Applied For The US Airways Card Recently? Ask For A Match To The 50k + 10k Offer

In case you didn’t already know, Barclay has upped the sign up bonus to 50,000 miles after your first purchase on the US Airways card which will soon be converted to American Airlines aviator cards and AA miles. I signed up for this card because these cards are churnable and Barclay pulls TransUnion which is the least used credit bureau in my experience.

In my original post on this offer, I also let you know that there was an offer for 50k miles + 10k anniversary miles (first year only, although I believe this is just a marketing mistake and people will get it annually) that was available to preferred members. Because this wasn’t my first time applying for this card and I didn’t have preferred status, I didn’t go for this better offer as I was worried I’d need to call the Barclay reconsideration line and plead my case [Read: tips for your first reconsideration phone call] and I didn’t want the fact that I wasn’t preferred to cause me to be denied. My thinking was correct, I wasn’t automatically approved but I was approved after reconsideration.

I’d basically put the better offer out of my mind because in the past Barclay has not been one to match higher credit card bonuses after you’ve been approved. Then Chasing The Points posted about his success getting matched to the 50k + 10k offer from a previous 40k offer. I decided it was worth a call, the first three agents said it was not possible to be matched to the other offer but the fourth agent was able to get me matched to the higher offer.

If you’re getting matched from a previous offer that had the annual fee of $89 waived or if you haven’t paid for the $89 annual fee yet, you’ll need to pay for it first before they can add the additional miles to your account.

Big thanks goes to Chasing The Points. If you applied for the inferior offer, it’s definitely worth a phone call to get matched. If you don’t have success at first, hang up and call again until you do have success. You might also have success by asking to speak to a supervisor (politely, please).