Barclay US Airways Card Becoming AAdvantage Mastercard
Mar 2, 2015, 6:33 pm
#316
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
Did anyone get the Silver invite e-mail tonight? Or did everyone get Red?
Mar 2, 2015, 7:31 pm
#317
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: PHL
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AA Gold, FB Gold, ITA Volare Executive
Posts: 3,294
Red. Sigh.
Not that I wasn't warned. Last week, when I called in to get the AF waived on one of my existing Barclays US Mastercards, I told the retention specialist -- honestly -- that a big disappointment for me was the loss of the capacity to earn PQMs via the card.
This retention specialist seemed well informed, and was certainly garrulous. She said that what were called PQMs would now be EQMs -- I liked the fact that she knew the difference; my ears perked up -- but... that the Silver cards had been accorded earlier to special folk. I was hurt. Wasn't I special? I pointed out that $80,000 or so that my household pushed through on US MCs last year. She said that she could see that, and that if I kept spending money on the card, maybe they would consider me for a Silver in the future.
I thought about this weekend when I pushed about $5,000 in US airline tickets through a Chase credit card. The nice agent at US even asked me, for one of the sets of tickets, whether I wanted to use a US MC. Didn't I have one?
Didn't have the heart to tell her that the relationship is over where I'm concerned. No hard feelings, just business. Use up a couple more companion certificates and move along ...
Sheesh.
Not that I wasn't warned. Last week, when I called in to get the AF waived on one of my existing Barclays US Mastercards, I told the retention specialist -- honestly -- that a big disappointment for me was the loss of the capacity to earn PQMs via the card.
This retention specialist seemed well informed, and was certainly garrulous. She said that what were called PQMs would now be EQMs -- I liked the fact that she knew the difference; my ears perked up -- but... that the Silver cards had been accorded earlier to special folk. I was hurt. Wasn't I special? I pointed out that $80,000 or so that my household pushed through on US MCs last year. She said that she could see that, and that if I kept spending money on the card, maybe they would consider me for a Silver in the future.
I thought about this weekend when I pushed about $5,000 in US airline tickets through a Chase credit card. The nice agent at US even asked me, for one of the sets of tickets, whether I wanted to use a US MC. Didn't I have one?
Didn't have the heart to tell her that the relationship is over where I'm concerned. No hard feelings, just business. Use up a couple more companion certificates and move along ...
Sheesh.
Mar 2, 2015, 7:51 pm
#318
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: JZRO
Posts: 9,169
Just got this email from Barclay Card:
As part of the integration of US Airways and American Airlines, your current
US Airways Dividend Miles® MasterCard® will be replaced with an AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red MasterCard®.¹ Your new card will arrive between April 1 and July 15, 2015. Until your new AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red MasterCard® arrives, please continue to use your current US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard.
Visit AviatorMasterCard.com/Red to learn about the benefits and features that will come with your new card.
Register now to earn 50% more miles on qualifying purchases²
Join us in celebrating the upcoming integration of the Dividend Miles® program into the AAdvantage® loyalty program when you register to earn 50% more miles on every purchase you make with either your US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard or your new AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red MasterCard® from March 1 through June 30, 2015, up to 10,000 bonus miles.
(omitted table due to formatting issues)
*Bonus miles will appear on your statement 6-8 weeks after the end of the promotion.
Extra miles is always good!
As part of the integration of US Airways and American Airlines, your current
US Airways Dividend Miles® MasterCard® will be replaced with an AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red MasterCard®.¹ Your new card will arrive between April 1 and July 15, 2015. Until your new AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red MasterCard® arrives, please continue to use your current US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard.
Visit AviatorMasterCard.com/Red to learn about the benefits and features that will come with your new card.
Register now to earn 50% more miles on qualifying purchases²
Join us in celebrating the upcoming integration of the Dividend Miles® program into the AAdvantage® loyalty program when you register to earn 50% more miles on every purchase you make with either your US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard or your new AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red MasterCard® from March 1 through June 30, 2015, up to 10,000 bonus miles.
(omitted table due to formatting issues)
*Bonus miles will appear on your statement 6-8 weeks after the end of the promotion.
Extra miles is always good!
Mar 2, 2015, 7:58 pm
#319
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,528
Got the e-mail too. Wondering out loud, are there any downsides to letting the Dividend Miles card become the Aviator Red card? (Canceling the card now will stop the conversion.) For example, will having the Aviator Red card preclude getting bonus miles down the road when applying for the Aviator Red card—assuming there actually ever are such bonus offers. I'm just wondering out loud, remember. Any other potential downsides?
If you want to churn, you'll have to look to Citi.
Mar 2, 2015, 8:18 pm
#320
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
No one will ever be able to apply for any Aviator card (Red or Silver or otherwise). Barclay bank did not get the rights from AA to accept applications for AA credit cards. It only got the rights to convert existing US cards to AA cards, nothing more. So Barclay will not able to issue new AA cards, the only way to get AA (Aviator) cards from Barclays is to have a US card at the moment of conversion.
Mar 2, 2015, 9:57 pm
#321
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 3,975
I haven't gotten the email yet, but when I logged into my US Barclays account, there was a link to register to get the 50% miles bonus on spending starting March 1, so people may want to look for that.
