Currently American Airlines has two issuers of credit cards: Barclays & Citi. Barclays. This stems back from when Barclays issued the US Airways credit cards and American Airlines acquired US Airways in 2013, the deals were then renewed in 2016. Barclays is allowed to advertise inflight/in airports and Citi has the rest of the acquisition channels.
CNBC is now reporting that American Airlines & Citi are in talks for Citi to become the sole issuer of the American Airline cards in a new long term deal. When the US Airways merger was under way American Airlines did offer Citi the ability to become the sole issuer, this would have also allowed Citi ThankYou points to transfer to American Airlines as well but Citi was unhappy with the asking price. It seems if the deal is completed that Citi would also purchase the back book from Barclays.
View Comments (63)
If I can’t sign up for a new citi business AA card and receive a bonus but once every 48 months, it doesn’t make sense to close that account until near month 48, correct?
Why pay the annual fee if you can get other AA bonuses on other cards?
Free checked bags is an actual incentive for people who actually travel.
Was approved for a Red Aviator card. When I submitted the application it went into review, because my credit report was frozen. Called recon line, answered more questions than usual, and was finally approved.
The fact that Barclays will not offer more AA cards is bad because I cannot alternate banks to get bonuses.
Never had a problem with Barclays.
This would be terrible. Barclay offers are consistently better and are way easier to churn.
If I can be 'glass is half full,' could Barclays (via its Hawaiian airlines folio) get a crack at being a second issuer of Alaska Airlines cards? Swapping two AA issuers for two Alaska Airlines issuers would be a net neutral--or even net gain for some--if Citi is able to pull this move off.
Barclays already lost the Hawaiian deal to USBank. The deal was put on hold when the Alaska purchase was announced.
Would be great if Barclays issues Alaska cards since b of a refuses to give me a card
This would be great if the Citi ThankYou point became transferrable to AA.
Just tried to apply for the AA Barclays card. Nothing happens after I fill in all the info and submit. Tried it on 2 different browsers.
I tried on my laptop at first and experienced the same issues. I then tried on my iPhone and it worked.
I tried a few times and it went nowhere like you experienced. I forgot to unfreeze my CRs though so once I did that I tried again and it went through, but I wasn't auto-approved.
P2 just was approved ?
so what I'm hearing is to get the AA Barclays card sooner rather than later
Barclays is unfazed by this news.
They’ll make it up, by adding a Hawaiian Plus card…
This isn't the only rewards program that Barclays has lost relatively recently. Within the last couple years, Barclays lost the Choice Privileges hotel program to Wells Fargo.
But they also have Jet Blue, Frontier, Miles & More (Lufthansa/etc) and Emirates cards, as well as Hawaiian Airlines, so they're WAY better positioned in airlines, even if they lose AA, than they are with hotels, where they now have nothing other than Wyndham Rewards.
barclay sucks. i think worse than capital one
Never had a problem with Barclays.
Wholly disagree. Nothing sucks more than USB. But for what its worth, Barclays is ok. I would prefer them over citi any day. Atleast they dont have stupid anti-churning rules
I AGREE that NOTHING (in the financial industry) sucks MORE than USB! What a joke of an organization! They make Citi look like a "high performance" "lean and mean" firm! ha ha ha!
I find Citi to be unreliable when traveling to Europe and I always expect a fraud trigger. I will not rely on a Citi card when I travel. I also find Citi security practices to be way overboard and I often wonder if their IT house is in order.
Same thing happened to me in South East Asia total nightmare having to call them everyday to fix it
I have had the SAME or SIMILAR experiences when attempting to use my Citi cards in Europe. DESPITE the fact that I put on TRAVEL notices, their "automated fraud" system seems to immediately lock my card when I make that first purchase in Europe and then it's a HUGE HASSLE dealing with the half-brain dead call center folks in Manilla who eventually ask me to CALL back during normal US business hours so I can be transferred to the US-based Citi fraud department. What a joke and a ROYAL pain in the ass! Citi completely suks!!!
I wish Barclays would go back to issuing its own branded cards. How long has it been since they stopped accepting Arrival, Ring, and Cash Forward applications? Barclays said they would relaunch these products, but it hasn't yet materialized.
those cards have all been outclassed by newer products like Venture X surprised Barclays does so many partnerships since they aren't that profitable. Splitting your 2% interchange with your partner, giving discounts on your partner's stores, while paying out rewards worth 2-3% can't be that good a business in general.
Refreshed cards, of course. I didn't mean the same reward structures. And good point, it isn't sustainable.
I found one! I found the one guy who has ever been approved for a Cap 1 card! I *knew* these unicorns just *had* to exist.
I have a GF Savor card without the AF so your search continues lol