Cit Conversion to AAdvantage Card

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

When in doubt, go with the card that has the lower annual fee.

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AAdvantage Gold has no perks... It just earns 1x per dollar. Unless you were talking about Platinum. 

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I don't see much point in paying a $50 AF for an airline card that doesn't even give free checked bags.

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If you only fly first class and just want the miles, the Gold may make sense. 

Reason being - first class includes priority boarding, free checked bags, priority checked bags, and pretty much all of the perks the Platinum offers, except 25% off flight beverages and food, but the Gold offers that anyways. 

One can save $49 a year in annual fees if they only fly first class. 

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

I don't see much point in paying a $50 AF for an airline card that doesn't even give free checked bags.

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If you only fly first class and just want the miles, the Gold may make sense. 

Reason being - first class includes priority boarding, free checked bags, priority checked bags, and pretty much all of the perks the Platinum offers, except 25% off flight beverages and food, but the Gold offers that anyways. 

One can save $49 a year in annual fees if they only fly first class. 

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@Anonymous wrote:
Basically I want to redeem mostly domestic flights (including Hawaii) and Carribean first class or business seats, even if it means my spending habits will only net me a one way trip (with the other way being a bought ticket). I plan to fly 1-2 times a year at the most... Maybe 3 if I really stretch it. 

 You would need to spend more than $200 a year on AA in-flight purchases for a 25% savings to exceed the $50 AF.

Maybe I'm out of date, but I think AA first class passengers get a free drink of two. If you fly once or twice a year, I'm not sure it's possible to spend in excess of $200 on food and (additional) alcohol without getting arrested for drunken and disruptive behavior.

[redpat]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

I don't see much point in paying a $50 AF for an airline card that doesn't even give free checked bags.

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If you only fly first class and just want the miles, the Gold may make sense. 

Reason being - first class includes priority boarding, free checked bags, priority checked bags, and pretty much all of the perks the Platinum offers, except 25% off flight beverages and food, but the Gold offers that anyways. 

One can save $49 a year in annual fees if they only fly first class. 

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@Anonymous wrote:
Basically I want to redeem mostly domestic flights (including Hawaii) and Carribean first class or business seats, even if it means my spending habits will only net me a one way trip (with the other way being a bought ticket). I plan to fly 1-2 times a year at the most... Maybe 3 if I really stretch it. 

 You would need to spend more than $200 a year on AA in-flight purchases for a 25% savings to exceed the $50 AF.

Maybe I'm out of date, but I think AA first class passengers get a free drink of two. If you fly once or twice a year, I'm not sure it's possible to spend in excess of $200 on food and (additional) alcohol without getting arrested for drunken and disruptive behavior.

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If this is the case I suggest the other form of AA.......

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

I don't see much point in paying a $50 AF for an airline card that doesn't even give free checked bags.

---

If you only fly first class and just want the miles, the Gold may make sense. 

Reason being - first class includes priority boarding, free checked bags, priority checked bags, and pretty much all of the perks the Platinum offers, except 25% off flight beverages and food, but the Gold offers that anyways. 

One can save $49 a year in annual fees if they only fly first class. 

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@Anonymous wrote:
Basically I want to redeem mostly domestic flights (including Hawaii) and Carribean first class or business seats, even if it means my spending habits will only net me a one way trip (with the other way being a bought ticket). I plan to fly 1-2 times a year at the most... Maybe 3 if I really stretch it. 

 You would need to spend more than $200 a year on AA in-flight purchases for a 25% savings to exceed the $50 AF.

Maybe I'm out of date, but I think AA first class passengers get a free drink of two. If you fly once or twice a year, I'm not sure it's possible to spend in excess of $200 on food and (additional) alcohol without getting arrested for drunken and disruptive behavior.

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Many people who hold the AA Gold while flying first class could outweigh the annual fee just in earned miles. 

If someone spends $40,000 a year on the card, 40,000 miles (that is if it's all on non AA spend) equals $400-$800 or more depending on the value of your points when you redeem for flights. $800 far exceeds the annual fee, and then afterwards you can factor in the 25% savings if you want to. 

