AAdvantage Aviator Red Review: Rich and Easy-to-Snag Sign-Up Bonus
The Bottom Line
5.0
This card offers benefits frequent American Airlines flyers will appreciate. If you’re not loyal to a specific airline, you won’t get as much value.
Rates, fees and offers
Rates, fees and offers
Annual fee
$99
Rewards rate
1x-2x
Bonus offer
Earn 50,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.
Intro APR
0% intro APR for 15 billing cycles on balance transfers made within 45 days of account opening. After that, a variable APR will apply, 20.24%-29.99%.
Ongoing APR
APR: 20.24%-29.99%, Variable APR
Cash Advance APR: 29.99%, Variable
Balance transfer fee
Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Foreign transaction fee
0% of each transaction in U.S. dollars.
More details from Barclays
More details from Barclays
- Earn 50,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.
- Earn 2X AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases.
- Earn 1X AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
- $0 Fraud Liability protection means you're not responsible for charges you did not authorize.
- Get up to $25 back as statement credits on inflight Wi-Fi purchases every anniversary year on American Airlines operated flights.
- Each anniversary year: earn a Companion Certificate good for 1 guest at $99 (plus taxes and fees) if you spend $20,000 on purchases and your account remains open for 45 days after your anniversary date.
- Receive 25% inflight savings as statement credits on food and beverages when you use your card on American Airlines operated flights.
- First checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for the primary cardmember and up to 4 companions traveling with you on the same reservation.
- Preferred boarding for the primary cardmember and up to 4 companions on their reservation for all American Airlines operated flights.
Pros and Cons
Pros
New cardholder bonus offer
Intro APR period
No foreign transaction fees
Companion benefit
Early boarding
Free checked bag
Cons
Requires good/excellent credit
Has annual fee
Detailed Review
Qualifying for a five-figure sign-up bonus usually involves spending a four-figure sum in a short period of time (no pressure!). That’s not the case with the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®, which offers an easy-to-snag sign-up bonus. Make one purchase and pay the annual fee within the first 90 days, and you’re done. Any purchase of any amount will do. That means buying a pack of gum can be the first step toward a deeply discounted vacation.
The AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®, issued by Barclays, features perks that frequent American Airlines flyers would appreciate. But like many co-branded airline cards, the benefits are very much tied to American. If you’re not loyal to any specific airline, a general travel rewards credit card will likely be a better fit.
Note that Barclays also offers the AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Silver Mastercard®, a more high-end American Airlines card. It’s available if you request an upgrade from the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®.
Here’s how the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® and AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Silver Mastercard® compare.
AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® | AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Silver Mastercard® |
|---|---|
Annual fee: $99. | Annual fee: $199. |
Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days. | Sign-up bonus: None |
Ongoing rewards:
| Ongoing rewards:
|
Additional benefits:
| Additional benefits:
|
AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®: Basics
Card type: Airline.
Annual fee: $99.
APR: 0% intro APR for 15 billing cycles on balance transfers made within 45 days of account opening. After that, a variable APR will apply, 20.24%-29.99%.
Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.
Rewards:
2 AAdvantage miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases.
1 mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.
NerdWallet values American miles at 1.6 cents each. This is drawn from real-world data on hundreds of economy routes, so it's not a maximized value. In other words, you should aim for award redemptions that offer 1.6 cents or more in value from your American miles.
Foreign transaction fee: None.
Other perks:
Free checked bag on domestic American Airlines flights for cardholders and up to four traveling companions on the same reservation.
Preferred boarding on all American Airlines-operated flights for cardholders and up to four traveling companions on the same reservation.
Annual companion certificate.
Discounts on in-flight purchases: Get up to $25 back per anniversary year as statement credits on in-flight Wi-Fi purchases, and save 25% on in-flight food and beverage purchases on American Airlines-operated flights (you’ll get the discount in the form of a statement credit).
Credit card purchases earn points toward AAdvantage loyalty status.
Compare to Other Cards
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Benefits and Perks
A generous sign-up bonus without a spending goal
Most of the time, if you want a travel rewards card's sign-up bonus, you have to spend a certain amount — sometimes $3,000 or more — in the first three to 12 months you have the card. Unless you typically spend enough or have a major purchase on the horizon, reaching the spending minimum can be tough on your budget. That’s why the sign-up bonus on the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® stands out: Earn 50,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.
Annual companion certificate
If you spend $20,000 in an anniversary year and keep the card open for 45 days after your anniversary date (meaning the day you get charged the annual fee again), you’ll get a companion certificate that will allow you to bring another traveler along for $99 (plus taxes and fees).
