Nowadays, US airlines earn a large percentage of their profits from their credit card agreements. That’s not just good news for airlines, but also positive for consumers, since it means there are plenty of opportunities for us to rack up bonus miles, earn elite status, and take advantage of perks.
In this post, I’d like to take a look at the credit card portfolio of American AAdvantage, and in particular, focus on the eligibility rules to be aware of.
In this post:
Basics of the American AAdvantage credit card portfolio
Up until recently, American Airlines had a unique co-branded credit card agreement as far as US airlines go, as the airline had cards issued by both Citi and Barclays. This dates back to the merger between American and US Airways, as historically Citi had partnered with American, while Barclays had partnered with US Airways.
However, we did recently see American and Citi reach an exclusive agreement, and as a result, American’s Barclays cards are no longer open to new applicants, and in 2026, are expected to be converted into different products.
So at this point, all of American’s credit cards in the United States that are open to new applicants are issued by Citi. There’s definitely more interest in these cards than in the past, given that with American’s Loyalty Points system, credit card spending can help you earn elite status.
Citi American AAdvantage credit card bonus rules
Credit card issuers have a variety of restrictions when it comes to approving people for cards. If you’re looking to apply for an American Airlines credit card, eligibility requirements are pretty lax in terms of being able to apply for multiple of these cards over time.
To start, here are the five co-branded American cards issued by Citi, which are open to new applicants:
- The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review) has a $595 annual fee, and offers the most valuable perks, including an Admirals Club membership
- The Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (review) has a $350 annual fee, and offers many useful benefits, along with a great welcome bonus
- The Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (review) has a $99 annual fee that’s waived the first year, and offers compelling benefits, and a generous bonus
- The Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® (review) has a $99 annual fee that’s waived the first year, and offers several great benefits
- The American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® (review) has no annual fee, and is surprisingly compelling
These cards all have identical restrictions when it comes to earning the bonus:
- The bonus on each of these cards isn’t available to those who have received a new cardmember bonus on that exact card in the past 48 months; it’s fine if you’ve received the bonus on another AAdvantage product within the past 48 months, it just can’t be for the same product you’re applying for
- This is in addition to Citi’s general application restrictions, which include that you can get approved for at most one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days
- Eligibility is completely unrelated to which AAdvantage card you have issued by Barclays, since that’s from a different issuer
So the great news is that you’re eligible for the welcome bonuses on each of these cards, meaning you can potentially rack up quite a few miles and perks.
What credit score do you need for American credit cards?
There’s not a consistent rule as to what credit score you need to be approved for an American Airlines credit card from Citi. In general, I’d recommend having a credit score in the “good” to “excellent” range if you’re going to apply for any of these cards.
Personally, I probably wouldn’t apply if my credit score were under 700, and ideally, I’d hope to have a credit score of 740 or higher. That being said, people with scores lower than that have been approved for these cards, and conversely, people with scores higher than that have been rejected. There are lots of factors that go into approval — your income, your credit history, how much credit an issuer has already extended you, etc.
Best strategy for getting approved for American credit cards
It’s pretty awesome how non-restrictive the eligibility requirements are for earning the bonuses on co-branded American Airlines credit cards. It’s quite rare to see no rules around mutual exclusivity of cards, which means you can potentially pick up each of the cards over the time, while also being eligible for the welcome bonuses.
American Airlines credit cards are a great way to build up your balance of AAdvantage miles, given all the great uses there are for these miles.
What’s the best strategy to take with applying for American Airlines credit cards? Personally, I think there’s always merit to applying for the cards with the biggest welcome bonuses, as there are typically opportunities to downgrade or product change cards after a year, should you prefer another option.
Broadly speaking, here’s how I view the long term value of the cards:
- The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® is unique in the portfolio, given that it offers an Admirals Club membership and has a higher annual fee, so it’ll probably appeal to a different consumer base than the other cards
- The Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® is a great middle of the road card, with a steep annual fee, plus perks that can help justify is; when you add in the great welcome bonus, this is definitely a serious contender
- The Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® offers basic perks for a reasonable annual fee, but personally, I think either the higher annual fee or no annual fee products are more compelling
- For those looking for a no annual fee card, the American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® is your only option; however, I wouldn’t necessarily apply directly for the card, given how much smaller the bonus is than on other cards
- The Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® is the only business card open to new applicants, and the big bonus definitely makes it worth considering
If it were me, and my goal were to maximize the miles I earn, my strategy would be to pick up one personal card and one business card. That’s generally my strategy when picking up cards from any one card issuer, since it gives you the best odds of approval.
