AAdvantage® Aviator Silver World Elite MasterCard®

Card Details and Application Link
AAdvantage® AviatorTM Silver World Elite MasterCard®
Available by invitation only

$195 Annual Fee
FM Mini Review: $25 per day of in-flight food & beverage credits is pretty interesting. If you fly AA enough to make good use of this, this card is well worthwhile.
Earning rate: ✦ 3X AA ✦ 2X hotel and car rentals ✦ 1X everywhere else
Base: 1X (1.3%)
Travel: 2X (2.6%)
Brand: 3X (3.9%)
Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees.
Noteworthy perks: $25 per day in-flight food & beverage credit ✦ First checked bag free ✦ Priority Boarding ✦ $100 Global Entry application fee credit ✦ 25% off in-flight purchases ✦ $50 wifi credit per membership year ✦ Round up purchases to earn more miles

Overview

The AAdvantage Aviator Silver World Elite MasterCard is a great choice for frequent AA flyers.  It offers in-flight food and wifi rebates and perks for high spend such as extra Loyalty Points and a companion ticket good for up to two companions.  See the card comparison section of this post to see how this card stacks up against other AA cards on the market.  One downside to this card is that you can’t sign-up for it directly.  Instead, start with the Aviator Red and ask for an upgrade after you’ve had the card for a year.

Perks

The AAdvantage Aviator Silver World Elite MasterCard offers the following perks:

  • No foreign transaction fee
  • $25 per day inflight food and beverage credit
  • $50 annual inflight Wifi credit
  • Free first checked bag for you and up to 8 travel companions on the same reservation
  • Preferred boarding for you and up to 8 travel companions on the same reservation
  • Companion certificate good for 2 guests at $99 each (plus taxes and fees) after $20K membership year spend.
  • Up to 15K bonus Loyalty Points: 5K Loyalty Points at $20K spend, 5K at $40K spend, and 5K at $50K spend during the status qualification period
  • $100 Global Entry application fee credit

Earn Miles and Loyalty Points

This card offers 2x redeemable miles at hotels and car rental, and 3x for American Airlines spend.  Regardless of the category of spend, the card earns just 1 Loyalty Point per dollar (except that it also offers 5K bonus Loyalty points after $20K, $40K, and $50K spend).

Card Info Name and Earning Rate (no offer)
Earning rate: ✦ 3X AA ✦ 2X hotel and car rentals ✦ 1X everywhere else
Base: 1X (1.3%)
Travel: 2X (2.6%)
Brand: 3X (3.9%)

About AAdvantage Elite Status

This card earns both redeemable miles and Loyalty Points through spend.  You’ll earn just one Loyalty Point per dollar spent even if the card offers extra redeemable miles.  For example, if you spend $300 on an American Airlines flight where this card offers 2x miles, you’ll earn 600 redeemable miles and 300 Loyalty Points.  This card also offers 5K bonus Loyalty points after $20K, $40K, and $50K spend.

Below you’ll find a summary of the benefits you can earn from Loyalty Points.  Loyalty Points are earned from March through February each year.

AAdvantage elite status Gold Platinum Platinum Pro Executive Platinum
Loyalty Points Required 40K 75K 125K 200K
Mileage Bonus 40% 60% 80% 120%
Preferred Seating Y Y Y Y
Main Cabin Extra Seating Upgrade at Check In Y Y Y
Domestic First Class Upgrade 24 hour window 48 hour window 72 hour window 100 hour window
Upgrade on Alaska Airlines Y Y Y Y
Free checked bags 2 2 3 3
OneWorld Status Ruby: Access to biz class check-in, preferred seating Sapphire: Access to OneWorld Business Class lounges Emerald: Access to OneWorld First and Business Class lounges

In addition to earning elite status from Loyalty Points, the following benefits can be earned at various spend-tiers:

