Citi & American Airlines have announced changes to the AAdvantage Executive Card as previously rumored. Changes are as follows:
Annual fee increasing to $595 (from $450)
Authorized user annual fee increasing to $175 the first three authorized users and a $175 fee for each authorized user thereafter
New annual credits:
Up to $120 back on eligible Avis® or Budget car rentals every calendar year.
Up to $120 back on eligible Grubhub purchases (up to $10 statement credit on each monthly billing statement).
Up to $120 in Lyft credits ($10 credit each month after taking three eligible rides).
New loyalty point bonuses:
A 10,000 Loyalty Point bonus after reaching 50,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year.
An additional 10,000 Loyalty Point bonus after reaching 90,000 Loyalty Points in the same status qualification year
New earning rates:
4X AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases. After spending $150,000 in a calendar year, cardmembers can earn a total of 5X AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases for the remainder of the calendar year.
10X AAdvantage miles on eligible car rentals booked through aa.com/cars and eligible hotels booked through aa.com/hotels.
Limited time sign up bonus of 100,000 points after $10,000 in spend within the first three months
Changes start on July 23.
Our Verdict
If you can use the monthly credits then you’re better off, but keeping tracking and getting full value of monthly credits like that is a pain and the Lyft credit is difficult to use requiring three rides. The major change for a lot of people is the new authorized user fee. Overall disappointing to see Citi go in this direction with the monthly credits like American Express and others have done.