simple AA credit card strategy?
 

Hi, I am considering the following credit card strategy, with the goals being to maintain the American Airlines perks (free checked bag); mileage bonus for signing up; and avoiding the $95 fee. I don't use my AAdvantage card for anything other than these perks--I use cash rewards credit cards for all purchases. I have good credit; carry no balance; travel a few times per year, usually on American Airlines; and do not otherwise churn credit cards.

Is this a good strategy?

Year 1: I sign up for Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card as primary user and wife as authorized user and spend the $3000 in 3 months to get the bonus miles
Year 2: cancel my Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card (cannot open it again until Year 4); sign wife up for Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card with myself as authorized user
Year 3: cancel wife's Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card; I sign up for AAdvantage Aviator Red Barclay's Card with wife as authorized user
Year 4: cancel my AAdvantage Aviator Red Barclay's Card; I sign up for Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card as primary user and wife as authorized user
Year 5: repeat Year 2

Pros and cons aside, note that perks such as free checked bag are only available if the primary cardholder is on the reservation. Thus in year 2, you would only get the free bag if traveling on the same record as your wife.

I see, thanks. I sometimes fly solo, so I guess I'll just stick with my AAdvantage card and pay the annual fee and avoid the hassle of churning.

You might be able to get a retention incentive from Citi when the $95 annual fee comes due. But it might make sense to cancel and get the Aviator card, if getting 60,000 bonus miles for $95 is worth it to you.

Why not this instead:

Year 1: I sign up for Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card as primary user and wife as authorized user and spend the $3000 in 3 months to get the bonus miles, sign up for the Barclay Aviation Red card, get 60k miles with first purchase, cancel a few months later
Year 2: cancel my Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card (cannot open it again until Year 4); sign wife up for Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card with myself as authorized user, sign up for the Barclay Aviation Red card, get 60k miles with first purchase, cancel a few months later
Year 3: cancel wife's Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card;sign up for the Barclay Aviation Red card, get 60k miles with first purchase, cancel a few months later
Year 4: I sign up for Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Card as primary user and wife as authorized user, sign up for the Barclay Aviation Red card, get 60k miles with first purchase, cancel a few months later
Year 5: repeat Year 2

? :confused:

Ie, at this point Barclays is not enforcing any 24 month timing, and you can probably apply for the Avaitor Red card more than once a year if you time it right.

And Barlcay and Citi are two separate banks, so there's no need to stagger them, you can get both at the same time. And the Barclay card doesn't require minimum spend, just paying the annual fee plus doing one purchase. So it's no big financial burden (as long as you value 40k or 60k AA miles more than one annual fee).

Plus, you're forgetting that the business cards are on a separate clock. So you can do the same cycle with Citi AA Business card. (And, no you don't have to have a real business to apply for a business credit card from most banks.)

The Barclay Aviator Business card only came out a few weeks ago, so we don't know yet how often it will be possible to apply for it.

From Barclays site, in card FAQ page: The primary cardmember will earn sixty thousand (60,000) AAdvantage bonus miles after a first purchase is made on the Account within ninety (90) days of Account opening and the annual fee has been paid. This one-time AAdvantage bonus mileage offer is valid for first-time cardmembers with new accounts only. Existing cardmembers, existing accounts, and previous cardmembers with accounts closed in the past 24 months may not be eligible for this offer. This is a limited-time offer and will no longer be available after January 31, 2018. Please allow 4-6 weeks for AAdvantage bonus miles to be deposited into your AAdvantageaccount after the qualifying purchase has posted and your annual fee has been paid.

It seems they have the same 24 mo timer as citi

Simple is just to get the 4 cards over the period of time you're able to meet the spend. All the sequential cancelling, etc seems over the top since the 1st year is free.

Per what they write, yes. Per what they actually do, no.

Person after person after person who cancels and then re-applies gets the card again and gets the bonus again. See recent posts in this thread:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...-card-60k.html

You can choose to believe datapoints and get more miles, or you can choose to believe T&Cs that aren't enforced and get fewer miles. It's your choice.