American Airlines and Citibank have entered into an agreement to extend their cobrand credit card agreement by 10 years. This deal pushes out Barclays, and makes Citi the sole issuer of American Airlines credit cards in the U.S. starting in 2026.
We will start to see points transfers from Citibank to American AAdvantage and likely more,
The agreement creates an innovative alignment between the Citi ThankYou and AAdvantage® card programs
The very first airline frequent flyer credit card was the Continental TravelBank Gold MasterCard from Marine Midland Bank (now HSBC) in 1986. American’s first card came the next year. Yet the airline’s CEO Robert Isom says,
American is proud to have launched the first airline loyalty program, and with Citi, the travel industry’s first co-branded credit card.
The strength of our relationship with Citi has enabled us to deliver first-class products and customer service to millions of AAdvantage cardmembers. This expanded partnership will unlock even more value and exciting new benefits for all of our customers in the future.
American struck its last credit card deal with Citi and Barclays in 2016.
- Citi was the original partner for an American AAdvantage credit card, a relationship that dates back to 1987.
- Barclays became the issuer of the US Airways card as part of the deal which funded the America West acquisition out of bankruptcy.
- Barclays U.S. wasn’t big enough to swallow the whole AAdvantage cobrand portfolio, but they kept the ‘back book’ and even grew it, acquiring the old Bank of America US Airways portfolio. They kept topping off the funnel with onboard card acquisitions, and had the right to market in terminals (but not within 100 feet of an American Airlines lounge) while Citi got all other distribution channels.
By moving not just to exclusivity, but also putting in motion an acquisition of the Barclays AAdvantage card portfolio, this is clearly more than just Barclays no longer being competitive in the cobrand space. It’s Citi taking on a larger role in the deal by aggressive choice, which signals that the economics for American are improved – which will grow even more with points transfers from ThankYou Rewards.
Citi had an opportunity to be exclusive 8 years ago, and transfers from Citi’s ThankYou Rewards to AAdvantage were on the table, but the bank balked at such an expensive deal. Cobrands have only become even more expensive since then, and Citi did briefly have transfers to AAdvantage after American had launched the feature with Bilt Rewards (American and Bilt are no longer partners).
Here’s what consumers should know:
- You can currently get both Citibank and Barclays AAdvantage card products today. Flight attendants on board American Airlines flights often remind passengers of this. That means more miles than under a single issuer.
- The opportunity to do this will likely be going away. So you should consider jumping on it sooner rather than later.
- Since Barclays cardmembers will be transitioned to Citi products, Barclays cardmembers will want to consider cancelling Barclays cards before being transitioned, since there’s a risk that holding one of these cards will preclude a bonus on a Citi product in the future.
- We’ll likely see new and modified Citi products, but the general trend is towards higher annual fees. And while these products may be better integrated with AAdvantage, a higher price point for Citi suggests not just American gaining more of the bank’s surplus from the deal but consumers’ as well. Banks have been able to offer their own-branded cards richer than airline cards because of the amount airlines take from these deals and that amount is only going up.
- Greater specifics aren’t yet available, other than that Citi will become exclusive issuer in 2026 and Citi “will begin transitioning [Barclays] cardmembers to the Citi portfolio in 2026.
- “Barclays cardmembers will continue to experience the same benefits they do today.”
Today there’s not just competition between AAdvantage cobrands and other rewards products, but between cobrand issuers of the AAdvantage cards. That’s good for consumers and it’s something we’ll lose, while American will see better economics from their deal no doubt. If there’s a consumer upside here it’s the certainty of a 10-year time horizon, which will allow a slow-moving bank and program to innovate with a long enough runway. So hopefully we see some creativity in card going forward.
I am personally disappointed that I will lose the Barclays Aviator Silver, which I spend on for my federal tax payments because one of the processors treats it as a debit card – letting me earn miles and loyalty points for a flat $2.50 rather than ~ 1.9%. Assuming card number changes in the future, that benefit is unlikely to survive a move to Citi.
Meanwhile, Barclays continues as a smaller player in cobrand having recently announced deals with Breeze Airways, GM, XBox, and the expansion into a premium JetBlue card that helps fund their entry into airport lounges.
Boo!! Churning the Barclays AAviator card was nice while it lasted. Make a single purchase, pay a $99 annual fee, get $700+ in value with a sign-up bonus of 70K AA miles, and cancel the card 1 day after the first year anniversary.
Thoughts on when we’ll see TY transfers to AA. Presumably before 2026…
*The What Meme* Had no idea the AAviator Silver had that loophole with taxes. Could have saved thousands of dollars over the years!
