Most airlines have exclusivity with a single bank for issuing credit cards. That way they can negotiate a high rate of compensation for selling miles to the bank, typically around 2 cents per mile for ongoing spending on a co-brand card.
When American merged with USAirways they brought over both Citi and Barclays and neither bank wanted to pay even higher rates that American was asking for, so Barclays won out on in-flight and in-airport (except for in and around Admiral’s Clubs) and Citi won out on online and lounge marketing.
While most other airlines offer the ability to transfer points from at least one major bank, American was a notable holdout, with no transfer options other than a 5 month window in 2021 from Citi ThankYou points.
Generally speaking, I don’t recommend spending on co-brand cards as your miles are subject to devaluation. You are best off earning points that can be transferred to multiple airlines or that can be used for increased value on paid flights.
Airlines have gotten wise to people doing that and most now offer the ability to earn elite status and other perks for using their co-brand cards, though elite status is not what it used to be. Not long ago, most first class seats went to elites for free, but elite upgrades have become a unicorn these days as airlines sell the vast majority of their first class seats.
That American co-brand contract came up for renewal and Citi has won exclusivity from 2026-2035.
As part of the agreement, Barclays cardholders will be transitioned to Citi cards in 2026.
That will mean fewer opportunities for signup bonuses, as Barclays AA cards won’t be available starting in 2026.
However, the press release says the agreement includes an alignment with the Citi ThankYou program, so I’d assume that means that ThankYou points will once again become transferrable to American, which is great news!
What do you think of Citi being the exclusive co-brand issuer for American Airlines in the US?
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21 Comments On "Citi Will Gain Exclusivity On American Airlines Co-Brand Cards"
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Devalution of AA miles will come soon…
Transferring TYP over to AA is not really practical as its so hard to earn large amounts of TYP.
Strong disagree, they have several cards with point multipliers
The Citi Trifecta? 2x per dollar on everything with the Citi Double-Cash, 3x for groceries, restaurants, gas/EV, and travel on Premier, rounded up to the nearest 10 on Citi Rewards+ (plus 10% rebate on up to 100K per year of points transfers).
For me, it goes Chase (thanks solely to the Ink Cash 5x), Citi, Amex, Cap One.
I get 2500 points every month with the Custom Cash with very little effort.
i get 4 times that but that is not big numbers even after a yr of earning
This is great news if TY will transfer to AA.
If my Barclays card converts to a Citi card, will I keep the credit limit that I have now?
when will this take into place? would be nice to transfer thank you points to AA..
I haven’t flown AA in years because of this inability to transfer points into their program.
What is the heights AA miles sign up bonus. From AA or others banks to transfer to AA
I already have both the Barclays and Citi American cards as well as a Citi American business card. So when Barclays “transitions” cardholders to Citi, do I lose the account since I have one already?
The benefits I use as a Platinum member are early boarding, two free suitcases, and premium seats for free when booking a flight. The miles earned are secondary.
A bunch of years back my Citi shut down my AA card without an explanation and I haven’t been able to get approved since… to the extent that when I tried to add myself as an authorized user on a Citi card belonging to my wife, the account was immediately frozen and she was issued a new card.
Is there any chance my Barclays AA card will transition to Citi?
Yes.
There is a chance
If I have barclays card should I sign up for the card card now to take advantage of an offer?
The nice thing about the Barclays card is you get the SUB with your first purchase (in my case, my only purchase).
Are aa miles worth anything special?
Yes, all depends on the route. Google the top uses. There’s also good deals on AA metal.
Dan, Thanks for all you do
Till when can one sign up for Barclay AA card?
Is there a final date yet?
Thanks
AA miles are valuable only because they are hard to come by. They will be forced to devalue and possibly kill their award charts off. I could not care less about the “exclusivity” but the abilty to transfer TYP to AA is brutal in the long run
I am curious about how many AA credit cards Dan has currently for himself.
I have never had an AA-issued credit card. At one point I earned some AA miles from a Citibank debit card, but it amounted to peanuts compared to the millions of miles I earned from flying AA and AA program partners.