Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard Bonus Increased To 60,000 Miles.

[Saleen099]

Card Details

No foreign transaction fee
Annual fee of $95 is not waived the first year
First checked bag free, for the primary cardmember and up to 4 companions on eligible bags when traveling on domestic itineraries operated by American Airlines
Group 1 boarding, for the primary cardmember on domestic itineraries operated by American Airlines
10% of your redeemed miles back, up to 10,000 per calendar year
25% inflight savings on food, beverages, and headsets on American Airlines-operated flights1
Earn 2x miles on all eligible American Airlines purchases
Earn 1x points on all other purchases.

    https://home.barclaycardus.com/cards/aadvantage-aviator-red-world-elite-mastercard.html

[Anonymous]

For those that fly AA or their partners, this is a deal to good to pass up.  Wish I had cancelled my Aviator Silver so that I could apply for this one.

[Anonymous]

Major AA hub minutes from my house but I rarely fly them.  This looks like a valuable card though -- I may try for it next year if the bonus is still good because it could turn AA into a useful company for me.

The problem is 2% back on AA booking isn't significant.  And my dad is an AA flier and he said the award redemptions are destroyed and he never finds the value he did even 3 years ago.  So it may also be a useless card.  But free checked bag for you and your companion fliers looks like it's valuable if you fly even 2 times a year.

1% on everything else is ludicrous.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Major AA hub minutes from my house but I rarely fly them.  This looks like a valuable card though -- I may try for it next year if the bonus is still good because it could turn AA into a useful company for me.

The problem is 2% back on AA booking isn't significant.  And my dad is an AA flier and he said the award redemptions are destroyed and he never finds the value he did even 3 years ago.  So it may also be a useless card.  But free checked bag for you and your companion fliers looks like it's valuable if you fly even 2 times a year.

1% on everything else is ludicrous.

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While the AA program has been devalued, if you're patient and plan ahead, there are still deals to be had.  My Aviator Silver gets 3X AA miles but of course with a higher AF.

[mongstradamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For those that fly AA or their partners, this is a deal to good to pass up.  Wish I had cancelled my Aviator Silver so that I could apply for this one.

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Its too bad no waived AF for first year though its tempting I had this card before the nerf to aa miles. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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While the AA program has been devalued, if you're patient and plan ahead, there are still deals to be had.  My Aviator Silver gets 3X AA miles but of course with a higher AF.

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Yeah I have to run some numbers.  I fly.  A LOT.  All personal travel but I probably take 60 flights a year on average -- always to and from AA hub cities.  The thing is, I usually compare my flights (Spirit/Frontier) with AA/United prices and the $120-$150 difference in airfare alone mean AA isn't valuable enough to me.  I never, ever have a carry-on or checked bag, I can fit 9 days of clothes in my free "personal item" with vacuum bags.

But I do plan on doing more international and island flights in 2018 and on, so I have to really analyze ticket prices, award redemption and the opportunity to use a carry-on or checked bag on some flights.  I think AA might become a valuable provider for me IF the award redemption works out.

The biggest benefit I think is the 500 mile upgrade, and the option to buy-up to business class on international flights.  But it's been 10 years since I regularly flew AA so I have totally lost any sense of what works.  I definitely need to park myself on travel reward blogs and analyze things.

I would have zero issue paying $150 more per roundtrip if it meant I could save $151 aggregate later on upgrades and free flights, etc.  That $1 is still $1 more in my pocket.  Since I am changing my hubs significantly in 2018+, I need to do the homework.

That Aviator Silver might be better for me -- 3X versus 2X should offet the annual fee if I am flying 250,000-300,000 miles a year.  Right now I only fly 150,000 miles a year so I think it wouldn't overcome the difference between 3X/2X but doubling my miles (and overall spend) may get me there.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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While the AA program has been devalued, if you're patient and plan ahead, there are still deals to be had.  My Aviator Silver gets 3X AA miles but of course with a higher AF.

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Yeah I have to run some numbers.  I fly.  A LOT.  All personal travel but I probably take 60 flights a year on average -- always to and from AA hub cities.  The thing is, I usually compare my flights (Spirit/Frontier) with AA/United prices and the $120-$150 difference in airfare alone mean AA isn't valuable enough to me.  I never, ever have a carry-on or checked bag, I can fit 9 days of clothes in my free "personal item" with vacuum bags.

