Link: Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review) is American Airlines’ most premium credit card. Not only does the card have a huge welcome bonus at the moment, but it also offers valuable ongoing perks.
If you don’t yet have the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card, in this post I’d like to take a look at why you might want to apply. Here are nine reasons you should consider picking up this $595 annual fee, in no particular order…
In this post:
Welcome bonus of 100K AAdvantage miles
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. This is among the best offers that we’ve ever seen on the card.
I value American AAdvantage miles at ~1.5 cents each, so to me, those miles are worth around $1,500. That’s a great bonus, especially for a card that also offers a lot of value in the long run. There are lots of great uses of American AAdvantage miles.
An American Admirals Club membership
The single biggest perk of the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is that the card offers an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember. This card is arguably the best way to get Admirals Club access, as the card’s annual fee is less than the Admirals Club membership cost, even if you have elite status.
If you fly American with any frequency, having Admirals Club access is worth it for having somewhere comfortable to sit with complimentary drinks and snacks, and for access to the Admirals Club agents during irregular operations.
Admirals Club access for authorized users
Authorized users on the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card can also receive Admirals Club access. You can add up to three authorized users for a total of $175 (so potentially under $60 each), and then you’ll pay $175 for each authorized user beyond that.
The sweet spot is really adding three authorized users, as you’re looking at paying under $60 each for them to get Admirals Club access annually. They can access Admirals Club whenever flying a oneworld airline same day, and can bring two guests or immediate family.
Up to 20K Loyalty Points just for being a cardmember
If you’re going for elite status with American AAdvantage, the reason you may want to get the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is because it offers up to 20,000 Loyalty Points per year, without even spending a dime on the card.
The card offers 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points when you earn 50,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year, and another 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points when you earn 90,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year. It doesn’t matter how those Loyalty Points are earned, so it could be from spending on the card, or from flying.
Note that this also applies retroactively within a membership year. So if you’ve already passed 50,000 or 90,000 Loyalty Points for this year and get the card now, you’d still qualify for this offer. This can also be stacked with the up to 15,000 Loyalty Points bonus you’ll find on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (review).
The ability to earn Loyalty Points with spending
As is the case with virtually all of American’s co-branded credit cards, the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers one Loyalty Point per dollar spent. Loyalty Points is the system by which you can qualify for elite status nowadays, so spending on the card can help you achieve that.
For example, AAdvantage Executive Platinum status requires 200,000 Loyalty Points per year, so spending $180,000 on this card would earn you that (since you earn 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points). I’m not suggesting you should qualify for status that way, but you could.
4-5x AAdvantage miles on American Airlines spending
If you’re a frequent American Airlines flyer, the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers (by far) the best return of any American Airlines card when it comes to spending on American.
The card offers 4x AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases. On top of that, if you spend $150,000 on the card in a calendar year, you earn 5x AAdvantage miles on all American Airlines purchases for the rest of the calendar year.
Priority services with American Airlines
If you’re a less frequent flyer with American Airlines and don’t have elite status, you’ll appreciate the perks offered by the card, which include the following:
- A first checked bag free on domestic American itineraries for the cardmember and up to eight companions on the same reservation
- Priority airport check-in
- Priority airport security screening
- Preferred boarding
The value of that can add up. However, I do think this card is most valuable for those who have AAdvantage elite status.
Up to $120 annual credit with Avis & Budget
To help offset the annual fee, the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers up to $120 back on eligible Avis or Budget rentals every calendar year. All you have to do is charge an eligible purchase to your card, and you’ll receive a statement credit up to the $120 limit. You can use this for one rental or multiple rentals, it’s totally up to you.
Up to $120 back annually with Grubhub
The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers up to $120 back on eligible Grubhub purchases every calendar year. This comes in the form of up to $10 in statement credits with Grubhub each billing cycle. Just charge at least that much to your card from Grubhub each billing cycle, and you’ll receive the credit.
While I wouldn’t say it’s as useful as the Avis or Budget credit (given that it can be used in one go), there’s still potentially quite a bit of value to be had if you use the food delivery service regularly.
Bottom line
The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is American’s most premium credit card. While it has a steep annual fee, many American flyers will find it worthwhile. The card offers an Admirals Club membership, the ability to get reasonably priced Admirals Club access for authorized users, up to 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year just for being a cardmember, and more.
If you’ve been considering the card, now is the time to apply, given the increased offer that’s currently available.
What’s your take on the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card?
It depends how much you fly American I guess
Do supplementary cardholders get the first bag free ?
@ ETHB -- Unfortunately only the primary cardmember plus companions traveling with them.
@Ben Avis and Budget benefit has changed over a year ago. You have to specifically book prepaid rates on their sites iirc and for 2026 and on, old versions will only earn credits this way.
