So who will be the first to snag that coveted American Airlines credit card? The answer, according to experts is simple: those with elite status. In this article we look at how well-off travelers can already get a top AA card and what these cards offer you in terms of perks for your next trip.
The American Airlines AAdvantage credit card is one of the top travel cards available to consumers, and with good reason. It offers a generous number of points that can be redeemed for flights or upgrades on certain airlines, as well as valuable perks like free checked bags and priority boarding. It’s not too late to start leveraging this card in 2022 though: you could earn more than 10 million miles by completing just two simple tasks!
The “american airlines executive platinum status” is a credit card that will be available in 2022. It will offer the highest status level currently offered by American Airlines, and it will be easier to earn than it seemed.
The FAQ on how American’s new elite program works with its credit card partners, according to the FAQ,
- You have two more months in January and February 2022 to meet spending criteria in order to earn qualifying dollars and miles in 2021.
- As a one-time change, you’ll have 14 months (January 2022 – February 2023) to earn threshold bonuses.
When qualifying transactions total $40,000 between January 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® will earn an extra 10,000 Loyalty Points on top of the points earned on the card (at 1 point per dollar).
Between January 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023, AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver Mastercard® cardholders will earn up to 15,000 extra Loyalty Points at certain expenditure criteria.
- After spending $20,000 on purchases, you’ll get 5,000 Loyalty Points.
- After spending $40,000 on purchases, you’ll get an extra 5,000 Loyalty Points.
- 5,000 more Loyalty Points after spending $50,000 or more on purchases (because this card didn’t only earn elite qualifying miles after spending $20,000 and $40,000, it also earned 3000 qualifying dollars after spending $50,000).
Surprisingly, the AAdvantage® Aviator® Business Mastercard®, which earned 3000 points after spending $25,000, did not get a make-good bonus (other than two extra months to hit spend for the 2021 year like everyone else). This is most likely due to the fact that consumer safeguards on small business cards differ from those on consumer cards.
As I’ve moved away from flying American nearly entirely over the last seven years, my plan has been to max out credit card contributions toward status and re-up Executive Platinum with the bare minimum of traveling and spending. With both the Citi Executive ($40,000 expenditure) and Barclays Aviator Silver ($50,000 spend), I was earning 20,000 qualifying miles and 3000 qualifying dollars. So I had to fly 80,000 miles and pay $12,000.
Between January 2022 and February 2023, the same $90,000 purchase will yield me 115,000 Loyalty Points, leaving just 85,000 Loyalty Points to re-up status. That’s $7727 in tickets based on 11 miles for dollar earned on American Airlines trips. This reduces my needed spending by a third for the next year. And that’s without any purchases made via online shopping portals or any other qualifying behavior.
Indeed, without a single trip, your status quo ante credit card expenditure would get you Platinum Pro status with merely 10,000 points in online shopping portal transactions.
Only qualified flights, credit card purchases, meals, online shopping, and SimplyMiles transactions are now counted, but it looks that American is selling Loyalty Points to interested partners in addition to the miles they’re granting.
I’m hoping that Bask Bank will join in. I utilize their Bask Savings Account to earn 1 AAdvantage mile for every dollar put over the course of a year, and I deposit quarterly tax payments and property tax payments there since it’s short-term cash I need to keep liquid. It would be great if these points were also used to determine status. However, with interest rates as low as they are, I’m not sure there’s enough margin for Bask Bank to pay any needed premium.
Some persons might obtain Executive Platinum status just by depositing $200,000 or more into a Bask Savings Account! (It’s more than I have in my account there, cough.)
More From the Wing’s Perspective
American Airlines has announced that it will be making changes to its credit card program in 2022. This means that even easier ways to earn top American Airlines credit card status will be available than it seemed. Reference: how does american airlines clean their planes.
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