When Barclaycard transition from the U.S Airways to American Airlines credit cards, they released four personal cards with different benefits (and one business card). It’s been possible to call in and request this change for awhile, but it’s now possible to do it online as well. Let’s have a look at the differences between the four Barclaycard American Airlines cards, then how to request an upgrade online followed by two reasons why you don’t want to upgrade.
| Barclaycard Aviator | Barclaycard Blue | Barclaycard Red | Barclaycard Silver | |
| Earn rate on AA | 1x | 2x | 2x | 3x |
| Earn rate on hotels & car rentals | 0.5x | 1x | 1x | 2x |
| Earn rate on all other purchases | 0.5x | 1x | 1x | 1x |
| Annual fee | $0 | $49 | $89 | $195 |
| 10% of redeemed miles back | No | No | Yes (10,000 mile limit) | Yes (10,000 mile limit) |
| Free checked bag | No | No | Yes, for you and up to 4 companions | Yes, for you and up to 8 companions |
| Priority boarding | No | No | Yes, group one | Yes |
| $100 flight discount | No | No | Yes, must spend $30,000+ in a calendar year | No |
| 25% in flight savings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Additional Redemption Flexibility | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Elite qualifying miles | No | No | No | 5,000 for $20,000 in spend (10,000 for $40,000+ in spend) |
| Companion Certificate | No | No | No | Yes |
| Global Entry | No | No | No | Yes, $100 statement credit |
| Anniversary bonus continue to be received | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Foreign transaction fees | Yes | No | No | No |
Requesting An Upgrade Online
Follow these steps to request an upgrade online
- Log into your Barclaycard account
- On the right hand side under ‘Barclaycard Extras’ you should see something that says ‘Upgrade your account benefits’ if you’re eligible for an upgrade.
- You will then be given details about the American Airlines silver card, if you still want to upgrade click ‘Tell me more’
- After clicking this button you’ll be given information about what dates the changes will occur to your account
Also keep in mind that the 10% rebate benefit doesn’t stack if you have the Citi Platinum Select card.
Why You Don’t Want To Upgrade
- If your account has the anniversary bonus of 10,000 miles, you’ll lose this benefit
- The silver card has an increased annual fee of $195, instead of $89
Final Thoughts
People have been reporting a lot of issues with upgrading by phone (e.g changes not being made when the phone reps said they would be made) I expect the online process should be smoother and it should also be much easier to make a complaint if certain milestones are not hit (e.g earning rates not changing by the date specified).
Hat tip to IWOL on myFICO forums
FYI
William Charles, Barclays is misspelled in the title.
Fixed, thanks
Where?
Does Barclay do a HP for the upgrade?
I upgraded in hopes of better things “benefit wise” that will come with it later being that it said you had a certain period of time to accept. My upgrade became a World Elite that I’m certain most other Silver’s are so it will help out w/ signing up for car rental elite programs.
The cc is already doing bonuses such as the spend $500X3mos=15K miles (I now need to call and see if I can become eligible for this – doubt it). Hopefully more will follow. And hopefully, upcoming trips such as THE MUCH BETTER 1/2’s surprise Hawaiian wedding anniv, 9/15 and booked b4 the upgrade, will have the 3X miles kick-in/retroactively kick-in and better EQM and higher mileage.
Truthfully, I wasn’t going to upgrade at 1st (especially since they didn’t give me a decent credit line (?!) from the start. Just don’t know why not. And maybe Hyatt may have 1 of its ancient MasterCard promos (lol). And if it doesn’t work out like most things then hopefully it can be downgraded later/just cancelled. If it works out then it will replace my CitiBus.
What’s the reason to upgrade, am I missing a pitch?
EQMs and higher earn rate for most people
You need lots of AA spending to justify AF, and for the double category that’s available on lots of other cards x3 .
EQMs ok
I’m not upgrading personally, just saying why some might. I agree with you
Any idea whether you can downgrade back to an Aviator Red sometime after upgrading to a Silver?
Does the $195 annual fee post to your account automatically after upgrading or on your anniversary date?
It’ll show when the $195 annual fee is due when you click tell me more, I think it depends on a few different factors.
So in theory you could upgrade, MS $40k and downgrade before the AF hits?
Dunno if they’d allow the downgrade when it’s still in the process of being downgraded – I doubt it.
How come we don’t get any more pototoees posts?
Hey Will! I did a post on this today too – added screenshots in case you’d like to see.
The upgrade is literally 2 clicks. Really easy.
Agree with you about when you should NOT upgrade.
Hope you’re well!