Last edit by: ZenFlyer
AAdvantage Aviator Silver and Red Cards from BarclayCard
There are five AAdvantage-linked Aviator-branded cards by Barclaycard. Two of them can be applied for directly, the other three are upgrades or downgrades after receiving a Red card.The Many Flavors of Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator
Where can I see information on all available Barclays Barclaycard AAdvantage cards?
Aviator Red (On AA.com)
Aviator Silver (On AA.com)
Aviator Business (On AA.com)
Red cardholders may receive an offer to upgrade to Aviator Silver after a period of time that varies, usually 3-11 months. The offer appears in the online "Offers" section, if it is declined there may be no simple way to receive the upgrade. Be careful with your clicking! Silver benefits begin at the start of the next statement, but the increased annual fee won't hit until the next card-member year starts.
Aviator Silver Vs Red
Annual Fee: Silver $199 Red $99
Miles on AA Purchases: Silver 3x Red 2x
Miles on hotels and car rentals: Silver 2x, Red 1x
Miles on all other purchases: Silver 1x, Red 1x
Bonus Loyalty Points: Silver 5k LP after $20k/$40k/$50k Per Status Year Red None
In-Flight Food & Beverage: Silver $25 back/day Red 25% back
Wifi Credits: Silver $50/anniversary year Red $25/anniversary year
Companion Ticket: Silver 2 Companions Red 1 Companion (Minimum Anniversary-Year Spend Required for both)
PreCheck/Global Entry: Silver $100 credit Red No Credit
Card Benefit Details
FlyerTalk thread Citi & Barclaycard AAdvantage Credit Card Free Domestic Checked Bag / Baggage
Aviator Silver Bonus Loyalty Points: Bonuses are based on spend during status year, not anniversary year. When upgrading to Silver your Red spending will carry over. Five thousand Loyalty Points after spending $20k/$40k/$50k. You cannot stack multiple Silver accounts to earn this multiple times.
Companion Certificate: $20k in anniversary year spend required, issued about 45 days after you annual fee hits. Red gets one companion, Silver can have two. $99+tax for companions, round-trip 48 contiguous US States only unless you live in Alaska or Hawaii, in which case you may fly from your home state to the 48.
Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Silver and Red Cards (master thread)
#361
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Programs: AAdvantage Exec Platinum, Hertz #1 Club Gold Five Star, IHG Platinum, Marriott Gold, HHonors Silver
Posts: 2,039
As an aside, this technically invalidates the card, and exacerbates the problem of merchants asking for ID as a condition of card acceptance (in violation of Visa and MC network acceptance guidelines). How does this prevent fraud when stolen? Many merchants allow self checkout these days or have the cardholder maintain possession of the card for the duration of the transaction. Your liability for fraudulent transactions is zero, and you would be issued a new card with the current one cancelled in the case of it being lost or stolen.
- This prevents fraud when stolen, because when merchants ask for ID and someone can't show it, they can't use the card. Hence fraud is prevented. That helps provide protection for merchants more than me, because, yes, they are liable for someone using a card without checking their ID
- While my liability is legally zero, it is a pain in the a when a card is stolen to then update my numbers in various places. Why make things more difficult for myself when I can just write "Check ID" on the back?
- For self-checkout kiosks, obviously this doesn't do anything. However, I'd say at least 50% of the time I use my card (especially in restaurants), the vendor does still handle my credit card.
#362
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SJC
Programs: AA, AS, Marriott
Posts: 6,061
While I don't want to take things too far off topic, there are a few reasons for this:
- This prevents fraud when stolen, because when merchants ask for ID and someone can't show it, they can't use the card. Hence fraud is prevented. That helps provide protection for merchants more than me, because, yes, they are liable for someone using a card without checking their ID
- While my liability is legally zero, it is a pain in the a when a card is stolen to then update my numbers in various places. Why make things more difficult for myself when I can just write "Check ID" on the back?
- For self-checkout kiosks, obviously this doesn't do anything. However, I'd say at least 50% of the time I use my card (especially in restaurants), the vendor does still handle my credit card.
1. Even if someone did use the card, the first thing that happens when you call the card issuer is they will go through a list of recent transactions. Indicate the transactions that you've made and the ones you don't recognize. I've never had to contest anything after that point even in a case when there had been fraudulent transactions with the card.
2. When a card is stolen and you call in to get a replacement, the issuer will issue a new card with new numbers. The presence or absence of a "check ID", signature, or blank panel changes nothing in this scenario.
3. A person using a stolen card isn't likely to first try to use it at a sit down restaurant.
#366
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Philadelphia
Programs: Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,790
#367
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Indianapolis
Programs: Hilton-Diamond Lifetime Platinum AA UA, WN-CP, SPG Gold.
Posts: 7,377
#369
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,385
I believe they do but I am not "eligible" to convert the card. The rep described it as the same scenario as being "eligible" for a retention offer. I'll call again tomorrow and if I can't then I'll just cancel the card.
#370
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: US Airways, American Airlines, United
Posts: 224
The "new benefits" for Silver Aviator are not very appealing, especially in light of the fee increase. I suppose dropping the companion certificate spending to $20,000 might be beneficial to those not chasing EQDs and the second 5,000 EQMs earned when you get to $40,000 spend. I will give Barclays my perfunctory call express my disappointment with the new benefits.
#371
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: MIA
Posts: 298
Also, since it’s AA spend, it should be an automatic 75 (25x3) miles every flight. I think we need a chart showing menu items that total up to 24.99. Honestly, I don’t see this benefit lasting in its current form.
Last edited by SouthernCross; Mar 7, 2019 at 6:06 am
#372
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Philadelphia
Programs: Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,790
Do they share it, or get their own? Primary and authorized are on the same flight, is the free drinks budget $25 or $50?
Also, since it’s AA spend, it should be an automatic 75 (25x3) miles every flight. I think we need a chart showing menu items that total up to 24.99. Honestly, I don’t see this benefit lasting in its current form.
#374
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,550
A note on EQD. The form I had heard the EQD downgrade in was, it was $3K in 2019 unless you had acquired or upgraded to Silver Aviator in 2018, which I did, in which case it was $6K. However, when I called they said no, $3K. When I got my annual fee notice it said $6K, which I was planning to use if I had to argue. For a long time there was no tracker on the website and I kept seeing mentions of Silver benefits that said nothing about EQD. Today I looked at the website and it's showing my progress meter as going up to $6K @ $50K spend.
So hopefully that's the truth. Good news since I decided to go for EXP this year.
So hopefully that's the truth. Good news since I decided to go for EXP this year.
#375
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,285
A note on EQD. The form I had heard the EQD downgrade in was, it was $3K in 2019 unless you had acquired or upgraded to Silver Aviator in 2018, which I did, in which case it was $6K. However, when I called they said no, $3K. When I got my annual fee notice it said $6K, which I was planning to use if I had to argue. For a long time there was no tracker on the website and I kept seeing mentions of Silver benefits that said nothing about EQD. Today I looked at the website and it's showing my progress meter as going up to $6K @ $50K spend.
So hopefully that's the truth. Good news since I decided to go for EXP this year.
So hopefully that's the truth. Good news since I decided to go for EXP this year.