austinkilgore

There's been a lot of speculation about what will happen to Barclaycard's US Airways credit card program after Dividend Miles is combined with AAdvantage. Here's a breakdown of Barclaycard's and Citi's roles going forward, as explained by officials from the two credit card issuers:

Citi Is Exclusive AAdvantage Issuer, but Barclays Stays On Board
http://bit.ly/KlxsNt

Key Takeaways:
— In the short-term, Barclaycard and Citi will both continue to operate their flier card programs under the Dividend Miles and AAdvantage brands, respectively

— Until the two FFPs merge, Barclaycard can continue to open new accounts and add new customers for its Dividend Miles program

— After the two FFPs are combined, existing Barclaycard Dividend Miles card accounts will be rebranded under AAdvantage/American Airlines

— Once Dividend Miles is phased out, only Citi will be allowed to offer new American Airlines-branded card accounts (Citi will also continue to maintain its existing portfolio)

(Full disclosure: I'm the managing editor of PaymentsSource.com and the journalist who wrote the story linked above.)

GNRMatt

Definitely good news! Especially if Barclays keeps the $99 companion certificate benefit and the 10,000 PQM benefit.

plon

Interesting to see what happens with the BofA relationship, and if they end up having 3 banks servicing their cards...

austinkilgore

BofA is no longer involved with either airline

plon

Actually you're incorrect. They still maintain cards for certain customers who did not transition to Barclays. I actually just got my new card in the mail.

Phoenixtinct

Would you mind sharing what benefits (if any) you get on US Airways?

diver858

I would strongly encourage any AA regular to consider the US Barclays card while it is still available. While the 35k miles with no min spend is nice, the $99 companion passes are a GREAT value if your family flies domestically. Barclays also has lots of targeted promotions during the year, causing us to use the card more often than we would otherwise. Wife and I each added the card last year, currently banking US miles for U or Z TATL redemption, likely convert them to AA as the FF programs merge - although the 5k discount on mileage redemptions beats the AA 10% rebate for Citi card holders in most cases. Primary downside of US award redemptions - round trips only.

bevoinva

Pretty much identical to the Barclay's card. Get sent the same companion certs; 10K preferred miles after $25K spend; double miles on US purchases; etc...

plon

Same as they were pre-Barclays, and correct me if I'm wrong, but similar to what the PWMC offers. Off the top of my head:

• $99 Companion certificate
• Zone 2 boarding
• First Class Check-in
• 10,000 PQM for $25,000 spend
• 2x Miles on US purchases
• Not having to deal with Barclays

If anyone else can fill in what I missed... We don't get the mileage discount on award bookings, that's the only one I can remember the Visa doesn't get.

tys90

Somewhat good news for me as Barclay's offers aren't available where I live but Citi's are.

austinkilgore

So it's a US Airways/Dividend Miles-branded card issued by BofA? Good to know. That's actually really interesting. Do I understand correctly that the BofA cards are only available to legacy accounts?

I do recall Barclaycard telling me during our interviews that after they acquired almost all of the BofA portfolio that there were some accounts that BofA still held onto, but we didn't discuss whether those were still open currently.

Beckles

Which is the only one I use ... besides double miles on US purchases.

One thing about the Barclays card is they've been running promos for 5x miles in certain categories pretty much every quarter it seems like lately.

UA Fan

Correct.

dangw20

I'm not sure they'll keep the DM benefits after they convert to AA branded cards:

beltway

Was nice. The no-fee 35K offer died about 36 hours ago.