Several co-branded credit cards, including a few designed especially for small company owners, are available from American Airlines. One of its commercial products is the AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Business Mastercard®, which is offered through Barclays. This airline business credit card offers a significant sign-up bonus and generous rewards in expenditure areas catered to small firms.
The card includes many benefits associated with American Airlines but also some downsides. Keep reading this review to determine if the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is the best credit card for you and your company.
Can anyone apply for the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard?
Business owners who frequently fly American Airlines and intend to utilize rewards to purchase American flights can apply for the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard. Businesses that use the card for at least $30,000 per year find it very tempting. Spending more money annually can provide additional benefits like elite membership and a $99 companion ticket (plus fees and taxes, of course).
On purchases from American Airlines, office supply, telephone, and car rental businesses, the card offers a respectable, but not outstanding, 2X bonus rate. The bonus categories offered by the card are probably insufficient to justify choosing it over other business or airline cards that might have better rates or earn in categories that are more relevant to your company.
This isn’t the business credit card for you if you don’t intend to redeem your AAdvantage miles for flights on American or one of our partner airlines. The same applies to business travelers who like different carriers or more flexible travel perks.
AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard: The Pros
- After making a $2,000 purchase during the first three months, new users can receive 80,000 miles and a $95 statement credit.
- Spend $30,000 per card membership year to receive a companion certificate that is good for one domestic economy ticket for $99 plus taxes and fees.
- Cardholders on American Airlines flights receive a 25% statement credit for any eligible in-flight food and beverage purchases.
- New users can receive 80,000 miles after spending $2,000 in the first three months and a $95 statement credit.
- Additionally, the World Elite Business card entitles you and up to four other passengers to American Airlines flights’ priority boarding.
- Based on the miles you’ve accrued with your card during the year, you’ll receive a 5% bonus following your account anniversary.
- Cardholders get access to a MileSAAver offer that enables them to use their miles to book cheap one-way or round-trip awards to a limited number of locations.
- This card could accelerate your ascent through the AAdvantage program’s tiers if you’re interested in achieving elite status. When cardholders use their card to make $25,000 in purchases within a single calendar year, they can earn $3,000 in elite qualifying dollars (EQDs).
Cons
- The AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard has an annual fee of $95. Other credit cards have superior features and no comparable annual charge or fee.
- The card has some travel privileges but doesn’t have access to airport lounges, Global Entry, or TSA screening. Reimbursement of the Precheck application fee and travel or automobile insurance.
- Only American Airlines, office supply, telecom, and car rental businesses can earn 2X miles with this card. Other airline business cards, such as the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card, offer 4X-mile earnings on purchases made on the Southwest website.
Earning Tips
Using your card for bonus category spending is the most excellent way to earn miles with the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business card. Earnings on American Airlines, office supply, telephone, and car rental companies are doubled.
In line with other business rewards cards, your AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard offers 1X miles for every dollar spent on other transactions.
Increase Your Redemptions
For trips on American Airlines or one of its partner airlines, which travel to more than 1,000 destinations worldwide, savvy company owners can use their AAdvantage miles. Additionally, you can use your miles to purchase an Admirals Club membership and seat and cabin upgrades.
Cardholders can use their miles to pay for hotel stays, rental vehicles, holiday packages, luxury experiences, or newspaper subscriptions in addition to American Airlines. Additionally, you can donate miles to specific charities. However, you’ll likely receive the best flight redemption values.
Partner Airlines
A member of the Oneworld alliance is American Airlines. Due to this partnership, you can accrue and redeem AAdvantage points with any of its partner airlines. The following airlines are part of the Oneworld alliance:
- American Airlines
- Alaska Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Finnair
- Iberia
- Japan Airlines
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- Royal Jordanian Airlines
- S7Airlines
- SriLankan Airlines
Several other airlines and American Airlines have partnerships. Additionally, the following airlines accept AAdvantage points for earning or redemption:
- Air Tahiti Nui
- Cape Air
- China Southern Airlines (earned only)
- Etihad Airways (earned only)
- Fiji Airways
- GOL Airlines (earned only)
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue (earned only)
- Seaborne Virgin Islands
Before making a flight reservation, make it a practice to verify award availability with partner airlines. Often, it costs fewer miles to book an American Airlines award flight through a partner airline than it does through American.
FAQs
Do you need a high credit score to get the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard?
Similar to most card issuers, Barclays doesn’t list the particular credit requirements for their cards online. To be eligible for the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard, you probably need to have a respectable FICO credit score (a score of 670 or higher).
Is there a fee associated with the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business membership?
Yes, there is a $95 annual fee for the American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard.
Are there any good alternatives?
Even though the AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard is a respectable reward credit card, it’s not the only option to consider. Other card alternatives that might work better for your company include:
- American Express® Business Gold Card
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business
- United℠ Business Card
- Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
How long do AAdvantage miles last?
AAdvantage miles can indeed expire. If you earn or redeem points at least once every 18 months, your miles will not expire.
AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Review
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AAdvantage Aviator World Elite
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You can easily recoup your annual fee with bonus miles and free checked baggage if you are an occasional flyer, but you tend to fly with one airline most often, so a co-branded credit card makes sense. For occasional American Airlines travelers, the AAdvantage World Elite Mastercard checks all the boxes for a mid-tier airline credit card.
