Introducing the Brand New Citi Executive / AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard

Yes, but. . .
Remember this caveat Maya put in her Aug. 24 announcement of the new million-mile rules. Unless this was liberalized later on and I missed it, you only get million-mile credit on the dollars spent on this new credit card through 2012, and to do so you had to open the card by Dec. 1 of THIS year.

Here were her words: "The Citi Executive(SM) / AAdvantage® World Elite(TM)MasterCard® credit card account must be open and in good standing by December 1, 2011, and miles must post to billing statements through December 2012."

Now that I have the card it turns out to be chip/signature which becomes utterly useless; no added function to standard US mag-stripe card. What a waste. Citi do issue cards in more than 50 countries around the world and do EMV cards in many places. Why do an "experiment" for a technology that is known and deployed all over the world? WHY deploy a card that has precisely zero utility beyond magstripe? Sorry; today is not meant to be a ranting day.

Just to further clarify: My december cycle just posted yesterday. I did receive EQM for the actual purchases. I did not receive EQM for the bonuses. Precisely as promised and clarified, much to my relief.

EQM or MM credit?

My bad! I started to reply, then went back to check again. They counted for MM but did not count for EQM. My apologies!

Gotcha, gotcha. I thought you were confused or perhaps there was a new card feature we were unaware of... haha.

Question, I can't believe I'm considering this card, but...

I mean, I figured I didn't need it, I hit lifetime 3MM just before December 1. And I have other cards with no foreign currency transaction fees (eg Chase Sapphire Preferred). Plus I get lounge access via the Amex Platinum, and I have Business ExtrAA points I could award myself a lounge membership if I needed to.

There's only one value-add remaining for this card. 10,000 EQMs for $40k in spend.

I wouldn't have had any interest in that, except with the OWMD challenge I've got 20k miles booked with AA to be completed by January 13. And with Double EQMs I will have 50k by the end of January. Making requalifying eminently doable. The extra 10k EQMs would help though.

And I figure that the price of the card isn't going to be more than the price of mileage runs for 10k EQMs, and I get to save the time.

So.... I need to get this card and so does my wife, for the same reasons.

I have a Citi card now and I'm quite confident they're giving me all the credit that they really want to give me. I don't think Citi will approve me for another card right now. I've got a hefty line with them on my personal card and I have a six-figure line on a small business card. So when I recently applied for TY Premier they approved me, with only a $2000 limit. Hah!

So, will Citi switch me if I call them up, make my current AA card an AA Executive card? If they will and I do this will I lose the signup bonus? Trying to decide whether to cancel the existing card and apply straight away...

Any advice or experience appreciated!

Citi WILL let you call up and switch. However, they have an annoying new procedure where you have to wait 90 days to switch to the new card. Some sort of disclaimer hooey. I was told NO on the sign-up bonus when changing products, but someone else I know was told yes.

I would suggest the similar approach you use for Chase. Apply for the card. Call them if you get the decline and ask them to move credit lines. If both of those fail, you can still do the 90-day transfer option.

What is the 90 day transfer, they'll transfer me but only 90 days after I ask? That's kind of bizarre.

Very bizarre. They read a disclaimer that says something like, "You have 90 days to change your mind on this. If you don't change your mind, we'll send you the card in 90 days."

Something to do with Dodd-Frank?

I wanted the card because I am taking my family on AA next month. When they told me that they couldn't move my existing AA card until late Feb (this was mid Dec), I simply applied for a new card. They did not instantly approve me, and I spoke to an agent a week after I applied, who confirmed that the problem was that I had as much credit as Citi was willing to extend to me. I asked them to move over a line from another card that I never use, and they did so, on condition that I close that card. I got the new executive card (non-EMV version) in the mail two days later.

Thanks! What number did you ring up after a week?

I called the regular number (888-201-4523) and asked for a credit specialist after they told me that it was still pending.

On another disappointing note, I noticed that the T&C for the card state for both the enhanced airport experience and the waived baggage charges that the card must be open and in good standing at the time that the ticket is booked.

Since I had been counting on waived baggage charges for my family of five for an upcoming trip as a large part of the value proposition, I called to confirm. The woman I spoke with first said that I had to purchase the ticket on the card for the "enhanced airport experience", but just had to show the card to waive baggage charges.

