NEW Benefits: Citi About to Refresh THIS Credit Card

American Airlines and Citi are making some huge changes to their flagship premium credit card. The Citi Advantage Executive World Elite Mastercard is getting a new $695 annual fee, a load of new credits, new hotel and car rental elite status benefits, and American Airlines is simultaneously increasing the price of a regular Admirals Club membership to as much as $1,400. So if you value Admirals Club membership, which is a benefit the card provides, even though Citi is raising the card's annual fee by $100, there's actually an argument that this card is about to become a way better deal. But naturally, there are some catches, we'll tell you all about it in this video. Hey, credit warriors, welcome to the show. My name is Ben Hedges, aka The Credit Shifu. And on this channel, we talk about US credit cards, personal finance and luxury travel. This video is brought to you by Silo, the brokerage where you can earn credit card style points on your investments. They just launched a new entry level plan and doubled the points earning caps, but more on that later. So today, we are going to break down the huge refresh coming to the Citi Advantage Executive World Elite Mastercard, which will actually become the Citi Advantage Executive World Legend Mastercard. As if the name wasn't long enough already, let's just add in another six letter word. But adding the word legend is actually because Citi has now adopted Mastercard's highest tier World Legend for this and it gives you some enhanced benefits. The new benefits begin on August 23rd, 2026. And for new card members, the annual fee increases from $595 to $695 on that date. Citi and American Airlines claim that the refreshed card can now provide up to $2,300 in annual value. Now, whenever a credit card company says something provides $2,300 in value, I immediately become suspicious because normally you have to use 17 different credits, order a cheeseburger on the third Tuesday of each month and book a hotel during a full moon to actually get the value out of it. So let's see what we're really getting. First of all, the biggest new benefit is an American Airlines vacations credit worth up to $500 per year. Let's look at that one now. So with this credit, you get up to $250 from January through June, and then another $250 from July through December when you make eligible American Airlines vacations purchases. And it doesn't have to be on the full moon. Now, American Airlines vacations lets you book travel packages and experiences. So if you already use that service or you can see yourself realistically using it, this could be extremely valuable. The annual fee is increasing by $100 from $595 to $695, but Citi is adding this potentially $500 in American Airlines vacation credits. So if you are someone who is already going to spend at least $500 through American Airlines vacations or a similar service, and you're willing to switch to American Airlines vacations, you're theoretically getting $400 more in net value despite the annual fee increase. But do remember, this is not a generic American Airlines credit. It is just for American Airlines vacations. So I would only value this at $500 if you would genuinely use that service. Next, we're getting a new $100 annual statement credit for eligible in-flight and Admirals Club purchases that can cover qualifying purchases on board American Airlines flights like drinks and stuff or Admirals Clubs. This is replacing the old 25% savings on eligible in-flight food and beverage purchases for new card members. Existing card members will retain that 25% discount through December 30th, 2026. Personally, I think the $100 credit is probably more useful for many people because it is simple to understand, spend up to $100 on qualifying stuff and get $100 back. But once you've used the $100, that's it. Under the old system, someone who spent a lot more on in-flight food and drinks could theoretically continue receiving that 25% discount indefinitely. So $400 spent in-flight or at an Admirals Club will be the break-even point. If you spend more than $400 per year, the 25% discount is actually a better deal. Next, we have Lyft. Currently, after taking three eligible Lyft rides in a calendar month, you can receive a $10 Lyft credit, giving you up to $120 per year. But beginning August 23rd, that increases to $15 per month or up to $180 per year while still requiring you to take three eligible rides during that month before earning the credit. So basically an extra $60 per year in possible value. Again, I would not value this at $180 and yes, you're naturally taking at least three Lyft rides every month, but frequent business travelers may actually find this pretty easy to use. Now let's look at point earning. But first, over the past year, you've probably heard me talking about silo. Silo, silo, silo, silo, silo, silo. Well, there's a reason for that. It is the investing platform that enables you to earn points on your stocks. It's like what Bilt has done with earning points on rent, but for investing. This month, they launched two big updates that make the platform much more useful and accessible. The first is Blue Rewards, a new entry-level plan that costs just $95 per year. That's the same annual fee as a mid-tier credit card. It lets you earn half a point per dollar each year on up to a $50,000 portfolio that works out to as many as 25,000 points per year paid monthly. Silo have just launched their travel portal where you can use silo points to book travel at one cent per point with over 300 airlines and hotel chains. It's a really cool interface and makes searching and booking travel an absolute breeze. In my opinion, the booking experience is better than most big banks, not naming any names. This is all in addition to up to 500,000 points on your portfolio balance each year and an up to 250,000 point welcome bonus in the first year. So a total of potentially 750,000 points in your first year. That bonus is only available until transfer partners launch, which is any day now. So if you want to check out their new blue plan and earn points on your portfolio that you can use for free travel, you can click my link in the description or go directly to silomarkets.com slash Ben to get started today. All right. Point earning the card currently earns for American Airlines advantage miles per dollar on eligible American Airlines purchases. And that is staying. If you somehow spend $150,000 on the card in a calendar year, you unlock a total of five miles per dollar on eligible American Airlines purchases for the remainder of that year. Everything else generally earns one mile per dollar, except one other thing. The card currently earns 10 miles per dollar on eligible advantage hotels and advantage cards bookings. That is increasing to 12 advantage miles per dollar. 