OP here's a few things I waited to post at risk of offering redundant info -
-I concur with whomever said try Barclay's first. I've been reading they are tough on thin profiles, and sensitive to recent inquiries and accounts.
-The Aviator card requires no real spending. The AF is not waived. Once it bills, you pay it, and also make a purchase within 90 days you will get the SUB.
-Citi card has a few different bonuses out there. Applying on general websites will get you 40,000 miles for something like $1000 in spend in 90days, then 10,000 more points for something like $6,000 total spend within 6 months - total 50,000 miles. I also saw an offer on their site for 50,000 miles for $3000 spend in 90 days. When I booked a flight direct on AA site I saw something like 30,000 miles for $1,000 spend and a $250 statement credit for making an AA purchase within 12 months. If you are saavy on redemptions then the first 2 offers are better, it's just a matter of amount of spend required in 90 days versus 180 days, total miles are the same.
- if you can justify a business card then you can take advantage of the current business card offer which is 70,000 miles for $4,000 spend in 4 months. The business card also has an expanded set of 2x miles categories. I don't think you have a Chase Sapphire or a general travel card? so the 2x rental cars could be useful.
AF is slightly different for consumer/business, like $4 but all cards have AF waived.
-I personally went for the business card. I recently started a business and got the Citi card instead of the Barclay's Aviator Red business.
$4,000 in spend is a bit higher but I went for it anyway. the AF is waived first year. 70,000 SUB is the largest either ever or in a long time from what I read. If not for the 70,000 I would have gone for the Barclay's card since even though the AF is immediate, the 50,000 bonus miles only requires 1 purchase - BUT the SUB this fall was just 60,000 miles. I applied in September for personal version and was declined because of new accounts. Wasn't afraid to apply again, this time would have been for business - but since the SUB just went down on Barclays and up on Citi - I went that route. Will be spending $4,000 on the business anyway
HOWEVER - since it's the holidays maybe you want to consider holiday budgeting with the SUB? if you're the type that will put the holiday spend on the card then great but if you're recovering from the holiday and preparing for tax season, since you said 2-3 months then maybe the Barclays card is the right first move since minimal spend would be required to actually qualify for SUB. Plus taking that as first card could be a smart move, since it does not look like you have too many recent accounts. Then wait at least 6 months before going for the other card to avoid the notorious "Barclays adverse action"
ALSO - if i reviewed the cards I'd say that Barclays wins the 'finishing touch' category. Citi has a $100 Flight voucher for spending $20,000 in a year. that's a really lame return @ 0.005%. the Biz version is slightly better since it gives you a $99 companion ticket for $30,000 spend in a year. Both are a little bit light for a heavy amount of spend.
Barclays Biz gives you the same companion certificate offer but also gives an annual bonus 5% miles. so if you earn 10,000 miles in a year you'll get an extra 500. I have not read all of the fine print but I would guess they don't count the SUB 50,000 towards the annual bonus. If they did that would be awesome.
last "HOWEVER" you might only need 1 of these cards IF ANY. I get your motivation, but you can still get good value out of either 'general travel' cards or 'transferrable points' travel cards for your needs. You can use other cards to increase your flight rewards but either get a higher return on the same flights or get the same return on the flights but then get higher returns on non-AA spend.
AA finally has the EQM, EQD, EQS status requirements and neither card gives you the ability to get past any of those requirements, you only get miles towards award tickets.
That being said you can get general travel cards that offer 'purchase eraser' like Barclays Arrival, Capital One Venture, Wells Fargo Propel, etc.
Or you can go for AMEX Gold or Platinum, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, or even get both worlds with Capital One Venture. AA award tickets can be booked through partners so it's my understanding that both AMEX Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, as well as Capital One miles can be used for AA partner award tickets.
You can get similar bonuses - Gold(25k or 50k referral), Platinum - 60k or above(targeted), 50k for either Sapphire card, and 50k from Cap1 based on 70,000 SUB transferring @ 2:1.5 ratio for 12 or 14 partners.
so you can continue to earn status and miles based on normal AA travel, get award tickets from either AA co-branded cards or other travel cards, but then with both general-travel and transferrable-travel cards you can earn either at a higher rate because AMEX Gold and Platinum earn 3x/5x respectively on directly booked flights and then get higher returns than Citi/Barclays on everyday spend, travel spend, grocery, supermarket, etc.
Not trying to bash your idea. I started off trying to help make the evaluation but since you're on the board I wanted to offer knowledge that I wish I knew back when I only had a couple credit cards. I definitely would have made getting certain cards a priority and would have acquired cards in a different order to maximize my returns.
Best of luck on your plan. I hope you get the cards you want. Feel free to reach out if I can help out any more I certainly will try.