Extras that make travel easier
You'll get one free checked bag and preferred boarding for you and up to four companions on the same American Airlines reservation. With the first checked bag costing $40 one-way for domestic travel ($35 if you pay online), this perk could easily offset the $99 annual fee. You’ll also get a $25 statement credit per year for in-flight Wi-Fi purchases, plus 25% off in-flight food and beverage purchases (the discount will be in the form of a statement credit).
Earn status through credit card spending
Your spending on American Airlines co-branded credit cards, including the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®, will earn points toward status on AAdvantage. Every mile you earn on the card equals one loyalty point. You can attain AAdvantage Gold status, the lowest tier, by accumulating 40,000 loyalty points. You can also earn loyalty points by flying on American Airlines, American Eagle and oneworld partner airlines, or by shopping or dining with partner merchants.
Can be combined with other American Airlines cards
American Airlines is unique in that it offers co-branded credit cards from two different issuers: Barclays and Citi. That means you can have multiple cards all feeding bonus miles directly into your AAdvantage account. And since the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® grants you its large sign-up bonus after just one purchase, you don’t have to worry about meeting two spending minimums at the same time.
Combine that card with, say, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® and earn even more AAdvantage miles via its similarly generous sign-up bonus. Plus, you'll earn richer rewards on everyday spending. Unlike the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®, several of the Citi co-branded card earns double miles on more than just eligible American Airlines purchases. Restaurants and gas stations are bonus categories, too.
Turn pocket change into miles
The optional Flight Cents program allows you to round up purchases to the nearest dollar and use that extra cash to buy AAdvantage miles. You set a threshold of $1 to $500 (or opt out by keeping your threshold set to $0), and the “spare change” out of all purchases up to that threshold will be set aside until the day before your billing cycle ends. Whatever you’ve saved up will buy miles at a rate of 0.5 AAdvantage miles per penny. (Put another way, that's a cost of 2 cents per mile.)
Is that price per mile a good deal? The answer is a resounding “maybe” because you can buy miles at a lower rate during promotional periods, and the discount you’d get varies based on how many miles you buy. Either way, buying miles in a frequent flyer program (as opposed to earning them by taking flights or using a credit card) is usually not the smartest strategy, since the cash price per mile is typically much higher than the value you get when you redeem the miles.
Drawbacks and Considerations
Ongoing rewards rates are limited
Earning 2 miles per $1 only on American Airlines purchases puts limits on this card’s long-term potential. That’s where a card like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® comes out on top, since it earns not just 2 miles per $1 on American Airlines purchases, but also at gas stations and restaurants.
Benefits are American-centric
Free checked bags and in-flight discounts don’t mean much when you don’t fly American Airlines often — or ever. If you want the flexibility to book flights on any airline without blackout dates, consider the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. You’ll earn 2 miles per $1 on purchases and can redeem them in the form of a statement credit for recent travel purchases. The card also offers a credit toward the cost of Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. It has a welcome bonus, too: Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel. The annual fee is $95.
If Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card doesn't quite fit the bill, you can also take a look at Nerdwallet's list of best credit cards.
How To Decide If It's Right For You
If you frequently book travel on American Airlines, you’ll get value out of the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®, especially if you couple it with the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® to beef up your AAdvantage account. But if you typically fly a different airline, the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® won’t have much to offer you.
Earn 2 miles per $1 on American Airlines purchases, and at restaurants and gas stations. For a limited time, earn 80,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $3,500 in purchases within the first 4 months of account opening.. The annual fee is $99, waived for the first 12 months.
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Methodology
NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.
Frequently asked questions
Is the AAdvantage Aviator® Red card worth it?
Is the AAdvantage Aviator® Red card worth it?
The AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® offers benefits that have more value when you fly American Airlines frequently. If you typically fly on other airlines, you may prefer other airline cards or a general travel rewards credit card.
What is the annual fee for an Aviator Mastercard?
What is the annual fee for an Aviator Mastercard?
The annual fee for the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® is $99. The annual fee for the AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Silver Mastercard® is $199.
How many miles do you need to get a free flight?
How many miles do you need to get a free flight?
The value of airline miles can change depending on where and when you travel. On American Airlines, you can book a one-way, domestic economy flight for 11,500 miles or less.
What credit score is needed for the Aviator Red card?
What credit score is needed for the Aviator Red card?
To qualify for the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®, you need a good to excellent credit score, corresponding to a FICO score of 690 to 850.
How much is 1,000 American Airlines miles worth?
How much is 1,000 American Airlines miles worth?
Nerdwallet values American Airlines miles at 1.6 cents cents apiece.
About the author
Sara Rathner
Senior Writer/Spokesperson