The food was better before the most recent cycle now that everything has mayo or cheese mixed in, or is the 80s southern version of something. Items that were passably healthy now skew the wrong direction. Soon there will be deli case like egg salad. The lack of any consistent grab and go items doesn't help. The situation in PHL this past summer was disgusting. Someone got a party platter sub and put it out. It was gross.
Some of the lounges are just total clusters. If you're looking for a spacious, comfortable, ambient space the lounges at CLT, PHX, ATL, MIA, TPA and some others are not it. However, some lounges (SFO, LGA, DCA Concourse E, LAX Terminal 5, BOS, ORD H/J) are quite delightful. If you travel enough to eat and drink $595 worth of Wawa style and quality then yes it's worth it. You'd never pay that much just for...
Some of the lounges are just total clusters. If you're looking for a spacious, comfortable, ambient space the lounges at CLT, PHX, ATL, MIA, TPA and some others are not it. However, some lounges (SFO, LGA, DCA Concourse E, LAX Terminal 5, BOS, ORD H/J) are quite delightful. If you travel enough to eat and drink $595 worth of Wawa style and quality then yes it's worth it. You'd never pay that much just for a "lounge." Help during irregular operations is all over the map from bending over backwards to being essentially told to go away and never come back. Back before the lounges had crowds that wasn't the case.
I'll second George's overview, especially on the good vs. bad locations. Personally, I'd've gone with Piggly Wiggly, but Wawa will do.
This card provides Admirals Club lounge access (mostly domestic), the food is somewhat edible, but if you have other cards that provide access to other lounges as well, it's really not the main benefit. It just provides such an easy path to OWE and decent to good international lounges. And if you use AA Hotels it can pay for itself.
It's also a nice benefit to give lounge access as a gift to immediate family...
This card provides Admirals Club lounge access (mostly domestic), the food is somewhat edible, but if you have other cards that provide access to other lounges as well, it's really not the main benefit. It just provides such an easy path to OWE and decent to good international lounges. And if you use AA Hotels it can pay for itself.
It's also a nice benefit to give lounge access as a gift to immediate family members (your sibling, parents, kids, etc.). As Ben notes, for $175 to get 3 authorized users is pretty great (not as good as it used to be, but for ~$60 each to give your family lounge access when traveling... it's a nice thing to do). Probably one of the reasons the lounges are often crowded! If it was $175 per AU...
Reason 10 (#1 for me…) - AA Hotels. Assume a $1,000 hotel purchase. With the card it’s 10x spend (1x base-LP / 9x bonus-no LP) so 10,000 AA miles. From AA hotels there are various mileage offers, but assume you get a 15,000 base-LP one (for 15k max offers you need any AA status and any AA credit card to get enhanced offers). So now you’re at 25k miles and 16k LP on $1k spend....
Reason 10 (#1 for me…) - AA Hotels. Assume a $1,000 hotel purchase. With the card it’s 10x spend (1x base-LP / 9x bonus-no LP) so 10,000 AA miles. From AA hotels there are various mileage offers, but assume you get a 15,000 base-LP one (for 15k max offers you need any AA status and any AA credit card to get enhanced offers). So now you’re at 25k miles and 16k LP on $1k spend. And if you are in the LP bonus (assume the new 25% LP bonus at 60k LP for 6 months) it’s an extra 3,750 LP. So in that scenario it’s 25,000 miles and 19,750 LP on $1,000 spend.
If you value AA miles at 1.5cpm, that’s $375 in return, plus whatever you value the nearly 20k LP at. All for $1,000 in spend. And let’s say that’s for a 4 night stay - if you do two 2 night stays, you might do even better than the 15k max per stay.
I view my first AA hotel stay of the year as basically paying for the $595 card (once you factor in the value of the club membership, the 20k bonus LPs and the $120 credits).
One other note - the Avis $120 credit is only for Avis/Budget direct bookings, not bookings with AA Cars (which shows cars from Avis/Budget). So you don’t get the 10x miles on AA Cars when using the $120 credit. A little confusing.
Bottom line - this is an amazing card for earning AA miles and AA status. A must have and a no-brainer with the 100k offer.
I owe Peter for turning me onto AA Hotels (and MCE!) Incredible maximizing opportunity for earning AA miles and LPs rapidly. Thank you, sir. This is the way!
Been there…done that. My experience? Admiral’s Clubs were over-flowing and chaotic….hardly a ‘haven of peace’. Food was better than before but still a little trashy. Alcohol was cheap tasting and often served in plastic. Last straw was an awful experience in PHL with barely warm clam chowder and lazy, hostile staff, amid a refugee camp vibe. My 25 year Exec Plat relationship with AA has never been the same since…I cancelled my credit card the following day.
That may be more of a PHL-problem (mostly dated terminals, lounges), than an all-Admirals-Club-issue. Like, I wish PHL would've done a LGA-style complete redo, but, then again, I'm not in-charge. Whenever an AC has an operational guac-station, it's not bad; sure, they make you pay for a quesadilla, which is kinda cheap of them, but, let's be clear, it ain't that bad.