Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard®
- Best for: Frequent American Airlines flyers who would pay for an Admirals Club membership anyway
- What Sets It Apart: The only card with a full Admirals Club membership; club access for up to three authorized users; first checked bag free for up to eight companions
- Cost: $695 annual fee; $175 a year for up to three authorized users; 19.74% to 29.74% variable interest rate; no foreign transaction fees
- Features: 125,000 bonus miles for $15,000 spent in 5 months; 4x on American Airlines purchases; 12x on AAdvantage Hotels and Cars bookings; as many as 40,000 bonus Loyalty Points a year toward elite status; a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit of up to $120 every 4 years
- Pros: $695 fee, below the $1,200 to $1,400 the same membership costs on its own; priority boarding for up to eight companions; credits for American Airlines Vacations, Lyft, Avis or Budget, and inflight and Admirals Club purchases
- Cons: 1 mile per $1 on most purchases; $15,000 spend for the bonus; no companion certificate; no free bag or priority boarding for authorized users
Get the Citi AAdvantage Executive only if you’d otherwise pay for an Admirals Club membership, which costs up to $1,400 a year. The card’s $695 fee includes one, along with a free first checked bag. If you’d rarely use the lounges, the Platinum Select covers that bag for $99 a year instead of $695.
Citi’s priciest American Airlines card is now named the Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Legend Mastercard. Built for frequent American flyers, it’s the only card with a full membership to the Admirals Club, American’s airport lounges.
Key Features
- $695 annual fee, a 19.74% to 29.74% variable interest rate (APR), and no foreign transaction fees
- 125,000 bonus miles for spending $15,000 in your first 5 months, worth about $1,750 in flights at Frequent Miler’s estimate of 1.4 cents a mile
- 4 miles per $1 on eligible American Airlines purchases, 12 on hotels and rental cars booked through American’s AAdvantage sites, and 1 on everything else
- Admirals Club membership for you and two guests or your immediate family
- A free first checked bag on American’s domestic itineraries, plus priority boarding, for you and as many as eight companions on your reservation
Pros
- A $695 fee, well under the $1,200 to $1,400 American charges for the same Admirals Club membership
- $175 a year adds Admirals Club access for up to three authorized users
- As many as 40,000 bonus Loyalty Points a year toward American elite status, 10,000 at each milestone from 50,000 to 240,000
- Up to $120 toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every 4 years
- Yearly credits of up to $500 for American Airlines Vacations packages, $180 for Lyft, $120 for Avis or Budget, and $100 for inflight and Admirals Club purchases
Cons
- 1 mile per $1 on purchases outside American and its hotel and car booking sites
- $15,000 in purchases in 5 months to get the bonus, which you can earn only once every 4 years
- No companion certificate for a discounted second ticket
- No free checked bag or priority boarding for authorized users flying without you
Get it if you’d otherwise pay at least $750 a year for Admirals Club access, the price of American’s cheapest membership, which admits only you to nearly 50 clubs. For a few lounge visits a year, Citi’s $350 Globe card includes four passes, and for free checked bags alone, the Platinum Select costs $99.
Editorial & Advertiser Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided, commissioned, reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser. Opinions expressed here are ours alone, not those of any advertiser. The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. That compensation may influence which products we cover and where and how they appear on a page – including the order in which they appear – but it does not influence our evaluations, ratings, or opinions. We do not include every company or offer available in the marketplace.
Related:
