AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® review: Accessible rewards and solid traveler benefits

If Delta has a hub near you and you use the airline more frequently, the Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card will likely be a better fit for you. The Delta SkyMiles card — like the AAdvantage Aviator Red card — offers similar benefits for cardholders, but there’s far less flexibility for earning points with the AAdvantage Aviator card. AAdvantage Aviator cardholders will earn 2X miles for all American Airlines purchases and 1X points or miles for everything else. On the other hand, the Delta SkyMiles Gold card earns 2X miles on dining (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.) and 1X miles for everything else, so foodies will definitely get more out of this card.

Delta SkyMiles cardholders will also see some savings in the first year that AAdvantage Aviator cardholders won’t. While AAdvantage cardholders are obligated to pay the $99 annual fee for their first year, Delta SkyMiles cardholders will not pay an annual fee their first year with the card ($0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99). Additionally, the welcome bonus will be much more difficult to achieve for Delta SkyMiles cardholders. They’ll have to spend $2,000 in purchases in the first six months to earn 40,000 bonus miles.

The Delta SkyMiles card might be a hindrance when traveling overseas. American Express cards aren’t as widely accepted as their Mastercard counterparts. Travelers — especially international travelers — should keep this in mind when weighing the two options.

The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard is another American Airlines credit card partner that can be beneficial for American Airlines flyers. AAdvantage Platinum cardholders will get similar benefits when flying with American Airlines, like free checked bags and preferred boarding. But the Citi AAdvantage waives the annual fee in the first year and charges a $99 annual fee each year after.

Where the Citi AAdvantage truly pulls ahead is its potential to earn elevated rewards in categories outside of American Airlines purchases. Citi AAdvantage cardholders earn 2X miles on eligible American Airlines purchases, but it also earns the same rate at restaurants and gas stations. This separates it from the AAdvantage Aviator, which only earns 2X miles on American Airlines purchases and 1X miles for all other purchases.

The AAdvantage Aviator may be the suitable choice for earning frequent flyer miles and spend less to earn their welcome bonus. Citi AAdvantage cardholders will have to spend $2,500 in the first three months of account opening to earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

If you want more versatile travel rewards, the Discover it® Miles is a fantastic card to pair with the AAdvantage Aviator since it gives you 1.5 miles per dollar spent on every purchase. You can use miles accumulated to offset recent travel expenses or even receive cash back. And since this is a general travel rewards card with flat-rate rewards, you don’t have to have your rewards limited to specific purchases as you would with a brand-specific card such as the AAdvantage Aviator, giving you more flexibility in your overall earnings.

If you want more variation in regards to airline rewards, the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card could be an excellent choice as it has no annual fee, so you don’t have to worry about paying this charge for two cards, and it offers 2X miles for every dollar spent at restaurants (includes U.S. takeout and delivery) and Delta purchases, 1X miles for every dollar spent on other eligible purchases as well as a decent welcome offer. So whenever you’re not traveling with American Airlines, you could still benefit from traveling with Delta as an alternative with this card.

If you only travel on occasion and don’t mind sticking to American Airlines when booking flights, then this card may work out well for you, as the travel perks are just enough to be very useful for the times when you need to fly, but not so overwhelming that you'll feel like you won’t travel enough to make use of them.

If you want travel rewards but don’t want a complicated rewards structure, then this card could be a good fit, as you don’t have to keep up with many tiers or categories. The only drawback is that the maximum amount of rewards you earn can only come from American Airlines purchases, but if you intend to use the card solely for that reason, then it could be a valuable choice.

If you want to join American Airlines' loyalty program, you could use this card to increase your chances of reaching elite status, which would give you access to a variety of exclusive perks depending on which status tier you qualify for, such as AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum Pro and AAdvantage Executive Platinum.

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Based on this data, we determine a “chargeable” spend (which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards). This includes the following spending by category:

• Groceries: $5,200
• Dining out: $3,000
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,100
• Apparel and services: $1,700

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 23 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.