So that would mean picking up the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®, since it’s the only business card. Of the personal cards, personally I’d go with the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard®, given the bonus it’s currently offering, plus the flexibility to product change it at a later point.
I have three of these cards, and you read about my Citi AAdvantage Executive Card approval, read about my Citi AAdvantage Globe Card approval, and read about my Citi AAdvantage Business Card approval.
Bottom line
American Airlines has co-branded credit cards issued by Citi, and fortunately eligibility requirements aren’t very restrictive. None of the cards are mutually exclusive, so over time you could pick up all of these cards, if you wanted to.
With the current bonuses, it’s an especially good time to apply for the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® and Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®, though all cards could make sense in the long run.
What has your experience been with getting approved for American Airlines credit cards?
If you have any status with AA, using AA Hotels is fantastic, and having an AA credit card is necessary to get the additional mileage offering. Ideally you would have an AA Executive card to also get 10x miles on the spend, but if you are just chasing LPs, even a $0 MileUp card works!
Chittybank. Going from the easiest to worst tightwads in the game these past few years. They hate churners and love the financially illiterate with no recent credit pulls. Prepare to be rejected after they hard pull you and reject you for "too much unused credit lines". In short, they suck.
Thanks Ben for your blog. I’ve recently bagged a massive amount of bonus points getting these cards. I will say that the citi executive is one I have no use for. Paying over $500 for an Admirals club membership is a waste when I get a “free” membership based on loyalty points reward. The same for the Strata Elite, for me anyway, the Strata Premier is a sweet spot.
I look forward to more...
Thanks Ben for your blog. I’ve recently bagged a massive amount of bonus points getting these cards. I will say that the citi executive is one I have no use for. Paying over $500 for an Admirals club membership is a waste when I get a “free” membership based on loyalty points reward. The same for the Strata Elite, for me anyway, the Strata Premier is a sweet spot.
I look forward to more transfer bonus alerts from you, those posts have multiplied the thank you points. It’s difficult to follow all the deals and you condense the info here. I’ll be in a flagship preferred suite on my way to the UK thanks to the info you provided. Your work is much appreciated.
Thanks for this and your many other useful posts, Ben. Based on my experience, a few notes on applying for AA Citi cards:
1. Though having an 800 credit score and usually approved for credit cards from other issuers, over the past few years I was turned down for three Citi cards: two of them AA and one of them Citi Strata. The rejection letters explained that: a) I had too many recent credit card...
Thanks for this and your many other useful posts, Ben. Based on my experience, a few notes on applying for AA Citi cards:
1. Though having an 800 credit score and usually approved for credit cards from other issuers, over the past few years I was turned down for three Citi cards: two of them AA and one of them Citi Strata. The rejection letters explained that: a) I had too many recent credit card applications and b) I had too much available credit. The second reason took me somewhat by surprise, as the conventional wisdom is that the higher the credit availability/usage ratio, the better for approvals. But in checking around a bit at various sites, I find that the high credit availability reason for rejection ia not as unusual as I'd thought, at least for Citi.
2. After not applying for any credit cards for over six months and cancelling a few cards in the interim (due to a combination of annual fees, not using them and wanting to see if this would help with Citi by reducing my available credit), I recently applied and was instantly approved for the AA Executive World Elite Mastercard.
3. Now, in addition to waiting six months and reducing my available credit, I suppose it's possible that I was approved because that particular card has a high annual fee.
4. Regardless, FWIW I sought that particular card because I'll be doing a good amount of travel this year on American and Alaska, and the card gives access to Alaska lounges as well as of course Admirals Clubs (and I believe other AA partner lounges). The perk of 4X miles for AA ticket purchases was also a minor factor, though some of my AA travel is on awards.
Anyway, I hope this helps a few folks.
Adding to your thoughts, Capital One remains an enigma. I had been 6/24 but only 1/12 (with the one being 11 months prior) and was approved. I was shocked. While it's hard to say for certain, I think you're on to something with a cooling off period. That might not suit hard-chargers. But, for the less aggressive hobbyist, it might be the ticket.