Starting in late April, Barclays American Airlines cards will move to Citibank, which will then become the exclusive credit card issuer for AA in the United States. By now, everyone with a Barclays AA card has received an email stating that the transition date is April 24th and confirming which Citi AAdvantage card you’ll be moved to.
However, some folks received a different email from the rest of us. First off, they were told their card wouldn’t be moved to Citi; instead, it would stay with Barclays. But since Barclays will no longer be able to issue AA cards, they will be product-changed into other products from the Barclays portfolio:
- Aviator Red and Silver cards are being converted into the Barclays Arrival Plus Mastercard
- Aviator Business cards are being converted into the Barclays Juniper Business Mastercard (h/t: Frequent Miler Insiders)
We’re not entirely sure why some cardholders are staying with Barclays. It appears that some folks were shut down by Citi and banned from opening new cards, so it makes sense that Citi wouldn’t want to invite them in again (although many other Citi-banned cardholders are moving over without issue). However, I’ve seen other data points from people who currently have an active relationship with Citibank, but still received this notice from Barclays.
As for the cards Barclays is moving those affected to, it’s a tad bizarre. The Arrival Plus Mastercard hasn’t been available for a couple of years now, including for product changes as far as I know, and this is the first time I’m hearing about the Juniper business card.
The Arrival Plus is essentially a 2x everywhere card, and I believe it is still one of the few Barclays cards that has access to transfer partners (if there’s a current cardholder who can verify or deny that, let us know in the comments):
The FM Team’s collective ears perk up whenever there’s an opportunity for a “collectible” card, or one that’s no longer available new but worth having for some (usually obscure) reason. I’m not certain that this qualifies, though. Amex, Citi, and Capital One all have 2x everywhere cards with transferable points that cost $95/year or less… and I imagine the transfer options are much more desirable than whatever’s still left on the Arrival Plus.
Regardless, this is undoubtedly frustrating news for those who simply want an AA card and are now being forced to give theirs up, and who probably couldn’t care less about getting a now-defunct legacy Barclays Arrival card.
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I have the Citi AA Biz and Double Cash. Getting my Aviator Silver converted to Arrival plus. I opened my account today and it said I got a credit line increase on the AA Biz. Went from $15k to $20k. My wife got the upgrade for her Aviator Silver to the Globe. I am an authorized user on her card and her AA CC with lounge access. I had a $20k Chargeback that I won on the Aviator Silver with a painting contractor. I had the AA card with lounge access 3 years ago that I closed. Not sure if these had an affect.
I have the Aviator white (no annual fee). It is being converted to the Arrival (no annual fee). I don’t think anyone else has mentioned this.
This is in addition to two other Barclay AA cards that are staying with Barclay.
so u have 3 barc CCs rejected by citi?
can u give us details about ur CR or relationship w/ citi?
very interested to hear how citi filters.
guys. lets make sure we add more info here and collect more DPs.
citi is rejecting certain credit profiles. but letting pple stay w/ barc. but they are also CLOSING accounts. but purchased the outstanding balance so ur still required to pay citi. not barc w/ a closed accnt.
citi is also rejecting some cards but allowing others for the same card member.
very interesting to see citi selection criteria.
citi essentially OWNS barc members. only thing we can do is cancel due to fed law. but we are citi slaves and cant be doing random PCs. pretty sure its been like this for many CC transitions.
There are atleast a couple of CitiGold clients who are getting stuck with Arrival cards lol
ya. that makes no sense. something must be up. do u know anything about their profiles?
will they refund AFs? did not pay 199 to have an arrival+ pos. of course barclays are being tightlipped
One thing I want to know here is if it’s possible to phone Barclays up and ask to get the Arrival+ rather than being product changed to a Citi card.
I called a couple weeks ago trying for a product change instead of moving to Citi & was told no. Worth a try though
Following up on this, I called today, Feb 12 and was told that unless I got one of the “staying with Barclays” letters, I would not be able to product change.
This all appears to be a done deal.
Citi has decided who they want, and Barclays is converting any remaining accounts.
Where are we seeing the data points of people being Citi banned getting the email? I’m not doubting it just wanted to join the discussion.
I, personally, know one person who is Citi banned who is getting the transition from Barclay to Citi.
I, personally, AM one person who is Citi banned who is NOT getting transitioned to Citi. All of my Barclay cards are staying with Barclay (two personal and one business).
I feel like I’m signing a petition!
“I, personally, AM one person who is Citi banned who is getting the transition from Barclay to Citi.”
I have the Arrival+ card, and while someone else published the airline transfer angle, they missed the obvious play. Just buy the flight you actually want with the Arrival+ card and redeem for a travel statement credit at 1 cent per point (10,000 points = $100). You also get a 5% points rebate, which means the real cost is 9,500 net points per $100. Since the card earns 2x points everywhere, that rebate bumps the effective return to about 2.1% back on all spend, with none of the restrictions or complexity that come with award transfers.
