Citi and AAdvantage keep the card in the family

Best Loyalty Credit Card — Americas · Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select Card

Credit cards have become so central to airline loyalty that sometimes the airplane seems almost optional.

The Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select Card wins Best Loyalty Credit Card in the Americas for 2026.

Again.

The Citi-American relationship is one of the great partnerships in loyalty history.

Airline co-brand cards helped fundamentally alter frequent flyer economics. Miles stopped being something earned only by flying and became something generated by everyday life.

Groceries.

Gas.

Restaurants.

Bills.

Things that don’t have wings.

Today, American’s Loyalty Points structure makes the relationship between spending and airline status even tighter.

The credit card isn’t bolted onto AAdvantage.

It’s part of the machinery.

Freddie voters apparently like the machine.

TRIVIA: There was a time when earning airline miles without getting on an airplane seemed innovative.

Today getting on the airplane may be the unusual part.