Earning American AAdvantage Elite Status With Credit Card Spending: Worth It?

Earning American AAdvantage Elite Status With Credit Card Spending: Worth It?

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With the American AAdvantage program’s Loyalty Points system, elite status is no longer based on how much you fly, but rather based on how many eligible points you rack up. One of the interesting opportunities here is to earn AAdvantage elite status exclusively through credit card spending.

In this post I wanted to do some number crunching on the value proposition of that, and answer some of the most common questions. Should you put spending on your American Airlines credit card? American AAdvantage’s 2024 elite year has just kicked off, so I figured it’s worth taking an updated look at this.

Credit card spending counts toward AAdvantage elite status

With the American AAdvantage Loyalty Points system, you can earn elite status by racking up the following number of Loyalty Points in the 2024 program year:

Rather than following a traditional calendar year, the Loyalty Points program runs from the beginning of March until the end of February of the following year. That means the 2024 program year runs from March 1, 2024, until February 28, 2025.

Long story short, you earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent on an eligible co-branded Barclays or Citi American Airlines credit card. Welcome bonuses, spending bonuses, and other promotional bonuses, don’t count as Loyalty Points, for these purposes. In other words, if a card offers double AAdvantage miles for a flight purchase, you’d still only earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent.

This means you could earn Gold status by spending $40,000 on a credit card, or you could earn Executive Platinum status by spending $200,000 on a credit card.

Credit card spending counts toward AAdvantage elite status

Which American Airlines credit cards earn Loyalty Points?

The following co-branded Barclays and Citi American Airlines credit cards earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent:

On top of that, the following card earns one Loyalty Point for every two dollars spent:

  • AAdvantage Aviator Mastercard

It’s also worth noting that there are some opportunities to earn Loyalty Points at an accelerated rate with credit cards:

  • For the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®, you can earn up to 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year without any spending requirement — earn 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points after reaching 50,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year, and earn another 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points after reaching 90,000 Loyalty Points in the same status qualification year
  • For the AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard, you can earn up to 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points based on eligible purchases — earn 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend $20,000, earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend a total of $40,000, earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend a total of $50,000

Note that cardmembers earn Loyalty Points based on when a purchase posts to their statement, rather than based on when the statement closes, in case you’re making some purchases toward the end of the AAdvantage membership year.

Many AAdvantage credit cards can help you earn status

The opportunity cost of American Airlines credit card spending

Some people are saying “well now a bunch of people are just going to spend $200,000 on their credit card to earn Executive Platinum status.” That’s absolutely true, and that’s why I think this program is brilliant from American’s perspective — people are spending on co-branded American Airlines credit cards like never before.

That being said, for many savvy travelers, I think the math mostly only checks out here at the margins. Based on my valuation of points:

Assuming you’re spending in a non-bonused category (which would generally have the lowest opportunity cost, compared to dining, groceries, or gas, for example):

  • You could be earning 1x AAdvantage miles per dollar spent, which I value at a 1.5% return
  • You could be earning up to 2x transferable points on some other cards, which I value at a 3.4% return

Specifically, you could earn 2x transferable points with the following cards:

Now, people may have different valuations of points currencies, and that’s fine, as you can adjust the math accordingly. But by my math, the opportunity cost of using a co-branded American Airlines credit card is ~1.9%. In other words:

  • Spending $200,000 on an American Airlines credit card would “cost” me $3,800
  • Is Executive Platinum status (and 200,000 Loyalty Points) worth $3,800?

One further incentive to earn Loyalty Points could be to qualify for Loyalty Point Rewards, which offer perks like systemwide upgrades. However, keep in mind that the Loyalty Point Rewards thresholds aren’t the same as the status thresholds. For example, you unlock Loyalty Point Rewards with valuable perks starting at 175,000 and 250,000 Loyalty Points.

There’s an opportunity cost to AAdvantage credit card spending

A hybrid qualification approach could make sense

On an ongoing basis I couldn’t imagine earning Executive Platinum status exclusively through credit card spending:

  • For the $3,800 opportunity cost, you could pay cash to upgrade to first class on so many flights, rather than gambling with upgrades (and upgrades for Executive Platinum members are far from a sure bet)
  • If you’re earning status entirely through credit card spending, one has to wonder how much value you’d actually get out of the status; it’s probably not worth inefficiently spending $200,000 on a credit card so that you can get better treatment on a few trips per year

That being said, at the margins I think there could be value in spending money on an American Airlines credit card. For example, say you fly a couple of dozen segments per year with American Airlines anyway (which is probably the lower limit of where it’s even worth going out of your way to earn top tier status).