No award inventory games. No partner chart gymnastics. No hoping something opens up.
Sure, it’s not a unicorn redemption; but I’ll take guaranteed availability over aspirational nonsense any day.
Wouldn’t you be doing much better with a Bank of America preferred rewards at 2.625% cash or a Schwab platinum and BBP combo for 2.2%? Robinhood gold earns 3%, too.
Idk if this is even possible but theoretically a BoA Custom Cash + Preferred Rewards status + PRE card could get you as much as 5% back on monthly category of your choice then if you can transfer that cashback to a PRE, the ability to redeem for flights at a 20% discount. I’ve not held both cards simultaneously so I don’t know if custom cash cashback can transfer to a PRE for that card’s flight redemption discount.
I suppose the complexity for the Arrival cards is in the restrictive redemption rules. There is also the annual fee for the Arrival+ to consider. There are travel cards that earn more, and with less complexity, e.g. PenFed Pathfinder (fee-waiver is easy), which earns 4 points per dollar (worth about ~3.4 cpm) on travel, 3 points (~2.55 cpp) on dining, and 1.5 points (~1.2 cpp) on non-category spend (although I would avoid using it for non-category spend). Best redemption is probably the prepaid eVisa, which PenFed discounts (slightly) a couple of times per year. But the best return for anybody is to use different cards for different categories of spend, as you prefer and can tolerate. P.S. And the Pathfinder comes with a couple of travel credits and benefits that increase its value.
CORRECTION: Sorry, not “cpp.” I meant the “value in cents,” but got distracted. So…
“…4 points per dollar (worth about ~3.4 cents) on travel, 3 points (~2.55 cents) on dining, and 1.5 points (~1.2 cents) on non-category spend…”
I was shutdown by Citi about 10 years ago and received email that my Aviator Silver is moving to Citi! Will Citi close my account AFTER the transition ?! I am not sure what to do… convert to a different Barclays card to keep the credit limit and history or roll the dice!
When they acquired Costco accounts I think they closed the account if Citi had previously banned you. I don’t have first hand experience.
Banks are notorious for shooting first and asking questions later
My guess- you transition to citi and then they run you against their blacklist database and your accounts get closed out
I used AA cards just for churning, should i convert the Red card into something useful? i only see Wyndham which gives status otherwise nothing much in Barclays, My annual fee hits in August , will it be same in Citi ? I will decide to move it to something useful like Custom Cash then.
I think it is now too late to do a conversion with Barclays if you’ve received notification that your account is moving to Citi. Citi already controls your account.
Citi sounds promising actually can make it another custom cash
Citi sucks. That’s why I opened the card with Barclays.
I have an existing relationship with Citi and I was offered the Barclay arrival not the arrival+. I currently have the silver card. I’ll cancel before the transition
I think you buried the lead. That juniper business card is amazing.
Unbury it! Tell me more!
5% > $30K
Data point. I got the email saying I’m staying w Barclays.
I have two of the aviator silvers.
I have the Citi exec and globe already. I also have the strata elite. All three have pretty decent credit limits.
Maybe if you’ve already got the card that that you would be converted to, Citi didn’t want tou?
Another data point: afraid not. I only had the Citi AA Platinum Select with Citi, and yet my Barclays Red card is converting to a second Citi AA PS. This is despite the fact that I was denied when applying for the Citi Strata Elite within the last 6 months.
Lord only knows what algorithmic buffoonry they used to decide these things. Seems like a dice roll.
I do not have the equivalent card (I have the Executive card from Citi and the Silver from Barclays), but they’re not transitioning me to Citi.
My Aviator Red being converted to AA Citi Platinum which I already have
I have a Barclays red and Citi platinum and am being transitioned to another platinum.
i already have the Citi card & it appears my Barclay is being switched over, leaving me with two identical cards. I guess it will be a wait & see since Barclay won’t allow a product change
P2 recently added me as auth user on the Citi Business AA card with the hope of double dipping on AA status after March 1, but Citi closed my auth user card and sent P2 a note that they had done so because they did not want me as their customer. I have a Barclays Aviator Red card which Barclays told me will transfer to Citi card. I am fully expecting to get this email sometime soon.
We’ve kept our Arrival+ card. Here is how many Arrival miles you’ll need to spend to get 5,000 miles in each program:
transfer rates of doom and despair
I was offered an upgrade from the Arrival card to the Arrival+ in the last year or so. I’m not sure if the + currently has transfer partners like the Arrival Premier did.I can say that the Arrival+’s $100 minimum redemption didn’t appeal to me; the $25 minimum is bad enough, especially since the Arrival’s 2x return isn’t competitive with my better travel card, making it harder to accumulate enough points, except when combined with a Barclays Rewards Boost, e.g. for Booking.com. But then Barclays has a tendency to deny that I even clicked through the shopping portal. Which is why I’ll close this account pretty soon.