Another month, another airline tweaking benefits – and raising annual fees – on one of its co-branded credit cards.
American Airlines and Citi announced Tuesday that the annual fee on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® is climbing from $99 to $150 – a $51 bump, or a roughly 50% increase – on Jan. 24, 2027.
To soften the blow, the card is throwing in a handful of new perks: a $100 annual in-flight credit, a complimentary Walmart+ membership, a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® credit, a few new bonus categories, and – finally – a real set of travel protections. Meanwhile, the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® is getting a similar makeover: Its annual fee is also rising from $99 to $150, and it’s adding the same in-flight credit, Global Entry/PreCheck credit, and travel protections – plus some business-friendly bonus categories.
For current cardholders, the new benefits won’t kick in until Jan. 24, 2027 – you’ll be billed the new $150 fee on your first card anniversary after that date. The refreshed cards and benefits are live for new applicants starting today. Fortunately, the annual fee is still waived for the first year.
None of this is especially shocking. Higher fees propped up by a pile of use-them-or-lose-them credits are just how airline cards work now.
Just a few months ago, American and Citi raised annual fees on their top-tier Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®. Delta raised the bar on its SkyMiles cards nearly three years ago, while United followed up last year with a fee hike of its own … and Southwest did the same last summer.
But what’s most shocking here is what Citi and American didn’t do: No discount on award tickets for cardholders, something Delta pioneered with its TakeOff 15 benefit and United mimicked earlier this year.
Keep reading for everything you need to know about the new look Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card.
Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card Benefits at a Glance
- Welcome offer: Earn 80,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $3,500 in the first four months
- New! Earn 3x miles on eligible AAdvantage Hotels® bookings made on aadvantagehotels.com and eligible AAdvantage Cars® bookings made on aadvantagecars.com
- Updated! Earn 2x miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases, rides and rails (transit), select streaming services, at gas stations (& EV charging), and at restaurants (including takeout)
- Earn 1x mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- First checked bag free: Your first checked bag is free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for you and up to 4 companions traveling with you on the same reservation
- Preferred boarding: Enjoy preferred boarding on American Airlines flights for you and up to 4 companions traveling with you on the same reservation
- Increased! $150 American Airlines Flight Discount (was $125), after spending $20,000 or more in purchases during your cardmember year and renewing the card
- New! Up to $120 Global Entry® or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit every four years.
- New! Up to $100 back in statement credits annually on in-flight purchases
- New! Complimentary annual Walmart+ membership ($98 in value) for primary cardmembers
- New! 50% discount on an annual FOX One subscription.
- Up to $180 annually on Turo car rentals (up to $30 in statement credits for each eligible Turo car rental trip completed).
- New! Travel protections, including Trip Delay Protection, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection, Worldwide Car Rental Insurance and Lost Baggage Protection.
- No foreign transaction fees
- Increased! Annual fee: $150, waived for the first year
All information about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link).
What’s New on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card?
Nothing here is groundbreaking, and nothing drastically changes the math on this card. But there are a few genuine upgrades worth knowing about.
$150 Annual Fee
There’s no way around it: This part stings. The annual fee on the card increased from $99 to $150 – that’s more than a 50% increase for current and prospective cardholders.
If you currently have the card, you won’t pay the new annual fee until Jan. 24, 2027. If your card renews sometime between now and then, you’ll pay the old $99 annual fee for one more year and unlock all the new benefits starting Jan.
A $100 In-Flight Credit Replaces the 25% Discount
The card’s old 25% discount on in-flight food and drinks is going away. In its place, cardholders now get up to $100 back in statement credits each year on in-flight purchases – food, beverages, and Wi-Fi all count. For anyone who flies American a couple of times a year, that’s a real upgrade. The math only tips in favor of the old discount if you were spending more than $400 a year on in-flight purchases, which … almost nobody is.
The downside? American’s buy-on-board menu isn’t anything to write home about. But we’ve all sprinted through the terminal to make a tight connection with zero time to grab a bite, only to get hangry halfway through the flight. Having $100 to put toward a snack box or a drink on board is much more useful than saving $2.50 on a $10 cheese plate.
It’s also no coincidence that Citi is making this change now. When Citi absorbed Barclays’ portfolio of American Airlines cards earlier this year, some of those Barclays-branded cards came with an in-flight credit. Citi is now carrying that idea over to its own lineup.
A Free Walmart+ Membership (and 50% Off FOX One)
Primary cardholders now get a complimentary annual Walmart+ membership, which normally costs $98 a year. That includes free delivery on orders of $35 or more, gas discounts, and a choice of a streaming service (Paramount+ Essential or Peacock Premium).
I think the Walmart+ benefit on the American Express Platinum Card® is one of the most underrated benefits the card offers. If you don’t already have the pricey Platinum Card (or the American Express® Business Gold Card), this is a nice add, in my opinion.
Cardholders also get 50% off an annual FOX One subscription – decent if you were already paying for it anyway.
Travel Protections Are Back
Citi stripped travel protections from its cards years ago, leaving AA cardholders with essentially nothing when things went sideways. Now, the Platinum Select is getting a real suite of coverage:
- Trip delay protection: Up to $500 per covered traveler, per trip for reasonable expenses like meals and a hotel when you’re delayed six hours or more.
