Last year, Citi released a 100,000 AAdvantage bonus mile Executive AAdvantage card, which many signed up for due to this being one of the highest sign-on bonuses every. Unfortunately, it came with a minimum spending requirement of $10,000, but with some creative spending techniques, this was fairly easy to meet.
The Citi Executive AAdvantage card has two primary benefits – a full AAdmiral’s Club membership, allowing access for guests and when flying other airlines, as well as a 10,000 elite qualifying miles bonus when you spend $40,000 on the card during the calendar year. It’s worth noting that this card does not have a 10% mile rebate, like the Platinum versions.
Wanting to avoid the annual $450, I gave Citi a call to see what could be done. I was surprised with the answer: nothing.
The representative I spoke with offered nothing to reduce the annual fee, nor any bonus miles for meeting additional spending requirements. In fact, he offered to downgrade the card to a no-fee version, though of course that would remove the AAdmiral’s Club access I so appreciate.
I’ve been debating on getting the Citi Prestige Card, which includes AAdmiral’s Club access (not membership), as well as an airline fee credit, though, for the time being, I’m sticking with my current Citi Executive card, even though retention offer was made.
What should I have done? Should I cancel this card, and switch to the Citi Prestige card, or is an Admiral’s Club membership that much more valuable over access?
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
Do you still put spending on the card, or did you stop after meeting the requirements for the 100k miles? I was offered what many others have written about, reduce annual fee from $450 to $250 if i spend $3k for three months, which i do anyways.
Unfortunately, I don’t spend as much as I should on it. Beyond the $10,000 minimum spend, I think I did an additional $5,000 in legitimate purchases for the remainder of the year.
Doesn’t it have the $200 statement credit? So that would make it a $50 fee for 3k spend, which would cost $25 to MS…..so $75 for admiral’s club. Maybe a good value for some.
It’s a one time statement credit. So, that was used last year.
I don’t think the Admirals Club membership is worth $250 more than access – I don’t think I’ve been in a situation yet where it’s really made a difference.
Cancel the card, get the Citi Prestige Card. Earn the Prestige bonus. Access to AA Clubs plus a Priority Pass (with guests!) should cover you in most situations. No brainer in my opinion