American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® review
A great starter card for American Airlines loyalists
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Snapshot
3.1
Bottom line
Intro offer
15,000 miles
Rewards rate
1X - 2X
Annual fee
$0
Regular APR
20.49% - 29.49% (Variable)
4.1
Cardholder rating
Extra perks
Online tools
Rewards value
Customer service
3.1
Bankrate score
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Citi American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Overview
The Citi American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® is ideal for cardholders new to travel rewards. With no annual fee and an effortless rewards structure, it lets you accumulate miles for everyday purchases with ease. This card is especially beneficial if your highest spending is typically groceries. But you could get more value for your miles with other travel cards, particularly general travel cards. Without travel perks, frequent flyers may find the card lacking.
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Rewards
- 2 AAdvantage miles on grocery stores
- 2 AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases
- 1 AAdvantage mile per dollar on other purchases
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
Welcome offer
- 10,000 bonus miles and $50 statement credit after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months
Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
See our expert analysis -
Rates and fees
- Annual fee: None
- Ongoing APR: 20.49% - 29.49% (Variable) APR
- Foreign transaction fee: 3 percent
- Balance transfer fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
Other cardholder perks
- 25 percent savings on in-flight purchases
- Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every eligible AAdvantage mile earned from purchases
- No limit to the amount of miles you can earn
Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
See our expert analysis
American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp pros and cons
Pros
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Since this card has no annual fee, your rewards will go straight to earnings rather than offsetting a yearly cost.
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With this card's everyday bonus category in groceries, you can easily stock up on rewards.
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You can redeem miles with a number of partner airlines like Alaska Airlines and British Airways.
Cons
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This card is missing several travel perks that could make traveling easier, especially for frequent flyers.
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You'll be charged a foreign transaction fee when traveling abroad, which could eat into your rewards.
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You might find better value for your miles with other airline cards.
Why you might want the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp
A great starter travel card, the AAdvantage MileUp is low cost and low maintenance. You don't have to stress about offsetting the annual fee every year with rewards or perks. Also, its bonus category in groceries should help you rack up rewards miles fairly quickly without any hassle.
Rewards: Boosted rate in a popular everyday category
A great feature of this Citibank American Airlines co-branded card is its simple rewards structure. It’s fantastic for beginners who want to avoid rotating bonus categories or spending caps. You’ll earn two miles for every dollar spent at grocery stores and on eligible American Airlines purchases. Other purchases will earn you one mile per dollar.
Grocery stores include supermarkets, freezer/meat locker provisioners, dairy product stores, miscellaneous food/convenience stores, markets, specialty vendors and bakeries. Even if you spend just $200 on groceries a month, you'll earn 4,800 reward miles within 12 months. That would be on top of additional rewards you earn with general purchases and if you fly with American Airlines. Flight awards are available for as low as 7,500 miles each way and there's no mileage cap, so redeeming for a flight or part of a flight is within reach with these rates.
Rates and fees: No annual fee to offset
This card's most attractive feature is its no annual fee. There's no cost to carrying the card; you can take full advantage of its bonus categories without worrying about fees impacting your rewards earnings.
However, the 3 percent foreign transaction fee makes this card less suitable for overseas trips. And this card's ongoing variable APR tends to be on the higher side, so it may not be the best card if you carry a balance.
Why you might want a different travel card
This no-annual-fee travel card might have a simple rewards structure and low cost, but the redemption value could be more competitive and it lacks premium perks. Also, its welcome offer, while easy to attain, could be more lucrative.
Redemption value: Not a top value
According to Bankrate's latest point valuations, each American AAdvantage mile is worth around 1.0 cents. However, exactly how much you can squeeze out of each mile depends on your destination, the date you travel and what type of ticket you pick. Besides flights, miles can be redeemed for seat upgrades, car rentals and hotel stays, but non-flight redemptions tend to yield a low value per mile.