[redpat]

Get 7 AUs and 50k SUB and be first class all the way.  Don’t try to ham and egg it, go all in.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Many people who hold the AA Gold while flying first class could outweigh the annual fee just in earned miles. 

If someone spends $40,000 a year on the card, 40,000 miles (that is if it's all on non AA spend) equals $400-$800 or more depending on the value of your points when you redeem for flights. $800 far exceeds the annual fee, and then afterwards you can factor in the 25% savings if you want to. 

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The relevant calculation is not rewards vs. annual fee. Rather, it is marginal rewards vs. annual fee. If you spend $40k, earn 1x AA miles, and redeem at 2 cpp...you're still $50 behind a humble Double Cash which lacks an annual fee. Yes, AA Gold would "save" a little money on in-flight gluttony during a first-class flight...but you still have to pay for the other 75%.

Setting aside the questionable value of domestic first class and the length of time you'll need to accumulate the miles with your spend...as an infrequent flyer with no particular airline loyalty or elite status, you run a high risk of inefficient redemptions.

$40k spend could also get an additional 10k EQMs on AA Exec (not of much value if you fly once a year, but good for more normal travelers)...or 80k MRs.

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Many people who hold the AA Gold while flying first class could outweigh the annual fee just in earned miles. 

If someone spends $40,000 a year on the card, 40,000 miles (that is if it's all on non AA spend) equals $400-$800 or more depending on the value of your points when you redeem for flights. $800 far exceeds the annual fee, and then afterwards you can factor in the 25% savings if you want to. 

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The relevant calculation is not rewards vs. annual fee. Rather, it is marginal rewards vs. annual fee. If you spend $40k, earn 1x AA miles, and redeem at 2 cpp...you're still $50 behind a humble Double Cash which lacks an annual fee. Yes, AA Gold would "save" a little money on in-flight gluttony during a first-class flight...but you still have to pay for the other 75%.

Setting aside the questionable value of domestic first class and the length of time you'll need to accumulate the miles with your spend...as an infrequent flyer with no particular airline loyalty or elite status, you run a high risk of inefficient redemptions.

$40k spend could also get an additional 10k EQMs on AA Exec (not of much value if you fly once a year, but good for more normal travelers)...or 80k MRs.

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Once every three to six months isn't terrible. There's people that go many years between flights. My goal is to get a minimum of 2 cents per mile, but maybe more. 

I guess what's really pushing me towards AA cards is the lack of ability to earn AA miles once Starwood goes away (Marriott doesn't count since the redemptions stink). That, and there's no other Citi cards I'm interested in and the AT&T one will be more worthless than paying a $50 AF for a AA Gold and $99 for a AA Plat. The problem is, I'm still young and trying to figure out which loyalty program I want to be apart of... I started with AA, and then hated the redemptions (because I didn't know how they worked), so then I switched to Delta (which then I found out their miles are worth 50% less at a minimum compared to AA). In the future, I would perfer to stick to one main airline and Jet Blue who doesn't fly everywhere I want to go. 

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Once every three to six months isn't terrible. There's people that go many years between flights. My goal is to get a minimum of 2 cents per mile, but maybe more. 

I guess what's really pushing me towards AA cards is the lack of ability to earn AA miles once Starwood goes away (Marriott doesn't count since the redemptions stink). That, and there's no other Citi cards I'm interested in and the AT&T one will be more worthless than paying a $50 AF for a AA Gold and $99 for a AA Plat. The problem is, I'm still young and trying to figure out which loyalty program I want to be apart of... I started with AA, and then hated the redemptions (because I didn't know how they worked), so then I switched to Delta (which then I found out their miles are worth 50% less at a minimum compared to AA). In the future, I would perfer to stick to one main airline and Jet Blue who doesn't fly everywhere I want to go. 

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IMO there's not much benefit to being loyal to one airline if it's not you don't fly enough to gain status. You can track rewards more easily and just use one cobrand card, but you are likely to overpay occasionally for base airfare.