Earn 70,000 American Bonus Miles On The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card, Plus How To Get Multiple Lounge Memberships!

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Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®

This card has been refreshed and all changes below now apply to existing and new cardholders. The new guide to benefits can be downloaded here.

Signup bonus:

You can earn 70,000 AA bonus miles for opening a Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Consumer Mastercard and spending $7,000 in 3 months.

Annual fee:

$595.

Add up to 3 additional users for $175 total ($58.33 each if you add 3). After those 3, the fee is $175 per additional user.

• If you have a Citigold checking account, you will receive a $145 annual statement credit.
• Or if you have a Citigold Private Client checking account, you will receive a $450 statement credit upon opening the card and a $145 annual statement credit in subsequent years.

Signup bonus rules:

• You can receive the bonus on this card if you haven’t received a bonus for the same card in the past 48 months.
• You can receive the bonus even if you have been an authorized user on another person’s AAdvantage Executive Card.
• You can receive the bonus even if you have received the bonus on a different AAdvantage consumer or business card.
• Citi allows applications for 1 card every 8 days and 2 cards every 2 months

Card earnings:

• 1 mile per dollar everywhere (Up to 1.37 miles per dollar plus elite status for big spenders, as described below.)
• 4 miles per dollar on American Airlines purchases.
• 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and car rentals booked through AA.com.

There are no foreign transaction fees.

You will also receive 1 loyalty point for every dollar spent on the card.

You need to earn 40K loyalty points for Gold, 75K for Platinum, 125K for Platinum Pro, and 200K for Executive Platinum status. You can combine loyalty points from all sources, such as flights, stays at partner hotels, SimplyMiles, credit card spending, and more. See below for more on this benefit.

Spend Threshold:

You’ll need to spend $10,000 on this card within 3 months.

You can pay your federal taxes for a 1.85% fee. If you overpay your taxes you can request a refund or apply it to your next year’s taxes.

My local natural gas company allows me to prepay up to $1,000 on a credit card for a $1.65 flat fee. That’s a great way to earn miles and help meet a spend threshold. My electricity supplier allows me to pay with a credit card for free as long as I am enrolled in autopay.

See this post for more ideas on meeting a credit card spend threshold.

Loyalty Point Bonus:

You will receive 10,000 bonus loyalty points for reaching 50,000 loyalty points from any source in a status qualification year.

You will receive another 10,000 bonus loyalty points for reaching 90,000 loyalty points from any source in a status qualification year.

You can receive up to 20K bonus loyalty points per year per AA account. Allow 8-10 weeks for bonus loyalty points to post to your account.

Admirals Club Membership:

The primary cardholder receives a full Admirals Club membership, an $850 value.

That includes access to nearly 50 Admirals Clubs as well as over 60 partner lounges such as all Alaska Lounges, all Qantas business class lounges, select Cathay Pacific and British Airways lounges, the Dan Lounge Tel Aviv, the Icelandair Saga Lounge Reykjavik, and many more.

Members can bring in their spouse and all kids under 18 or up to 2 guests.

A same-day OneWorld boarding pass is required.

American’s lounge agents are some of the best in the business when it comes to helping out during irregular operations when it comes to rebooking assistance.

As of today, American is adding more club benefits, such as grab-and-go snacks, improved complimentary food, craft beer, scotch, tequila, cocktails, and more.

Authorized user cardholders can also access all Admirals Clubs for free, and they can also bring in their spouse and all kids under 18 or up to 2 guests! You just have to show your secondary credit card and OneWorld boarding pass to the Admirals Club agent for access.

Card benefits:

• The first check bag for the cardholder and 8 companions is free on domestic flights, even on basic economy fares. You don’t need to pay for the flight with this card, you just need to make sure that your AA mileage number is in your reservation. That means you can get a free bag even when using partner award miles from airlines like BA or Alaska to book your AA flight.
• Priority checkin/security, and group 4 priority boarding ahead of other cardholders, even on basic economy fares.
• 25% off AA in-flight food and beverages via statement credit rebate.
• Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection, up to $5,000/trip.
• Trip Delay Protection for 6+ hours delays, up to $500 per traveler per trip.
• Lost Baggage Protection, up to $3,000 per traveler per trip, up to $10,000 per trip.
• Worldwide Car Rental Insurance Coverage, up to $75K coverage, secondary in US, primary outside of US.
• Purchase protection, covers damages and stolen items up to $10,000 per incident and $50,000 per year.
• Extended warranty, extra 2 years of warranty coverage that applies after any length manufacturers’ warranty or purchased extended warranty, up to 7 years total coverage from purchase date, up to $10,000 of coverage per item

Avis and Budget Credit:

Receive a statement credit for all Avis or Budget charges made on your card, up to $120 back per calendar year.