While the estimated value per mile for American Airlines is decent, you can find better redemption value with competing travel cards. For instance, the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express card also carries no annual fee and Bankrate's valuations place each mile to be worth about 1.2 cents.
Welcome offer: Low rate of return value
The AAdvantage MileUp card offers 10,000 bonus miles in addition to a $50 statement credit when you spend at least $500 within the first three months. Based on Bankrate's valuations, this welcome offer could be worth around $150, including the statement credit. However, although the spending requirement is easy to reach, this isn’t the most competitive offer.
The Capital One VentureOne Rewards card, for example, offers double the miles for the same spending requirement within the same timeframe for new cardholders. Capital One miles are on average worth 1.7 cents apiece, so VentureOne's sign-up bonus could be worth a whopping $340.
Perks: Little to no luxury benefits
As a cardholder, you can take advantage of a 25 percent discount on eligible in-flight purchases. Additionally, you'll earn one Loyalty Point for every eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases, bringing you closer to elite status. But premium benefits like anniversary bonus miles, lounge access, first checked bag free and travel protection plans are notably missing.
This may be typical for no-annual-fee travel cards, so you might consider a travel rewards card with a minimal annual fee to enjoy luxury perks that can make traveling smoother. If you are not tied to American Airlines for your travel, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card could be an appealing alternative. It provides an anniversary point bonus, lost luggage reimbursement and first two checked bags free with a relatively low yearly cost of $69.
We tried it: Here’s what our experts say
The Citi AAdvantage Mileup card doesn’t have the most impressive earning rates. But Katie Genter, a travel rewards specialist at The Points Guy, says she’s still happy to have the card:
Since American AAdvantage switched to Loyalty Points as its metric for earning elite status, I’ve enjoyed having the AAdvantage Mileup card for double miles at grocery stores and more access to SimplyMiles offers. Plus, since the card has no annual fee, I don’t mind keeping it in my wallet long term.
— Katie Genter, Senior Writer, The Points Guy
How the American Airlines AAdvantage Miles Up compares to other travel cards
Apart from the AAdvantage MileUp card, there are other competitors that offer travel rewards cards with no annual fee. The best card for you will depend on your preferred airline and how much flexibility you want with your rewards.
American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn 15,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $1000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
Rewards rate
Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for each $1 spent at grocery stores, including grocery delivery services. Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases. Earn 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 spent on other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Unlimited Bonus: Unlimited Mile-for-Mile match for all new cardmembers—only from Discover. Discover gives you an unlimited match of all the Miles you’ve earned at the end of your first year. You could turn 35,000 Miles to 70,000 Miles. There’s no signing up, no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a Miles-for-Miles match.
Rewards rate
Automatically earn unlimited 1.5x Miles on every dollar of every purchase.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn 10,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
Rewards rate
Earn 2X Miles per dollar at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. Earn 2X Miles per dollar spent on Delta purchases. Earn 1X Mile on all other eligible purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Best cards to pair with the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp
To maximize your travel rewards for your spending, it’s worth pairing the Citi AAdvantage MileUp with another American Airlines travel credit card to cover more bonus categories or a general rewards card that lets you transfer points to American Airlines.
Who is the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp right for?
American Airlines loyalists might find this card's low cost an attractive feature, and the card's manageable rewards structure is ideal for beginner travelers.
Bankrate’s Take — Is the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp worth it?
This card is great for anyone new to travel rewards and occasional American Airlines flyers. It allows you to collect more miles on some of your everyday purchases without having to consider the impact of annual fees.
But if you travel a lot, you might want a card with more perks than the AAdvantage MileUp, so a travel card with a low annual fee would be more appealing.
The information about the American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® and Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.
How we rated this card
We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.
Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).
We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:
Frequently asked questions
What cardholders think
American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card
In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are based on individual cardholder’s product details, and therefore cannot be verified for accuracy. Users received an incentive for their feedback. User ratings are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers, nor do these ratings reflect Bankrate’s own reviews of these cards.
Community Reviews
* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.
