Update 2/27/19: I’ve added some additional information courtesy of VFTW. Also seems likely that Citi will be losing this 10% rebate benefit as well.
Barclays has announced changes to the American Airlines Aviator credit cards they offer and issue. These changes will go into effect in May 2019. Seems like the rumors were correct.
Contents
Flight Cents Introduced For All Cardholders
Flight cents is a program that was introduced in September of 2017 in a pilot program. This lets you round up a purchase to the nearest dollar and purchase miles for 2¢ per point. For example if you made a purchase of $1.02 then it would be rounded up to $2 (you’d pay $2) and you’d earn a total of 51 miles (2 base miles and 49 bonus miles).
You can purchase a maximum of $500 in miles per month and you can also set that limit to a lower amount if you want or turn it off completely if you’re not interested in it. Personally I don’t think buying miles at 2¢ per mile is good value, especially when they can be purchased for less during mile sales. During the pilot program some users were able to purchase miles for 1¢ per mile so this is actually a devaluation in that regard.
Aviator Red
The annual fee on this card will increase to $99 (up from $95). This card will have the following benefits added:
- Anniversary companion certificate. Get a companion certificate for 1 guest for $99 (plus taxes and fees) after account anniversary & $20,000 in spend within the previous card member year.
- WiFi Credit. Up To $25 statement credit on American Airlines in flight WiFi purchases each card member year
The following benefits are being removed:
- 10% rebate on miles redeemed up to 10,000 miles per calendar year.
- $100 American Airlines flight discount after qualifying purchases.
Aviator Silver
The annual fee on this card is increasing from $195 to $199. The following benefits are being added:
- Anniversary companion certificate. Get a companion certificate for 2 guests for $99 (plus taxes and fees) after account anniversary & $20,000 in spend within the previous card member year. This is not a new benefit, but the spend requirement has been reduced from $30,000 to $20,000.
- WiFi Credit. Up to $50 statement credit on American Airlines in flight WiFi purchases each card member year
- Up to $25 daily statement credit for in-flight food and beverage purchases on American Airlines operated flights. (This replaces the current benefit of 25% back).
The following benefits are being removed:
- 10% rebate on miles redeemed up to 10,000 miles per calendar year.
Legacy US Airways Cardholders
If you are a legacy US Airways cardholder then you’ve continue to receive a bonus 10,000 miles each year at card renewal. Unfortunately this will also be removed. Card members will continue to receive one last 10,000 mile benefit the first time they pay a $99 annual fee. For example if your card renews on March 1st, 2019 you’d receive the 10,000 mile benefit this year and then again in 2020 as 2020 is the first year you are charged a $99 annual fee.
Our Verdict
I see changes to the Aviator Red card as being a net negative as the loss of the 10% rebate is a key reason people like to keep the card. The WiFi benefit is obviously worth a maximum of $25, for some people the companion fare will make up the rest of the difference but personally I’d prefer to have the flat miles rather than having to deal with trying to get a companion deal to work favorably.
The Silver card is interesting due to the $25 daily statement credit for food/beverage being added. I can see this being extremely valuable for people that regular fly American Airlines. The WiFi credit is slightly higher at $50. This helps to better offset the $199 annual fee vs the previous 10,000 mile rebate.
My personal opinion is that the Red card is getting worse and the Silver card is getting slightly better, what do you think of these changes?
just received my last 10k anniversary bonus, should I still close my card? or the 10k will be clawback? i guess 99$ is worth for the last 10k AA?
FWIW, I tried to upgrade to the Aviator silver after having the Red for 4 months (old rule was you could upgrade after 90 days) and got the following information from their online chat representative:
“Offers for card upgrades are available randomly for a limited period of time throughout the year. There are currently no offers to upgrade at this time for any AAdvantage Aviator accounts, not just yours. I apologize for any miscommunication that took place in February.”
“You are correct, the AAdvantage Aviator Silver World Mastercard version of the card is only available based on invitation which has not been extended for some time.”
I got the impression that they are pushing the flight cents program hard instead of allowing people to upgrade or downgrade the AA cards.
The silver has gone through a huge devaluation over the past year. Now I have to spend $50,000 to get EQD. Food and drink benefit is of no value to me and I haven’t used the companion certificate the last two years. 10% credit is gone. I’ll make one more attempt at retention but if no retention offer it’s gone. I’ll retain the business version for now.
Horrible changes, they require a lot more spending with less benefits. I personally would neve put $20k on this card to get a $99(plus tax and fees) companion ticket. We lost the %10 mileage rebate. SMH! The flight cent is also a horrible deal, which means your will be purchasing miles for 2 pennies which is more than what they are worth. At the end you will be losing money or breaking even. There are better cards out there.
Can someone educate me about the following?
“If you are a legacy US Airways cardholder then you’ve continue to receive a bonus 10,000 miles each year at card renewal. Unfortunately this will also be removed. Card members will continue to receive one last 10,000 mile benefit the first time they pay a $99 annual fee”.?
We have the the card for many years and wife paid her fee a month ago and I was just charged AF. We did receive 10k miles even before AF came up just couple of months ago. Will I get the 10k bonus miles again next year? If NOT, I have to save AF and cancel the card. confused about the language.
Thanks
This. Can someone elaborate. If I get charged an annual fee today at the old $95 and got the 10k miles, am I to understand I will get another 10k miles next year as the last one when I convert to the $99 annual fee?
How about tying benefits to AA status? I don’t need a free bag or early boarding since I already get it. The 10% rebate is the best and really only thing about the Citi/Barclays cards I like.
The application still shows the 10K refund. Wonder how they are going to deal with people signing up now and getting the benefit chopped in a couple of months.
oh, my god. Going to say bye-bye to my beloved Aviator Red card in a year now. Had wished the 10K per anniversary benefit would last forever. Sigh…
Automatically buying AA miles at 2cpp?
I don’t think I’ve heard of a worse credit card feature before. Sounds more like a scam to me.
Given the state of AA awards I agree. But I’ll give at least some credit to Barclay for trying something different. They are clearly desperate to try to get spend put on these cards. The problem is co-brand cards in general are just increasingly irrelevant for many of us for ongoing spend given how good a lot of the transferable currency cards are. If AA was a great award program it might have been worth earning at lower rates but it isn’t especially with the rumored possible loss of Etihad. Clearly their target market here are folks who really value AA points for whatever reason.
probably people who can’t / don’t do the grAAvy train
To be honest, I have been getting 30K AA miles for free every year. I have 2 legacy US cards, and each gives 10K miles per year. I havent even activated the card so the annual fee were never charged in all these years. I also max out the 10K rebate every year. that is 30K miles every year for a cost of 0… but it will be gone. :'(
you were able to avoid an AF by never activating the card? that’s interesting