On American Airlines airfare booked directly with American Airlines; otherwise earn 1X
Earn 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $2,500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
Our ratings are determined by the authors and editors on our team. Each individual card feature is compared against all other cards we offer and the total score is an average of those 4 ratings.
Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite MasterCard is the perfect card for travelers that even periodically fly American. For a $99 annual fee (waived the first year), cardholders and travelers on the same reservation enjoy preferred boarding, a free checked bag on American Airlines flights, and 25% savings on inflight food and beverage purchases.
Cardholders earn 2x American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles at restaurants and gas stations and on eligible American Airlines purchases. All other eligible purchases earn 1x AAdvantage® miles per eligible dollar spent.
Each dollar spent on an American Airlines credit card earns 1 Loyalty Point. That means cardholders can earn elite status in the AAdvantage program just by spending on the AAdvantage® Platinum Select card. For example, you can earn AAdvantage® Gold elite status with just $40,000 in purchases on the card in a year.
Note that the sign up bonus and spending category bonuses count as American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles. That means you won’t earn Loyalty Points on these AAdvantage® bonus miles. As an example, if you spend $5,000 at gas stations in a year, although you’ll earn 10,000 AAdvantage® miles on these purchases, it will only count as 5,000 Loyalty Points.
American Airlines currently charges $40 for a first checked bag on domestic itineraries. Considering you and up to four travel companions can check a bag for free, this one credit card perk can save you up to $400 per round-trip flight. The catch is that this perk only is offered on domestic flights. Unfortunately, cardholders can’t check a bag for free on American Airlines international flights.
Only earns 5% when booked via Capital One Travel; else 1%
Only earns 5% when booked via Capital One Travel; else 1%
Our ratings are determined by the authors and editors on our team. Each individual card feature is compared against all other cards we offer and the total score is an average of those 4 ratings.
Unlike the Capital One Savor card (now discontinued for new applicants, anyway), which offers 4% back dining but the same 3% back on dining, at grocery stores, and on entertainment purchases and popular streaming services) but charges a $95 annual fee, the Savor, despite 1% less in cash back, will be a better choice until you reach a high level of spend such that the annual fee is offset.
Plus, don’t forget that you’ll earn cash rewards (8%) on Capital One Entertainment Purchases and 5% cash rewards on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
Early on in this review, I mentioned a “secret” way to convert your Savor cash back into Capital One miles (See our complete guide to Capital One Miles).
If you also have a Capital One Venture X, Venture, VentureOne, or Spark Miles for Business card, you can freely convert your Savor cash back into miles by transferring the cash back to any of those cards. It transfers 1:1, meaning that $10 = 1,000 miles.
Here’s a list of Capital One Miles transfer partners should you transfer your Savor cash rewards over to one of the aforementioned cards (to be clear, you cannot transfer to any of these partners with this card alone; you would need a Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, or Capital One Spark Miles for Business card to transfer to):
Capital One Miles | ||
---|---|---|
Transfer Ratio | Expected Transfer Time | |
Air Canada (Aeroplan) | 1:1 | Instant |
Air France / KLM Flying Blue | 1:1 | Instant |
Avianca Lifemiles | 1:1 | Instant |
Aeromexico | 1:1 | Instant |
British Airways Avios | 1:1 | TBD |
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1:1 | Nearly instant |
Choice Hotels | 1:1 | 1 day |
Emirates Skywards | 1:1 | Instant |
Etihad Guest | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
Finnair | 1:1 | Instant |
Qantas | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
TAP Air Portugal | 1:1 | TBD |
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | 1:1 | TBD |
Wyndham Rewards Hotel Program | 1:1 | Instant |
EVA | 2:1.5 | 1-2 days |
Accor Live Limitless (ALL) Hotel Program | 2:1 | 1-2 days |
Virgin Red | 1:1 | TBD |
There’s no denying that 3% cash back on dining, grocery store, streaming services and entertainment purchases is a solid deal for a credit card without an annual fee. In fact, entertainment purchases (which include things like concerts and shows) is one of the rarest bonus categories. If you attend a lot of Broadway shows or concerts, this card can really rack them up. And should you happen to resell any tickets on StubHub, etc, this is an extra 3% in your pocket.
Plus, if you don’t mind booking hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, that’s 5% cash back as well.
Bottom line? If you are interested in cash back rather than points, this would be a good card to have in your wallet, however, I would recommend pairing it with another card for other categories. For many, a second card like a Citi Double Cash, which earns 2% on everything, could be the perfect card combo. Or, scroll down and use our own Card Combo tool to see which card would pair best with a Savor based on your own spending profile.
And remember what I said above… there are ways to convert this cash back into Capital One Miles as well.