We got a letter stating that our new Barclaycard American Airlines Credit Card is on its way. The US Airways Dividend Miles Mastercard will be replaced with the AAdvantage Aviator Red Mastercard. It also came with a note that said to register now and we would earn 50% more miles on qualifying purchases. The new cards from Barclaycard will be Blue, Red, Silver and Aviator.
The US Airways and American Airlines merger has been a bit tough for some of us especially if you are Gold and lost lots of benefits such as checking-in two bags and the preferred seating that went away this year. It has a bright spot though if you had Dividend miles they will finally be converted into AAdvantage miles. In continuation of this merger there were two card companies that worked with the once competing airlines and now they need to do something to bring together the programs. This is a start by converting the US Airways cards into American AAdvantage cards.
We compared the new cards below from American Airlines but are not all that impressed when it comes to the competition. Virgin America is offering no-cancellation fees and other airlines cards offer free Gogo. The only really impressive thing is that these cards offer a 10% annual bonus which is great for those that pay the high annual fee.
Here are the dates to note:
March 1 – June 30,: Register to get 50% more miles
Between April 1 – June 30: Loyalty Programs Combine
Between April 1 and July 15,: New Card Will Arrive
AAdvantage Aviator MasterCard is the most basic card and has No Annual Fee gets you 1x miles on US Airways & American Airline Purchases and 0.5x miles on all other purchases.
All of the cards seem to have the following:
- No foreign transaction fees
- 25% discount on food, beverages and headsets on US Airways & American Airlines operated flights
- Additional Redemption Flexibility
AAdvantage AviatorBlue MasterCard has a $49 Annual Fee
2x miles on all American Airline/US Airways purchases
1x miles on all other purchases
AAdvantage Aviator Red MasterCard has an Annual fee of $89
2x miles on all American Airline/US Airways purchases
1x miles on all other purchases
10% of redeemed miles will be redeposited into your account (limit of 10,000 miles per calendar year
Free checked bag for you and up to 4 traveling companions
Priority boarding (zone 2 on domestic US Airways operated flights and group 1 on domestic American Airline flights)
$100 flight after your account anniversary in years where you spend $30,000 or more and maintain your account in good standing
Also note that cardholders with the annual 10,000 point bonus will get to keep this bonus (but I assume we do not get our companion pass we got before this?)
AAdvantage Aviator Silver World Elite MasterCard has an annual fee of $195
3x miles on all American Airline/US Airways purchases
2x miles on eligible hotels and car rentals
1x miles on all other purchases
Elite qualifying miles: 5,000 for $20,000 in spend (10,000 for $40,000+ in spend)
Companion certificate good for up to two guests at $99 each when you spend $30,000 or more in purchases (taxes and fees apply)
10,000 point bonus if converted cardholder with no changes
10% of redeemed miles will be redeposited into your account (limit of 10,000 miles per calendar year)
$100 statement credit when you purchase Global Entry
25% discount on food, beverages and headsets on US Airways & American Airlines operated flights
Free checked bag for you and up to 8 traveling companions
Priority boarding (zone 2 on domestic US Airways operated flights and group 1 on domestic American Airline flights)
Access to U.S based customer service and Mastercard’s elite concierge service which is not that big of a deal here as Discover already provides US Based Customer Service for FREE and Mastercard’s elite you can already basically get using other methods.