Also there's news out on some blogs that there will be four versions of the Aviator card: in addition to Red and Silver, there's no color (but edge of the card is white) for the downgrade offer of no fee and 1 mile per $2, and Blue, with 1 mile per $1 but few or no extras, possibly for people who had the BofA card. Details by modifying the URL that's been posted for the Red card.
Also there's news out on some blogs that there will be four versions of the Aviator card: in addition to Red and Silver, there's no color (but edge of the card is white) for the downgrade offer of no fee and 1 mile per $2, and Blue, with 1 mile per $1 but few or no extras, possibly for people who had the BofA card. Details by modifying the URL that's been posted for the Red card.
Mar 2, 2015, 10:05 pm
#322
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,528
I haven't gotten the email yet, but when I logged into my US Barclays account, there was a link to register to get the 50% miles bonus on spending starting March 1, so people may want to look for that.
Also there's news out on some blogs that there will be four versions of the Aviator card: in addition to Red and Silver, there's no color (but edge of the card is white) for the downgrade offer of no fee and 1 mile per $2, and Blue, with 1 mile per $1 but few or no extras, possibly for people who had the BofA card. Details by modifying the URL that's been posted for the Red card.
Also there's news out on some blogs that there will be four versions of the Aviator card: in addition to Red and Silver, there's no color (but edge of the card is white) for the downgrade offer of no fee and 1 mile per $2, and Blue, with 1 mile per $1 but few or no extras, possibly for people who had the BofA card. Details by modifying the URL that's been posted for the Red card.
Colorless - https://www.barclaycardus.com/servicing/aviator
Blue - http://www.aviatormastercard.com/blue
Red - http://www.aviatormastercard.com/red
Silver - http://www.aviatormastercard.com/silver
Interestingly, I see no reference to the reduced mileage awards. I wonder if this will be Citi-exclusive?
Mar 2, 2015, 10:23 pm
#323
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SJC
Programs: AA, AS, Marriott
Posts: 6,064
No one will ever be able to apply for any Aviator card (Red or Silver or otherwise). Barclay bank did not get the rights from AA to accept applications for AA credit cards. It only got the rights to convert existing US cards to AA cards, nothing more. So Barclay will not able to issue new AA cards, the only way to get AA (Aviator) cards from Barclays is to have a US card at the moment of conversion.
Mar 3, 2015, 6:56 am
#324
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: US Airways Gold, Marriott Platinum, SW A List
Posts: 1,575
Most anticipate that once the conversion happens and they give you the red card, you can call and get the Silver version.
Mar 3, 2015, 6:59 am
#325
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
Mar 3, 2015, 8:31 am
#326
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: US Airways Gold, Marriott Platinum, SW A List
Posts: 1,575
Mar 3, 2015, 8:52 am
#327
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SJC
Programs: AA, AS, Marriott
Posts: 6,064
I hope so. I might even try calling just to inquire, going so far as to say that there's no reason for me to keep this card if the benefits are the same. However, I don't want to get locked out of getting the Silver just because I waited too long. I don't know about the flexibility of upgrading to the Silver after the conversion.
Mar 3, 2015, 9:12 am
#328
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: NYS
Programs: Days of Our Lives, General Hospital
Posts: 1,495
According to the web page, the card will be chipped ("after the US Airways and American Airlines frequent flyer programs are combined in 2015.").
Mar 3, 2015, 10:36 am
#329
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: NC
Programs: HHonors-Diamond, IHG-Gold, AA Platinum, National-Exec Elite, Avis-First
Posts: 42
I have two US Air Cards (Just received the second one a month ago - 50K bonus 
).
My first card is 2 years old and is their top tier World Elite US Airways Card, my newer one is the standard Premier World US Airways card.
I received 2 emails last night linking both to an Aviator Red... I was slightly miffed.
I called this morning about my World Elite being lowered to an Aviator Red (Loooooong wait - I'm not the only one calling in either):
- 1st Level - Red is the same as your current card.
- Me Mentally- Not Even Close
- Me Verbally - I will be losing 10K PQM (now EQM - Aviator Silver is 5k @ $20k up to 10K max EQM), Companion Pass (yes I easily meet the spend for the new Silver card pass) US based service and concierge (has gotten me many last minute dinner reservations, tickets etc for customer visits) . I also responded that the 3x and 2x were very valuable upgrades to me.
- 1st Level - The card has a much higher annual fee ($189 vs $89).
- Me - If you look at my spend the last two years I will easily make the annual fee back many times over.
- 1st Level - Sir we currently can't upgrade status.
- Me - Manager Please
5 Min Later I have a very nice manager who knows the program very well. The manager apparently already had 2 others like me call this morning.
I won't go into exhaustive detail but apparently they are frozen on upgrades (or downgrades) until after the merger (~30 days or so according to this manager). The freeze has something to do with # of cards created and some back server banking issues.
Normally they can upgrade accounts and I was told this could possibly become a retention tactic after this "freeze" (based on credit worthiness etc) but the manager can't access the system to do that until after the merger.
