AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard Review: Full Details
Overview of the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard
If you currently hold one of Barclays’ American Airlines co-branded cards, you’ve probably heard of the AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Silver Mastercard®. Available only through a product change, the Aviator Silver card offers some solid benefits for its annual fee, but it can be hard to justify for those who don’t fly American Airlines at least a few times a year. Card Rating*: ⭐⭐⭐
*Card Ranking Based on the opinions of TPG editors and not influenced by card issuers.
American Airlines has co-branded cards with two issuers, Barclays and City. One of those cards, the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard, is not available to new applicants. Those interested in the card can still apply to upgrade from a lower-tier Barclays AAdvantage card.
If you’re interested in upgrading to this card, it’s important to fully understand the benefits and limitations. The Aviator Silver has a $199 annual fee, which is certainly not a small fee. If you don’t fly American Airlines at least a few times a year, this card may not be right for you.
I’ll walk you through the highlights of the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver to help you decide if it’s the best option for your wallet.
The information about the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Pros and Cons of AAdvantage Aviator Silver
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AAdvantage Aviator Silver Welcome Offer
Unfortunately, this card does not have welcome suggestions as it is not open to new applicants.
Welcome offers are a big incentive to get a new card, especially one with a higher annual fee like Aviator Silver. Before upgrading, make sure the card’s other benefits are worth it. justify did not receive a welcome message.
Benefits of AAdvantage Aviator Silver
Aviator Silver has good benefits that justify its $199 annual price. For starters, you and up to eight companions on the same trip will get The first checked baggage is eligible for free.Whether traveling alone or in a large group, free checked baggage can help justify the annual fee.
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You will also receive up to $120 in credit for Global Entry every five years. This is a pretty standard benefit for most travel cards, but still worth noting.
However, if another card has already paid your Global Entry fee, you can use this credit to pay the fee for a friend or family member.
Other benefits include up to $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for in-flight Wi-Fi charges, up to $25 per day in statement credits for in-flight food and beverage purchases, priority boarding for you and up to eight passengers traveling on the same reservation, and no foreign transaction fee.
This card provides Companion Certificatebut you’ll need to spend $20,000 in your account anniversary year to earn them. While getting two $99 companion certificates for this is nice, it’s a lot of spending that could be used to earn welcome bonuses on other cards.
In my opinion, still having to pay $99 per certificate (plus taxes and fees) for such a large spend makes this benefit not worth striving for.
Earn miles on AAdvantage Aviator Silver
The Aviator Silver has a similar rewards structure to many other co-branded airline cards. As a cardholder, you’ll earn 3 miles per dollar spent on American Airlines purchases, 2 miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases hotel and buy a rental car and 1 mile for every dollar spent everything else.
While Aviator Silver does not include some popular bonus categories like gas And eat and drinkI don’t see this as too big of a disadvantage. I always recommend putting non-airline spending on an earning card. Transferable points or milesSo this card is perfectly acceptable in that strategy.
I also want to note that the Aviator Silver offers a feature called “Flight Cents,” which allows you to round up your purchases to the nearest dollar to earn extra AAdvantage miles.
This feature won’t make a huge difference for low spenders, but it will give you a lot of extra miles if you’re trying to hit the spending requirement for those companion certificates.
Redeem Miles on AAdvantage Aviator Silver
You can change American Airlines AAdvantage miles on a number of things, including car rentals, hotels, seat upgrades, tickets, experiences and Admirals Club card or membership.
I recommend redeeming your miles for flights because that will give you the most value. You can redeem your miles for American Airlines flights or flights on the airline’s alliance and non-alliance partners, such as British Airways and Aer Lingus.
American Airlines award tickets start at the lowest 7,500 miles for one-way domestic flights. Andrea RotondoTPG’s CEO of content recently used his miles to book a premium economy ticket from Charlotte to Frankfurt, Germany, for just 53,500 miles (plus $5.60 in taxes and fees).
Related: How to best use your American Airlines AAdvantage miles
What cards can compete with the AAdvantage Aviator Silver?
Other American Airlines cards are the best direct competitors to the Aviator Silver. Some of your options include:
- If you want to pay a lower annual fee: The AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® has a lower annual fee of $99. It comes with a free first checked bag for you and up to four travelers, discounts on eligible in-flight purchases, and no foreign transaction fees. To learn more, see full review of Aviator Red Mastercard.
- If you want to enjoy premium benefits of American Airlines: The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see prices and fees) has an annual fee of up to $595 but comes with benefits like Admirals Club membership, priority check-in and boarding, up to $120 in annual Lyft credits, and up to $120 in annual Grubhub statement credits. To learn more, check out Full Review of Citi / AAdvantage Executive Mastercard.
- If you don’t want to pay the annual fee: The Citi® AAdvantage® MileUp Card has no annual fee. It may not have the perks of American Airlines’ more expensive co-branded card, but it still offers solid benefits like discounts on in-flight food and drinks. To learn more, check out Full Review of Citi / AAdvantage MileUp Card.
For more options, check out our picks for best airline cards.
Related: Current Citi AAdvantage Credit Card Offers: Everything You Need to Know
The information about the AAdvantage Aviator Red Mastercard and AAdvantage MileUp card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Is the AAdvantage Aviator Silver worth buying?
I recommend the Aviator Silver to anyone who flies American Airlines at least a few times a year. However, if you don’t fall into that group, you’ll likely find it difficult to take advantage of the card’s benefits enough to justify the $199 annual fee.
The last line
If you already own one of Barclays’ AAdvantage cards, upgrading to the Aviator Silver may be the right choice for you. Before you decide to upgrade, carefully weigh the pros and cons. The Aviator Silver has a fairly high annual fee, but if used correctly, it can be a great way to save a lot of money on American flights.
