Just because you are an executive or one of the world’s elite (or you just want to be) doesn’t mean you have to pay like it. That’s why I am immediately dubious of the Citi ExecutiveSM / AAdvantage World EliteTM MasterCard and its $450 annual fee. A credit card better offer an awful lot to warrant such a high fee and most people don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on a credit card’s membership fee. We’ll give the Citi Executive AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard a fair shake though. It offers 25,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 during the first four months, 10,000 elite status miles from American Airlines each year you spend $40k on it, 2 miles per dollar spent through AA, 1 mile per dollar on everything else, priority boarding and check in, and Admiral’s Club access for you and immediate family. Plenty of cards offer initial bonuses in the 25k mile range and base rewards earning rates in the 2 mile/$1 spent range, so these aspects of the Citi Executive AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard Credit Card do not validate its cost. The most eye catching attributes would instead have to be the Elite Status miles and the Admiral’s Club access. But do these things make the card worth it? Admiral’s Club memberships for a married couple range from $525 to $825/yr. depending on their status level, so if you travel a lot and value club access, then the Citi Executive AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard would seem to be worth it.

Not everyone fits that description though, and they need cheaper alternatives. The Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard® Credit Card for one offers more bonus miles than the Executive AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard and does not have a first year annual fee ($85 after that). The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers $625 in travel as an initial bonus and doesn’t have an annual fee either ($95 after that). The Capital One Venture Card is basically a 2% cash back travel oriented rewards card and also doesn’t have an annual fee in the first year ($59 after that). Any of these would be rewarding for a frequent traveler, all would be significantly cheaper than the Executive AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard from Citi.