I'm not happy but guessing they gave the Aviator Silver to a few whales (I wouldn't have thought 60K spend was peanuts but meh) and are planning on upgrading/downgrading people after the dust settles.
).My first card is 2 years old and is their top tier World Elite US Airways Card, my newer one is the standard Premier World US Airways card.
I received 2 emails last night linking both to an Aviator Red... I was slightly miffed.
I called this morning about my World Elite being lowered to an Aviator Red (Loooooong wait - I'm not the only one calling in either):
- 1st Level - Red is the same as your current card.
- Me Mentally- Not Even Close
- Me Verbally - I will be losing 10K PQM (now EQM - Aviator Silver is 5k @ $20k up to 10K max EQM), Companion Pass (yes I easily meet the spend for the new Silver card pass) US based service and concierge (has gotten me many last minute dinner reservations, tickets etc for customer visits) . I also responded that the 3x and 2x were very valuable upgrades to me.
- 1st Level - The card has a much higher annual fee ($189 vs $89).
- Me - If you look at my spend the last two years I will easily make the annual fee back many times over.
- 1st Level - Sir we currently can't upgrade status.
- Me - Manager Please
5 Min Later I have a very nice manager who knows the program very well. The manager apparently already had 2 others like me call this morning.
I won't go into exhaustive detail but apparently they are frozen on upgrades (or downgrades) until after the merger (~30 days or so according to this manager). The freeze has something to do with # of cards created and some back server banking issues.
Normally they can upgrade accounts and I was told this could possibly become a retention tactic after this "freeze" (based on credit worthiness etc) but the manager can't access the system to do that until after the merger.
I'm not happy but guessing they gave the Aviator Silver to a few whales (I wouldn't have thought 60K spend was peanuts but meh) and are planning on upgrading/downgrading people after the dust settles.
Mar 3, 2015, 11:01 am
#330
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: NYC
Posts: 581
I have two US Air Cards (Just received the second one a month ago - 50K bonus ).
My first card is 2 years old and is their top tier World Elite US Airways Card, my newer one is the standard Premier World US Airways card.
I received 2 emails last night linking both to an Aviator Red... I was slightly miffed.
I called this morning about my World Elite being lowered to an Aviator Red (Loooooong wait - I'm not the only one calling in either):
- 1st Level - Red is the same as your current card.
- Me Mentally- Not Even Close
- Me Verbally - I will be losing 10K PQM (now EQM - Aviator Silver is 5k @ $20k up to 10K max EQM), Companion Pass (yes I easily meet the spend for the new Silver card pass) US based service and concierge (has gotten me many last minute dinner reservations, tickets etc for customer visits) . I also responded that the 3x and 2x were very valuable upgrades to me.
- 1st Level - The card has a much higher annual fee ($189 vs $89).
- Me - If you look at my spend the last two years I will easily make the annual fee back many times over.
- 1st Level - Sir we currently can't upgrade status.
- Me - Manager Please
5 Min Later I have a very nice manager who knows the program very well. The manager apparently already had 2 others like me call this morning.
I won't go into exhaustive detail but apparently they are frozen on upgrades (or downgrades) until after the merger (~30 days or so according to this manager). The freeze has something to do with # of cards created and some back server banking issues.
Normally they can upgrade accounts and I was told this could possibly become a retention tactic after this "freeze" (based on credit worthiness etc) but the manager can't access the system to do that until after the merger.
I'm not happy but guessing they gave the Aviator Silver to a few whales (I wouldn't have thought 60K spend was peanuts but meh) and are planning on upgrading/downgrading people after the dust settles.
).My first card is 2 years old and is their top tier World Elite US Airways Card, my newer one is the standard Premier World US Airways card.
I received 2 emails last night linking both to an Aviator Red... I was slightly miffed.
I called this morning about my World Elite being lowered to an Aviator Red (Loooooong wait - I'm not the only one calling in either):
- 1st Level - Red is the same as your current card.
- Me Mentally- Not Even Close
- Me Verbally - I will be losing 10K PQM (now EQM - Aviator Silver is 5k @ $20k up to 10K max EQM), Companion Pass (yes I easily meet the spend for the new Silver card pass) US based service and concierge (has gotten me many last minute dinner reservations, tickets etc for customer visits) . I also responded that the 3x and 2x were very valuable upgrades to me.
- 1st Level - The card has a much higher annual fee ($189 vs $89).
- Me - If you look at my spend the last two years I will easily make the annual fee back many times over.
- 1st Level - Sir we currently can't upgrade status.
- Me - Manager Please
5 Min Later I have a very nice manager who knows the program very well. The manager apparently already had 2 others like me call this morning.
I won't go into exhaustive detail but apparently they are frozen on upgrades (or downgrades) until after the merger (~30 days or so according to this manager). The freeze has something to do with # of cards created and some back server banking issues.
Normally they can upgrade accounts and I was told this could possibly become a retention tactic after this "freeze" (based on credit worthiness etc) but the manager can't access the system to do that until after the merger.
I'm not happy but guessing they gave the Aviator Silver to a few whales (I wouldn't have thought 60K spend was peanuts but meh) and are planning on upgrading/downgrading people after the dust settles.