Yesterday we reported on the four new Barclaycard American Airlines Aviator cards. We still had a few unanswered questions about these cards, so we reached out to the media team to get them answered (we also asked for your questions on Twitter, make sure you follow us so you can get yours answered in the future as well).
[Read:Â All Of The American Airlines Credit Cards Compared]
Annual Fees
Question:Â What will the annual fee be on each card?
Answer:
- Aviator Silver: $195
- Aviator Red: $89
- Aviator Blue: $49
- Aviator: No Annual Fee
Versions
Question: In the past it was suggested that all cardholders would get the red card at minimum and some would be invited to Silver. What about the other two products? Is red now invitational only as well? Have all the invites for Silver been sent out or are people still receiving these invitations?
Answer:
Not all cardmembers will get the Aviator Red MasterCard. Existing US Airways Dividend Miles cardmembers will transition into one of the four Aviator products. Cardmembers have been notified as to what card they are going to receive. Some cardmembers will receive the Blue and some the Aviator, no fee, product. This is based on what product and fee they currently have with their US Airways card. That said, customers do have the ability to call us after they receive their new card if they want a different product – including Silver. As for invitations for Silver, invitations are not being sent out at this time. However, customers can call us (after they receive their new card) to inquiry about upgrading to Silver if they did not receive an invitation.
Anniversary Bonus
Question:Â How will the anniversary bonus work on each of the four cards? In the past I was told that current cardholders that have this benefit would receive it on the red card, but not on the silver. Is this still the case? What about the blue and aviator cards?
Answer (emphasis mine):
Cardmembers are encouraged to review their cardmember agreement which was sent earlier this year. Please keep in mind that cardmembers who opt to trade into a different product will lose the anniversary bonus all together.
Chip + PIN
Question: Will these cards have the same PIN settings as the Arrival+ product?
Answer:
Yes. All cards are chip-enabled for global acceptance.
JetBlue
Question:Â Also do you have any comment on the JetBlue partnership?
Answer:
No comment
Our Thoughts
The annual fees are what I was expecting them to be (we already knew what Silver & Red were and the Aviator product didn’t mention an annual fee). I wish it was clearer how anniversary bonuses were/weren’t going to work, but at least we know that you shouldn’t request a different card type than the one your offered if you want to keep that bonus.
It’s also good news that you can request a Silver card, obviously there is no guarantee they’ll give you it but I imagine Barclaycard will be very accommodating in this respect. I wasn’t expecting other than a no comment re: the jetBlue partnership, but it never hurts to ask.
Thanks again to Nicole from Barclaycard for getting me these responses to promptly. Barclaycard are always a pleasure to deal with in this respect and it’s very much appreciated.
Are there any questions you wish I asked? If so what were they? Let me know in the comments below.
