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A few years ago, American Airlines completely changed how its members earn elite status. Instead of elite-qualifying miles and dollars, Loyalty Points are now the metric by which you earn American Airlines elite status.
Interestingly, you can earn elite status in the American AAdvantage program without taking any flights. And perhaps more interestingly, you can earn all the Loyalty Points you’d need for any published elite status tier — including top-tier Executive Platinum status — solely via spending on an AAdvantage credit card.
But in practice, most AAdvantage elite members (myself included) combine spending on an AAdvantage card with other ways to earn Loyalty Points. So, in this article, I’ll discuss earning American Airlines elite status solely via credit card spending, before explaining how my AAdvantage credit card plays into my larger elite status strategy.
How to earn Loyalty Points with an American Airlines credit card
You can earn Loyalty Points when you spend on Citi / AAdvantage and AAdvantage Aviator credit cards issued in the U.S. (and on other AAdvantage credit cards issued outside the U.S.). Citi will become the exclusive American Airlines card issuer in 2026, but I also discuss Barclays Aviator cards in this post since they’re currently useful for earning American Airlines elite status.
You only earn Loyalty Points when you earn base miles, and most AAdvantage cards earn 1 base mile per dollar spent on purchases. Here’s a look at how you can earn Loyalty Points on American Airlines credit cards issued within the U.S.:
| Card | Loyalty Points earning rate on purchases | Other ways to earn Loyalty Points with this card | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees) | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar | You can earn 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points after reaching 50,000 Loyalty Points in a status qualification year.
Plus, you can earn another 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points after reaching 90,000 Loyalty Points in the same status qualification year. |
$595 |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees) | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar | None | $99, waived for the first 12 months |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold World Elite Mastercard® (not open to new applicants) | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar | None | $50 |
| American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar | None | $0 |
| Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees) | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar, although only purchases on the primary cardmember’s card earn Loyalty Points for the primary cardmember (purchases on an authorized user card earn Loyalty Points for the authorized user) | None | $99, waived for the first 12 months |
| AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar | None | $99 |
| AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver World Elite Mastercard® (not open to new applicants, but you may be able to upgrade from the Aviator Red) | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar | Earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points after spending $20,000 on net purchases with the card during the status qualification period.
You can earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points after spending $40,000 on net purchases with the card during the same status qualification period. Plus, you can earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points after spending $50,000 on net purchases with the card during the same status qualification period. |
$199 |
| AAdvantage® Aviator® Blue World Elite Mastercard® (not open to new applicants) | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar | None | $49 |
| AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Mastercard® (not open to new applicants) | 1 Loyalty Point per 2 dollars | None | $0 |
| AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Business Mastercard® (not open to new applicants) | 1 Loyalty Point per dollar | None | $95 |
The information for the Citi / AAdvantage Gold Mastercard, AAdvantage MileUp Card, AAdvantage Aviator Red Mastercard, AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard, AAdvantage Aviator Blue Mastercard, AAdvantage Aviator Mastercard and AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
As you can see, most AAdvantage credit cards let you earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar spent on purchases. However, two cards — the Citi / AAdvantage Executive Mastercard and the AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard — also let you earn bonus Loyalty Points at specific thresholds.
Related: American AAdvantage miles vs. Loyalty Points: What’s the difference?
AAdvantage elite status requirements
Here’s a look at the American Airlines elite status tiers and the number of Loyalty Points you must accrue each qualification year (March 1 to Feb. 28 or 29) for each tier:
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- Gold: 40,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum: 75,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum Pro: 125,000 Loyalty Points
- Executive Platinum: 200,000 Loyalty Points
Once you earn an AAdvantage elite status, you’ll keep the status for the qualification year in which you earned it, plus 13 months. In addition to elite status, you can earn other perks as you accrue Loyalty Points through the Loyalty Point Rewards program.
Related: Be careful: 9 times you won’t earn American Airlines Loyalty Points, even if you earn miles
Earning AAdvantage elite status solely via credit card spending
Earning any published American Airlines elite status tier is possible via spending on one or more AAdvantage credit cards. Here’s a look at the spending levels you’d need to earn each American Airlines elite status tier with just one or more AAdvantage credit cards.
| Card(s) | AAdvantage Gold (40,000 Loyalty Points) | AAdvantage Platinum (75,000 Loyalty Points) | AAdvantage Platinum Pro (125,000 Loyalty Points) | AAdvantage Executive Platinum (200,000 Loyalty Points) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard | $40,000 | $65,000 | $105,000 | $180,000 |
| AAdvantage Aviator Silver World Elite Mastercard | $35,000 | $60,000 | $110,000 | $185,000 |
| Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard and AAdvantage Aviator Silver World Elite Mastercard | $35,000, with at least $20,000 on the Aviator Silver | $50,000 on the Aviator Silver | $90,000 with at least $50,000 on the Aviator Silver | $165,000 with at least $50,000 on the Aviator Silver |
| AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Mastercard | $80,000 | $150,000 | $250,000 | $400,000 |
| Other U.S.-issued AAdvantage cards | $40,000 | $75,000 | $125,000 | $200,000 |
As you can see, having both the Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard and AAdvantage Aviator Silver World Elite Mastercard — and spending on at least the Aviator Silver — cuts down the amount you’d need to spend for all but the lowest American Airlines elite status. After all, these cards offer bonus Loyalty Points when you meet specific thresholds.
So, you could earn top-tier Executive Platinum status with as little as $165,000 in spending on AAdvantage credit cards each qualification year and $794 in annual fees. But, as I’ll discuss in the next section, the amount you’ll need to spend on your cards will decrease if you also earn Loyalty Points through other methods.
Related: 8 methods that earned American AAdvantage Executive Platinum for 2025 and my strategy for 2026
How my AAdvantage credit card plays into my elite status strategy
Platinum Pro is my sweet spot within the AAdvantage program, as it gives me Oneworld Emerald status. So, I strive to earn at least 125,000 Loyalty Points each qualification year to requalify for Platinum Pro status.
Earning 125,000 Loyalty Points each qualification year involves some planning. To start, I use the Aviator Silver card as my general spending card each qualification period until I’ve spent $50,000 on it. By doing so, I know I’ll get 65,000 of the 125,000 Loyalty Points I need for Platinum Pro status from spending on my Aviator Silver.
Then, I strive to book a few inexpensive long-haul premium economy or business-class flights on AAdvantage partners that still earn based on fare class and flight distance each qualification year.
I also earn some Loyalty Points through AAdvantage Hotels, the AAdvantage eShopping portal, SimplyMiles and American Airlines flights. But these earning methods are relatively minor compared to my earnings through spending on AAdvantage cards and flights on AAdvantage partners. After all, I redeem miles for most of my flights — so I rarely earn on flights unless I book an inexpensive long-haul partner flight to earn lots of miles and Loyalty Points.
Bottom line
AAdvantage credit cards are a compelling way to earn Loyalty Points. As I showed in this post, earning top-tier Executive Platinum elite status with as little as $165,000 in credit card spending is possible.
However, most travelers will earn Loyalty Points through a few methods, including flights, card spending and the AAdvantage eShopping portal. So, consider other ways to earn Loyalty Points, many of which likely have lower opportunity costs, before trying to earn status solely via spending on AAdvantage credit cards.
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