If you usually book fairly inexpensive fares, you might otherwise earn 100,000 Loyalty Points. At that point I think it could be worth putting some spending on credit cards to earn (or maintain) Executive Platinum status. That’s especially true if you could earn 250,000 Loyalty Points.

If you were to earn 250,000 Loyalty Points, you’d be able to select valuable Loyalty Point Rewards that cumulatively could include four systemwide upgrades or 55,000 AAdvantage bonus miles. The value of that could really add up.

I think an argument could also be made for spending your way to Platinum Pro status. That’s because this status also offers oneworld Emerald, which is my favorite alliance-wide elite tier. This offers amazing lounge access and other reciprocal perks across oneworld airlines.

Status is more valuable if you can earn Loyalty Point Rewards

My strategy with the Loyalty Points system

I think the Loyalty Points system is genius, though it’s challenging me, as someone who likes to maximize value. For the past couple of years I’ve requalified for Executive Platinum status, just barely squeaking by with 200,000 Loyalty Points.

I earned a bit more than half of those Loyalty Points from flying, and a bit under half of those Loyalty Points from credit cards (including the 20,000 Loyalty Points boost on my premium American card).

Here’s how I rationalize this:

  • Living in Miami, I fly American a fair amount, given that the carrier has a dominant presence there
  • I earn somewhere around 125,000 Loyalty Points through my “natural” American flying
  • By getting to 175,000 Loyalty Points, I can unlock two systemwide upgrades, which bring me some value, even if it’s just for confirming domestic upgrades
  • Incrementally I figure it’s worth going for Executive Platinum, though honestly I’m not sure I have a great way of rationalizing that, given how tough upgrades have become
  • I keep trying to focus on earning Loyalty Points through non-flying means other than credit card spending, like using AAdvantage Dining, AAdvantage SimplyMiles, AAdvantage eShopping, earning miles through the AAdvantage & World of Hyatt partnership, etc.
There can be value to earning status with credit card spending

Is earning elite status with credit card spending unfair?

I’ve seen comments from some along the lines of “I’m a road warrior, and it’s not fair that I have to compete for upgrades with people who never fly American Airlines.” I have to strongly disagree with this logic, and I say that as someone who doesn’t like this system for my own travel patterns:

  • If someone doesn’t actually fly American Airlines often but earns the same elite tier as you, they won’t pose much competition for upgrades
  • For example, say someone earns Executive Platinum status with credit card spending, and flies just 20,000 miles per year on the airline; it would take 10 of these kinds of travelers to pose the same level of competition for upgrades as a single Executive Platinum member who earns the status by flying 200,000 miles per year
  • So even if elite ranks are swelled significantly, the risk to upgrades clearing should be minimal if people aren’t traveling that much

Bigger picture, while I know there’s some contention between those earning status through flying vs. credit card spending, it’s important to acknowledge that credit card agreements are where major US airlines make much of their profits.

American Airlines doesn’t make a whole lot of money flying passengers (in most quarters, the revenue per air seat mile at American isn’t much higher than the cost per air seat mile). Instead the airline makes money on everything else, and particularly from its frequent flyer program and credit card agreements.

Therefore it’s reasonable, if you ask me, that American wants to further incentivize the behavior that’s most profitable.

Upgrade competition from credit card spenders shouldn’t be that big

American Airlines credit card spending FAQs

Since there have been lots of questions about the details of earning Loyalty Points for credit card spending, I figured I’d address some of the most common questions below. In no particular order…

Does American Airlines credit card spending count toward million miler lifetime status?

Nope. Lifetime status is calculated based on the distance flown for American marketed flights, or base miles earned for travel on eligible partner marketed flights. Credit card spending doesn’t count toward that.

Do you need to fly a certain number of segments to earn elite status?

Nope. You can earn both elite status and Loyalty Point Rewards without ever stepping foot on a plane, if you wanted to.

Does American Airlines credit card spending help upgrade odds?

