American Airlines and Citi have announced a significant expansion of their credit card partnership. There’s been scuttlebutt about this for several weeks and it’s now official: Citi will become the exclusive issuer AAdvantage credit cards in the U.S. starting in 2026.
As part of this announcement it was revealed that Citi will acquire the Barclays AA credit card portfolio and will begin transitioning cardmembers to Citi in 2026. The press release also seems to indicate that AA will become a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards, which is a huge get for Citi’s transferable points program.
This news just broke, so we’ll update this post with additional details as necessary.
The News
- Citi will become the exclusive issuer of American Airlines AAdvantage-branded credit cards in the US starting in 2026
- Current cardholders of Barclays AAdvantage credit cards will be transitioned to Citi AA cards starting in 2026.
Quick Thoughts
Wow, this is big news. It’s been rumored for some time that Citi was trying become the exclusive partner of AA and now we know that it’s happening next year.
The initial press release did not explicitly say that AA would become a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards, but does say that “working more closely together, Citi and American can create significant value for both AAdvantage® co-branded and Citi-branded cardmembers.” That sure makes it sound like it’s going to happen.
In the past it was thought that the Barclays relationship was the sticking point that was keeping a Citi-AA transfer partnership from happening. If Citi does indeed gain AA as a transfer partner, it would provide some significant uplift to the ThankYou Rewards program and Citi’s self-branded credit card card portfolio as well, immediately elevating ThankYou points to among the most desirable transferable points currencies.
We’ve been postulating for months what would happen with Barclays cardholders in the event that AA went exclusively to Citi, the hope being that folks who have the Barclays cards might be able to hang onto them after the transition.
Citi is acquiring Barclays’ “back book” of AA cardholders and will be moving them to Citi products. However, the press release states that “Barclays cardmembers will continue to experience the same benefits they do today.” This could mean that Citi won’t simply convert people from the No-Fee/Red/Silver Aviator cards to current Citi cards but will support Citi versions of them, which would be a best-case scenario.
On Tuesday’s Frequent Miler on the Air Coffee Break episode, Greg and Nick spotlighted the Barclays Aviator Silver as a potential future “can’t get it now but can keep it if you have it collectible card.” Looks like they might have been mind readers.
Regardless, it’s still possible to get the welcome offers on both Barclays and Citi AA cards, an option that will undoubtedly be going away soon. If you’re looking for AA miles, now’s the time to strike on the Barclays Aviator Red card.
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On the Coffee Break episode Nick mentioned that he had no capacity for the Aviator Red since he and his wife have the Silver. Can you only have one card in the family? I have been trying to catch the upgrade offer on my Red to move to the Silver, and I wanted to try to get the Red again after converting. Is this not possible?
I don’t know – I’ll believe in the transfer partner when I see it.
AA and Citi have had a 37 year relationship, most of that exclusive. They were the very first co-branded card and the first time an airline loyalty program allowed earning by credit card spend.
They used to let you redeem Citi Prestige points for 1.6ccp toward AA Tickets. That went away. They had Bilt as a transfer partner. That went away. They’ve whittled away Admiral’s Club membership benefits on the cobranded card and stopped it altogether on the Prestige.
If nothing in the past 37 years has convinced them to establish a permanent transfer partner relationship, what will now? Cit’s portfolio isn’t the most inspiring.
I would be all for it, more in hopes that Citi brings back a premium card. I was a happy Prestige holder previously. We will see!
Other than Costco.. its a pretty week portfolio. AA as a Citi transfer partner would certainly help it compete with Chase and Delta in this space.
[…] Citibank to become exclusive issuer of American Airlines AAdvantage credit cards […]
I have the Aviator Red and I would love to churn it one last time – would that be possible if I downgrade it now?
If I move forward with this, how long should I wait before applying again? Don’t want to risk waiting too long (and not being able to churn it), but also wouldn’t want to risk anything by applying too soon.
Any insight would be very appreciated!
Thanks Tim for the info and the other posters for their thoughts. If I downgrade my Red Braclays AA card to a no annual fee one, do you happen to know if I would lose the free luggage/priority seating benefits? TYIA
You would lose them – only travel benefit of the no annual fee Aviator Blue is 25% off inflight food & beverage purchases.
That said if you have any AA status at all (even Gold) you’ll already have most overlapping benefits with the Aviator Red. The free bag benefit is actually better from status since it includes international flights.
Thanks Andrew for your reply. I did have Gold Status and agree it’s repeatitive. However my status will expire 2025. I did get good use out if though as I was able to get matching status on United.
It would be particularly nice if Citi were to maintain the Aviator Silver as a mid-tier AA card.
Does anyone know or have experience with getting an Aviator Red if you already have the Aviator Silver? I wasn’t sure if it would be an auto denial if I already have a Silver and apply for the Red
Try it and report back.
Yes you can. I have done it.
Hoping to get some advice from the FM community. I’ve been thinking of applying for the strata premier but have been holding off in hopes of Citi’s long rumored new premium card. The reason I was holding off is because of the language on FM’s strata premier page: “Are you eligible?The bonus for this card is not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Premier® or Citi Strata Premier℠ account in the past 48 months.”
do you guys think that I should just bite the bullet on the Strata premier and just pray that I’m still eligible for their next premium card’s welcome bonus whenever it comes out? What would you do?
Thanks all!
All Citi’s churning restrictions are by product, not by family.
Assuming that holds true whenever a new premium card is released, whether or not you received a welcome offer on a Strata Premier will have no bearing on whether or not you’ll be eligible for a welcome offer on the new card.
Citi has been so out of the premium card brand for years.. these rumors seem to come up alot but nothing ever happens.. this could really help them compete with Chase and Amex.. if they had a premium card tied to American like Amex Plat and Delta.
