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In this article, I am going to compare the three American Airlines credit card that is issued by Citibank. At the end of the article, I am also going to suggest an alternative card. But first, let's look at the table below. It shows the main differences in the three cards.
American Airlines AAdvantage Credit Card Comparison
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 |
 |
|
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Citi® AAdvantage Bronze MasterCard® |
Citi® AAdvantage Gold MasterCard® |
Citi® AAdvantage Platinum Select® World
MasterCard® |
| Miles Formula |
1 Mile = $2.00 |
1 Mile = $1.00 |
1 Mile = $1.00 |
| Bonus Miles |
5,000 |
15,000 |
25,000 |
| Annual Fee |
$0 |
$50 |
$85 |
| Rate |
P+9.99% |
P+9.99% |
P+9.99% |
| Anniversary Bonus |
n.a. |
Reduced Mileage Award - 5000 miles |
Reduced Mileage Award - 7000 miles |
| Caps on Miles |
25,000 |
60,000 |
100,000 |
Observations - There are two things that stick out here. Firstly, the Citi AAdvantage Bronze
MasterCard has no annual fee. It fact, it is one of the very rare frequent flyer credit cards with no annual fee. However, you can only earn one mile for every two dollars that you spend on the card. Compared to the Gold and Platinum Select cards, you can only earn up to 25,000 miles. New cardholders also get less bonus miles.
The second important observation is that while the Platinum Select version has a higher annual fee, higher bonus miles given to new cardholders and higher earning limits, you cannot earn double miles. In fact, unlike many other airline credit cards, AAdvantage credit cards cannot earn double miles.
Recommendations - If you are a member of the AAdvantge program but not really a frequent flyer, or you do not want to pay any annual fee on your credit card, then the Citi® Bronze®/AAdvantage® MasterCard® is the card to get.
If you are willing to pay the annual fee on the card, I think the Citi® Gold/AAdvantage® World MasterCard®
is the better card to get compared to the Platinum Select version. The reason is because I think
there is little difference that justifies the higher annual
fee that the Platinum Select version charges. You do get more bonus miles for the Platinum Select
version. Also, every year, the AAdvantage program has a
reduced mileage award where certain rewards requires less
points to redeem. Hence, a Platinum Select card member needs
7,000 less miles versus 5,000 for a gold card member.
However, I think these are minor issues. I feel that for an
airline credit card to charge $85.00 in annual fee, you
should be able to earn double miles. This is where I think
the Citi® Platinum Select®/AAdvantage® World MasterCard® falls short.
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