Yes it does. Not only do you earn AAdvantage elite status with credit card spending, but within each elite tier, upgrades are prioritized based on your rolling 12-month total of Loyalty Points. You earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent on an eligible co-branded card, so the more you spend, the higher your upgrade priority will be within your elite tier.

Do you need to use an American Airlines credit card to earn Loyalty Points for a flight?

You don’t, and this seems to cause some confusion. Regardless of which credit card you use, you can earn five Loyalty Points per dollar spent on American Airlines flights (except basic economy fares, which earn two Loyalty Points per dollar).

If you have elite status, you can earn anywhere from 40-120% bonus Loyalty Points, for a total of up to 11 Loyalty Points per dollar spent on American Airlines flights. If you pay with an eligible American Airlines credit card, you can earn one additional Loyalty Point per dollar spent on American Airlines flights.

Understanding Loyalty Points can be confusing

Bottom line

Nowadays American AAdvantage has the Loyalty Points system for earning elite status. With this, you could earn elite status exclusively through credit card spending. The catch is that if you’re a savvy credit card user, there’s potentially a significant opportunity cost to spending money on American Airlines’ co-branded credit cards.

I calculate the opportunity cost of American Airlines credit card spending as being somewhere around 1.9%, though others may have different valuations. That means spending $200,000 on an American credit card would “cost” me $3,800, compared to the best options out there. However, that doesn’t factor in the value of potential Loyalty Point Rewards, like systemwide upgrades or bonus redeemable miles.

While I don’t think it’s worth earning elite status exclusively through credit card spending, I do think a hybrid approach could make sense, whereby you earn it through a combination of flying and spending.

There’s no denying that American’s Loyalty Points system is brilliant. Consumers have greatly increased spending on American Airlines credit cards in order to earn elite status, and that’s extremely profitable behavior for the airline.

Do you earn American AAdvantage Loyalty Points through credit card spending? If so, what’s your strategy?

Conversations (16)
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  1. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

    As a current EXP and AA Loyalist, I think they should do a few things, and SOON:

    ~ Differentiate EXP & PP more.
    ~ Refresh the MillionMiler program
    ~ New Amenity Kits
    ~ Higher LP earnings for EXP members while flying
    ~ More temporary/limited time LP boosts for CC users and ECP members
    ~ Add 2 rows of FC to more planes
    ~ Keep US based call centers, exclusively...

    As a current EXP and AA Loyalist, I think they should do a few things, and SOON:

    ~ Differentiate EXP & PP more.
    ~ Refresh the MillionMiler program
    ~ New Amenity Kits
    ~ Higher LP earnings for EXP members while flying
    ~ More temporary/limited time LP boosts for CC users and ECP members
    ~ Add 2 rows of FC to more planes
    ~ Keep US based call centers, exclusively for EXP/CK's.
    ~ Bring back EXP kits mailed to members
    ~ Have FA's & Gate agents Thank customers for their status
    ~ Add more opportunities for AAdvantage members to buy/earn/use miles to get limited edition AA gear. Like special luggage tags/AA gear/noise canceling headphones/desk items/nice luggage/travel gear/etc. I would take miles for a cool metal tag from a old plane for example.

    Just a humble opinion from a younger AA member that actually earned (and increased) status before, during, and after the pandemic.

  2. ChadMC Guest

    That's extremely generous to value AA miles at 1.5 cents per mile. I personally think you're off. It's more like the norm of 1 cent per mile with some occasional exceptions stretching up to 1.5, and perhaps higher, but those are the exceptions and not the norm. Pricing out any flight segments, doing the math they consistently deliver about 1 cent per mile and many times less than that. AA thinks their miles are worth...

    That's extremely generous to value AA miles at 1.5 cents per mile. I personally think you're off. It's more like the norm of 1 cent per mile with some occasional exceptions stretching up to 1.5, and perhaps higher, but those are the exceptions and not the norm. Pricing out any flight segments, doing the math they consistently deliver about 1 cent per mile and many times less than that. AA thinks their miles are worth 3 cents as that is what they sell them for, but realistically they are no where near that. The best I've personally ever been able to get is just under 2.

    Now, it has to be said that this is pricing against the cash price of a fare and those fares are not going to be refundable the way a mileage redemption is. For that, yes they are quite valuable. I guess if someone is normally always buying fully refundable fares then AA miles present a great value. The realistic restricted fare though I just struggle to see them valued at 1.5 each.

