Not exactly sure on AA [which credit card?] (coming from Delta)
 

Hello,

I am having a little confusion in the credit card for American Airlines. Might sound stupid but this is my first time looking for airline card and American Airlines seem a little confusing with all this cards I see on their website and online.

I am coming from Delta. Currently I have (platinum status on trial) at delta. Though after this change this year to the program and just few days ago news about new class they have become too greedy.

Here's my situation. I am 19 years old I am not frequent flyer currently but I do plan on traveling over to Europe few times a year and quite a few flights domestically in a year. Here's my few question's:

1. Which card do I start from or apply on as a newbie or "if" there's a chance on getting something a little higher that would be great. Year fee's I don't really care.

2. Which AA card do you have and would you recommend it to me?

Sorry again but it has been confusing on the choice of card's. Though on Delta website it was more simple to understand and compare in between the cards.

Thank you so much for your help and have a great day/night!

Welcome to FlyerTalk, RichardB4.

First of all, the only AA credit cards you can apply for are from Citi. (There are AA credit cards from Barclay that were conversions from US Airways cards, as a result of the merger, but Barclay is not allowed to issue new AA cards.)

And all the ones for "mere mortals" are covered in this thread in the Citi forum:
I would recommend you try for the Citi AA Platinum card through one of the 50k links in the Wiki of the above thread. It gives you benefits like early boarding, free domestic checked bag, discount on onboard purchases in coach, etc, that will be useful especially before you have status (some of those benefits are duplicated by having status).

It waives the annual fee the first year, and by the time the second year comes around, you'll have learned on FlyerTalk how to likely avoid that second year $95 annual fee too.

(The Citi AA Gold card earns miles, but does not have most of the perks of the Platinum card.)


For comleteness, there is a Citi AA card called Executive with a very high annual fee that gives you AA lounge membership but not much in in-air perks. It has a separate thread:
But I would not recommend this as the first AA card you get, or even necessarily the second one you get, unless perhaps you expect to be using AA lounges a lot.


So basically there are only 3 Citi AA personal cards you can apply for (Platinum, Gold, and Executive) plus one business card (Platinum). But the best offers are not found on the Citi site, but rather in the above-linked threads.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

It's a bit empty around here on weekends (only 196 reading this forum this minute), but you've already got some great information from one of our more knowledgeable members. There's a lot more, and plenty of insiders' info, tips and tricks to glean as you begin flying on American.

With the AA / US merger, you'll see more and more of it in the American Ailines | AAdvantage (Combined Airline and Program) forum.

Our Frequent Flyer Programs (including earning miles, awards and status), meals and several other pieces have combined, and on 17 Oct 2015, much of the rest will also (Computer Reservation System, Passenger Service System). On that day the longtime US Airways brand is gone.

Sorry, but I'm confused by your post and I wonder if you might be making decisions based on misunderstandings about DL and the DL program. It would be unusual for someone who isn't a frequent flyer to get trial PM status from DL, so you might want to think about keeping and using that rather than changing to a different airline on which you don't have status and currently aren't eligible for any perks such a lounge access on all (except Caribbean) international itineraries, including coach and award tickets.

What is the "this change this year" to the DL program that is driving your move to AA?

And what is the "just few days ago news about new class"?

I consider myself to be very knowledgable about the DL program and I'm not aware of such major changes. DL is constantly tweaking their program, but AFAIK there haven't been major changes this year, nor has DL introduced some new class.

Platinum status "trial" http://loyaltylobby.com/2015/06/16/d...ta-one-flight/


2. Adding a new class and being completely open about it:
http://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/d...ing-more-money