AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard

The AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is a card designed for small business owners, particularly loyal American Airlines travelers. In this AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard review, I’ll list all its features, rewards, and requirements, so you can determine if it is the right card for you.

The AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is one of the cards co-branded by American Airlines. This card comes with a substantial signup bonus and earns more rewards when you use it to purchase in the small business categories. Even if you don’t use the card, you can still get several travel perks.

Read on to learn more about the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard, its background, requirements, and pros and cons.

About the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard

If you run your own business, you can apply to the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite. Although it comes with a modest $95 annual fee, you will be getting a lot of juicy signup bonus rewards, like:

• Earn 65,000 miles if you spent $1000 during the first 3 months (90 days) of your account.
• Earn 10,000 miles once the complimentary employee card is used.

That’s a total of 75,000 AAdvantage miles with hardly any effort. After the initial rewards, you will be getting 5% AAdvantage bonus miles annually on your card’s anniversary. This is based on the number of miles you have accumulated so far.

Other Rewards You Can Avail

This card also comes with other perks besides the ones you get upon signup. These include:

1. Free baggage check-in on the first eligible piece of luggage
2. Preferred boarding for the cardholder and four companions
3. 25%-off on in-flight food and drinks
4. Earn a Companion Certificate after you charge at least $30,000 on the card – This allows you to take a guest on a round trip flight for just $99. You can claim this once every year.
5. Complimentary employee cards
6. There are no foreign transaction fees.

How to Earn Rewards Using the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard

The AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is a card you should have for the perks that come with it, not for its bonuses. Unfortunately, the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite’s earning rates are quite low, similar to other airline credit cards.

The following are the earning rates of this card:

• 2x miles/dollar on purchases made on AA
• 2x miles/dollar spent on partner office supplies, telecoms, and business car rental services
• 1x miles/dollar on other purchases

After doing the math, it results in every American Airlines mile being only worth 1.4 cents each. This is a somewhat paltry 1.4-2.8% return. Other credit cards are not even airline cards that let you earn even more rewards.

Still, there is good news. You do not need to use the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite when purchasing tickets. You can use another card with better cashback rewards and still use this business Mastercard for the free check-in luggage and the preferential boarding.

The best way to earn rewards using the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is to spend on the bonus categories. You stand to earn twice the number of rewards if you use the card on various things. These include American Airlines, telecoms equipment, office supplies, and car rental companies.

How to Redeem Rewards

Although the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite offers many low-value options for redeeming rewards, it is still best to exchange the miles you earned for free flights.

American Airlines currently uses a quasi-dynamic award pricing system. This system comes in the form of “web specials” discounts. This means you have no idea how many miles you need to spend on an award flight until you already have a specific date in mind for booking your flight.

If your travel schedule is flexible, you can potentially find domestic economy flights that only cost 5,000 miles each way. This means you can easily convert the huge miles rewards into 15 one-way flights.

Again, what does the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard offer? AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is co-branded by American Airlines. This card gifts its customers with a signup bonus and rewards them whenever they purchase in the small business categories. Apart from said perks, you can get travel benefits even if you’re not using the card.

AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard Requirements

1. A Good FICO Credit Score

The problem with Barclays is that they do not publicly post the credit requirement for any cards they issue. However, you will likely need a good FICO credit score, which is 670 or higher.

2. You Have to Be a Business Owner

Aside from having a good credit score, you need to be a business owner to be eligible for the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite. You will be inputting the name and address of your company upon signup. This means you cannot bypass this step.

3. Pay an Annual Fee

In addition, you will need to pay a $95 annual fee. The card’s APR is similar to other cards in its class, which is 15.99% to 24.99% variable APR. The balance transfer fee is either $5 or 3% of the amount being transferred, whichever is bigger. The cash advance fee is either $10 or 3% of the borrowed amount, whichever is greater.

AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard Pros

Here are the nice benefits that you can get from this business Mastercard:

1. $0 Foreign Transaction Fees

This is a great perk if you regularly need to travel abroad on business. You can freely use the card to make purchases anywhere in the world. You do not also have to worry about additional charges once you are back home.

2. Huge Welcome Bonuses

You can earn up to 75,000 miles in the first 90 days of your account. You do not even have to spend that much. The only charge you need is $1000 on the card to get 65,000 miles and 10,000 miles when your employees purchase the linked employee card.

3. Free Checked Bag

Even if you are a semi-regular traveler, getting a first free checked bag will already offset the $95 annual fee.

4. In-flight Food and Beverage Discounts

Pay for your food and drinks using your Mastercard. Doing so will let you get a 25% discount later in the form of a statement credit.

5. Complementary Employee Cards

Since the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is a business credit card, it also comes with employee cards. These cards are like extensions of the main card. You can get them for free. You have to send a request to your local Barclays, and they will be sending you a couple of pieces.

6. Elite Status

If you want to get into the elite status of the AAdvantage program, which will entitle you to a whole bunch of new and exciting benefits, then this card can help you climb up the tiers faster. If you spend $25k a year using this card, you will receive $3k in EQD.

AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard Cons

Note, though, that just like other cards, this one also carries some downsides. Among them are:

No Lounge Access

I was quite confused about why this “elite” American Airlines card does not provide free access to the Admiral’s Club Lounge. However, you can use the miles you earned to pay for membership.

Only 1x Miles on General Purchases

It is also quite disappointing that you only get 1x miles per dollar spent on regular purchases. Many lower-tiered cards have a better earning potential than this.

Who Is the Target Audience of the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard?

The AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Mastercard is designed with business owners who are American Airline regulars in mind. This card is made especially for those who will be spending at least $30,000 annually. The reason is that this spending will unlock perks like the Companion Certificate. This will allow you to purchase a one-way ticket for a companion for $99.

As mentioned earlier, even if you are a semi-regular traveler, just the free check-in luggage alone can offset the $95 annual fee. Also, even if you do not use the card, it will still make you eligible for preferred boarding.

AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard Competitors

Finding a worthy competitor for the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard won’t be that hard as it did not even set the bar high. In this case, a better airline card is technically not one itself.

The Chase Ink Business Preferred provides customers the chance to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards. You can then redeem it for various items. You can also use this as statement credits.

Conclusion – AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard

The AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Business Mastercard is one of the many co-branded credit cards of American Airlines. This credit card comes with a handsome welcome bonus amounting to 75,000 miles. It also lets you earn more rewards if you use it on products and services catering to small businesses.

Even if you do not use the card, you can still receive several travel perks. This makes it all the more worthwhile to keep it. Although this card may not be the best airline credit card out there, if you are a loyal American Airlines client, you can maximize the benefits you can get from it.