Barclays Aviator to Citi transition April 2026: What we know and what we don’t

We now have a clearer picture as to the details regarding the transition of Barclays Aviator and Aviator Silver cardholders to Citi accounts. The accounts will be moving to Citi in April 2026, and Barclays cardholders will get a bit of a “best of both worlds” in terms of having both legacy and new benefits. There are a lot of granular details that we don’t yet know, but it is worth understanding the finer points.

High-level details of the Barclays -> Citi transition

Barclays Aviator cardholders recently received word from Citi outlining coming changes to their cardmembership. Key details include:

April 24, 2026, the bank that issues your AAdvantage® credit card is changing from Barclays Bank Delaware to Citibank, N.A. (Citi)

• Continue to use existing card after April 24.
• Citi card will be sent within 6-8 weeks beginning April 27, 2026
• Your cardmember anniversary date will remain the same.
• If your account has an annual fee, it will be assessed on or after your next anniversary date.
• Your existing credit limit will stay the same at the time of transfer. Over time, we may review your account as part of our standard practices.
• You can keep enjoying the legacy Barclays benefits for a limited period of time

In short, you’ll get a Citi card sometime after April 24th, and you’ll get access to some new benefits on the Citi side, while also keeping some of your legacy benefits for some unknown amount of time.

I’ll dig into legacy vs new benefits in a moment, but it is worth calling out that the email and associated documentation from Citi made no mention at all of the annual fee apart from the fact that it will be assessed on your next anniversary date. It is not at all clear whether the fee may increase or when that will happen.

Digging into the details of the transition

Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Mastercard® to American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card

Link to details from Citi about this transition

The following chart shows the high-level details of these two cards, with key differences underlined.

The Aviator “White” as it was sometimes known was a no-annual-fee downgrade option (I don’t believe it ever existed for new applicants). Those with the Aviator White will transition to the Citi AAdvantage Mile Up card, picking up 2X on American Airlines and at grocery stores. Keep in mind that the AA cards only earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar spent (even in bonus categories). That said, the Mile Up is probably a slight upgrade for most cardholders.

Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator® Red to Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select transition

Link to details from Citi about the transition

The following table lists the core benefits of the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card and the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red card. Note: Those benefits that are underlined are unique to the respective card.

As you can see in the chart, the Barclays Aviator red will pick up a couple new category bonuses, with 2x gas and dining, when the card transitions to Citi. Note also that the Barclays card and the Citi card both offer benefits after $20,000 in purchases in a membership year, though the type of benefit is different.

The good news is that the documentation from Citi indicates that existing Aviator Red cardholders will hang onto legacy benefits “for a limited time”, until they receive advance notification from Citi.

We don’t yet know exactly how this will work in practice. Will it be possible to earn both the Companion Certificate and the $125 flight discount? We expect that it likely will be possible to earn both for some time (until Citi provides advance notice otherwise), but will spend that a cardholder has completed before the transition count for the Citi flight discount benefit, or will they only count spend from the time the card becomes a Citi card? What about those who have partially completed spending toward this year’s Barclays Companion Certificate? Will that spend carry over?

We don’t yet know the answers to those questions. My best guess is that spend completed since last anniversary will continue to count, even if that spend was completed before the card moves to Citi.

Note that the Citi Platinum Select also offers the ability to earn up to $30 in statement credits for each eligible Turo trip completed from April 24, 2026 to October 18, 2026.

Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver to Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™️ card

Link to details from Citi about the transition

This transition is perhaps the one with the most potential to win or lose.

As we covered on a podcast episode last year, at a very high level, the Citi AA Globe card has similarish benefits to the Aviator Silver card. As you dig into the details, the benefits of the two cards (and their ongoing annual fees) differ significantly.

However, as is the case with the Aviator Red card, the informaiton provided by Citi does not indicate whether or when the annual fee will increase for existing cardholders. Similarly, it indicates that existing cardholders will maintain key legacy benefits “for a limited time”, until advance notice is given by Citi. Here is a chart showing the key details, with key differences between the cards underlined.

It is interesting that benefits will apparently overlap for at least some period of time. For instance, we expect that existing Aviator Silver cardholders will receive the Admirals Club passes and splurge credits after the cards transition in April. It also sounds like it will be possible, for at least a limited time, to earn both the spend-based Loyalty Point bonuses from the Barclays card and the bonus Loyalty Points offered by the Globe card based on flight activity. That could make it far easier to qualify for elite status for those who can manage to meet both sets of requirements.

We wonder whether transitioned cardholders will get both the Globe card’s automatic $99 Companion Certificate at renewal and the Aviator Silver card’s Companion Certificate that is good for two companions if they have met the $20K spending requirement. As things stand, we expect that it should be possible to get both. It is also worth noting that while those benefits sound similar, in practice, Citi companion certificates have carried fewer restrictions than Barclays certificates, including being valid on a wider range of fares and without the Barclays blackout dates.

The big question, of course, is whether and when existing Aviator Silver cardholders will be subject to the Globe card’s $350 annual fee. As with the Aviator Red card information, it is interesting and probably notable that Citi has made no mention at all of the annual fee apart from noting that one will be assessed at renewal.

