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My American Elite Status Credit Card Double Dip Strategy
It’s an unusual year for me when it comes to airline elite status, so in this post, I want to share the strategy that I’m pursuing, since one thing is very different than usual for me this year…
It’s an unusual year for me when it comes to airline elite status, so in this post, I want to share the strategy that I’m pursuing, since one thing is very different than usual for me this year…
I’m working my way up the AAdvantage elite ranks!
As I wrote about several weeks back, I didn’t requalify for AAdvantage Executive Platinum status for the first time in 14 years. Not only that, but I dropped all the way down to AAdvantage Gold status. 
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, status isn’t nearly as valuable as it used to be in terms of perks like upgrades, so I don’t consider it to be much of a loss. On the other hand, as someone who primarily travels internationally, I really value the perks of oneworld Emerald status (particularly, the great lounge access), and it’s something that I think is worth striving for.
When I didn’t requalify for status last year, it’s not that I was giving up on status with American, but instead, I was hoping to qualify a bit more efficiently:
- I’m probably happy just earning Platinum Pro rather than Executive Platinum going forward, since both tiers offer oneworld Emerald status, but the requirements for the former are nearly 40% lower (125,000 vs. 200,000 Loyalty Points)
- I figured it made sense to efficiently qualify for status every two years, rather than ever year; by earning status at the beginning of the current program year (2025-2026), my status will be valid through March 2027
Spending my way to AAdvantage Platinum Pro status
With American’s Loyalty Points system for status qualification, it’s possible to earn elite status through a variety of methods, including credit card spending. With American, you generally earn one Loyalty Point per dollar spent on an eligible co-branded American credit card, and elite requirements are as follows:
- AAdvantage Gold status requires 40,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Platinum status requires 75,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Platinum Pro status requires 125,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Executive Platinum status requires 200,000 Loyalty Points
As you can see, if you wanted to earn elite status exclusively through credit card spending, you’d potentially have to spend $125,000 for Platinum Pro, and that’s the status that I’m aiming for.
One way to get a bit of a shortcut is to have the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review). If you earn 90,000 Loyalty Points in a program year and have the card (regardless of how you actually earned the Loyalty Points), you’ll receive 20,000 bonus Loyalty Points. That can make a big difference, obviously, since it means you’d only otherwise have to earn 105,000 Loyalty Points for Platinum Pro.
I’m generally opposed to overwhelmingly earning elite status through credit card spending, simply because of the opportunity cost of spending, of being able to earn two transferable points per dollar spent on other cards. But I think I have a pretty good plan now…
I might as well pick up two-for-one elite status
This is where spending money on American credit cards gets even more interesting. The Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (review) is the co-branded Citi and American Airlines business card. The card offers several valuable perks, and also has an excellent welcome bonus at the moment, making it an ideal time to apply.
There’s a quirk to the card, though, when it comes to authorized user rewards. On this card, the authorized user ordinarily earns the Loyalty Points for their spending, and not the primary cardmember.
The catch is that there’s a limited time (currently through the end of 2025, but it might be extended), targeted promotion, that offers the ability to double dip. For those who are targeted (and it seems to be widely targeted), both the primary cardmember and authorized user earn Loyalty Points for spending. It basically means you earn two Loyalty Points per dollar spent, just in different accounts.
If I’m going to be spending money on American credit cards, then I might as well pick up status for two people, rather than one. That way Ford can also earn oneworld Emerald status, as he often travels alone as well.
Does double dipping make more spending lucrative?
If I’m going to earn Platinum Pro status for two people through credit card spending, does it then make sense to put even more spending on the card? Let’s say, hypothetically, that two people have 125,000 Loyalty Points, and have earned Platinum Pro, and let’s say they’re eligible for the double dip promotion on credit card spending.
This is where American’s Loyalty Point Rewards program comes into play, which offers incremental perks for passing certain Loyalty Points thresholds. For example:
- When you earn 175,000 Loyalty Points, you can select two systemwide upgrades or 25,000 AAdvantage bonus miles
- When you earn 250,000 Loyalty Points, you can select four systemwide upgrades or 60,000 AAdvantage bonus miles
If you’re getting those rewards for two people, the value of that really adds up. So if you were to spend your way from 125,000 to 250,000 Loyalty Points (so $125,000 in spending), your status would go from Platinum Pro to Executive Platinum, and you’d receive a total of 12 systemwide upgrades or 170,000 AAdvantage bonus miles (since both people are earning the Loyalty Points).
When you combine that with one mile per dollar spent, that means you’d be earning 290,000 AAdvantage miles for $125,000 in spending, which is well over two miles per dollar spent, better than you’d get on most transferable points cards.
Let me emphasize that I’m approaching this more as a general exercise than anything else, as I’m not sure if I can complete that spending. But I do think the math checks out, surprisingly, as I don’t consider there to be an opportunity cost, compared to using a card that earns two transferable points per dollar spent.
Bottom line
For the first time in a long time, I didn’t requalify for Executive Platinum status with American AAdvantage. That’s not because I’m totally giving up on the status, but just because I wanted to earn the status a bit more efficiently.
My plan is to now (mostly) spend my way to Platinum Pro status. The interesting twist to this is that the Citi AAdvantage Business Card has a targeted promotion offering Loyalty Points double dipping for the remainder of the year, for both the primary cardmember and authorized user.
This is awesome, since it’s basically an opportunity to get two-for-one elite status. Given the Loyalty Point Rewards program, I’d argue that it even makes incremental spending beyond that quite lucrative, thanks to the bonus miles and/or systemwide upgrades.
Anyone else using this double dipping opportunity to earn AAdvantage status?
