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The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review) is American Airlines’ most premium credit card, and it recently underwent a full refresh. While the card has a $595 annual fee, it offers all kinds of perks, including an Admirals Club membership.
For those looking to qualify for elite status with American AAdvantage, one of the most interesting aspects of the card is the ability to earn Loyalty Points. While most co-branded American AAdvantage credit cards let you earn Loyalty Points, this card offers the ability to earn 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year unrelated to spending, which is a perk you won’t find on any other card.
In this post I wanted to take a closer look at how that works.
In this post:
Earning Loyalty Points with the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card
Loyalty Points is the name of the system by which you can earn elite status with American AAdvantage. Status with the airline no longer has anything to do with how much you fly, but rather has to do with how many Loyalty Points you rack up, regardless of whether it’s from flying or non-flying activities, like credit card spending.
As a reminder, for the 2023 program year, here are the AAdvantage elite status requirements:
- AAdvantage Gold status requires 40,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Platinum status requires 75,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Platinum Pro status requires 125,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Executive Platinum status requires 200,000 Loyalty Points
Also keep in mind that American has the Loyalty Point Rewards program, allowing you to earn extra perks, like systemwide upgrades, for passing certain thresholds.
So, how does the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card factor into all of this? Let’s talk about how you can use the card to earn Loyalty Points for spending, and also how you can earn Loyalty Points just for having the card.
Earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent
Like most American Airlines credit cards, the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers one Loyalty Point per eligible dollar spent on the card. In other words, spending $200,000 on the card would earn you 200,000 Loyalty Points (and in turn, Executive Platinum).
Note that miles earned from the welcome bonus, as well as miles earned from spending multipliers, don’t earn you additional Loyalty Points. For example, the card earns 4x AAdvantage miles on American Airlines purchases. So while you’d get four redeemable miles per dollar spent on those purchases, you’d only earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent.
Earn 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year
This is where the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card gets interesting, and offers something you won’t find on any other American Airlines credit card. Those who have the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card can earn up to 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year, without actually needing to spend a dime on the card:
- Earn 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points when you earn 50,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year
- Earn 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points when you earn 90,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year
In other words, if you’d ordinarily earn 90,000 Loyalty Points in a year, having this card would earn you 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points. There’s not another American credit card that offers bonus Loyalty Points just for surpassing certain thresholds in the program, unrelated to card spending.
For example, I’ve passed 50,000 Loyalty Points with AAdvantage this year, so I’ve already had 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points post to my account, just for having the card.
Just to cover some of the basic questions people may have about this perk:
- Bonus Loyalty Points will officially post within 8-10 weeks of meeting the Loyalty Points requirement; however, in practice they seem to post much faster than that
- You can earn at most 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points from from this card per year, not accounting for the Loyalty Points you earn for spending
- You’re still eligible for this benefit if you open your card during the status qualifying year; so you don’t need to have the card open at the start of the membership year to qualify for this
How valuable is this Loyalty Points perk?
If you’re going for elite status with American AAdvantage, how valuable is the opportunity to earn Loyalty Points with the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card?
When it comes to earning one Loyalty Point per dollar spent, I’ve written in the past about my thoughts on the value proposition of that:
- I don’t think it’s worth spending your way all the way to elite status, though at the margins I think it could be worthwhile (say you’d earn 125K Loyalty Points through flying, and then earn 75K Loyalty Points with a credit card, to earn Executive Platinum)
- There’s just such an opportunity cost to spending on an American credit card. vs. another card that might be more rewarding in terms of everyday spending, bonus categories, etc.
I think the more interesting question is the value proposition of earning up to 20,000 Loyalty Points just for having the card. If you’d otherwise earn 90,000 Loyalty Points per year, is that alone a reason you should get this card?
- The card has a $595 annual fee, so if you don’t value any of the perks of the card, that would be like “buying” Loyalty Points for just under three cents each (without any corresponding redeemable miles); I wouldn’t consider that to be an amazing deal
- Loyalty Points are most valuable if they help you reach a specific threshold (either for elite status or Loyalty Point Rewards), though keep in mind that the higher your Loyalty Points total, the higher your upgrade priority
- Personally I wouldn’t get the card exclusively for the 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points, though rather I’d view it as part of a suite of benefits; personally I find the annual fee justifiable based on the Admirals Club membership, the 20,000 Loyalty Points, and all of the other perks, including up to $360 in credits annually with Avis/Budget, Grubhub, and Lyft
- If I had to put a valuation to the 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points, I’d probably say that to me they’re worth $200-300
Bottom line
The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is American’s most premium credit card. In addition to the card offering one Loyalty Point per dollar spent, you can also receive up to 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year just for being a cardmember, assuming you earn at least 90,000 Loyalty Points.
This is the only American credit card that offers bonus Loyalty Points without any sort of a spending requirement. So if you’re into the AAdvantage program, that perk is a reason to seriously consider the card, in addition to all the other benefits.
What do you make of the Loyalty Points perks offered by the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card?
Does the bonus count as part of the threshold? So if I hit 90k loyalty points, including the 10k bonus at 50k points, do I get another 10k? Or do I need to hit 100k? In other words if you hit 50k, do you need another 40k spend? Or just 30k more?