As an educated guess, I would suspect that Citi probably needs to provide advance notice of an increase in the annual fee. Furthermore, since many existing Barclays Aviator Silver cardholders have presumably already made progress in spending toward the companion certificate, and that certificate is contingent upon renewal, it would be at least customer-unfriendly to move the goalpost by increasing the required renewal fee. It may be that there are regulatory considerations there also. I think it isn’t impossible to imagine that Aviator Silver cardholders could keep the $195 annual fee at next renewal, at least for near-term renewals. However, that is only a guess. Time will tell how that shakes out.

Barclays AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Business Mastercard® to Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ Card

Link to a document from Citi with transition details

The following chart outlines the key details of these two cards, with those features unique to one card or another underlined.

As is the case with all of the other cards, the Citibusiness AA card is keeping legacy benefits “for a limited time”.

Of particular interest here is that both versions of this card include a Companion Certificate after $30,000 in purchases in a cardmember year and renewal of the card. However, that benefit is listed both under new card benefits in the Citi document and under legacy card benefits.

Maybe that’s just a coincidence. On the other hand, is it possible that this card will earn both certificates for those who meet the spend?

That probably won’t happen. However, I can’t count it out entirely. Barclays Companion Certificates have historically come with a host of blackout dates and a list of eligible fare classes. Citi-issued Companion Certificates have not had blackout dates and have been applicable to a wider range of fare classes. It is possible that these are being treated as different benefits because of those differences in the features of the product. I definitely wouldn’t count on earning both, but neither will I be caught completely off guard if that happens for those who meet the spend and keep the card through the next renewal.

Should you keep your Barclays card or cancel it before the transition?

In short, I think it won’t make much sense to cancel before the transition in most cases.

That’s because existing cardholders will get a combination of legacy and new benefits that will add some amount of value in most cases without adding any immediate measurable cost. Even if the annual fee ultimately increases on the converted Aviator Silver cards, it wouldn’t happen until at least next renewal (and maybe later).

We don’t believe that having a converted card will preclude anyone from getting a new card bonus on another Citi AA card with regard to welcome bonus restrictions. Here are the pertinent sections of the terms for the AAdvantage Platinum Select card and the Globe card with regard to eligibility for a new cardmember bonus:

*AAdvantage Platinum Select terms: “American Airlines AAdvantage® new cardmember bonus offer not available if you received a new account bonus for or if you converted another Citi credit card account on which you earned a new account bonus into a Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® account in the last 48 months.”
Citi AAdvantage Globe terms: “American Airlines AAdvantage® new cardmember bonus offer not available if you have received a new account bonus for or converted another Citi credit card account to a Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ account in the past 48 months.”

As we read that, you should be eligible for either new card bonus so long as you haven’t received a new cardmember bonus on that specific card or converted another Citi credit card account to it within the past 48 months. Since this is a conversion from Barclays, we don’t expect it will prevent you from getting a new cardmember bonus on the same card in the future.

Among the biggest potential disadvantages to allowing your Barclays card to convert is the fact that it is possible that the Citi card will be reported as a new account, increasing your 5/24 count. To be clear, we don’t know that will happen — it certainly may be that the account carries over your existing history and does not cause a new account to be added.

The other key disadvantage to allowing conversion is that it will add to your total exposure with Citi. If, for example, you have a large Barclays credit line that gets moved to Citi, you could reach your maximum exposure with Citi in terms of the credit they are willing to extend to you. That could make it harder to get approved for another new Citi account in the future.

However, we think that the advantages of allowing the conversion to proceed likely outweigh the disadvantages for most folks.

For starters, you’ll get access to both sets of benefits for at least a while. There is also the chance that existing Aviator Silver cardholders get grandfathered into the lower annual fee and legacy benefits for longer than expected. Stacking Loyalty Point bonuses could be useful for those chasing elite status. And, even if you ultimately do not want a Citi AA card, it should be possible to product change down the line.

In my own household, my wife is an Aviator Silver cardholder and probably won’t keep the Globe card long-term. However, she will gladly use the splurge credit, and it is possible that the Admirals Club passes and in-flight purchase credits could come in handy (note that the Aviator Silver will continue to offer up to $25 per day in statement credits for in-flight purchases, but maybe that will stack with the new $100 statement credit offer). However, in the long run, she will look to product change. She currently has a Citi Double Cash card with a relatively low limit. The limit on her Aviator Silver card is significantly higher. She’s probably going to request a credit limit increase from Barclays and hope to product change the resulting Globe card to a Double Cash card with a more useful limit down the line. Then, she could downgrade her existing Double Cash to a Custom Cash card. If we get data points of the automatic companion certificate posting and people renewing and $195, maybe she’ll keep the Globe card for another year before product changing. We’ll keep options open.

I don’t see enough upside in cancelling before transition in most cases, though there will be some fringe cases where cardholders decide that they don’t want to be transitioned to Citi for one reason or another. I expect those to be the minority of cases here, at least until next renewal on these cards.

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