Citi Prestige vs. AA Exec: My Analysis

A bazillion blogs have been written about the new offer for 50K TYP after $3K in spending.

It's a much better deal given the lower spend required vs. the 15K spend because the extra 12K spend can be used for 2 Exec Plat cards and earn 100K AA miles with 2K spend left for some other purpose.

I'm churning the AA Exec Plat, and wanted to figure out if I should use one of my 8/65 pulls (assuming you know about this) for this card instead of the AA Exec Plat.

The very interesting feature of the Prestige is using the TYPs for AA flights with a .016 cash redemption. It's interesting because you earn miles on the flight since AA considers it a cash purchase. You also earn TYPs from the purchase, but when you buy an $800 ticket the 800 TYP earned is not meaningful.

What is meaningful is if you assume the $800 pays for 6 cents a mile to somewhere, which is easily achievable, you earn 13K+ redeemable and 13K+ EQM miles.

Ignoring the value of lounge access (which I can since I have other cards which provide it), and the value of EQM miles (which I will since not sure I'll be close to qualifying for Exec Plat), the key variable is the value of AA redeemable miles.

First is the calculation showing AA miles at .02, where the Prestige wins, and then at .03 where the Exec wins. Personally, I always get at least .03 for my premium cabin international travel.

I'm sticking with the Exec Plat for now.

Citi Prestige Sign-up Bonus 
50,000 TYP Sign-up Bonus
$0.016 Cash towards Airfare
$800 Value of TYP Sign-up Bonus

Using the Prestige Sign-up Bonus 
$0.060 Assume cost per mile of an $800 purchased ticked
13,333 AA Redeemable Miles Earned by paying with Sign-up Bonus Points
$0.020 Valuation of an AA Mile
$267 Dollar Value of Redeemable Miles earned from using the Sign-up Bonus
$1,067 Value of TYP Sign-up Bonus PLUS Value of Redeemable Miles earned from using the Sign-up Bonus

Accounting for Annual Fee and Airline Credit 
-$450 Less AF
+$500 Plus Airline credit x 2 Calendar years
$1,117 Total Value of the Prestige Signup Bonus at .02 valuation (After Airline Credit and AF, but ignoring value of Lounge access and EQMs)

AA Exec Valuation at .02 Valuation of an AA miles
50,000 Miles earned after $5K spend
$1,000 AA Exec Sign-up Value

Summary using .02 Valuation of an AA Mile
$1,117 Total Value of the Prestige Signup Bonus (After Airline Credit and AF, but ignoring value of Lounge access & EQM)
$1,000 AA Exec Sign-up Value

Summary using .03 Valuation of an AA Mile
$1,250 Total Value of the Prestige Signup Bonus (After Airline Credit and AF, but ignoring value of Lounge access & EQM)
$1,500 AA Exec Sign-up Value

Dublin Booked

I mentioned in the previous post about getting 3 American Airlines Executive Platinum cards last year, and each came with a 100K miles sign-up bonus.  That really boosted my mileage account!

I read about First Class availability at the Saver level from LAX to Heathrow on one of the blogs, and I booked it for 115K miles round trip.  I didn't want to go to London again and I don't live in LA.  But I wanted to go to Ireland, and getting the long leg booked first, and then adding some shorter legs is a good strategy.

I called AA and was able to add the SFO to LAX and LHR to Dublin (DUB) legs pretty easily.  I even was able to get First Class on the SFO<->LAX legs, and 1 of 2 Business class on the LHR<-> DUB legs.  

Now, "Business Class" intra-Europe just generally means that it's 3 seats across, they block off the middle seat, and give you better food.  So it's not a big deal if I don't get the upgrade on the last leg.

I'm still working out my final plans for what we'll do in Dublin, and Ireland in general.  My current thinking is we'll stay at the Westin in Dublin using my SPG points for the entire week, and take day trips to interesting places including Belfast.

As I always do, I get the Rick Steves book and decide what to do.

He recommended going to the Dingle Peninsula, but that's a 6 hour drive each way, and that's not appealing.  There isn't a viable alternative via train, so the day trip idea seems to be the best idea.

AA Exec Platinum Card: Decision to be Made

It was a busy holiday season, so haven't posted for a while.  Happy New Year to everyone!

My American Airlines Executive Platinum card's annual fee will post in the next 30-45 days.  This was actually the first of 3 Exec Platinums I received last year, but the others I met the minimum spend, received the bonus, and cancelled.  But that's another long, and very happy story.

Now, I need to decide what to do about this remaining card.

I've really enjoyed the Admiral's Club membership.  But I do have options.  For example, yesterday I flew out of SJC, and used the "Club at SJC" which is a Priority Pass club.  I get access to these clubs with my Amex Platinum.  It has a much better selection of snacks than an AA or UA club, and has free alcohol.  It's still not as good as an international lounge which typically has a very nice selection of hot food, and you can really eat a meal there.  But now, the Club at SJC is the only club at the airport.

The Priority Pass Select that I received with the Amex Platinum card does not allow access to the United Clubs, but the non-Select does.  From what I read on the Priority Pass web site, the membership offered by "financial institutions" is the "Select" version, and does not allow access to the United Clubs.  But if you purchase a membership directly, you would get the non-Select version, and would have access.  This is moot, because I don't fly UA.

The Amex Platinum also gives me access to the Centurion Lounges, which are apparently very nice, and equivalent to the nicest international lounges.  Unfortunately, there are just a few of them.

When I travel internationally, my Exec Platinum status on AA gets me into really nice British Airways clubs, and all of the other OneWorld clubs.  So the only time I really use the Admiral's Club is when I'm in a US Airport that does not have a Priority Pass Club.

Since I originate from SFO or SJC, I have SJC covered.  SFO does have a Centurion Lounge, but it's in the United Terminal, and I'd have to go through security to get there, and through security again to get back to my AA gate.  With TSA Precheck, it's not that big a deal, but still...

So SFO and other US airports without a Priority Pass or Centurion Lounge are the problem.

The default strategy is simply to pay the $450, but I'm not a default type of guy.

Here's some options I'm considering:
1. Signing up for another Exec Platinum card, getting the 50K signup bonus and paying the $450 annual fee.  The advantage of the Exec Plat card is that if you spend $40K on it you get 10K EQM.  That's EQM not just regular miles, and that's a unique feature.
2. Signing up for a regular AA card, getting the 50K signup bonus and "using" that bonus to buy an Admiral's club membership.  It probably will end up costing me 55K miles, because I don't think the Exec Plat card counts as really having a membership, so I won't get the "Renewal" price, but will have to the pay the new member price.  The other big advantage for me of this card is that you get a 10% mileage redemption credit.  Since I've been flying about 2X per year on miles, this is very useful.  There is a 10K credit limit, but 10K is nice.  It also comes with 2 Admiral's Club passes, so I would definitely use up those 2 passes before spending the miles on the membership, thus extending the effective period of my membership.
3. Suffer without an Admiral's Club membership.  I haven't always had a membership, so this is a viable alternative, and it really depends on how much travel I end up doing for work.

I have some time, but I will need to make a decision in the next 30 days or so.