It’s Official: The American Aadvantage Miles Credit Card “Double Play” IS Going Away
Frank McBride • December 6, 2024
But as one door closes, another might be opening up for American flyers
An interesting opportunity for those who fly American Airlines is that they can apply for credit cards from two banks that earn American miles and offer significant welcome bonuses. First, there are several cards offered by Citibank that range from a no annual fee card to a deluxe card that includes access to American Airlines’ Admirals Clubs. These are the most familiar and account for the largest share of American Airlines’ co-branded card business. However, there are also cards offered by Barclays Bank with some having similar features to the Citibank products.
In a September post, I warned that after a decade of this co-existence between Citi and Barclays, Citi and American Airlines were having talks about forging an exclusive
co-branding relationship. Based on a recent announcement, it is indeed the case that, starting in 2026, Citi will be the only issuer of co-branded American Airlines credit cards.
The two-card arrangement has been great for people who want American miles, and I sometimes recommended the two cards for Travel Rewards Optimizer clients who need a “crash program” for getting some quick miles. The Barclays card is unique in that a new cardholder only needs to make one purchase (in any amount) and pay the $99 annual fee to get a 60,000-mile sign-up bonus (SUB). Most credit card sign-up bonuses usually require spending several thousand dollars at a minimum.
While this unique loophole in the points and miles game will be missed, it is still available (at least for now). Anyone who is potentially interested in the Barclays card should apply for it soon. Going forward, I do not know if these Barclay American Airlines cards will be closed or converted to Citi products.
Although the American Airlines credit card “double play” is going away, the exclusive relationship between Citi and American Airlines might offer a new opportunity for those wishing to accumulate American miles and fly this airline. A joint press release from the organizations stated that “the agreement creates an innovative alignment between the Citi ThankYou and AAdvantage card programs.” The Citi ThankYou card program has cards that generate proprietary ThankYou points that can be used as cash, turned into gift cards, or transferred to airline partners. A key weakness of this program is that, while is has many airline partners, it does not currently partner with a major domestic airline (American Express partners with Delta; Chase with United and Southwest). This “innovative alignment” mentioned in the joint press release suggests that Citi’s ThankYou program might add American Airlines as a transfer partner. Simply adding a major airline as a transfer partner alone goes a long way in making the ThankYou program cards more attractive. But, even better, some of the ThankYou cards, such as the Citi Strata Premier, allow you to accumulate ThankYou points at an accelerated rate.
More details will emerge and we will keep you posted.
This development with Citi and American Airlines is another example of how the points and miles landscape changes constantly. Opportunities appear and disappear every week. Let us create a comprehensive Travel Rewards Optimizer plan for you so that you can get the most impact from your credit card usage.
We are ready to help you turn your routine credit card spending into the travel of your dreams.
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