Well, assuming we actually can transfer TYPs to AA, looks like I’ll be getting a Strata card sometime in 2025.
Which processor treated tax payments as debit transactions?
I just got the Barclay’s AA card that had a 70 SUB for a $95 AF and any first charge. (miles have not posted yet). Should I cancel it before the end of 2024? Will that blow my miles or my credit?
Please let us know which processor treats the aviator silver as a debit card!
@Corky CIti takes over in 2026. There is no need to dump a card you just got.
Not surprising. AA and Citi have had a partnership since AAdvantage was created.
Hi, which federal tax processor are you referring to? Thanks!!
I am not pleased, the Citi product was always inferior…bonus miles awarded far later after issuance and after spending a great deal. It comes across as an offer for the well off or established business traveler and so to me is less effective at bringing in new customers and more loyalty. All three of my family members have Barclays cards and one tries the Citi and cancelled it when they found out about the spending requirements. We all now use these cards for our travel expenses and I use mine for business and more. The web interface for Citi is also lacking in many ways.
Since it is going away, which operator treats as debit card? I’d like to do that in ~Jan 2025 to achieve the next milestone.
I keep the AA Barclays card as it is the only card that offers chip and PIN security. The PIN is not used in the US but when I travel overseas the PIN makes it possible to buy gas and train tickets at kiosks that require a PIN.
I could make ex plat again if I only knew the combination of card and tax paying company that treated that card as a debit card. Or even if I could identify how to test it with each of the processors.
The WSJ article on this says AA will increase revenue from banks by 10%. That’s material.
I did not know the aviator silver was treated as a debit card for tax payment! That’s huge, especially if you want to “overpay”.
Dang, given the 24 month rule before getting the bonus again I won’t be able to get another Barclay’s bonus before the conversion… unless anyone knows of instances where you can earn the bonus sooner than 24 months after cancelling the card…?
I worry about the transfer partnership. A unique part of AA ‘sound’ currency supply is 1) expiration date on the miles and 2) no big bank transfer partner.
Look what happened to DL and UA who implemented both of those things.
@Andrew
I didn’t think Barclays had that rule. I thought it was only Citi.
Hello Gary, Could you please elaborate on the IRS Payments processing for $2.50? Will this work for any IRS payment through a certain processing portal?
Bah, I should have cancelled instead of renewing it this year. And it looks like the Barclay AA Business car was already pulled.
Thanks for reporting the Citi-AA exclusive deal so well. Please, which platform for paying IRS taxes considers Barclays Silver Aviator as a debit card? Please, do tell us.
“Barclays cardmembers will be transitioned to Citi products” Are you sure about this? What about those lucky Barclays customers who have been unceremoniously shutdown by Citi? I can already see my status dropping :O
Thanks for this informative post. Does this mean that the AA-specific Citi card will also go away, since TY points will be transferable to AA down the line?
@ Andrew
I guess I’m likely wrong. I was basing that off a post from “upgraded points” that said 24 months from cancelling…
But after your response here I searched again and Frequent Miler says “Barclays also has a rule that you can only get a welcome offer on a card for a second time if it’s been more than 24 months since you last received a welcome offer on the same card”
And One Mile at a Time says 6 months after closing… “Generally speaking, you’re eligible for the bonus on a Barclays card if you’ve closed the same card at least six months ago, though there’s a lot of inconsistency there”
So, probably worth trying to apply again sometime soon-ish.
I wonder how long Barclays will continue offering sign-up bonuses on the personal cards? Are they likely to stop now or in early 2025 or will they continue all the way to the end of 2025?
I guess that depends on how much Citi is paying Barclays for the converted accounts.
I’m going to miss flight cents and the companion passes. This sucks in so many ways
“Since Barclays cardmembers will be transitioned to Citi products, Barclays cardmembers will want to consider cancelling Barclays cards before being transitioned, since there’s a risk that holding one of these cards will preclude a bonus on a Citi product in the future.”
I would argue the opposite of this. Currently, eligibility for Citi signup bonus eligibility is determined solely by the last time you earned the signup bonus on a particular card; so holding a card in and of itself is not a problem. If Barclays cardholders are transitioned to a Citi card they want the SUB on, all they have to do is cancel, wait a few days, and apply. Conversely, it’s also possible that holding a Barclays AA card at the time of the transition may grandfather you into a type of card and/or benefits that won’t otherwise be available.
None of this is going into effect until 2026, so we’ll have at least a year to learn more about Citi’s plans for Barclays cardholders, with plenty of time still to cancel before the conversion goes into effect.
Details on which tax service you use that treats it as a debit?
