Is The American Airlines Executive Card Worth The $695 Fee? 11 Reasons To Apply

The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard® (learn more) is American Airlines’ most premium credit card. Not only does the card have a huge, best-ever 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. Below are 11 reasons you should consider picking up this $695 annual fee, in no particular order (and this isn’t even comprehensive, so it just covers what I’d consider the most useful perks to be).

Link: Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard®

Limited time bonus of 125K AAdvantage miles

The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is offering a limited time welcome bonus of 125,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after $15,000 in purchases within the first five months. This is a best-ever offer on the card, as we’ve never seen the card have a bonus this big.

I value American AAdvantage miles at ~1.5 cents each, so to me, those miles are worth around $1,875. 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 way 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 40K Loyalty Points 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 40,000 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, 90,000, 165,000, and 240,000 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 any of those four thresholds in Loyalty Points in a particular year and then apply for the card, you’d still potentially 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® (learn more).

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 $170,000 on this card would earn you that (since you earn 30,000 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.

Up to $500 annual credit with American Airlines Vacations

The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers up to $500 back per year on eligible American Airlines Vacations purchases. The credit is semi-annual, meaning you get a $250 credit in January through June, and a $250 credit in July through December.

This can be used as long as you’re making a booking that includes two components, be it a flight, hotel, and/or car. Many people like American Airlines Vacations in general, for the ability to earn Loyalty Points, so this only makes it more lucrative to book that way. Admittedly it won’t be for everyone, though.

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 prepaid rental 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, as long as they’re prepaid.

Up to $100 annual American credit (inflight or lounge)

The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card also offers up to $100 back on eligible American Airlines purchases every calendar year. Specifically, this applies to inflight purchases (including for buy on board food and alcoholic drinks) as well as for Admirals Club purchases (including for premium drinks, etc.).

You can use this across as many transactions as you’d like up to the limit, so as long as you fly American frequently, this should be pretty easy to use.

12x AAdvantage miles on AAdvantage Hotels & Cars spending

The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers 12x AAdvantage miles on eligible spending with the AAdvantage Hotels booking platform and 12x AAdvantage miles on eligible AAdvantage Cars bookings. I’d argue that AAdvantage Hotels is the most lucrative airline portal for booking hotels.

Not only can you earn a huge number of AAdvantage miles when booking through AAdvantage Hotels or AAdvantage Cars in the first place, but you also earn an extra 12x miles when paying with the card. Given the excellent earnings rates through the portals, this can be really lucrative.

For context, all miles earned directly through AAdvantage Hotels and AAdvantage Cars are Loyalty Points. Meanwhile, for the credit card spending, only 1x miles would be considered Loyalty Points, while all miles would be redeemable. Admittedly there’s sometimes an opportunity cost to booking through AAdvantage Hotels and AAdvantage Cars, but I know it’s a feature that many AAdvantage loyalists appreciate, especially if they don’t otherwise care about hotel or rental car loyalty.

Priority services when flying with American

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.

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 40,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year just for being a cardmember, bonus spending categories, and credits that can help offset the fee.

If you don’t yet have this card, it makes a lot of sense to apply, especially given the current best-ever welcome offer.

What’s your take on the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card?