Grubhub Credit:

Receive a $10 statement credit for Grubhub purchases per monthly billing statement.

Lyft Credit:

Receive a $10 Lyft credit after 3 Lyft rides have been charged to your card that calendar month. Limit 1 credit per calendar month.

Global Entry/PreCheck Fee Refund:

It costs $78 to apply for a 5 year TSA PreCheck membership which makes flying pleasant again. Shorter lines, no need to remove your shoes, belt, jacket, or hat. You can keep your laptop and small liquids inside your carry-on. And you go through a good old fashioned metal detector instead of assuming the position in the body scanner.  If you charge it on your card the fee will be refunded.

It costs $100 to apply for a 5 year Global Entry membership which lets you bypass the customs line. If you have Global Entry you also get TSA Pre-Check for free.

If you charge any of these on your card the fee will be refunded. You can get refunded for this charge once every 5 years.

You can read more more about the differences in this post.

My whole family has Global Entry and it sure makes traveling a whole lot easier!

Using AA Miles:

While Delta and United have killed off their award charts and increased miles needed for flights, American has retained published partner award charts, though their own flights are now dynamic.

When Delta and United eliminated their close-in award booking fees, they increased the miles needed for flights. American also removed their close-in booking fees, but they haven’t yet increased the miles needed for close-in flights.

You can transfer AMEX points into Delta miles and Chase points into United miles, making their own credit cards typically a poor value.

However, no major bank points transfer to American, making their own credit cards the best way to earn them. Plus, you can earn AA elite status through spending as well.

American also has a very useful award map here to help find cheap awards. Just use my tips here to help find 5K coach awards and 15K lie-flat first class awards.

American still has valuable partner awards on airlines like Alaska, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Finnair, Iberia, Qatar, Royal Air Maroc, and Air Tahiti Nui. Some partner flights must be booked over the phone.

Earning status through spending:

American offers the easiest path towards earning elite status through spending with loyalty points. You’ll earn 1 loyalty point per dollar spent on this card. Plus cardholders will earn 10K bonus loyalty points after earning 50K loyalty points and another 10K loyalty points after earning 90K loyalty points annually.

• At 15K loyalty points you will obtain group 5 boarding and can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
  • Group 4 boarding for a trip
  • 5 preferred seat coupons
• At 40K loyalty points you will obtain Gold status. Benefits include OneWorld Ruby status, Alaska benefits, 40% bonus loyalty points on flights, a free checked bag, group 4 boarding, upgrades for you and a companion when available starting 24 hours before flights, upgrades on award tickets for you and a companion, preferred seats at booking, and main cabin extra seating at checkin.
• At 60K loyalty points you will earn Avis Preferred Plus status and a 20% loyalty point bonus with AA Vacations, eShopping, SimplyMiles, AA dining, and AA hotels.
• At 75K loyalty points you will obtain Platinum status. Benefits include OneWorld Sapphire status, Alaska benefits, 60% bonus loyalty points on flights, 2 free checked bags, priority baggage handling, group 3 boarding, OneWorld business class lounge access when flying internationally, upgrades for you and a companion when available starting 48 hours before flights, and main cabin extra seating at booking.
• At 100K loyalty points you will earn Avis President’s Club status and a 30% loyalty point bonus with AA Vacations, eShopping, SimplyMiles, AA dining, and AA hotels.
• At 125K loyalty points you will obtain Platinum Pro status. Benefits include OneWorld Emerald status, Alaska benefits, 80% bonus loyalty points on flights, 3 free 70 pound checked bags, priority baggage handling, group 2 boarding, free same day flight changes, OneWorld first class lounge access when flying internationally, upgrades for you and a companion when available starting 72 hours before flights, upgrades on award tickets for you and a companion, upgrades for you and a companion on Alaska, and main cabin extra seating at booking.
• At 175K loyalty points you can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
  • 2 systemwide upgrades
  • 20K bonus miles or 25K bonus miles for AA cardholders
  • 15% award rebate
  • 6 Admirals Club day passes
  • $200 trip credit or $250 trip credit for AA cardholders
  • Carbon offset
  • $250 donation to select nonprofits
  • 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status
  • 35K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
• At 200K loyalty points you will obtain Executive Platinum status. Benefits include OneWorld Emerald status, Alaska benefits, 120% bonus loyalty points on flights, 3 free 70 pound checked bags, priority baggage handling, group 1 boarding, free same day flight changes, OneWorld first class lounge access when flying internationally, upgrades for you and a companion when available starting 100 hours before flights, upgrades on award tickets for you and a companion, upgrades for you and a companion on Alaska, upgrades on award tickets for you and a companion, guaranteed availability in coach, free drink and snack in coach, expanded award space, and main cabin extra seating at booking.
• At 250K loyalty points you can select two of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
  • 2 systemwide upgrades
    • You can select this twice, and earn a total of 6 systemwide upgrades if you also select this at the 175K level.
  • 20K bonus miles or 30K bonus miles for AA cardholders
    • You can select this twice, and earn a total of 85K miles if you also select miles at the 175K level.
  • 6 Admirals Club day passes
  • 1 Flagship Lounge visit or 2 visits for AA cardholders
  • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 rewards)
  • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 rewards)
  • $200 trip credit or $250 trip credit for AA cardholders
  • Carbon offset
  • $250 donation to select nonprofits
  • 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status
  • 35K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience

