American Airlines and Citi have just announced an expansion of their partnership, and it’s coming at Barclays’ expense.
Continue reading: Major: Citi & American Airlines Exclusive Credit Card Deal
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Very interesting. I was on an AA flight two days ago and they made two separate pushes for the Barclays AA Aviator Card. One last for about 5 minutes and specifically mentioned the double-dipping with the Citi AAdvantage cards re: sign up bonus.
This does feel like the correct/ideal outcome for essentially all parties and does make ThankYou points really competitive with Chase and Amex if you live in a market that AA and/or OneWorld heavily serves (since you will get the same 1:1 transfer to a familiar/reliable partner that you already do with Delta, United, and Southwest- simple and no worrying about award availability like with overseas airlines).
Hopefully, those of us with Barclay Aviator cards will get options across the Citi portfolio during the transition and not be forced into the AA co-brand card.
Could it still be beneficial to sign up for the Barclays Aviator Red card for the bonus now, and then see what they change that product to? I already have the Citi AA Platinum card too, so I was interested in the Barclays for the additional 60k bonus
I am curious what level of differentiation you think is missing currently? There are more flavors of AA cards than DL cards at this point from free to club access (which they have managed to rarely have lines unlike DL) with many levels in between, across two banks.
I feel like some of the differentiated products just don't get a lot of love as the signup incentives have never been great (and presumably the referral fees).
If we currently have the Barkley card would this be a good time to sign up for the Citi card for the bonus? And then when they merge the two together next year we can get rid of one of our cards?
Or better yet if I qualify for the Citi card before Christmas then I can maybe shut down my Barkley card which I can't stand. The customer service is horrible. Would that make sense?
Well this does suck, IMO. Once every 4 years for the personal card (vs. Barclay's every 2 years) and same for the business card. UNLESS Citi is willing to drop down to 24 months, but I doubt it. Over the course of 4 years this results in a loss of around (assuming 60k Barclays offers) of 240,000 AA miles. Oh well. What can you do? Transferring Citi TY points to AA isn't exactly stellar, IMO, although better than Chase UR to United, or Amex MR to Delta (both about 0.01/point, IMO for First Class redemptions vs. AA around 0.012-0.014/point). But YMMV.
Given that AAvantage points have become seriously devalued. There seems little point in running out for new offerings of Citi premium cards, Thank You or No Thank You points transferring. Consolidation is NEVER good for consumers. Think about how useful AA or US Airways points and status were pre-merger.
Dedicated airline cards have become a dead-end.
Will have to see how Barclay cards are handled. I have the Citi Executive and the Barclays Silver card. I like the Barclays better than the Citi.
As a longtime Prestige cardholder, wondering if we'll see the return of Admirals Club access a la Amex Platinum / Delta Sky Club.
Seems unlikely though with the Prestige being closed to new applicants for several years now.
How is less choice and less competition a good thing? And less bonuses? Please explain.