Lucky question on this does this fall for the calendar year? Ie if i hit 90k before March 1st would I get the additional 10k bonus or is it from January-December 31st
Received 20,000 in July, I didn’t understand why until I read this.
Thanks
FYI, the updated terms and conditions are posted at: https://creditcards.aa.com/exec_standard/
Don't do like me and waste a lot of time looking for the T&Cs while logged into your CitiBank account for this credit card. I gave up and had a chat with a friendly CitiBank representative. The outcome was that CitiBank will send me a copy in a day or two. Ridiculous.
I think from the literature that my husbands card will have to be paid for as additional fee.. if that is so his card will be the first to be cancelled. . I am unimpressed with the new “perks” of the card. Perks fro whom? AA?
The cost is crazy with nothincompared to my Amex card. Very unhappy and may, after having my card and membership since 1991 be cancelling as well
For me, the card is still worthwhile since it allows me into the Alaska lounges. I'm not putting a lot of chips on the promise that American Airlines lounges are going to improve.
AS gives me better oneworld options when flying domestically.
I'm confused, how does the CITI AA Executive Card "Get You into Alaska Airlines Lounges"? Never heard of this "benefit".
Primary AAdvantage Executive cardmembers have full Admirals Club membership, which includes partner lounge access, Alaska lounges included.
What happens if you get the card after you already have 90k loyalty points that year?
Same doubt here. Actually I'm between 50k and 90k so far and wondering I can receive both bonus if I upgrade my AAdvantage card back to Executive. The first 10k just after upgrade and another 10k after meet 90k threshold. Thank you
Forgive me, just checked and I'm already above 90k LP. So, exactly same doubt. Thanks
I already had 40k+ LP when I opened the card. I got the 10K bonus already.
From what I've heard anecdotally: You'll get the LP's, BUT it takes 8-12 weeks, and can be clawed back retroactively if You cancel/close.
Thank you
CITI has done a "bait & switch" on us AGAIN. Those of us that were very close to earning the 10k Loyalty Points by spending 40k are very upset. I don't care that they have "replaced" it with something "easier". I was told 1 thing and then it was taken away with DAYS notice. Not fair. CITI needs to add a waiver for this year until March 1st 2024 to give us the opportunity to...
CITI has done a "bait & switch" on us AGAIN. Those of us that were very close to earning the 10k Loyalty Points by spending 40k are very upset. I don't care that they have "replaced" it with something "easier". I was told 1 thing and then it was taken away with DAYS notice. Not fair. CITI needs to add a waiver for this year until March 1st 2024 to give us the opportunity to earn that 10k LP's. They also changed that benefits date range LAST YEAR and again at the LAST MINUTE too. CITI is awful and their customer service agents are liars.
I just switched to this card and within days both 10000 LP bonuses were posted, pushing me way past Platinum Pro and putting Exec Platinum in the crosshairs. Admirals Club is a nice bonus.
Yes, I got both already too. I'm just saying that the 40k spend bonus was pushed back last year, then the date changed this year, THEN they took it away with days notice. I don't really care that they are replacing it with another benefit: THEY SHOULD HAVE ALLOWED MEMBERSBYO STILL EARN THE ADDITIONAL 10K OFF OF SPEND FOR 2023 (30k Total Bonuses available to members for this year). Some of us were purposely putting...
Yes, I got both already too. I'm just saying that the 40k spend bonus was pushed back last year, then the date changed this year, THEN they took it away with days notice. I don't really care that they are replacing it with another benefit: THEY SHOULD HAVE ALLOWED MEMBERSBYO STILL EARN THE ADDITIONAL 10K OFF OF SPEND FOR 2023 (30k Total Bonuses available to members for this year). Some of us were purposely putting additional spending on the card to earn that. Not fair that they moved the goalpost AGAIN!!!
Great DP. Exactly I was looking for. Thank you
Do the 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points that you earn at 50,000 Loyalty points count towards the 90,000 Loyalty Points that are needed for the second 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points?
Yes
Thanks! Is that documented somewhere I've missed in Citibank's terms and conditions?
This means that you only have to "earn" 80,000 Loyalty Points to get the 10,000 Loyalty Points bonus at the 90,000 Loyalty points threshold.
I was going to observe if this happened in my account (I had already received the 10,000 Loyalty Points bonus for $40k of spending) but I had a flood of Loyalty points posted during the same month due...
Thanks! Is that documented somewhere I've missed in Citibank's terms and conditions?
This means that you only have to "earn" 80,000 Loyalty Points to get the 10,000 Loyalty Points bonus at the 90,000 Loyalty points threshold.
I was going to observe if this happened in my account (I had already received the 10,000 Loyalty Points bonus for $40k of spending) but I had a flood of Loyalty points posted during the same month due to travel and spending. That quickly pushed me from under 90,000 Loyalty points to over 100,000 Loyalty points. That wasn't a bad thing but it ruined my experiment.
The second 10,000 Loyalty Points bonus posted to my account on the last day of the month during which I passed the 90,000 Loyalty Points threshold.
Yes, it's clearly in the T&C's.
For those who have received the card, can you please advise threshold for “trip delay protection”? Would it be 3 hours or 6 hours or 12 hours?
The T&C's are now online for You to search through.