Comparing The Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select vs. AAdvantage Aviator Red, Which Card Is Better?

by Daniel | Last Updated Aug 10th, 2024

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In the world of travel rewards, choosing the right credit card can make all the difference in elevating your journey.

So in this article,
I’m putting two of the most popular American Airlines co-branded credit cards head to head: the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select and the AAdvantage Aviator Red.

Both cards promise to turn your everyday spending into miles that can take you places, but which one truly stands out?

In this comprehensive review, I’ll unpack the key features, benefits, and potential drawbacks of each card.

From sign-up bonuses and earning potential to travel perks and fees, I’ll leave no stone unturned.
Whether you’re a frequent flyer with American Airlines or someone who’s just starting to explore the world of travel rewards, I’ll guide you through the ins and outs of these cards.

And by the end of this article, you should have a much better understanding of which card aligns best with your lifestyle and travel goals.

So sit back relax and get ready to see which one of these cards is the best fit for you. 

https://youtu.be/WWCF1ZDnXNA

Who Are These Cards Good For? 

Well both the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select and the AAdvantage Aviator Red cards are designed for travelers who frequently fly with American Airlines, but they do actually cater to slightly different needs and preferences:

Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select

Frequent American Airlines Flyers

This card is ideal for those who regularly fly with American Airlines and want to earn miles on everyday purchases as well as on American Airlines flights.

Travelers Looking for Versatility

The card also offers a range of travel benefits beyond just miles, including preferred boarding, a free checked bag, and discounts on in-flight purchases. It’s great for those who want a balance between earning miles and enjoying travel perks.

Moderate Spenders

The spending thresholds to earn the sign-up bonus and ongoing rewards are manageable, making this card a good choice for those who plan to use it regularly but aren’t necessarily high spenders.

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AAdvantage Aviator Red

American Airlines Loyalists

This card is perfect for those who are deeply committed to flying with American Airlines and want to start earning miles right away—with a sign-up bonus that’s typically easier to achieve with just a single purchase.

Travelers Who Value Simplicity

With no minimum spending requirement for the sign-up bonus, this card appeals to those who prefer a straightforward, hassle-free way to earn miles and enjoy perks like preferred boarding and free checked bags.

Mileage Maximizers

The Aviator Red card’s benefits, such as earning miles on every purchase and travel-related perks, are attractive to those who want to maximize their mileage earning with minimal effort.

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So both cards are great for American Airlines travelers, but the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select may be better suited for those who want a card with broader earning opportunities and a bit more flexibility, while the AAdvantage Aviator Red is ideal for those who want to quickly start earning miles with minimal upfront effort and are committed to sticking with American Airlines.

Annual Fee And Sign-up Bonus 

Now from here, let’s take look at how valuable the sign-up bonus is and how much the annual fee will cost you each year for each card.
And you will see that there isn’t much of a difference between these two cards.

Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select

And with AAdvantage bonus miles being worth around 1.7 cent per mile, this sign-up bonus is worth $850.

Now it’s worth noting that you can use these miles with around 20 different travel partners,
But you can only make bookings using these miles through the American Airlines website.
Unfortunately you cannot transfer miles over to any travel partner accounts. 

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AAdvantage Aviator Red

This could be something like a takeaway coffee, or what ever else you like.
So it is much easier and more relaxed than the spend requirements of the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select card.

Now the AAdvantage bonus miles with this card are also worth the same 1.7 cents per mile, which means the sign-up bonus is worth around $1,020.
Thats an additional value of around $170 , which is a decent amount.

Now along with this, there is also a 0% intro APR for 15 months on balance transfers made within 45 days of account opening. 

So the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Card offers a better sign-up bonus that is much easier to qualify for than the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select card.

Which Card Has The Best Miles Earning Potential?

So now we know how much each card costs on an annual basis and what they are offering as a sign-up bonus, we now need to look at the miles earning ability of each card.
And needless to say, this is an important factor to consider, when choosing a credit card.
If you are able to earn more miles or points via your everyday spending habits, you will end up getting a lot more value over time. 

Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select

Starting right at the top, it is possible to earn 2x miles for American Airline purchases.

Along with this it is also possible to earn 2x miles for purchases made a restaurants.
This also includes cafes, bars, lounges, and fast food restaurants.

It is also possible to receive 2x miles for purchases made as gas stations.

And then all other purchases that are made on the card will earn you 1 mile per dollar spent. 

So in terms of value, this card offers a decent range of categories to earn miles from.

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AAdvantage Aviator Red

Essentially you can earn the same 2x miles for American Airlines purchases, then everything else that is purchased on the card will earn you just 1 mile per dollar spent. 

So when it comes to earning miles, the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select card has a much better selection of categories to earn miles from than the Barclay AAdvantage Aviator Red Card.

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Optional Upgrade 

Now there is the option to upgrade to the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard if you already have the Aviator Red card.

And this card does offer a much better miles earning potential with the ability to earn 3x miles on American Airlines purchases.
2x miles on hotel purchases, and 2x miles on car rental purchases.
All other purchases that are made on this card will earn 1 mile per dollar spent.

The only downside is that it has an annual fee of $199, and you can only get this card via an upgrade if you already have the Aviator Red card

Which Card Has The Best Benefits And Perks?

So now that we know what the annual fee, sign-up bonus and miles earning potential of each card is, let’s take a look at the benefits that actually come with each card to see how they compare. 

Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select

So the  first benefit, that I think is really quite valuable if you travel frequently is the ability to get your first checked bag free of charge for you and up to 4 travel companions that are traveling on the same reservation.
Based on each checked bag costing up to $40, this can potentially save you up to $160 per flight assuming you are traveling with 4 people.

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You will then have Preferred boarding on American Airline flights which is a nice option to have as you don’t have to stand around for ever waiting to board the plane 

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It is possible to receive a 25% saving on food and beverages purchase that are made on American Airline flight

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An then finally, there is the ability to receive a $125 American Airlines Flight Discount if you manage to spend at least $20,000 on the card within a calendar year.

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AAdvantage Aviator Red

So just like the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select Card you get the following benefits:

Your first checked bag free on domestic AmericanAirlines flights for you and up to 4 travel companions that are traveling on the same reservation.  

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Preferred boarding on American Airline flights, again for you and up to 4 companions traveling on the same flight.

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And a 25% saving on food and beverage purchases that are made on American Airlines flights. 

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Now there are also a few benefits that come with the Aviator Red card that you don’t get with theCiti / AAdvantage Platinum Select Card, these are: 

The ability to get up to $25 back in statement credits for inflight Wi-Fi purchases each year.

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Then there is to potential to earn an Anniversary Companion Certificate.
So with this, if you manage to spend $20,000 on the card within a calendar year you will then earn a Companion Certificate good for 1 guest.

Now to actually receive the companion certificate you must keep your account open for at least 45 days after your anniversary date.
And then if  and when you do use the Companion Certificate there will be a ticketing fee of $99 and taxes and fees of between $37.23 and $55.83.

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And finally you will have access to the American Airlines Vacations Leisure Discount Program.
With this you will be able to receive a 10% discount on any non-flight bookings that are purchased with your Card Account via the website aavacations.com/aviator which is  exclusively for Aviator cardmembers.

How To Find Amazing Deals Using Miles 

So now let’s just take a quick look at how you can easily find some amazing deals using your miles to book flights, and to do this I personally use a free website called seats.aero.

Here you will be able to search through literally hundreds of different flight options that are currently avilable using your miles or points as payment.
And best of all you can filter your search results with specific airline providers you want to look at.

So as an example I’ll open up seats.aero.

Then at the top of the page I’ll click here on ‘EXPLORE’, and you will see a drop down menu appear with a large list of different airlines and credit card provides that have an association.

So I’ll just click here on AmericanAirlines as that is the airline we are searching for.

Now as I’m in the US, it has automatically selected to show me flights from North America to Anywhere.

But I’m going to scroll down the bottom of the page to change the airports I want to find flights from.

So where it says ‘Departs’ I’m going to put JFK, and then where it says ‘Arrives’ I’ll put LHR.
So essentially Im looking for flights from New York to London.

Now I’ll just scroll back up to the top of the page, and just click here where there is a tab that says ‘Business’, this will essentially organize avaiable business class seats in order of least amount of miles or points to the most.

Ok, so you will that the first option has 3 different class options: Economy, premium and Business.
So to bring up more information about these seats I’ll just go and click over here on the little gray tab with the information logo on it.

And you will see a new tab open with more details on the flights and seat available, so I’ll just click here on the Business tab again, Then I’ll just scroll down a little to this flight here that is operated by American Airlines.

So the flight number is AA104 and you will see that you can book a bunnies class seat for just 62,000 points (or miles in this situation) plus a fee of $5.60.

Now if I go over the American Airlines website to find this exact seat, you will see that it will cost you $7,862.
So if you did book this flight with your AAdvantage miles you would be seeing miles value of about 12.5 cents per mile, which is unbelievable value!

Anyway of looking at it would be that the 60,000 miles sign up bonus of the Advantage Aviator Red card is worth over $7,000.

Final Thoughts

Ok so that covers pretty much everything you need to know about both theCiti / AAdvantage Platinum Select Card and the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Card.
And as you can see they are somewhat similar in some aspects, but there are a few differences that are worth addressing.

In the short term, I think the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Card is the better card as it provides a larger signup bonus that is much easier to acquire as you only need to make one single purchases, which can literally be a few dollars.

it also has a few additional benefits like the annual companion certificate, which can end up being quite a valuable perk.

Now in the long term, I think the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select Card can provide more value, specifically because it has a better variety of miles earning potential.
This will overtime provide you with a lot more value, as earning miles is one of the main factors to earning value from both of these credit cards.

Now like I mentioned earlier in the video, one option you do have if you decide to get the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Card is the ability to then upgrade to the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard.

And although this card is more expensive with an annual fee of $199, it provides a better miles earning potential than both the other cards, and has some very valuable benefits such as an anniversary Companion Certificate good for 2 guests each year.

So depending on how much you actually travel with American Airlines will most likely impact the decision on which card is the best choice for you.

If you are a frequent traveler with American Airlines and spend quite a bit on your credit card, I would personally be looking to get the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Card and then upgrading to the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard.

However, if you only travel a few times each year on American Airlines, it would make sense to go for the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select Card.
Specifically because you will be able to earn more Aadvantage miles from this card on everyday expense compared to the Barclays Aadvantage Aviator Red Card.

Then if you do travel on American Airlines quite a few times each year but don’t want to spend more than $99 a year on a credit cards annual fee, the Barclays Aadvantage Aviator Red Card is a good choice as it offers 2x miles on American Airlines purchases and the ability you receive an anniversary annual companion Certificate. 

And if you want to see my choice for the top 3 airline credit cards available today check out this article here.