You are about to guide a flight. You attain on your pockets, however what bank card must you use to pay? Is it the one with the airline’s identify stamped on the entrance, or will a special bank card supply extra?
American Airways has quite a few bank cards bearing its identify, so let’s examine these to different journey rewards bank cards to see what the best choice is when paying for AA flights.
Evaluating bank cards for American Airways flights
| Card identify | Incomes fee on American Airways flights | Worth of the rewards earned* | AA-related advantages from the cardboard | Annual price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Government World Elite Mastercard® | 4 miles per greenback by way of Dec. 31, 2022. From Jan. 1, 2023, the incomes fee can be 2 miles per greenback. | 7.08 cents in 2022 then 3.54 cents beginning in 2023. | Admirals Membership lounge membership.
Free first checked bag for you and as much as eight companions touring on the identical reservation when flying on home flights with AA or its subsidiaries. Precedence check-in, precedence airport safety screening and early boarding privileges. 25% off inflight meals and beverage purchases. Earn 1 Loyalty Level in direction of AAdvantage elite standing for every greenback spent on the cardboard. |
$450. |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Choose® World Elite Mastercard® | 2 miles per greenback. | 3.54 cents. | Free first checked bag for you and as much as 4 companions touring on the identical reservation when flying on home flights with AA or its subsidiaries.
Most popular boarding. Earn 1 Loyalty Level in direction of AAdvantage elite standing for every greenback spent on the cardboard. |
$0 introductory annual price, then $99. |
| CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Choose® Mastercard® | 2 miles per greenback. | 3.54 cents. | Free first checked bag for you and as much as 4 companions touring on the identical reservation when flying on home flights with AA or its subsidiaries.
Most popular boarding. 25% off inflight meals and beverage purchases. Earn 1 Loyalty Level in direction of AAdvantage elite standing for every greenback spent on the cardboard. |
$0 introductory annual price, then $99. |
| American Airways AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card | 2 miles per greenback. | 3.54 cents. | Earn 1 Loyalty Level in direction of AAdvantage elite standing for every greenback spent on the cardboard. | $0. |
| AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Enterprise Mastercard® | 2 miles per greenback. | 3.54 cents. | Free first checked bag for you and as much as 4 companions touring on the identical reservation when flying on home flights with AA or its subsidiaries.
Most popular boarding. 25% off inflight meals and beverage purchases. |
$95. |
| AAdvantage® Aviator® Pink World Elite Mastercard® | 2 miles per greenback. | 3.54 cents. | Free first checked bag for you and as much as 4 companions touring on the identical reservation when flying on home flights with AA or its subsidiaries.
Most popular boarding. 25% off inflight meals and beverage purchases. As much as $25 again as assertion credit for inflight Wi-Fi purchases from AA throughout every cardmember yr. |
$99. |
| The Platinum Card® from American Categorical | 5 factors per greenback (on as much as $500,000 on these purchases per calendar yr). | 10 cents. | None, however you may select American Airways as your most well-liked airline to cowl as much as $200 per yr in airline incidental credit for issues like checked baggage or most well-liked seat charges. | $695 (see charges and costs). |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve | 3 factors per greenback (or 5 factors per greenback if booked through the Chase journey portal). | 6 cents (or 10 cents). | None, however a few of your purchases will be offset by the $300 in annual journey credit provided on the cardboard. | $550. |
| American Categorical® Inexperienced Card | 3 factors per greenback. | 6 cents. | None. | $150 (see charges and costs). |
| Citi Premier® Card | 3 factors per greenback. | 5.4 cents. | None. | $95. |
| Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card | 2 miles per greenback (or 5 miles per greenback if booked within the Capital One Journey portal). | 3.7 cents (or 9.25 cents). | None, however a few of your purchases will be offset by the $300 in annual journey credit out there when reserving with Capital One Journey. | $395. |
* Bonus worth is an estimated worth calculated by TPG and never the cardboard issuer.
The data for the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Aviator Pink and Amex Inexperienced playing cards has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.
Which card must you use for American Airways flights?
In lots of life’s decisions, what you select can contain trade-offs. Perhaps you get extra of this however much less of that. Not right here.
Associated: American Airways baggage charges and easy methods to keep away from paying them
Meaning you could possibly pay with a card just like the Amex Platinum Card to earn additional factors or pay with the Sapphire Reserve to make use of a part of your $300 in journey credit towards your flight reservation. Actually, utilizing your journey credit on the Sapphire Reserve when paying for the taxes and costs on an award ticket means you could possibly erase even that minimal amount of money you needed to pay for a flight.
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Associated: The perfect bank cards for paying taxes and costs on award tickets
On the flip facet, which card you pay with could possibly be decided by the insurance coverage protections you wish to have throughout your journey. In that case, paying with the Sapphire Reserve might be your finest guess because it has the most effective journey protections of the playing cards within the checklist above.
For those who’re engaged on American Airways elite standing, paying together with your American Airways bank card is probably going the most effective guess. That is since you’ll earn additional Loyalty Factors for every greenback spent in your AA bank card.
Associated: Methods to qualify for American elite standing from bank card spending alone
And when you have the AAdvantage Government card that provides Admirals Membership lounge entry, you may be glad to know you may nonetheless entry the lounge whether or not you paid on your American Airways flight with that card or not.
Associated: The final word information to American Airways Admirals Membership entry
There’s one time when it actually issues which bank card you pay with: whenever you make an inflight buy. Playing cards just like the AAdvantage Aviator Pink card and the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Enterprise card present reductions and rebates when making inflight purchases. For those who’re shopping for one thing on board throughout your flight, you will not obtain the relevant low cost in the event you do not pay with an eligible American Airways bank card.
Backside line
The excellent news is that you could get pleasure from advantages like free checked baggage and precedence boarding from American Airways bank cards even in the event you do not pay on your flight with these playing cards. As a substitute, you may pay with one other card to invoke journey protections or to earn additional rewards whereas nonetheless having fun with AA’s cardholder perks.
When paying for American Airways flights, you may have your cake and eat it, too.
Editor’s word: “Factors of View” is a sequence evaluating choices on which bank card to make use of. For those who’re dealing with a dilemma about which card is finest for an upcoming cost, e-mail us at suggestions@thepointsguy.com.
Additionally on this sequence:
For charges and costs of the Amex Platinum card, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Inexperienced card, click on right here.