Loyalty Points Earned Loyalty Point Rewards
15K Automatic Benefit: Group 5 Boarding Choose 1: • Priority privileges & Group 4 boarding for a trip • 5 Preferred seat coupons • 1,000 Loyalty Points
40K Automatic Benefit: AAdvantage Gold Status
60K Automatic Benefits: • 20% Loyalty Point Bonus (AA Vacations, SimplyMiles, AAdvantage eShopping, AAdvantage Dining, and AA Hotels) • Avis Preferred Plus
75K Automatic Benefit: AAdvantage Platinum Status
100K Automatic Benefits: • 30% Loyalty Point Bonus (AA Vacations, SimplyMiles, AAdvantage eShopping, AAdvantage Dining, and AA Hotels) • Avis President's Club
125K Automatic Benefit: AAdvantage Platinum Pro Status
175K Choose 1: • 2 systemwide upgrades • 20K bonus AA miles (25K w/ AA credit card) • 6 Admirals Club One-Day Passes • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • $250 donation to select nonprofit organization • 15% award rebate • 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status • 35K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience • 5,000 Loyalty Points
200K Automatic Benefit: AAdvantage Executive Platinum Status
250K Choose 2: • 2 systemwide upgrades • 20K bonus AA miles (30K w/ AA credit card) • 6 Admirals Club One-Day Passes • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • $250 donation to select nonprofit organization • 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices) • 1 Flagship lounge single visit pass (2 passes w/ AA credit card) • 35K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience • 15,000 Loyalty Points
400K Choose 2: • 1 systemwide upgrade • 25K bonus AA miles • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices) • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices) • 2 Flagship® Lounge Single Visit Passes • 1 Flagship First Dining pass • 40K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
550K Choose 2: • 1 systemwide upgrade • 25K bonus AA miles • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices) • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices) • 2 Flagship lounge single visit passes • 1 Flagship First Dining pass • 40K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
750K Choose 2: • 1 systemwide upgrade • 25K bonus AA miles • Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices) • $200 Trip Credit ($250 w/ AA credit card) • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices) • 2 Flagship lounge single visit passes • 1 Flagship First Dining pass • 40K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
1M Choose 1: • 4 systemwide upgrades • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum Pro status • Up to 100K miles back on award redemptions • 150K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
3M Choose 1: • 6 systemwide upgrades • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status • Up to 300K miles back on award redemptions • 350K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
5M Choose 1: • 10 systemwide upgrades • Carbon offset • Gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status • Up to 500K miles back on award redemptions • 550K AA miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience

AAdvantage Credit Card Comparison

There are seven different American Airlines AAdvantage credit cards available in the United States which are worth considering (there are also a few additional uninteresting options available only via product changes).  All seven share some standard features and perks: The Citi AAdvantage MileUp Card is unlike the other cards in that it has no annual fee, but does charge foreign transaction fees.  The rest of the interesting AA cards offer these additional standard perks:
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Free first checked bag and preferred boarding for you plus multiple companions on the same ticket
This table summarizes additional features of each card beyond those described above:
Card Annual Fee Bonus Categories Additional Perks
Citi AAdvantage MileUp Card $0 2X AA, Grocery None
Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select $99 2X AA, Gas, Dining $125 AA Flight Discount with $20K membership year spend
Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red $99 2X AA $99 + tax domestic companion certificate after $20K membership year spend; $25 annual inflight Wifi Credit;
Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver $195 3X AA, 2X Hotel, Car rental $25 per day inflight food and beverage credit; $50 annual inflight Wifi credit; Companion certificate good for 2 guests at $99 each (plus taxes and fees) after $20K membership year spend. Up to 15K bonus Loyalty Points: 5K at $20K spend, 5K at $40K spend, and 5K at $50K spend during the status qualification period; $100 Global Entry application fee credit
Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive $595 4X or 5X AA, 10X via AA.com/Hotels and AA.com/Cars Admirals Club membership; 10K Loyalty Points when reaching 50K Loyalty Points during the status qualification period and another 10K when reaching 90K; Up to $120 Avis/Budget rebate per calendar year; Up to $10/Month Grubhub rebate; $100 Global Entry application fee credit
CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select $99 2X AA, Gas, Telecom, Car rental $99 plus taxes domestic companion certificate after $30K membership year spend
Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business $95 2X AA, Office supply, Telecom, Car rental $99 plus taxes domestic companion certificate after $30K membership year spend.  Earn 5% AAdvantage mileage bonus each anniversary.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

2 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments