Link: Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
We’re currently seeing a limited time welcome bonus on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®, which is the best offer that we’ve seen on the card in quite some time. This is a genuinely rewarding card, which offers lounge access, bonus Loyalty Points, and much more.
In this post, I’d like to recap the details of this offer, as it’s anyone’s guess how much longer this promotion sticks around.
In this post:
Earn 100K AAdvantage miles with the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card
The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is offering a limited time welcome bonus of 100,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $10,000 within the first three months. Previously the bonus was for 70,000 AAdvantage miles, so this is significantly better.
Personally, I value AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each, so to me that bonus is worth $1,500. There are some incredible uses of American AAdvantage miles, so you can redeem this for experiences like Etihad’s A350 business class or Qatar Airways’ 777 business class.
Also keep in mind that any spending on the card will qualify for Loyalty Points (helping you earn elite status, including Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, or Executive Platinum), though the welcome bonus as such won’t. Upon completing minimum spending, you’d earn a minimum of 10,000 Loyalty Points.
Citi AAdvantage Executive Card eligibility requirements
If you’re interested in applying for the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card, the typical Citi credit card application restrictions apply, including that you can be approved for at most one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days.
On top of that, the bonus isn’t available to those who have received a new account bonus on this exact card in the past 48 months. Eligibility is unrelated to having any other American Airlines credit card, so you’re eligible for this card even if you have other products, like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (review).
Read my guide to Citi AAdvantage Executive Card approval.
Why the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is worth it
The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card has a $595 annual fee (you can receive a $145 discount if you’re a Citigold client), though it offers a bunch of perks that can help offset that. For one, this is the best card for accessing American Admirals Clubs:
- The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember
- The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers Admirals Club access for authorized users; you can add up to three authorized users for a total of $175 (so potentially under $60 each), and then beyond that it’s $175 per authorized user
What’s the difference between the Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember and Admirals Club access for authorized users? Well, the member can access some partner lounges, like Alaska Lounges, while the authorized users can’t.
Regardless, the primary cardmember and authorized users are each able to bring two guests or their immediate family into Admirals Clubs when flying American or an eligible partner airline on the same day.
On top of that, the card offers a variety of other perks, including:
- A first checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for the primary cardmember and up to eight companions on the same reservation
- Priority check-in, priority security, and early boarding, when flying American Airlines
- Up to 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year, unrelated to spending on the card — if you earn 50,000 Loyalty Points with AAdvantage you’ll receive 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points, and if you earn 90,000 Loyalty Points you’ll receive another 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points
- Up to $120 back on eligible Avis or Budget rentals every calendar year, which can even be used toward a single rental
- Up to $120 back on eligible Grubhub purchases every year, in the form of up to a $10 statement credit with each billing statement
- Up to $120 in Lyft credits every year, in the form of up to a $10 credit each month after making three eligible rides
- A Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit of up to $120 every four years, as reimbursement for the application fee
- Travel protection, including for trip cancellation and interruption, trip delay, lost baggage, and worldwide rental cars
- 10x AAdvantage miles on eligible rental cars booked through aa.com/cars, and eligible hotels booked through aa.com/hotels
Read a detailed review of the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card.
Bottom line
The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card has a limited time welcome bonus of 100,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $10,000 within the first three months. While the bonus is great (and I value it at $1,500), there are lots of reasons beyond the miles that you might want to keep the card.
The card’s $595 annual fee is less than you’d otherwise pay for an Admirals Club membership. You can then add up to three authorized users at a reasonable cost, and take advantage of all kinds of other perks, ranging from up to $360 worth of credits, to 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year.
If this card has been on your radar but you haven’t yet picked it up, this would be a fantastic time to apply. This card has been in my wallet for years.
Anyone plan to pick up the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card with 100K miles?
Considering this card but the AF is quite steep given I have quite a few lounge passes etc for other airlines and even some for AA. The signup bonus is interesting though. In terms of the grubhub and lyft credits can they be paired with other credits? For example can I stack this $10 with the grubhub credit on my amex gold card? Do I need to use this card for the lyft/grubhub when redeeming...
