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 wonder if there’s an opportunity to opt-out of the Citi transition. I have the Aviator business, and really have no interest in holding a second Citi AA biz (which, as far as I know, has no product change options). While I wouldn’t exactly call the Juniper Card compelling, it could have its uses…
As suggested, Arrival+ has rotten transfer ratios.