Wow, that’s really all I can say about the latest news from Barclaycard and American Airlines. Earlier this week, American Airlines and Barclaycard announced to total gutting of benefits offered by their co-branded Aviator credit cards. I’ve written extensively about the Aviator lineup of cards and until now have had mixed feelings about the cards. That is, until now.
One of the unique benefits offered by the Aviator lineup of credit cards from Barclaycard is the Elite Qualifying Dollar (EQD) benefit. That is, each year, Aviator card holders can earn American Airlines AAdvantage EQD through annual credit card spend. Specifically, with the Aviator Silver card, card holders could earn $3,000 EQD after spending $25,000 each year on the card. By spending an additional $25,000 ($50,000 total) card holders could earn an additional $3,000 EQD ($6,000 total).
That means through the Aviator Silver card, AAdvantage members could “easily” knock off 1/4 or 1/2 of the annual EQD requirement to earn top-tier elite status with American. For that reason, I really think this card was perfect for those who traveled a ton with the airline, but could only book inexpensive economy tickets due to corporate travel policies.
American Airlines Halves The AAdvantage Aviator Silver Card EQD Benefit
Well, unfortunately, American and Barclaycard recently announced that they will be halving the EQD benefit in 2019. Effective January 2019 AAdvantage Aviator Silver card holders will only be able to earn $3,000 EQD each year. To earn that $3,000 EQD card holders will need to spend a whopping $50,000 on the card each year! That’s right, to earn just $3,000 EQD you will have to put $50,000 of spend on this card.
With this recent change I no longer see any value in the Aviator Silver card. I just can’t fathom a scenario where it could possibly make sense to put $50,000 of spend on this card. For me personally $25,000 of annual spend on the card to earn $3,000 EQD was a stretch and $50,000 is downright impossible.
Also, if you really need to earn $3,000 EQD it’s not that hard. You can earn about $3,000 EQD by flying from SFO to HKG in a weekend for about $1,400 if you’re that desperate for EQD.
American Airlines Eliminates The EQD Beneift Offered By Other Aviator Cards
One thing worth noting is that the pricier $195/year Aviator Silver card isn’t the only Aviator card that offers an EQD benefit. Is is was the only card that offered $6,000 EQD a year, but it’s not the only one that offers $3,000 EQD.
Both the Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red and Blue card’s come with an EQD benefit. Card holders for either of those cards can earn $3,000 after spending $25,000 on the card each year. However, with the recent announcement from American plans to eliminate that benefit in 2019. Going forward, only the Aviator Silver card will offer an EQD benefit, albeit terrible.
What Does This Mean For The Aviator Lineup Of Cards
Well for starters it’s worth noting that this change is coming in two waves. The change is effective January 2019 for those who opened their cards in 2017 and effective January 2020 for those who opened their cards in 2018. So, if you recently opened an Aviator card specifically for the EQD benefit you still have another year to go.
With that being said, I’d hope no one uses this card in 2019. In fact, I really hope everyone with an Aviator card opts to close their account in 2019 as I will be doing. The reason is that I feel like this is one major bait and switch by American and Barclaycard.
For years Citi has offered a solid lineup of AAdvantage credit cards. However, the Citi AAdvantage cards did not offer an EQD waiver like their cousins from Barclays. So, if you were after EQD because you don’t spend enough with the airline otherwise I suspect many (like myself) caved and opened the Barclaycard over the Citi card. The problem is, after Jan 2019 (or 2020) there is no benefit in having the Barclaycard over the Citi counterpart; that is unless you are willing to upgrade to the Silver version which has a higher annual fee.
My Plan For The AAdvantage Aviator Silver Card
Well, if you’ve ever read the blog before you know that I really hate the Aviator Silver card. I opened the card because I wanted to earn EQD/EQM through credit card spend this year. I’ve never done anything like that before and I wanted to see how it worked and if it made sense for the average consumer. The answer as I found out rather quickly, is no.
The issue is EQD really isn’t that hard to come by through strategic mileage runs. So for me, that value I lost in putting $25,000 of spend on this card outweighed the benefit gained by earning the $3,000 EQD. For that reason, I didn’t really like the card all that much and had plans to downgrade the card in 2019.
However, with this most recent change to the card I find myself getting a bit angry at Barclaycard/American. It seems like American offered this new card with a unique benefit which convinced customers to open the Barclaycard over the Citi card. Even worse, the cards were different enough I suspect many opened both the Citi and Barclays co-branded cards. The, once credit card sign-ups began to taper, American eliminated the benefit which drove people to open the card in the first place. I don’t have any evidence to support this claim, but that’s what it seems like to me.
With that, I have decided in 2019 I will close this account altogether. I’ve never “closed” a credit card before, but I will with this card. I originally planned on downgrading to keep my account in good standing and to help my credit score, but with this change I feel like closing the account is my only option.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned, I’m actually angry about this move. It just feels slimy to me so with that I think closing the card is the only thing that makes sense. Going forward I see no reason to pay another dollar in annual fees to Barclaycard.
Finally, I question the timing of this move. As the year comes to a close many frequent flyers begin to question their 2018 strategy and plan for 2019. With all of the negative changes at American in the past few years and all of the ‘enhancements’ to the AAdvantage program I’m starting to question my own loyalty.
(H/T: Lucky at OneMileAtATime, ThePointsGuy, and Gary at View From The Wing)
