The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® has a wide range of perks for users to enjoy. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® includes a full Admirals Club airport lounge membership for the primary cardholder, and authorized users can also access the lounges. American Airlines values that membership at $650.
If you’re a frequent traveler and use American Airlines, this is a great credit card to own. The sign-up bonus will help you build up your miles balance fast, but you’ll need to spend a fair amount to earn miles elsewhere. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® only earns you just two miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases and just one mile per $1 spent on other purchases. While that’s around the industry average, there are other premium travel credit cards that offer more.
For example, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® gives you three points per $1 on all travel purchases, three points per $1 on restaurant purchases, and one point per $1 on all other purchases. The best part, this card doesn’t limit you to using just one airline. If you’re going to be using multiple airlines traveling, this is going to be a better card option.
Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® Overview
Credit Card Type: Travel Rewards
Annual Fee: $450
Sign-Up Bonus/Offer: Yes
Rewards: 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after opening the card.
Redemption Options: AAdvantage miles can be redeemed for travel on American Airlines or its oneworld® partners. American Airlines uses a region-based award chart, so the number of miles required to redeem for flights will vary. You can also redeem your miles for hotel stays, car rentals or to plan a vacation through American Airlines’ partners.
Interest rate: 0% on Balance Transfers for 18 months.
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Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® Benefits
Good Travel Benefits: Even if you don’t have an airline status, you’ll still get plenty of perks from the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard®.
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® has some cool travel perks, such as early boarding and access to priority check-in and security lanes. Another great benefit is the fact that It also includes one free checked bag for you and up to 8 travel companions.
Now, if you have American Airlines elite status, those perks are already included.
If you do have elite status or plan to earn it with this specific card, these benefits may not be as valuable to you. But you’ll still get a statement credit of up to $100 for your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee every five years. And the card has no foreign transaction fees, which could come in handy when you’re traveling abroad.
Obtaining Elite Status: If you’re planning to use this card a lot, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® can help you earn elite status. If you spend $40,000 on eligible purchases with the card per the calendar year, you’ll earn 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles or EQMs.
Now, earning American Airlines and oneworld®’s elite status involves a few different things;
- Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs)
- Elite Qualifying Segments (EQSs)
You’ll likely be required to fly American Airlines in order to earn them. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® can help you earn that status in a shorter period.
Keep this in mind, the lowest-status tier, Gold oneworld® Ruby, it requires a total of 25,000 EQMs. Even with the 10,000 EQMs you’ll earn, you’ll need to earn an additional 15,000 EQMs to reach that status. If you’ll be spending a lot, you can get that status fairly quickly with the 10,000 EQM.
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Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® Drawbacks
Confusing To Say The Least: You may be reading this right now and thinking, “what does all of this mean?” Yeah, there’s a lot going on and it can be confusing. While the memberships are great, some of you may prefer a simpler travel card, one that allows you to earn your rewards and be done with it.
Dependent On American Airlines: If you don’t prefer American Airlines or use other airlines to travel, you may want to consider another card. I’m not a big fan of being “tied” down to one airline and there are other travel cards out there that allow you to travel as you please.
Have To Travel Frequently: If you’re only traveling once a month, once every few months, I wouldn’t recommend using this card. You have to travel a lot for the $450 annual fee to be worth it. If you don’t, pick up another travel card with better perks.
Final Verdict
The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® can be a rewarding card, but only for someone that uses American Airlines flyers a lot. The card’s various perks will likely appeal to frequent travelers who want additional comfort at the airport. Despite that, the $450 annual fee is tough to swallow. If you travel 2 times a month or more, it can certainly be worth it. If you rarely travel, or just travel once a month, there are better card options out there for you.
If you enjoy using your travel rewards credit cards to redeem miles from traveling, you’re going to likely want to look elsewhere for a card. Sure, the sign-up bonus is “ok,” but this card doesn’t offer many opportunities to earn miles. Furthermore, it has limited bonus categories, there are just better card options out there for you.
But if you prefer to get value from travel cards by redeeming miles for award flights, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. This card simply doesn’t offer many mile-earning potential thanks to its limited bonus categories and decent, but not unique, sign-up bonus.
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