Barclays has just introduced the new AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard, which is the business version of the AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard. The new business card has a welcome bonus of 40,000 AAdvantage miles after the first purchase, and a $95 annual fee. Meanwhile the personal version of the card, which has been around for a long time, has a welcome bonus of 60,000 AAdvantage miles after the first purchase, and also has a $95 annual fee.
The new AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard comes with the following benefits:
- A $99 companion certificate on your account anniversary, when you spend $30,000 or more on eligible purchases during the year
- 2x miles on eligible American Airlines purchases, as well as office supply, telecom, and car rental purchases
- Annual 5% AAdvantage mileage bonus, earned on your account anniversary date every year and based on the total number of miles earned
- First checked bag free for you and up to four companions when traveling on domestic itineraries operated by American
- Preferred boarding for you and up to four companions when traveling on American
- 3,000 elite qualifying dollars when you spend $25,000 on purchases each calendar year
- 25% savings on inflight purchases of food & beverages
- No foreign transaction fees
It’s great to see a business product from Barclays that earns American AAdvantage miles. Keep in mind that American is also offering increased welcome bonuses of up to 60,000 on two of the Citi AAdvantage cards, as follows:
- The Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® is offering 50,000 AAdvantage miles after making $2,500 of purchases within the first three months; the $95 annual fee is waived for the first 12 months
- The CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® is offering 65,000 AAdvantage miles after making $4,000 of purchases within the first four months; the $99 annual fee is waived for the first 12 months
Bottom line
I’m happy to see yet another product from Barclays. A 40,000 mile welcome bonus after the first purchase is pretty good, though it might make sense to hold off in hopes of them eventually offering a bigger welcome bonus, similar to what they have on the personal card at the moment.
What do you think of the new Barclays AAdvantage Business Card, and do you plan on applying now or waiting?
(Tip of the hat to Doctor Of Credit)
Keep in mind Barclaycard reports business credit cards to the credit bureaus so this will count toward 5/24.
Barclaycard is also much stricter than other issuers in defining a “business”. In most cases they will ask to see an operating agreement or filing with the state.
I applied for the personal version but was denied due to too many accounts opened in the last six months. I’ve had the Silver since USAir cards were changed to Red and I upgraded, had then for over 2 years. I do have a legitimate business so no issue there but I wonder about the above denial taking place again. Have others been successful applying in similar circumstances?
If I recently got the personal cards bonus, can I get this business card sign up bonus as well?
I have it, I love this card, used it overseas no extra charge. 5,000 miles bonus if you spend $1,000 october, november and december.
Does anyone know if the bonus EQD can be earned in addition to the 6000 EQD that can be earned on the civilian version of the card?
The newsletter subscribe pop up on your website is annoying and I can’t dismiss it. Please fix this.
They didn’t really just introduce it, it’s been around as long as there have been Aviator cards, just not available for new signups. People with old US Airways business cards were converted to it.
Thanks DC-PHLyer. That makes a big difference for me.