12 miles per dollar sounds incredible. Although remember, whenever you book a hotel through a portal rather than directly with the hotel, you need to consider whether you're giving up hotel points, elite night credits or elite benefits, or if it's costing you more through the portal. So make sure you do your homework. Don't automatically assume 12x is better than booking directly. Now, another area where things get particularly interesting is American Airlines elite status. The executive card already helps you earn loyalty points. And under the current system, you can earn a 10,000 loyalty point bonus when you reach 50,000 loyalty points and another 10,000 point bonus when you reach 90,000 loyalty points. That's up to 20,000 bonus loyalty points. The refresh card doubles that maximum. You'll now receive 10,000 bonus loyalty points at four different milestones. 50,000, 90,000, 165,000 and 240,000. So you can earn up to 40,000 loyalty points per qualification year. For casual American Airlines flyers, this probably means almost nothing. Like to me, literally, I don't understand what they're talking about. But for somebody who's chasing platinum pro or executive platinum status, another 20,000 loyalty points could be genuinely significant. This is becoming an increasingly specialized card for people who are all in on American Airlines. And we see that with the next group of benefits. Card members will receive automatic Omni hotels and resorts champion status, which is Omni's second highest published elite tier. That can provide things such as early check-in, late check-out, room upgrades where available. And here's the really interesting part. Once per calendar year, as long as you enroll in champion status, card members can earn an free night reward after completing an Omni stay of at least two consecutive nights, booked directly through Omni. If you're going to stay at an Omni property anyway, getting a free night after a qualifying stay could deliver some real value. Omni has properties all over the US in major cities. The only place they don't seem to serve is the northwest. But looking at their prices, this is not an out of this world luxury hotel chain that, you know, only the 1% stay at. OK, the Omni hotel I found in New York City on their site was just over $300 per night, and one I found in L.A. was $266 per night. So if you're getting a free night after two consecutive nights, it could be valued at about $250 to $300. You're also getting complimentary Avis President's Club status with enrollment currently available through August 31st, 2028. Benefits include things like eligible car upgrades, the ability to skip the rental counter at major airports, and complimentary additional drivers. And importantly, Citi says the existing up to $120 annual statement credits on eligible prepaid Avis and budget rentals is also continuing. So you've got both the rental car credit and Avis status. Now, there is one existing benefit that's eventually going away. The card currently offers up to $120 per year in Grubhub credits, basically $10 monthly. New card members opening accounts on or after August 23rd will not get that benefit. Existing card members, however, will get to keep the Grubhub benefit through August 31st, 2027. So the overall strategy seems pretty clear. Citi is taking away one of the random food delivery credits and replacing it with benefits much more focused on actual travelers. And personally, I think that's a good thing. So many cards like the Amex Gold, for example, provide a similar credit that can be used for Grubhub. But none of these benefits is actually the main reason you have this credit card. The main reason is still Admirals Club membership. The Citi Advantage executive card, whatever it's called, remains the only credit card that includes full Admirals Club membership. The primary cardholder gets unlimited eligible visits to more than 100 Admirals Club and partner lounges worldwide, and can bring either immediate family members or up to two guests. And this is where things get crazy. On August 23rd, American Airlines is also changing its Admirals Club membership pricing, like if you just buy the membership directly. A regular membership with the broader guest and partner lounge privileges will cost as much as $1,400 per year for general Advantage members. Compare that with $850 currently. American is also introducing a lower priced $750 single membership for people who don't need those broader guest privileges or partner lounge access. But think about that. The credit card costs $695. The premium style standalone Admirals Club membership will now cost up to $1,400. So if you are genuinely going to buy that type of Admirals Club membership anyway, it almost makes no sense to buy the lounge membership instead of getting the credit card. Now, there is also an interesting timing issue if you're thinking of applying. As of today, the card is still advertising a 70,000 Advantage mile welcome bonus after spending $7,000 in the first three months. And the currently published annual fee is still $595. The $695 annual fee for new card members will begin on August 23rd. But come on, it's highly likely there will be an elevated bonus for the launch of the new benefits, probably 100,000 points, which more than outweighs the increase in the annual fee. In fact, if you valued the points at one cent per point, which is a low valuation, you're getting $300 extra in value for a $100 increase in the annual fee. So final verdict. If you are a serious American Airlines flyer, if you value Admirals Club access, if you're chasing American Airlines status, or if you would naturally use all of or even part of that $500 American Airlines vacations credit, then the extra $100 annual fee really isn't a big deal. The main story here is that American Airlines and Citi are turning this into a much more complete premium ecosystem card for the most loyal customers. And ironically, at the same time, American Airlines is making Admirals Club membership incredibly expensive. So the $695 credit card will become the cheapest logical way to get it. And don't forget, if you want to check out their new blue plan and earn points on your portfolio that you can use for free travel, use my link silomarkets.com slash Ben to claim your last chance to get up to 250,000 bonus points. Please subscribe if you are new and want to stay up to date with all the latest credit card news points and miles and luxury travel. We'll see you next time. Bye bye.