Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Business MasterCard Review

We’ve talked a lot about the new personal AAdvantage Aviator cards (there are four of them) but one thing we haven’t looked at yet is the Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Business MasterCard. Unlike the personal cards, there is only one business aviator product being offered.

  • Earn an American Airlines companion certificate. When you spend $30,000 or more in a card member year, you earn an American Airlines companion certificate. You pay $99 + taxes/fees and get a companion ticket to accompany you on any round trip economy fare.
  • 5% annual mile bonus. You’ll receive an additional 5% bonus on all miles earned in the previous card member year (e.g earn 100,000 miles receive a 5,000 mile bonus) – you must pay the annual fee before you receive this bonus.
  • Free checked bag
  • Board with Group 5 on American
  • 25% statement credit for all in flight purchases
  • Reduce mileage rewards
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 2x American Airline miles on American Airline purchases
    • 2x American Airline miles on office supply merchants, telecommunications merchants, and car rental merchants
    • 1x American Airline miles on all other purchases

If this seems familiar, that’s because it is. Citi offers the exact same benefits on their  CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard. There is only one thing that is not clear, will this card keep the $79 annual fee that the old US Airways card has? Or will the annual fee be increased to match the $95 annual fee the CitiBusiness card has. Unfortunately the fine print that American Airlines has provided does not state this, if you’ve received any communication from Barclaycard then please let us know in the comments.

Personally I don’t think the benefits on this card make it worth keeping at all, it would have been nice if Barclaycard were able to put a more competitive business card together but I think the lack of business cardholders they have and the rather lackluster competing product Citi has would have made that difficult.

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21 Comments
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Roger
Roger (@guest_1640550)
June 23, 2023 16:20

If I have had the personal Barclays Aviator in the past and canceled after receiving the bonus miles, may I still earn the bonus if I apply for the Business card?

marpa
marpa (@guest_1176208)
April 14, 2021 11:02

In my experience, Barclays reports biz cards to your personal credit file.

Tim
Tim (@guest_990848)
June 2, 2020 07:44

This is the first business card that landed on my personal credit file (BOA, 4 Chase, Hilton Amex didn’t). I wish I would have known this before applying. Blew through on of my precious 5 inquiries for this card.

Vic
Vic (@guest_1157572)
March 11, 2021 11:56

Does anyone think that Tim’s experience (having a Barclay Business card land on his personal credit file) is a one-off/human error, or is this routine for Barclay business cards, or maybe just this Barclay business card?

NM, I found this comment by DC-PHLyer at onemileatatime https://onemileatatime.com/aadvantage-aviator-business-card/

“Keep in mind Barclaycard reports business credit cards to the credit bureaus so this will count toward 5/24.”

Ben
Ben (@guest_1182692)
April 26, 2021 00:10

Not my experience; I had this and the Barclays Business JetBlue card opened in 2018/19 respectively and neither reported to my personal credit.

Barclays branding is kind of confusing and it’s easy to mix up the consumer and biz cards… at the risk of offending the other commenters I wonder if they def had biz cards?

Jeff
Jeff (@guest_655400)
October 10, 2018 17:47

This Credit Card is a scam. DO NOT SIGN UP.

blank check
blank check (@guest_816729)
October 1, 2019 07:03

why?

Miles Hustler
Miles Hustler (@guest_592258)
May 9, 2018 07:57

Does the business card version report on credit bureau reports?

Brian C
Brian C (@guest_592267)
May 9, 2018 08:45

Maybe, but probably not. YMMV

Andrew D
Andrew D (@guest_816741)
October 1, 2019 08:24

No.

Jeff
Jeff (@guest_364093)
March 4, 2017 14:25

This Aviator card is a rip off and completely worthless with ridiculous interest rates that they refuse to adjust. It was tied to US AIR and now that American has acquired US US AIR, there are no miles awarded for this card. It has credit protection and they make it sound like that’s worth keeping this card and it’s high interest rates. What a JOKE! I asked for a simple interest rate reduction and was told my rate which too high to even mention was the best they would offer. I will NEVER own a Barclay card ever again!

Kurt Weber
Kurt Weber (@guest_280532)
August 2, 2016 14:10

The company that administers this card is a complete ripoff. Our account was transferred from Citi/Visa to Barclay/Mastercard. The company that handles billing has nothing to do with Barclay. I think they operate out of someone’s basement.
In the 8 months since the involuntary switch, we have been assessed late fees in six of those eight moths. We NEVER pay anything late. We NEVER carry a balance. Customer (dis)service says that they need 8 to 10 business days to process a payment. That’s their excuse for not posting our payments in a timely fashion. That is one to two weeks (excluding holidays). They are unable to take electronic transfer payments from our bank (PNC). Our bank, or any bank for that matter, has to send them a paper check through the US mail. There is no way to track receipt and it’s perfectly legal for them to leave the checks laying around for a week or two before depositing them and posting the accounts as paid.
I’m not inclined to send payment 3 weeks early to avoid paying for their inefficiency. We’ve been dismissed by their customer service people too many times. I’m canceling this card.

Mary Jackson
Mary Jackson (@guest_219217)
January 21, 2016 13:55

Terrible customer service. Do not ever overpay your account by mistake. Waiting 5 weeks so far on a refund check. They have no problem withdrawing you payment on time!

Marc
Marc (@guest_132135)
June 10, 2015 12:20

Got this USAir bus. card a year ago for 25k miles and $89 year 1 AFee.
It’s now a AA Aviator bus. card, and the Y2 AF again is $89.
Will likely cancel the card, but first may see if a no AF card is available.

Chucks
Chucks (@guest_99477)
April 5, 2015 16:23

Looks pretty, but that’s about it.