I pointed her to the fine print in the brochure, and she agreed that it didn't agree with either piece of information she just gave me. She said she'd have to call me back.

She did so after a few minutes, and said that for both benefits, the ticket must be purchased on the card. This is not in the brochure, but part of the "additional T&C" referenced in the brochure, which she could send me.

Does anyone have actual experience with this?

In any event, I decided that it probably isn't worth the $450 to me and asked her what my options were. After all, I want to keep the line of credit, just not on this card. She said they would have to ask me the usual questions about income and mortgage, etc, and would have to pull my credit. I am pretty annoyed about it, although will go ahead if it's necessary.

Bottom line is that I travel about once a month for business, only occasionally internationally, so only make any elite status if I'm lucky (i.e. two trips to Europe coinciding with a double EQM promotion). I told her that I could take either AA or CO on most trips. CO's Chase card gives me waived baggage fees regardless of how they were purchased, PriorityPass gives me reasonably priced lounge access (+ the CO card gives me a few vouchers each year) and my wife's Chase BA card gives me no foreign fees. If the AA card at least matched CO on the baggage fees, it would pay in that I could take my trips on AA and get the 10K EQMs which would let me make elite in any given year. However, the cost really isn't worth it to me just for silver status (benefits are pretty trivial...)

So it looks like I'm going to cancel this card and hope the Citi isn't too difficult with the credit reallocation. I would be curious to know whether any non-elite card member has actual experience with the benefits for flights that they had booked prior to having this card.

Thanks!

Data point on entry with this card:

At LHR AC, instead of showing my boarding pass I only handed over my FF card and my ID. Agent asked for my boarding pass, and I asked why that was necessary if I'm a member through the World Elite card. The other agent at the desk confirmed this to her colleague, and I was let in.

"...I would be curious to know whether any non-elite card member has actual experience with the benefits for flights that they had booked prior to having this card."

My wife & I took a quick trip (LAX to LAS) at the beginning of December with tix booked on AA prior to my getting the Citi Executive CC. We didn't check luggage, but I got the impression when we checked in at the airports (in the Business Class Line, with no objections) that we could have done so with a free bag each. At LAX we were directed to the priority/expedited security line (and just went to it ourselves in LAS) and went through those with no objections. At LAX we were permitted "priority boarding" - but at LAS we were turned away by a cordial but unequivocally certain gate attendant who told us to wait until our "ticket group" was being boarded.

On the whole, nobody seemed to care whether our tickets had or hadn't been purchased on the Citi Executive CC - just whether we had one (which I showed them when needed). Hope this helps !

Priority AAccess and free bags through this card are linked to your FF number, not whether or not you used the card to purchase the tickets.

+1

And, I got this card before I became AA Gold. With the card, your account is "limited gold," but other than the bonus 25% miles, it is pretty much the same as "real gold." Your get the free checked bag because of your AAdv account, and your boarding pass prints with AA Gold / OW Ruby (even though technically you don't get Ruby with the cc card, and you don't get an AA Gold card.

Thanks everyone for your help. I did call Citi back today and got a very helpful agent in their Kentucky center who conferenced me in with an AA rep (after three tries - the first two didn't know anything at all about the program), who told me that the benefits are linked to your FF account (so tix would not have to be purchased on this card), but would not apply to previously book flights. Is there some way to log in online and see your account status? I don't want to pay $450 for this card and then pay for checked bags on top (x 5 family members RT!)

In the end, all the Citi rep was able to get from AA was a promise that I would get a call back from a manager within 24 hours, but the general consensus was that while I might be able to get priority boarding by showing the card, it probably wouldn't work for the baggage fee waiver (which is apparently harder to override).

Bottom line for me is that I take a trip or two a year with my family. I live in the NY area, so it's generally easy enough for me to fly American domestically once/year with my family. With this card, a once/year baggage waiver ($250 for me!) + 10K EQMs is worthwhile, and the rest is all gravy. If I don't get that waiver, it's $450 down the drain, so really want an answer before Citi charges me the fee.

