In December I wrote about in airport cooking and golf events that American Airlines, Barclays, and Mastercard were running to raise awareness for their co-brand Barclays AAdvantage® AviatorTM Red World Elite Mastercard® which offers 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles after first purchase within 90 days of account opening and paying the card’s $95 annual fee.
At the time I wrote that I loved the idea, they were offering a value add to bring attention to their card and they were also offering premiums to existing cardmembers. It’s unobtrusive, and far classier and beneficial to customers than tabling.
There’s another marketing effort being made, this time mailing gits to cardmembers. On Monday I received a nice box with a thank you note inside and a book 1000 Places to See Before You Die with my name inscribed onto the cover.
Here’s what the note said,
I reached out to Barclays to see what’s going on with this and they shared,
This book was a part of our cardmember appreciation campaign which thanked our best cardmembers – a random group of the cardmembers were sent “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” while the remaining received an email from AA thanking them for being loyal cardmembers.
Additionally, we are sending a tin of cookies to a select group of new cardmembers (themed “A taste of First Class” as the cookie vendor is their onboard supplier).
I admit, I think I really want the cookies but I’m not a new cardmember. I put $50,000 spend on the card last year, and put $50,000 already on it this year, because that nets me:
- 50,000 miles (though I give up the miles I’d earn with a different card)
- 10,000 elite qualifying miles
- 6,000 elite qualifying dollars
- A companion ticket for American
And, I guess, it also gets me a book. Has anyone else received anything?
I put about $0 on the card and threaten to cancel so…no, no book for me . Thats ok, I’m certainly not one of their best customers
My experience is exactly the same as @jon on every level.
I thought the 10,000 EQMs, 6,000 EQDs and companion ticket was on the Aviator Silver card, not the Red.
Aviator Red is in my drawer solely for priority boarding (though I’m not sure why I need that either since AA never enforces the boarding process where I fly) and for an occasional free bag…which means it’s on its way out of my wallet soon. Zero spend = zero book for me.
Gary has the Silver.
I got the book – nice gesture!
I don’t think that I’d appreciate them “mailing gits to cardmembers.” So does an unpleasant person show up and scream at you or what’s the deal?
I got the silver and use it for the EQMs… Got the book for Xmas last year too
@carlh: Yes. And I’m that unpleasant person.
They sent me cookies last month, which was a pleasant surprise. I thought it was for my spend on the Aviator Silver card that I’ve had for awhile, so it’s interesting that it seems to be my Red card that triggered it. They were delicious 🙂
Nothing for me. I put $100K last year on the card, and now over $50K for 2018. No love for me. No MS here.
@Robert – not sure how long you’ve had the card, but I called Barclays and had my Red downgraded to the regular aviator. No annual fee and keeps my history intact.
You only get 1 mile for every 2 dollars, but like you, the card is sitting in my desk drawer.
Just Curious . . . how do you put $50k on ONE of your cards? I live in Austin (actually sold my house inside the city limits of The People’s Republic of Austin) and unless you were buying lots of big ticket items, paying Austin property taxes and travelling more that I did as a airline captain, how does one rack up that spending?
A very nice gesture. Everyone loves surprises.
Am so honored to see that copies of my book 1000 Places To See Before You Die are being gifted to world-class travelers! Glad to see we are all sharing the love!
Patricia Schultz, author
1000 Places
http://www.1000Places.com