But I do plan on doing more international and island flights in 2018 and on, so I have to really analyze ticket prices, award redemption and the opportunity to use a carry-on or checked bag on some flights.  I think AA might become a valuable provider for me IF the award redemption works out.

The biggest benefit I think is the 500 mile upgrade, and the option to buy-up to business class on international flights.  But it's been 10 years since I regularly flew AA so I have totally lost any sense of what works.  I definitely need to park myself on travel reward blogs and analyze things.

I would have zero issue paying $150 more per roundtrip if it meant I could save $151 aggregate later on upgrades and free flights, etc.  That $1 is still $1 more in my pocket.  Since I am changing my hubs significantly in 2018+, I need to do the homework.

That Aviator Silver might be better for me -- 3X versus 2X should offet the annual fee if I am flying 250,000-300,000 miles a year.  Right now I only fly 150,000 miles a year so I think it wouldn't overcome the difference between 3X/2X but doubling my miles (and overall spend) may get me there.

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I meant to post that the 1X mikes on non AA flights is pretty much standard for airline specific cards across all creditors.  To each their own but I won't ever fly on Sprit or Frontier.  I almost always fly business or first class and even those in domestic flights, first class isn't great, I can't stand sitting in economy seats. Too cramped.  Have about 800K AA miles right now.  Saving up for a return trip to Australia.  AA just changed their airplane configuration on all flights to Australia and they got rid of first class though business isn't horrendous.  Hoping to snag the elusive Qantas first class award tickets.

To get the Aviator Silver you have to get the Red version first and then upgrade.  You can't apply for it directly.

[Anonymous]

My Spirit/Frontier flights are typically only 3 hours or so.  Sometimes less.  So no long haul naturally.  And I have a spreadsheet showing I've saved approximately $48,000 booking those over the majors just in the past 2-3 years.  Hefty chunk of change in my travel budget!

But now that I am working on longer haul flights and more intercons, I do need to partner up with at least one major.  I tried Spirit once on a South America flight and will never do that again.  The airline was great, the passengers were all needing to be casually pushed out the door at 37,000 feet.  I usually fly into Warsaw (LOT) or AMS and some rare occasions I fly into FCO so I think AA has partners that go there.  Definitely going to build my travel itinerary in a spreadsheet and do some comparisons.

I'm not a big guy -- 5'8" and 155# of lean mass.  So any seat works for me, but I do prefer business class for flights over 4.5 hours, just to avoid the cattle and board quicker.  If I can get there cheaper by paying a bit more for local flights, I think it's very doable, I just need to analyze the prices and patterns and see.

Interesting about Red->Silver, just noted that on my notes for the future, thanks!  My FICOs are still in the high 600s so I'm probably 6-12 months from apping for the Red card either way, but I plan to start giving AA a chance in March or April once my summer bookings are in.

[K-in-Boston]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For those that fly AA or their partners, this is a deal to good to pass up.

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I hate to be that guy, but it's Barclaycard so I'm going to pass.  For the reasonable annual fee, it is seriously a great bargain for anyone taking a family on even a single flight once a year.  Other than double the signup bonus (which is a great incentive), the card is essentially identical to the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card, right?  I'm trying to begin considerations for airline cards (wife will apply while I am in the garden) and I'm leaning Delta or American, but Barclaycard has already spoiled their relationship with my wife at the 1 year mark and I can foresee any relationship I might have with them being disastrous in the near-term.

[Anonymous]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

For those that fly AA or their partners, this is a deal to good to pass up.

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I hate to be that guy, but it's Barclaycard so I'm going to pass.  For the reasonable annual fee, it is seriously a great bargain for anyone taking a family on even a single flight once a year.  Other than double the signup bonus (which is a great incentive), the card is essentially identical to the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card, right?  I'm trying to begin considerations for airline cards (wife will apply while I am in the garden) and I'm leaning Delta or American, but Barclaycard has already spoiled their relationship with my wife at the 1 year mark and I can foresee any relationship I might have with them being disastrous in the near-term.

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Understandable.  It is pretty much the same as the Citi AA cards but what is unique to this card and Barclays has done this before with the old USAir cards, is that other than making one purchase and paying the AF, there is no spend requirement like the typical $3K spend in 3 months.  The 60K miles matches what Citi offered for their personal cards in the very recent past.