lounge at SAN will turn into an AS lounge? That would be great news.
It’s been unfortunately a mess with Alaska the past few years.
Of course when it started, if you didn’t have a card and since there was no in-app thing, they just called AA to verify. Easy for the traveller but also a hassle for AA and AS.
A bit later, Alaska lounge reps not only were OK with the “Primary Executive Cardholder” designation in the app, but some lounges were able to just look up your Admiral card access by your FF# on the ticket and let you in.
Now the past few years it has severely regressed to “Just the physical card ONLY” as i’m assuming there were too many shenanigans with people screenshotting the primary cardholder designation.
No idea why they did get rid of integrating their system so the AA# binded to the Admirals Club access could easily be looked up.
Admirals Club membership is the main reason I have this card, but the rest of the bonuses are tremendous. I made Exec Platinum for next year about a month ago through a combination of flying and spending, which is one thing I don't have to sweat in February. Then again, I live in an AA hub, so your mileage may vary.
Positioning this as a 'deal' seems disingenuous. The cost per visit ... you'd have to eat a lot of drinks and snacks to think face value is worth it.
Perhaps a more authentic summary would say AA substantially hiked rates but only moderately improved the offering, and only did so at a limited number of locations. While reasons were offered, it is because they can use their oligopoly-like power to incentivize you to sign up for their credit card. Despite this, it has some appear and you might want to do it anyway.
Question- if my husband adds me as an authorized user and I’m flying with my child (without my husband); can I get my child in with me? Or would they just let me in but restrict/reject my child (we had this happen in London where they admitted my husband + 1 to the “sister” lounge, but the other two pax were not allowed.
Thank you for your answer-
@ Kate -- Yep, if you're an authorized user you can bring in two guests or immediate family (if it's more than two), even if you're not traveling with the primary cardmember. 🙂
This year, I have flown or will fly (based on current reservations) on 55 individual segments. Of those, 42 are or will be on Alaska (76.4%), 6 on American (10.9%), 3 on ITA (5.5%, and 2 each (3.6% each) on BA and AeroMéxico. With those numbers -- and for me (YMMV) -- the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is a no brainer. Not only is the AF considerably less than the *old* Admirals Club annual membership, but it's FAR LESS than the new fee. It's also less than an Alaska Lounge+ membership. For this alone, I carry the card.
Other than that, I put minimal spend on the card. Even though I get 4x on American Airlines tickets, the Citi Prestige card gives me 5x and is a better deal.