OssianBlue

So this will be interesting. I waited for my statement where the annual fee for the Red is billed. Took the upgrade and the disclosure said the AF on the Silver will be billed on or after 1/18/2025--be interesting to see if I get a full year of the Silver for free.

Rossodio

If I book 4 people on the same reservation for an award ticket (domestic main cabin extra) with my Aviator card paying the $12ish in fees per person, does the 1 free checked bag perk apply? What if the reservation has been split into multiple PNR's through "divorcing" two of us for upgrades - myself and (if two seats available) someone else? I know that all 3 of the others on the reservation lose Exec Plat benefits such as being able to check 3 bags free. Does this logic apply with the credit card as well? i.e. would those 3 get their first checked bag for free still since the reservation was made for all 4 up front and their reservations were paid for using the card?

zzrayzz

I finally used my aviator silver to make (first time) an inflight food purchase. I ordered 2x of the cheese platter but the FA never charged me? They didnt even ask for my cc or payment. How does that work? Did they just forget? Or they can bill me via my seat assignment etc? Just curious how this works lol.

BahamaTodd

Yes they forgot. They are supposed to charge the card then later you will see the amount reimbursed on your statement.

MoonOverMiami

They would definitely have to swipe your card for the purchase. You definitely won't see it show up on your statement (so they're free either way in your case, without the related spend/miles). I've had them swipe and it STILL not post. Those readers and the WiFi can be buggy. They have too many passengers to serve to stop and figure it out if it's not processing right away. The card definitely makes flights interesting to work the math of $25 divided by the $4 Pringles can price.

zzrayzz

I have a question regarding the Silver's companion pass --

I want to book for 4 people (me, my wife, and 2 kids). Am I able to book me+2 kids using the companion pass but also book my wife under the same record locator? She doesn't have status so ideally I can so we can sit together in MCE seats. Does anyone know if that is possible?

CMTinPHL

I am nearly certain that you cannot have a 4th person on the same record locator. But book her separately, and then call in and ask to her record locator attached to yours. Chances are she will be able to choose a MCE seat as well. Not guaranteed, but I’ve had it work.

frank_10b

Do you have to spend the red cc $25 Wi-Fi credit before you upgrade to silver?

will the silver offer go away if you don’t accept right away?

can you ever get a fee waver retention offer on the silver card?
Thanks

cmtlatitudes

I got the silver offer periodically, in my account and via email, but just ignored it. Of course, when I finally decided I wanted to upgrade, the offer was no longer active in my account. So they do disappear after a time.

With no idea whether it'd work, I dug out a 9-10 month old email upgrade offer Barclays had sent, that I never got around to deleting. It went through immediatly without a problem.

That was maybe 3-4 years ago though. YMMV.

tommybananas

With free WiFi from T-Mobile on AA and the fact that there is usually no food to purchase onboard most domestic flights, is there really much value in the $199 annual fee? Maybe the 2 companion passes, maybe but even those are of questionable value with blackout dates during peak periods. I might not renew next month. Paying $200 for some Loyalty Points bonus but then only getting 1x on $50k in purchases, what am I missing?

frank_10b

those are good points!
I usually fly international coach so there is nothing to buy but duty free lol

AA rarely seems to have meals for sale on board

companion passes are rarely worth the hassle IMO

do all post paid T-Mobile plans include free AA WI-FI ?

TWA884

I am not impressed with Barclays fraud alerts.

Last Friday, there were approximately a dozen fraudulent transactions on my card. One temporary authorization was approved - ~$170 at Jomashop.inc - but there we numerous $0.00 temporary authorizations at Google, Priceline, Viasat, PayPal, Agoda, Stripe, Eventbrite Payments, and a few more including inDrive, a rideshare service that I never heard of before. Instead of sending me a text message or calling my cellphone, they emailed me. I can't access my personal email account on my work computer, so I did not notice that I had an email from Barclays until more than 20 minutes after it was received.

Once I called, everything was resolved to my satisfaction and the card was canceled. A new card was ordered (I received it by FedEx overnight around noon the next day).

When I got home, I found a recorded fraud alert message from Barclays on the answering machine with a timestamp of a few minutes before the email was sent.

I checked my profile and my cellphone number is designated as the primary number at which to contact me. I don't understand why they didn't use that number to call or text me. At least there was minimum hassle and no loss.

tommybananas

Not all T=Mobile plans have full-flight free wifi, but many plans do. Some cheaper plans give you 1 hour free wifi per flight if I recall.

tommybananas

What's an answering machine?

JMN57

I've been getting the offer to switch from Red to Silver but one thing you lose in car insurance coverage. That has use to me when I am in Italy (where I have a vacation home) and am renting for 30 days or less (if I am there longer, I do a short lease which has full cover). So it's a no go for me.