I’m at LOL/24 and have been denied twice in the past 6 months by both Citi and Barclays. Wonder how long I’ll need to wait before I can get approved again with either issuer
Reports are that Barclays has a 6/24 rule. Citi has the same but it seems they also have an X/12 rule as well.
AA devaluation coming in 2026, certainly (or maybe even a 2nd one) in 2027.
Hmm, had intended in 2025 to close the Aviator Red cards that P2 and I opened earlier this year. But since we have no other cards to product change to custom cash or double cash in the Citi ecosystem, and would rather not burn a 5/24 slot for those cards — does it now make sense to bite the bullet, pay the annual fee on Aviator Red in 2025, in hopes of being able to product change in 2026?
Barclay offers a no annual fee AA card. Ask them to downgrade you to that card so that you can save on annual fees, then just wait for Citi to take over card management.
Brilliant! I did a cursory search to see if Barclays had other AA products to apply to, but didn’t look close enough to see there was a no fee downgrade path. Thanks!
Thanks – same applies to me, so think I will also downgrade, but have to look at what, if any the benefits of the free AF card are? Do you still get free bag, upgraded boarding, etc? TYIA
Would love to see the free checked bag benefit become worldwide, like other airline cards
Right now this is a differentiator that makes AA status worth it for those who already have an AA card. Curious for their general flying members if it matters much since the vast majority of passenger traffic is domestic. I would like to see it as well just not sure if it’s in AA’s interests to do this. Maybe free international checked bags could be only on their upper end cards?
Thanks David. I had no idea their benefit wasn’t worldwide, lol.
Another reason I’m glad I spun up Gold for my exchange-student college kid. 🙂
For United, Delta, and Alaska, even their mid-range cards have a worldwide free bag benefit. It’s a substantial savings if you need a bag on a longhaul trip. It’s annoying that AA doesn’t even extend the benefit to Mexico or the Carribbean. Personally, I like to scuba dive and transport my own gear, so it’s a huge gap. AA often has bottom-barrel redemption rates, but this eats into the overall value.
Fun fact though, flights to/from Canada code as domestic.
One potential impact of this could be fewer people earning AA status. If TYP become transferable to AA, I would probably stop using my AA cards on a lot of categories. 5x points on groceries with the Custom Cash card is a lot better than 1 or 2 miles + 1 LP from an AA card.
Wish there was a way to earn more thank you points. Even with maxing out 4 custom cash cards is nowhere near enough.
Find someone who will make you an AU on the original Sears card lol. = ]
It would be nice if Citi’s shopping program offered points instead of cash back. Essentially, mimicking the Rakuten/Amex deal. Assuming similar multiples, I’d do it. Even if AA is not a transfer partner. Someone noted that Citi has been picking up these smaller hotel networks. That’s very attractive.
For those of you waiting for a TYP earning business card, here is a decent workaround. A few months back i decided to divert as much business spend as possible to my doublecash cards. Well, with citi being citi, electronic payments from my chase accounts got holds of 3-12 business days which was totally unacceptable. After a couple of calls to citi they told me that ATM debit card payments post immediately – which i found to be true. Since then i have been making debit card payments almost daily to one or more of the four DC cards in my family. Before i started doing this i called citi twice to make sure they would not take issue with cycling for true business spend and both times the rep talked to someone else and came back with a green light. I have been cycling for 3+ months with each card receiving debit card payments 3-8 times per month and not once has citi said anything. A couple of times i had to call in and verify some charges and each time i asked if what i was doing is ok and was told yes. One small hiccup was that chase has a limit of something like $1k per day max but eventually i got it raised to $25k per day. I have no datapoints for other banks. I am all in on the citi train!!
My experience with Citi & cycling has been to beg for forgiveness, not for permission. P3 has a fairly new premier card & one payment, between her 1st & second statement, took a few extra days to release available credit but her credit is new. P1 & P2 have had zero issues with cycling for many years on the couple of cards with low CL’s. We could, of course, fix this by asking for a CLI but everyone knows Citi will hard pull.
I ask citi for a CLI every six months as this is their minimum interval. I dont see hard pulls on P1 nor P2. I just googled around a bit and it seems they first do a soft pull then if it cant be approved they will ask you if you want them to do a hard pull.
Interesting DP. What’s your success rate since you ask so often?
Every time i ask, they increase – well actually that is not true, the first time I asked, they said it was too soon and I must wait until six months has elapsed since my last increase. small cards increase maybe $1-$3k each time but on my biggest card i got a $10k increase at one shot. I have a $41k & $16k. P2 has $11k & $3k
That’s all fine but did your credit hard pull? Citi is typically EQ. I just requested one & was denied. All 3 bureaus frozen.
I do monitor my reports. Not one pull. My bureaus also frozen. I was already cycling before i asked first time, that might be part of it
Todd, just FYI, cycling on personal cards is a risk factor for shutdown with Citi, regardless of what a CSR tells you. The Citi graveyard is littered with the bones of cycling enthusiasts.
That said, I do know some folks who have gotten away with it for years with no issue, so it could be that it’s less of a risk if there’s no MS going on. I personally am careful to never do it.
Good job on the debit card payments…I hope you’re using one that gives you some rewards. 😉
Thank you for that DP. i have Zero MS, all various business expenses i pay for my son’s company. but i still have my fingers crossed just the same.
@Tim
Have you noticed the same with business cards, like the AA Business?
Must be a YMMV as Citi refused to accept debit card payments from me
Perhaps it is on a bank by bank basis but i know for sure they are ok with chase.
I was doing this for years until shutdown by citi in 2018 and they don’t seem to want me back. However, I will apply for an Aviator and see if this is a backdoor way back in when the accounts get transferred to Citi.