Best American Airlines Credit Cards of December 2024

Co-branded travel credit cards are credit cards branded with a specific hotel brand or airline. These cards typically offer perks and rewards that center around one specific brand or their partner brands. American Airlines co-branded cards offer great airline perks that can be very valuable for loyal American Airlines flyers, like free checked bags and priority boarding.

But if you aren’t interested in being tied down to one specific airline and are looking for more flexible rewards, a general travel credit card may be the way to go. Depending on the card, you’ll likely be able to use your miles to book travel with American Airlines or other airlines.

For example, the Chase Travel^SM, American Express Membership Rewards and Capital One Travel programs let you transfer points to the British Airways Executive Club program at a 1:1 ratio. From there, you can use your newfound “Avios” (the currency of the British Airways Executive Club) to book one-way domestic flights on partner American for as little as 7,500 Avios one-way for short-haul flights.

1. How valuable is the sign-up bonus?

You should take a close look at each card’s sign-up bonus, since this can be a quick way to earn an award flight on American Airlines. Some things to consider when evaluating the bonus:

• How does the value of the miles compare to other card’s bonuses? (Consider the value of their points/miles when redeemed for AAdvantage airfare.)
• Can you meet the spending threshold?
• Do you meet the eligibility requirements? (Read the offer terms carefully — for example, you may not qualify if you have owned other AAdvantage cards.)
• How does the value of the bonus compare to the annual fee? (You might go for a lower annual fee card if you’re strictly interested in earning miles.)

2. Can you afford the annual fee?

American Airlines offers credit cards with annual fees ranging from $0 to $595. To decide if you’ll be able to justify an annual fee, look at the benefits and rewards offered by each card. Typically, higher annual fee cards come with premium protections and card benefits. If you don’t think you’ll rack up enough rewards or get enough use out of a card’s benefits to cover the annual fee, you’ll want to opt for the no-annual-fee choice.

3. Is it easy to spend the card’s miles?

American Airlines branded credit cards are designed to be used in the AAdvantage platform. Your miles can easily be redeemed for American Airlines flights or transferred to one of American Airlines transfer partners, which consists of 13 airlines.

If you don’t think you’ll get the most use out of your miles by redeeming them for American Airlines flights, consider a general travel card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve^® Card. These cards allow you to get 25% and 50% (respectively) more value from your points when you redeem for travel through Chase’s portal. You can also transfer points at a rate of 1:1 to 11 airline parents and three hotel partners, or redeem for cash back and gift cards.

4. Will you use the card’s benefits?

One of the main reasons to get a co-branded AAdvantage card is to score a range of important airline perks, including free checked bags and discounts on inflight purchases. The more you fly with American Airlines, the more you can use those benefits — making the card even more valuable. On the other hand, if you rarely fly with American Airlines, or if you’re unlikely to use the airline perks, a general travel card may be the better way to go.

Here are some of the common American Airlines benefits that you’ll see with American Express credit cards:

• First checked bag free — This can save you hundreds of dollars each year if you fly American frequently. You should also note that co-branded American AAdvantage cards with this perk let cardholders use it for themselves and a few of their traveling companions on the same itinerary.
• Preferred/priority boarding — If you care about being front of the line on your flights, preferred or priority boarding can be another good reason to own an AAdvantage card.
• Lounge access — Admirals Club membership (which comes with the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®) can make your wait for your next flight much more pleasant. But the benefit only makes sense if you often travel through airports with Admirals Clubs.
• Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit — Some American Airlines co-branded cards, like the Citi^® / AAdvantage^® Executive World Elite Mastercard^®, provide a credit of up to $120 every four years to cover your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee.
• American Airlines companion certificate — A few co-branded American AAdvantage cards, like the Citi^® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard^®, also offer an annual companion certificate when you reach a specific spend threshold.

By our estimates, AAdvantage miles are worth an average of $0.018 per mile. This is the highest point value among the five major domestic airlines. But the value will vary depending on how you use your miles.

For example, if a flight’s cash price is $600 and you need 32,500 miles to cover the flight, the value of each mile is approximately $0.018.

You can also redeem AAdvantage miles for merchandise and gift cards. But you’ll find that you generally get less than 1 cent per mile on these redemptions.

The number of AAdvantage miles required for an award flight varies widely, depending on the type of fare, origin, destination and whether you’re able to find a deal. Some flights can cost as little as 7,500 miles, while first-class international flights can cost hundreds of thousands of miles. Here are some sample fares for different fare types on American Airlines reward flights:

There are four tiers of American Airlines statuses that you can reach: AAdvantage Gold®, AAdvantage Platinum®, AAdvantage Platinum Pro® and AAdvantage Executive Platinum®. Loyalty Points are the only way that you can reach AAdvantage® status. Qualification for status is based on the Loyalty Points you earn for a 12-month period starting on March 1 each year.

Loyalty Points required to earn AAdvantage® status range from 40,000 to 200,000 points. Once you hit an elite status, you’ll gain access to additional benefits like free upgrades, free checked bags and complimentary preferred seating.

How to earn American Airlines loyalty points

You can earn Loyalty Points toward elite status in the following ways:

1. Earn AAdvantage® miles when you fly with American Airlines and partner airlines: Earn between 5 and 11 Loyalty Points per dollar

When you fly with American Airlines and select oneworld® partner airlines, you’ll get extra miles that count towards earning Loyalty Points. Prioritize earning status tier one (AAdvantage Gold), and work your way up from there.

2. Make purchases with an AAdvantage® credit card: Earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar

3. Earn eligible miles with AAdvantage® partners: The shopping portal and dining program are examples.

• Check your card’s bonus rewards categories: Some AAdvantage cards earn 2X miles on purchase categories like American Airlines, groceries and gas. This is a great way to stack up AAdvantage miles on major expenses.
• Use your card to save on luggage: Since the annual fee AAdvantage cards typically offer free checked luggage for up to four people on your itinerary, this can save you $100 or more each way. Note, though, that the benefit doesn’t apply to international flights, so you might use another card when traveling overseas.
• Link your card to AAdvantage programs to earn bonus miles: As a member of the AAdvantage® program, you can earn bonus miles on hotels, car rentals, vacation packages and cruises. There are also portals like AAdvantage® eShopping and AAdvantage® Dining that allow you to earn bonus miles while online shopping or at restaurants. You can earn an additional 1x to 5x miles on your purchases.
• Use your card for all in-flight purchases on American Airlines: If you opt to purchase an in-flight cocktail, be sure to reach for your co-branded AAdvantage card — you’ll score a huge 25% savings.