    My own two cents...

  3. Frans Godden Guest

    Earning elite status with just credit card spending is absolutely unfair as it has nothing to do with loyalty to an airline. I live in Belgium, have been flying AA for over 45 years and have earned Executive Platinum Status by racking up miles (plus some status bonuses), not by credit card spending, simply because I can not have an American credit card. I am a 6 million + miler, wondering when AA will do...

    Earning elite status with just credit card spending is absolutely unfair as it has nothing to do with loyalty to an airline. I live in Belgium, have been flying AA for over 45 years and have earned Executive Platinum Status by racking up miles (plus some status bonuses), not by credit card spending, simply because I can not have an American credit card. I am a 6 million + miler, wondering when AA will do the decent thing and award million milers like me lifetime Executive Platinum status like other alliances have done.

  4. Pat Guest

    I only do a couple leisure trips a year. My strategy is to earn as many miles as possible, and redeem them for business class travel. If you're flying in a premium cabin, having elite status largely becomes redundant.

  5. MF Guest

    @ben @everyone - last year, they had bonuses once you reached a certain amount of LP points. For example, once you hit 60k LP points, you get a 20% LP bonus. Hit 90k points and get a 30% LP bonus for 6 months. Is that still this year? Or have they done away with that?

    1. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

      Yes it's still in effect. But the bonus only works on certain partners. Such as Simply Miles, eShopping, AA Dining, and Shell gas fill ups. I remember being surprised that certain things didn't get boosted. It's also only for the exact (to the DAY) 6 months from earning said boost. Mine expired in January and I was sweating it the last month of February as I really missed getting that 30% boost. They should extend it till the end of the qualifying year IMHO.

  6. omatravel Guest

    Nice analysis. As a former road warrior, I can understand the compliants and arguments for/against. I still travel quite a bit for work so the hybrid model works for me, last year the combination of flights and card spend put me at Platinum which for me is an ideal spot (access to everything but 1st class at booking).
    Most of my upgrades last year were buy ups so I appreciate that sometime soon those...

    Nice analysis. As a former road warrior, I can understand the compliants and arguments for/against. I still travel quite a bit for work so the hybrid model works for me, last year the combination of flights and card spend put me at Platinum which for me is an ideal spot (access to everything but 1st class at booking).
    Most of my upgrades last year were buy ups so I appreciate that sometime soon those will also count as loyalty points.
    Outside of CC spend and flights, the ability to earn loyalty points by other means has also focused where I put my spend via shopping portals, dining programs etc. I've also changed my hotel focus from Marriott to Hyatt for a variety of reasons so the earn from that helps as well.
    As you said though the opportunity cost is different, for me I value Citi/Cap1 less because most of my redemptions seem to be through United and there's generally more points value for Hyatt. For me the big opp cost is more about how I have struggled to find good redemptions with AA miles vs UA so it's more sunk for me in that area.
    Honestly though if AA could align their Million Mile to Delta/UA (which both get the 2nd tier status instead of 1st) it might put me over the top on flight decisions.

  7. Bari Guest

    I have been EXP for many years purely based on flying. Road warriors are 100% competing with the CC spenders and I see it all the time. I.E. A person/company is spending $200K per month on AA branded card. Individual is racking up so many systemwide upgrades, they don't know what to do with them. They use them domestically and international. Program has lost its appeal for the road warrior and truly only rewards the CC spenders.

  8. Marc Guest

    This is the decision I am trying to make this year - will I spend to be EP again or move on. I value my spend a little differently than you do as I am not just considering transfer points. On my Sapphire Reserve I can earn 3 pt per $ on the categories I spend most in (same with Amex Gold). The cash value of that is higher for me. I am having a...

    This is the decision I am trying to make this year - will I spend to be EP again or move on. I value my spend a little differently than you do as I am not just considering transfer points. On my Sapphire Reserve I can earn 3 pt per $ on the categories I spend most in (same with Amex Gold). The cash value of that is higher for me. I am having a hard time seeing what EP brings me over Plat Pro. Especially since the only thing I want the points for is premium travel and it never seems to be available at a reasonable point price when I need to travel - As it is I have 2 system wides expiring in 3 weeks.

