Originally Posted by
Sant
Have you looked into the Citi AAdvantage cards? Although you won't get upgrades, you will get the following:
- Your first checked bag is free for you and up to 4 traveling companions on domestic itineraries
- Group 1 Boarding on domestic flights
Yeah. If you're going to spend ≈$500, the $450/year Citi Executive card might be worth more than Gold status. You get early boarding, priority check-in and security, 1 free checked bag, and 2 miles/dollar spent on American (the same bonus as Gold status gives once revenue-based earning kicks in, except it applies to the full purchase price including taxes; the counter argument is that another credit card, eg AmEx Gold, will give you a comparable or larger amount of arguably-more-valuable miles/points on the same spend) with either the credit card or status.
Status gives you wait list priority and a jump in the phone queue, which are occasionally useful in the event of IRROPS, as well as the occasional upgrade; the credit card does not give you these.
The credit card gives you lounge access, which status doesn't. And also a $100 Global Entry credit, which gets you precheck (far bigger deal than airline priority security), although that's only worth $20/yr, since Global Entry is good for five years.
For me,
if I were going to spend ≈$500 to improve the experience on American despite not flying 25k miles on AA in a year, I think the credit card (lounge access) would win. In reality, I wouldn't spend $500, but the OP may well be in a different financial situation than I.