• At 400K, 550K, and 750K loyalty points you can select two of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
  • 1 systemwide upgrade
  • 25K bonus miles
  • 2 Flagship Lounge visits
  • 1 Flagship First Dining pass
  • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 rewards)
  • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 rewards)
  • $200 trip credit or $250 trip credit for AA cardholders
  • Carbon offset
  • $250 donation to select nonprofits
  • 1 gift of AAdvantage Platinum status
  • 40K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
• At 1M loyalty points you can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
  • 4 systemwide upgrades
  • Up to 100K miles back on award redemptions
  • Carbon offset
  • 1 gift of AAdvantage Platinum Pro status
  • 150K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
• At 3M loyalty points you can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
  • 6 systemwide upgrades
  • Up to 300K miles back on award redemptions
  • Carbon offset
  • 1 gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status
  • 350K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
• At 5M loyalty points you can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
  • 10 systemwide upgrades
  • Up to 500K miles back on award redemptions
  • Carbon offset
  • 1 gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status
  • 550K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience

Earning More Miles Per Dollar Through Loyalty Point Rewards:

When you earn 175K loyalty points, you can choose 25K bonus miles as a reward.

AA Executive cardholders need to spend $155K to reach that level, so they’ll earn 200K miles (plus Platinum Pro elite status), or an effective 1.29 miles per dollar spent.

When you earn 250K loyalty points, you can choose another 60K bonus miles as a reward.

AA Executive cardholders need to spend $230K to reach that level, so they’ll earn 315K miles (plus Executive Platinum elite status), or an effective 1.37 miles per dollar spent.

Of course, you’ll earn more miles than that if you spend on AA flights or car rentals or hotels booked through AA.

Card Convertibility:

You can convert this card to most Citi consumer cards, including Citi AAdvantage Platinum, CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum, Citi AAdvantage MileUp, Citi Premier® Card Card,  Citi Rewards+, Citi Double Cash, and more.

Citi AA Card Comparison Chart:

Dan’s Quick Thoughts:

With Admirals Club rates now at $850 per year, this card is still a no-brainer if you want AA club access.

And with 3 authorized users, the total cost will be just $770 for all 4 memberships instead of paying $3,400 to American without a card. At $192.50/person, that’s actually a great deal on Admirals Club Membership.

It’s a worthwhile card just for the signup bonus miles, as AA miles can be hard to come by.

It’s also a great deal if you want to earn AA elite status thanks to 20,000 annual bonus loyalty points, though oddly you no longer earn any bonus loyalty points for hitting spend thresholds for card spending.

Finally, if you are a big spender, it’s also nice to earn bonus miles on spending that can increase your earnings to 1.37 miles per dollar spent.

It’s nice to see Citi finally return travel protections and purchase benefits to this card.

The Avis/Budget credit is useful as it can be used in one shot, which takes some of the sting out of the annual fee increase. The Grubhub credit is more difficult to use as it’s split into monthly credits and the Lyft credit won’t be useful at all unless you’re a frequent Lyft user.

I’m sure some cardholders will cancel based on the higher fee and loss of free additional users, though that long seemed like a deal that was too good to last.

Will you signup for the Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Consumer Mastercard?