    1. omatravel Guest

      This is why my rule is to put any bonus spend on Chase and the rest on AA, even though I have cards where the base bonus might be 2x. Honestly anymore I agree that there's less differentiation between EP and PlatPro anymore especially with many of the benes moving into bonus categories that require beyond EP levels of loyalty points.

  9. George Romey Guest

    Yes, they certainly help FFs with attaining status and rolling 12 month spend albeit complimentary upgrades are becoming rarer, particularly for PLTs and GLDs. The spiel given on flights (Barclays) is clearly geared towards people that would get overly excited about the 60K miles bonus they could use to book a ticket to Orlando. And not FFs.

  10. D3kingg Guest

    Since million miler status was mentioned ; you can earn towards million miler status on basic economy fares with American whereas you don’t on Delta nor United.

    Have you considered flying American 80% and United or Delta 20% ? I’m sure you can credit flights to other programs with them and they have something out of MIA. Getting away from American is a breath of fresh air from time to time.

  11. Shawn Guest

    Ben - You’re using fuzzy math similar to a timeshare presentation. What you value points isn’t gospel. Will folks spend $200k on an AA credit card? Are those folks who would have anyways? Likely. Most people won’t have this card if they don’t travel and folks are likely using it as well as portals to reach an AAdvantage level they would not have reached organically. But the value should be compared to a cash back...

    Ben - You’re using fuzzy math similar to a timeshare presentation. What you value points isn’t gospel. Will folks spend $200k on an AA credit card? Are those folks who would have anyways? Likely. Most people won’t have this card if they don’t travel and folks are likely using it as well as portals to reach an AAdvantage level they would not have reached organically. But the value should be compared to a cash back card, not what you value random miles at.

    We can all dance around and share our opinion on if that is a good or bad thing. The reality is it’s good for AA who has become a miles selling company a long time ago. It’s not a bad thing.

    An airline should reward folks who bring the most value to the airline and sorry but that is no longer those flying butt in seats. The downside is upgrades are now an albatross and AA has crated a FF program where AS status is more rewarded on AS than AA.

  12. Jake Guest

    Nice article, but why is the opportunity cost only 1.9% when cash back cards earn you 2%?

    1. Ben Schlappig OMAAT

      @ Jake -- The opportunity cost is 1.9% for me because I value the rewards on other cards at 3.4% (when they offer 2x transferable points per dollar spent). With a 2% cashback card, you'd be losing out on a return of 0.5% (2%-1.5%).

    2. Randy Diamond

      I assume that 1.9% is based on what payment companies charge as a fee to use CC to pay income taxes. Which is what you say you do.
      I do same - but you using the Barclay Silver card and spending $50K on it gives you the bonus LP from it as well as the Citi Exec card bonus. That is worth 20K bonus LP.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

BenjaminGuttery Diamond

As a current EXP and AA Loyalist, I think they should do a few things, and SOON: ~ Differentiate EXP & PP more. ~ Refresh the MillionMiler program ~ New Amenity Kits ~ Higher LP earnings for EXP members while flying ~ More temporary/limited time LP boosts for CC users and ECP members ~ Add 2 rows of FC to more planes ~ Keep US based call centers, exclusively for EXP/CK's. ~ Bring back EXP kits mailed to members ~ Have FA's & Gate agents Thank customers for their status ~ Add more opportunities for AAdvantage members to buy/earn/use miles to get limited edition AA gear. Like special luggage tags/AA gear/noise canceling headphones/desk items/nice luggage/travel gear/etc. I would take miles for a cool metal tag from a old plane for example. Just a humble opinion from a younger AA member that actually earned (and increased) status before, during, and after the pandemic.

1
omatravel Guest

This is why my rule is to put any bonus spend on Chase and the rest on AA, even though I have cards where the base bonus might be 2x. Honestly anymore I agree that there's less differentiation between EP and PlatPro anymore especially with many of the benes moving into bonus categories that require beyond EP levels of loyalty points.

1
Bari Guest

I have been EXP for many years purely based on flying. Road warriors are 100% competing with the CC spenders and I see it all the time. I.E. A person/company is spending $200K per month on AA branded card. Individual is racking up so many systemwide upgrades, they don't know what to do with them. They use them domestically and international. Program has lost its appeal for the road warrior and truly only rewards the CC spenders.

1
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