AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard review: Full details

AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard overview

If you currently hold one of Barclays’ American Airlines cobranded cards, you may have heard about the AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Silver Mastercard®. Only available through a product change, the Aviator Silver card offers some solid benefits for its annual fee but may be hard to justify for those who don’t fly with American Airlines at least a few times a year. Card rating*: ⭐⭐⭐

*Card rating is based on the opinion of TPG’s editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.

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American Airlines has cobranded cards with two issuers, Barclays and Citi. One of those cards, the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Silver Mastercard, isn’t open to new applicants. Those interested in the card can still request an upgrade from a lower-tier Barclays AAdvantage card.

If you’re interested in upgrading to this card, it’s important to fully understand the perks and drawbacks. The Aviator Silver has a $199 annual fee that is definitely nothing to take lightly. If you don’t fly with American Airlines at least a few times per year, this card may not be the right fit for you.

I’ll walk you through the highlights of the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver to help you decide if it’s the best choice for your wallet.

The information for 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.

AAdvantage Aviator Silver pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Statement credit for Global Entry every five years First checked bag free for you and companions on the same itinerary Annual statement credits for inflight Wi-Fi Statement credits for inflight food and beverage purchases	High annual fee Not open to new applicants Heavy spending is needed to acquire companion certificates

AAdvantage Aviator Silver welcome offer

Unfortunately, this card doesn’t have a welcome offer since it isn’t open to new applicants.

A welcome offer is a big motivating factor in acquiring a new card, especially one with a higher annual fee like the Aviator Silver’s. Before upgrading, make sure this card’s other benefits justify not receiving a welcome offer.

AAdvantage Aviator Silver benefits

The Aviator Silver has good benefits to help justify its $199 annual price tag. To begin with, you and up to eight companions on the same itinerary will receive your first eligible checked bag for free. Whether traveling solo or as part of a larger group, free checked bags can go a long way toward justifying an annual fee.

You’ll also receive an up to $120 credit for Global Entry every five years. This is a fairly standard perk of most travel cards, but it’s still worth noting.

That said, if another card has already covered your Global Entry fee, you can use this credit to cover a friend or family member’s fee instead.

Other benefits include up to $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for inflight Wi-Fi charges, up to $25 back each day as statement credits for inflight food and drink purchases, preferred boarding for you and up to eight companions on the same reservation and no foreign transaction fees.

This card does offer companion certificates, but you’ll need to spend $20,000 in an account anniversary year to earn them. While receiving two $99 companion certificates for this is nice, that’s a lot of spend that could go toward earning welcome bonuses on other cards.

From my perspective, still requiring a payment of $99 per certificate (plus taxes and fees) for that much spending makes the perk hardly worth striving for.

Earning miles on the AAdvantage Aviator Silver

The Aviator Silver has a similar reward structure to many other cobranded airline cards. As a cardholder, you’ll earn 3 miles per dollar spent on American Airlines purchases, 2 miles per dollar spent on eligible hotel and car rental purchases and 1 mile per dollar spent on everything else.

While the Aviator Silver doesn’t cover some common bonus categories like gas and dining, I don’t view this as too much of a detriment. I always recommend putting nonairline spending on a card that earns transferable points or miles, so 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 more AAdvantage miles.

This feature won’t make a big difference for low spenders, but it will net a lot of extra miles if you’re striving to hit the spending requirement for those companion certificates.

Redeeming miles on the AAdvantage Aviator Silver

You can redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles for several things, including car rentals, hotels, seat upgrades, tickets, experiences and Admirals Club passes or memberships.

I recommend redeeming your miles for flights since that will net you the most value. You can redeem your miles for American Airlines flights or flights on the carrier’s alliance and nonalliance partners, such as British Airways and Aer Lingus.

American Airlines award tickets start as low as 7,500 miles for one-way domestic flights. Andrea Rotondo, TPG’s director of content operations, used her miles recently to book a premium economy ticket from Charlotte to Frankfurt, Germany, for just 53,500 miles (plus $5.60 in taxes and fees).

Related: Best uses of American Airlines AAdvantage miles

What cards 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 free first checked bags for you and up to four companions, a discount on eligible inflight purchases and no foreign transaction fees. To learn more, check out our full review of the Aviator Red Mastercard.
• If you want premium American Airlines benefits: The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees) has a whopping $595 annual fee but comes with benefits like an 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 our full review of the Citi / AAdvantage Executive Mastercard.
• If you don’t want to pay an annual fee: The Citi® AAdvantage® MileUp Card has no annual fee. It may lack the perks of American Airlines’ more expensive cobranded cards, but it still offers solid benefits like a discount on inflight food and beverage purchases. To learn more, check out our full review of the Citi / AAdvantage MileUp card.

For additional options, check out our picks for the best airline cards.

Related: Citi’s current AAdvantage credit card offers: Everything you need to know

The information for 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 it?

I recommend the Aviator Silver for anyone who flies with American Airlines at least a few times each year. However, if you don’t fall into that category, you’ll likely find it difficult to take advantage of this card’s benefits enough to justify paying its $199 annual fee.

Bottom line

If you already hold one of Barclays’ AAdvantage cards, upgrading to the Aviator Silver may be the right choice for you. Before committing to an upgrade, carefully consider the pros and cons. The Aviator Silver does have a steep annual fee, but in the right hands, it can be a great way to save a lot of money on American flights.

Related: Best credit cards for American Airlines flyers