Called two months ago ref my Barclays Aviator AF, was transferred to Retention after I said I'd like to close the card. However, Retention said no offer in system to have AF waived. I told her to go ahead and close it and she proceed to read the disclosure statement, etc. In the end, I asked how long do I have to cancel and she said 60 days after the AF posted. I told her to hold off and will call later. She said good idea because by then, there may be an offer to waive AF in system.

Called last month to waive my SO's Aviator card. Was transferred to Retention and right away said there's an offer to waive the AF as well as the 5K bonus for $1K spent in 90 days offer.

Called this week again about my Aviator. Told CSR to cancel and right away she asked if it's because of the AF and I said yes. Then she started to read me the closing statement. I asked her how about the option to talk to the retention department and she said the system did not direct her to transfer the call to retention. I was a bit upset but was still friendly and chatty to her as she continues reading the statement. In the end, I asked her if there's anything that can be done instead and she said she'll try more thing and put me on hold. A good five minutes later, she returned with someone from Retention. Retention said she did see an option to waive the AF as well as 5K/$1K/90days offer. I accepted of course.

Spent about $1,000 last year for both of our cards. I do put a small charge of about $5 bucks every 2-3 months because I heard Barclays is notorious for closing inactive accounts.