Considering this card but the AF is quite steep given I have quite a few lounge passes etc for other airlines and even some for AA. The signup bonus is interesting though. In terms of the grubhub and lyft credits can they be paired with other credits? For example can I stack this $10 with the grubhub credit on my amex gold card? Do I need to use this card for the lyft/grubhub when redeeming the credit? Actually for the lyft credit do you have to make three rides EVERY month to get the $10 credit or just three initial rides in a year? 10k spend in three months is a bit steep given all the other spend opportunities I'd have to forego. I love earning miles but the more I think about it the more I think this card may be a pass since I'm not going to get a ton out of the Admirals Club membership which seems to be the primary selling point.
Ben, you go to great lengths to answer questions on this article, however, the questions asked on your “7 credit cards” article remain unanswered …. Why are those ‘can of worms’ questions going unanswered?
Just got an ad in the mail for a United business credit card that has a 100,000 mile bonus for $5,000 spend, $150 annual fee. Will look into that later today when I go through the mail.
Maybe another UA / AA battle?
Do Citigold clients get the $145 credit if they also get a $145 credit for the Strata Elite?
@ Rob -- Yep, you can get the credit for multiple cards!
What an awful look for you to be responding to this comment before you address the rampant bigotry flooding the comment section in an earlier post from today.
In this site's ethics section, you write that, "It’s not in my best interest to separate myself from my brand." Today is a stark lesson in what this brand and you, its owner, care about.
@ Ben L. -- That has been dealt with as well, the two aren't mutually exclusive. I'm sorry for the delay. I was out with my son for soccer. It's easy to respond to one comment on my phone, but it's not so easy to delete a bunch of comments and moderate things on my phone, so I saved it for when I got back home.
I appreciate the response here, and I also appreciate your removal of his worst comments on that thread.
That said, I still find your handling of this incident to be below the standards I'd hope to see at OMAAT. In brief:
-From personal experience, I can appreciate how moderation tools are limited when one isn't at their computer. I can also appreciate how a situation sometimes blows up while a moderator is away living...
I appreciate the response here, and I also appreciate your removal of his worst comments on that thread.
That said, I still find your handling of this incident to be below the standards I'd hope to see at OMAAT. In brief:
-From personal experience, I can appreciate how moderation tools are limited when one isn't at their computer. I can also appreciate how a situation sometimes blows up while a moderator is away living some other part of their life for several hours. That said, I find the "at soccer" excuse to be a weak one. The bigoted comments were posted several hours before you posted your response to Rob above. You don't necessarily owe any of us an accounting of your time. Nevertheless, it is still a bad look for your first dip into the day's comment sections to be a response to a credit card feature question when another post is in full meltdown mode.
-It is not clear whether you have banned that poster or simply removed their offending comments from that post. If the latter, you have chosen to allow for the very real possibility that the same poster engages in the same bigotry on OMAAT. It would also be a tacit signal to other bigots that they can get away with a certain amount of bad behavior. If you *have* banned that poster, why not say so and signal to the community what the community standards of conduct are?
All told, this has been one of the most negatively polarizing experiences I've had on the site in a dozen years of reading. I'm not ready to cut bait yet. But when a Diamond commenter feels comfortable enough to spout incredibly vile hatred on the site and the response is slow and tepid...it's gonna take a while for me to rebuild my confidence that this is a community I want to be part of in the long-term. Hopefully both the incident and the response were one-offs and things will be better in the future.
As always, I appreciate you reading and engaging with the community. I'll make this my final comment on this post here so as not to further clog it, though of course I'd be happy to read any response you choose to post.
Take care.
@ Ben L. -- I hear you and I appreciate the feedback, and I agree I should've done better. To add some context...
-- I made it so that comments from that poster are moderated for some time, and require pre-approval before they post, to avoid more comments like this
-- Yes, the comments were posted a few hours earlier, and quite frankly, I hadn't seen them prior to that; when I'm writing,...
@ Ben L. -- I hear you and I appreciate the feedback, and I agree I should've done better. To add some context...
-- I made it so that comments from that poster are moderated for some time, and require pre-approval before they post, to avoid more comments like this
-- Yes, the comments were posted a few hours earlier, and quite frankly, I hadn't seen them prior to that; when I'm writing, I tend to stay focused on that, and then I have other times where I go through all the comments, so that I'm not constantly bouncing around
But I will try to do a better job of preventing those things from being up as long as they are. All I can try to do is improve going forward...