Next month, I’ll be facing a decision on whether or not to keep the Citi AAdvantage Executive MasterCard. After dithering for far too long with whether or not to even apply, I went for it and met the minimum spend in short order earning 100,000 AAdvantage bonus miles. Since then, the card has been sock drawered for the most part while I focus on more generous day to day bonus spend with Sapphire Preferred and Arrival Plus. I was recently offered some limited bonus miles for useful merchant categories, though at a cap of 2,500 miles, not really enough to ensure I keep the card with its $450 annual fee. Granted, that comes with Admirals Club membership, and when it comes down to it, that could be reason enough to keep it with a big “IF.”
I’ve toyed with the idea of somehow finding a way to fly American more. Why? I feel like AAdvantage is a better loyalty program than SkyMiles, and for more reasons than not being “revenue based.” That said, let’s face a few facts. I live in Atlanta. I fly on business. I value my time. Delta Air Lines does the right things well. I will be flying Delta more than anyone else in 2015. Southwest is my only other realistic option, and one that I will be forced to take more often in 2015 than I have been in the past. It just doesn’t make any sense at all to keep the Citi Executive card in my personal situation. Yes, the Admirals Club membership could come in handy for those times when I’m flying Southwest, but I’ve got a Priority Pass membership by virtue of my Amex Platinum that can get me into a lounge in Atlanta if I have need for it. Otherwise, I can just sit in the airport bar/restaurant like everyone else…..a thought that doesn’t bother me as much as I like to kid myself and others that it does.
Barring a significantly improved bonus offer, I can’t see keeping this card another year. I will ring Citi when the time comes to close the card, and I will consider a retention offer if it’s made. However, it’s more likely than not that there will be one less card in my wallet in short order, and I’ll be keeping $450 for more important things. Are you facing a keep/no keep decision on a credit card soon? The Citi Executive card? What did you decide?
-MJ, February 3, 2015
MJ – Just wanted to follow up. I just converted my AA Exec to Double Cash after confirming that I would not lose the price rewind that has started.
Good news. Been leaning towards Double Cash myself.
Does anybody know if a change the CitiExecutive for the Prestige I still get miles for my AA account?
Lillian,
Prestige offers Thank You points. There is an enhanced redemption option if you redeem them for AA flights, but I have not researched it enough to comment on it. Others will chime in.
My annual fee is due in July. I am certainly letting the card go unless they offer me a retention offer. I value AA Miles quite high but $450 is too steep for me. I have Amex Plat and cannot justify having both.
I am grappling with the exact same question so I called-in and asked to speak to someone about cancellation. The retention offer was a $250 statement credit if I spent $3k per month for the next 3 months. The only other option was to keep the card open but downgrade…which is where I am leaning at the moment. I’ll probably pick-up the Citi Prestige card for my Admirals benefit.
I got used with this card, also because does not charge fees when use in another country. But I am not sure if I will be ok to pay almost 500 dollars for some benefits. I wonder if they will take the 100k miles I got with the promotion last year from my AA account…
I was going to suggest converting to the Citi Prestige, which is a lot cheaper (post $250 air fare credit). But it only gives you Admirals Club “access” if you’re flying AA that day as opposed to a full membership. Too bad that won’t work for you. Being a hub captive really sucks!
Citi Prestige + AAdvantage card (either US or citi) offers a better combination for a lower price (factoring in credits).
What do you mean by: the Admirals Club membership could come in handy for those times when I’m flying Southwest.
The agents have always required I have a same day ticket on AA so how can you use it with Southwest?
@Matt, With a membership, it doesn’t matter who you are flying. I’ve been admitted to the AC when flying Delta.
I cancelled mine yesterday. They did offer if I spend $1,000 a month on the card an additional 1000 points for a year. I still did not think the annual fee was worth it.
there were some people who claimed they automatically received $200 off, is this still going on or has that been fixed?
I will definitely be downgrading to a Citi Double Cash (since there is no sign up bonus that I would miss out on with that card). However, I think I have to wait until a price rewind is finished tracking (which saved me $60!) until I can convert.
MJ,
I am at exactly the same decision point this month and also live near Atlanta. One benefit that gives me pause is the reduced mileage awards on select cities. I have actually used that for a positioning flight last year out of Houston. As I also have the US Airways card that I think will give a benefit similar to this one in the future, and it is only $89 (as well as 10K anniversary miles), I have decided to cancel my AAdvantage card too.
Rich
Definitely won’t renew. Between having Elite Status, and flying Biz/First, the lounge access and “Priority” benefits are basically useless. I’ll be downgrading to another AA card, so that the fee doesn’t choke me each year, and leverage the 10% mileage redemption bonus (capped indeed, but better than nothing).