RIP, Barclaycard AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red World Elite Mastercard®.

As part of closing on my house, I had to ax this card (I’ll explain why in another post). But, before the boot, I downgraded the card from the Barclaycard AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red World Elite Mastercard® (with an $89 annual fee) to the regular ol’ “Aviator card” (with no annual fee), and got it in the mail just in time to say goodbye.

Here are 2 offers I got that might be helpful to some folks. One you have to call to receive, the other is targeted – so be on the lookout if you’re interested.

Downgrade offer

The rep gave me an offer when I downgraded: 5X bonus points per $1 spent on purchases up to $1,000 in any category within 90 days.

The regular Aviator card only offers 1 mile per $2 spent, so it’s an offer for 5.5X total points on up to $1,000. Still, I was going to use it anyway. It’s a solid offer, and worth shifting some spend.

And, I saved the $89 annual fee  when I called (it was credited back).

I also confirmed I’d have the option to upgrade the card again the future (back to Red, or to Silver with the $195 annual fee if I so desired).

So, if you want to downgrade (or upgrade) your card, ask if there are any offers available on your account. At best, you could rack up an extra 5,000 American Airlines miles and save yourself an annual fee.

Wanted to share this experience just in case others are in the same boat!

Barclaycard AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red World Elite Mastercard® Q1 Offer

I shared my Q4 offer, which was actually pretty good. And now there’s another one.

(Note it was for the Barclaycard Aviator Red card. I received this in the mail yesterday even after canceling it.)

Like other Q1 offers from other credit card companies, it’s only so-so.

The offer is for 2 bonus AA miles, in addition to the normal 1 AA mile earned, per $1 spent at:

• Supermarkets
• Movie theaters
• Utility companies (gas, water, electric, TV, and phone)

The cap is 2,500 bonus AA miles (so $1,250 in spend). Barclays is known to send out a variety of offers, so if you have this card, be on the lookout for a promo.

Also interesting to note this time around – you have to register online at this website and enter promo code “SP0069458“. I don’t recall ever having to register this way – usually it’s just a click-through in an email – so it’s worth a try if you have the card. Worst case, it doesn’t work.

Again, if you weren’t targeted, it’s worth calling Barclays to ask them if there are any offers on your account.

This offer seems like it’d work for cell phone payments. And supermarkets is a fine category for 3X American Airlines miles – especially if you can buy gift cards and load up your Serve or Bluebird account.

I wouldn’t recommend this for most utility companies, as they usually add a surcharge to pay with credit. The fee may not make it worth the extra miles.

Although, if you pay your TV bill with a credit card, it could be worth it if you don’t have a Chase Ink card to earn 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Bottom line

Overall, an interesting offer. It’s good to see Barclays shaking up their promotional bonus categories and continuing to target peeps to use their products.

Here’s the website to register for the Q1 promo. The code I was given is “SP0069458” – feel free to try it. Let me know if it works for you!

Before I canceled the Barclaycard Aviator Red, I downgraded it to a regular “Aviator” card and got another offer for ~6X American Airlines miles on $1,000 spent within 90 days.

Either way, if you’re racking up AA miles for a redemption before the pending devAAluation of the award chart on March 22nd, 2016, it’s worth it to call Barclays to see if you can scoop up a few extrAA thousand miles.

Anyone else get an offer from Barclays on their Aviator cards? Keep an eye on your email and snail mail if you have any of them!

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