@Dan Raviv – mine works at pay1040
@John Blythe – a few cards seem to work at pay1040
Silver Aviator MC doesn’t work for me at pay1040. 🙁
Willing to share which other cards seem to work @ pay1040? This is an awesome tip, thanks!
@rob: if you need to make a purchase at a machine in Europe that only accepts chip-and-pin cards those machines will generally also accept any card through a phone wallet.
“I am personally disappointed that I will lose the Barclays Aviator Silver, which I spend on for my federal tax payments because one of the processors treats it as a debit card – letting me earn miles and loyalty points for a flat $2.50 rather than ~ 1.9%. Assuming card number changes in the future, that benefit is unlikely to survive a move to Citi.”
Which processor — have you been gatekeeping this?!?
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT cancel Barclays cards! It significantly hurt your chances of getting new Barclays cards in the future. Much safer to cancel after transition if you so choose.
@jnrfalcon , do you have any links or datapoints to elaborate on the interesting claim that Barclays cancellations make new cards more difficult? TIA.
Gary, FWIW I’m with Mark D. Willard. Will be keeping my Barclays business AA card just to see how it transitions over to Citi.
I recently got the Aviator Red Mastercard in order to take advantage of the Pay1040 thing but my payments were coded as credit card payments (and hit with the resulting fee). Anyone else get this to work lately?
@Andrew – it was never aviator red that worked, afaik only older aviator silvers (and some other unrelated cards)
@nik – i have written about this multiple times, pay1040…
So what is the future for the folks out there who have both the Citi Executive Mastercard and the Silver Aviator from Barclay and have been using both each year and getting the Loyalty Point bonuses from both cards for their status runs?
American has a credit card relationship with both Barclays and Citi, and today we announced Citi will become our exclusive credit card issuer in 2026.
Gary, what’s the name of the service that you use to pay taxes? Gary, a follow-up question: what’s the name of the service that you use to pay taxes? Gary, lastly, what’s the name of the service that you use to pay taxes? Gary, please put that knife away.
AA has expressly stated that Barclays AA cards will transition to Citi cards (and will have new card numbers). While your Barclays card account will be closed, its history will remain in your credit report. Your new Citi card will be a new account and (if it is a personal card) will affect your 5/24 account — deal with it. AA has expressly stated that the benefits of Barclays AA cards will be preserved — how has not been stated. BEYOND THIS, AA HAS SAID IT WILL RELEASE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRANSITION IN LATE 2025.
I’ll miss the Barclays silver card. You get 15k bonus loyalty points and the companion tickets every year. I have the Citi card and you don’t get any extras unless you go up to the executive card but the fee is 600 plus another 175 for an authorized user. Maybe Citi will come out with summer cards in between…….
I don’t foresee barclay closing accounts but transitioning to a generic barclay card and the AA side to Citi. They did so when they lost the Apple contract.
Disappointed for sure since I have better perks than my coworker who currently as AA citi
Official Email I got as follows
American has a credit card relationship with both Barclays and Citi, and today we announced Citi will become our exclusive credit card issuer in 2026.
For now, there is nothing for you to do. You’ll still enjoy your current AAdvantage® Aviator® Mastercard® credit card benefits at this time, and in 2026, AAdvantage® Aviator® Mastercard® credit cards will begin to transition over to Citi.
In the meantime, keep in mind:
• You can continue to earn AAdvantage® miles and Loyalty Points when you use your AAdvantage® Aviator® Mastercard® credit card as normal.
• Any AAdvantage® miles and Loyalty Points earned with your credit card are available in your AAdvantage® account.
• You’ll continue to enjoy exclusive travel benefits and be able to use miles for unique experiences with American and our partners.
We’ll have more to share on the transition at the end of 2025, and you can expect to receive a new credit card from Citi in 2026. Thank you for your loyalty
I have 500,000 miles. Will I lose them.. what should I d
@Jay, exactly which “generic” Barclays card would that be?
I have a $39,000 credit limit, will that limit also transfer with citi?
I’m joining the chorus of other comments here. Which IRS payment processor treats Barclays cards as debit? Thanks!
“I am personally disappointed that I will lose the Barclays Aviator Silver, which I spend on for my federal tax payments because one of the processors treats it as a debit card – letting me earn miles and loyalty points for a flat $2.50 rather than ~ 1.9%. Assuming card number changes in the future, that benefit is unlikely to survive a move to Citi.”
@HMB as I’ve noted elsewhere and above in the comments, pay1040.com treats SOME this way
My Aviator Silver AA card got the flat rate in late Sept and showed it would get the flat rate when I check in early December, but I was holding off until the end of the month. Now it shows the 1.87% charge, so I think they’ve fixed the loophole. Perhaps the volume of end of year tax payments caused them to notice.