So AA seems a bit disorganized and can't clearly explain the terms and whether this will work for me or not. Citi is trying, but 3 reps gave me four (yes, four!) answers so far.

In the meantime, I asked Citi to move most of my credit line to another card, so if I do cancel, I won't lose it all. They asked me for all of the info they ask when you first apply (income, debt, etc). They did move all but $5K to a free card for me. I asked this morning's rep if they could do the same for my existing AA Advantage Visa since it duplicates my brand new Executive AA card and close that card, the rep said she tried, but could not, perhaps because they had just done so with another card. She did waive the annual fee, so at least that one's not costing anything, but all in all, not very friendly and a bit frustrating. I did point out that they were fast to reallocate my credit lines when opening a $450/year card, but insist that it is impossible to do so when trying to close one...

What I find odd is the difficulty in getting a straight answer. I really don't care what the answer is and will work with the appropriate program rules regardless. For an $85 card, I'll take my chances and chalk it up to experience if I'm wrong. Or just make it up on my next flight. But for $450, I really want a proper answer. It's a simple calculation for me to decide if the value proposition is worth it. If I get the benefits I thought I would get, I'll keep the card, otherwise I will cancel it. I'd love for it to work for me. I take maybe 8-10 nearby (East Coast US and Canada) trips a year and 2-3 trips to Europe. I need to stick with one airline in order for that to get me status, and even then need to fly during a double EQM promotion at least once. For the past few years, it's been CO (or Star Alliance, more generally). With the 10K EQMs, I would make that AA, which I suppose is their goal, even though I will never become a top level elite - my job just doesn't require that much travel.

I know a number of folks have been bashing Chase cards in a few forums, but on the whole, they do seem to have their stuff together a bit more. I decided to try and consolidate my multiple lines of credit and limit the number of outstanding cards that I have and Chase simply reallocated credit over the phone. No questions asked, no credit pulls and it was done instantly. I have the Chase CO card, which works well, gives me my free first bag, no questions asked - it just works. And they send me a few lounge vouchers a year, which with Priority Pass covers all my bases.

In any case, I'll give them another day to get back to me and let you know the outcome!

This is what concerns me. Apparently, if you book a flight once you have the card, you get the various benefits noted on your boarding pass. If not, you're at the mercy of the agent. Which sometimes works for check in and priority boarding, but probably not when it comes to waiving fees...

Usually when one attains a higher status, AA agents are able to refresh or remove and re-add your frequent flier number to previously booked flights so it reflects the new status. This may be helpful for those non-elites who got this card after booking flights, so that their new "status" (Priority AAccess and free bags) is reflected.

Ah, now this makes some sense. The AA agent that we got called a supervisor and said that there needs to be a "flag" on my account indicating that I was eligible for the benefits. She put me on hold for a while and then said that while she can flag my account, the program T&C's indicate that this only applies to new bookings going forward. Her supervisor was unwilling to override this, but agreed to have someone more senior call me back in the next 24 hours.

I really hope that AA and Citi decide to make this card's ability to earn million miler miles permanent. I am already Lifetime AAdmiralsClub, And being EXP and already Lifetime Platinum, the card basically offers me no benefit other than miles towards the next million miler status. I already have switched my spending from the AA CitiBusiness MasterCard to the Citi Executive MasterCard. I should hit 21 million miles in the next month or so and am shooting to finish the year at 23 million. If they don't renew the agreement most likely I will shift my heavy spending to the Continental Presidential Plus card as I can earn enough point to get United Platinum status. I'm sure Citi wouldn't be too happy to loose me as a customer.

Gleff,
If you switch from another card to this card, you surely won't get the sign up bonus. If I were you, I would cancel one of your existing Citi card and then apply. Also make sure you are not running afoul of the 'no more than 2 applications within 60 days' rule, considering you already just applied for the TY Premier card.

Saw this tonight at the Admirals Club in Miami. Was talking to a friend who works there and showed him my Citi Executive AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard and he showed me their laminated sheet on the card. It shows a Visa Signature Version of the Executive Card as well. I wonder if this is in testing or soon to be released.

AAdmiral. I would like to think so as I have the lesser card, but that is the major value in the extended annual fee to many. I can't imagine they will do this.