- Trip cancellation & interruption protection: Up to $5,000 per trip (or the amount you actually paid, whichever is less).
- Lost baggage protection: Up to $3,000 per traveler and $10,000 total per trip.
- Worldwide car rental insurance: Up to $75,000 in damage coverage – secondary in the U.S., primary abroad.
The best part? You can trigger coverage by paying for at least part of the trip with your card and/or AAdvantage miles. That means award tickets where you only paid $5.60 in taxes on the card can still qualify for that $500 trip delay coverage. Just note that trip cancellation coverage is capped at what you actually paid.
This isn’t Chase Sapphire Reserve-level protection, but it’s a heck of a lot better than nothing.
New (and Expanded) Bonus Categories
Here’s the new earning structure on the AAdvantage Platinum Select Card:
- New: Earn 3x miles on eligible AAdvantage Hotels and AAdvantage Cars bookings
- Earn 2x miles on eligible American Airlines purchases
- Earn 2x miles at restaurants
- Expanded: Earn 2x miles at gas stations, now including EV charging stations
- New: Earn 2x miles on select streaming services
- New: Earn 2x miles on eligible rides and rail purchases like rideshares, taxis, and transit
- Earn 1x mile on everything else
Just know: You’ll still earn 1 Loyalty Point per eligible mile earned from purchases, regardless of whether it’s a bonus category or not.
These new categories are fine … but they don’t do much to move the needle, either. Earning 2x on streaming and Uber rides isn’t going to make this card your everyday earner. Plenty of no-fee and low-fee cards earn transferable points at a better clip – including Citi’s own Strata cards, which can transfer to AAdvantage.
A Bigger Flight Discount and a Global Entry/PreCheck Credit
The annual American Airlines Flight Discount is getting bumped from $125 to $150. The catch: You still need to spend $20,000 on the card in a cardmember year and renew to unlock it. Hit that threshold before Jan. 24, 2027, and you’ll get the old $125 discount.
For most cardholders, that’s a non-factor. Putting $20,000 a year on a card that mostly earns 1x is rarely a good idea unless you’re chasing AAdvantage status with Loyalty Points.
The card is also adding a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® credit worth up to $120 every four years. Useful if you don’t already have one … but most travelers in this hobby already have more of these credits than family members to use them on.
What Stayed the Same?
Many of the core reasons travelers carry this card remain untouched:
- Free first checked bag on domestic American Airlines itineraries for you and up to four companions on the same reservation
- Preferred boarding on American flights for you and up to four companions
- Up to $180 a year in Turo credits (up to $30 per eligible rental)
- 10% off eligible American Airlines Vacations packages
- No foreign transaction fees
- 1 Loyalty Point per mile earned from purchases
And that’s the key point here: Even with a $150 fee, the free checked bags alone make this card worth it for casual American flyers. One roundtrip with a checked bag each way for two travelers is enough to cover the fee – and the $100 in-flight credit only widens that gap.
What’s Missing? An Award Discount
The airline industry is “monkey see, monkey do” to its core. When one carrier rolls out a new fee or perk, the others usually follow within months. And over the past few years, the most important development in airline credit cards has been discounts on award tickets for cardholders.
Delta pioneered it years ago with its TakeOff 15 benefit, which gives SkyMiles cardholders 15% off Delta-operated award flights. Earlier this year, United followed with a 10% discount on award flights for its cardholders, plus expanded access to saver award space.
Those benefits have more or less made carrying a co-branded Delta or United card essential for anyone who wants to seriously engage with either program. If you’re redeeming SkyMiles or MileagePlus miles without one, you’re leaving miles on the table every time you book.
So you’d think American would be next in line – especially with a card refresh that raises the fee by more than 50%. Instead? Nothing.
American AAdvantage is widely considered the best of the big three U.S. airline programs. Award pricing is consistent and (mostly) reasonable, whether you’re flying American or one of its Oneworld partners like Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, or Cathay Pacific. It’s so good, in fact, that many of us have been bracing for American to drop the hammer with a major devaluation. When Delta and United rolled out their discounts, it gave cover for higher award prices across the board – cardholders got a consolation prize while everyone else paid more.
So what does it mean that American skipped it? Maybe American is content to keep AAdvantage award pricing sane and doesn’t feel the need to engineer a cardholder-only discount – it is, after all, the airline’s biggest advantage (see what I did there?) over its competitors.
Of course, American could still overhaul its award pricing at any moment … and now there’s no cardholder discount waiting to soften the blow. I’m not sure which it is – but I’ll be watching closely.
Bottom Line
The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select’s annual fee is jumping from $99 to $150, with a new $100 in-flight credit, Walmart+, travel protections, and some modest bonus categories helping justify the hike. For anyone who flies American even a few times a year, the free checked bags and in-flight credit still make this card worth carrying.
But the real headline is what’s missing: Unlike Delta and United, American still isn’t giving cardholders a break on award tickets – and that leaves a big question mark hanging over the future of the AAdvantage program.
