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Don’t Cancel Your Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator World Mastercard

When American Airlines acquired US Airways, all of us US Airways MasterCard members had our cards converted into the Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Cards.

For awhile, a conversion over from US Airways was the only way one could acquire an Aviator card from Barclaycard, though recently Barclaycard has been able to issue new World Elite versions of the Barclaycard Aviator Mastercard!

I must say, I have enjoyed my time as an Aviator. While I don’t carry it in my wallet and rarely ever spend money on it, it is a card that I plan to hold onto well into the future, and here are my reasons why you should too!

Don’t Cancel Your Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator World Mastercard

Number 1 – No annual fee! 

Wait… you probably thought the annual fee on this card was $89? Well, technically you are correct – there is an $89 annual fee… but Barclaycard is very good about waiving this annual fee – all you have to do is ask!

In the last 3 years I have been able to get this annual fee waived with minimal annual spending put on the card!

Number 2 – The spending bonuses:

3-month spending bonuses – Every year leading up to your card anniversary, Barclaycard is likely to send you incentive offers to put consistent spend on your Aviator card! Spend $500 each month for 3 consecutive months and earn yourself a bonus of 15,000 AAdvantage miles!

1-month spending bonuses – Not only will Barclaycard waive your $89 annual fee, but during that same conversation they are likely to offer you bonus miles for the next month of spending! In fact, I was just offered and additional 5,000 AAdvantage miles for $1,000 spending in the next month! I know 5,000 miles isn’t going to fly me to Europe, but every mile counts!

Number 3 – Card Perks –

The 10% AAdvantage miles redemption rebate & free checked bags! Sure, these are perks of both the Barclaycard and Citi versions of the American Airlines credit cards, but Citi is not as generous with their annual fee waivers, making the Aviator my surefire way to the 10% redemption rebate and free checked baggage!

Note – Many Aviator World Mastercard cardholders have the annual 10,000 miles bonus as a leftover perk from the US Airways conversion of this card, making retention on this card all the more rewarding! Unfortunately, I don’t have this ongoing perk on my card :/

Number 4 – An Aviator World Mastercard doesn’t preclude an Aviator World Elite Mastercard!

That’s right people! Current Aviator cardholders converted over from the US Airways Mastercard have the “World” Mastercard version, while new Aviator applications are available only for the “World Elite” Mastercard. Since these are different cards, current Aviator World Mastercard cardholders still have the ability to earn 50,000 AAdvantage miles by applying for the AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Mastercard!

Final Thought

Me and my Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator World Mastercard are just getting started! I see so many long and fruitful AAdvantage years ahead of us! In my opinion, there is no reason to ever cancel this bad boy… unless of course Barclaycard becomes less generous on the annual fee waiver… then I’ll be dropping this card like its hot!

Do you still have your Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator World Mastercard that converted over form the US Airways Mastercard? Why yes, why no!?

Happy Travels!

DW

23 Comments

  1. My version also gets 10,000 Bonus Miles per Year – upon each Renewal. Makes it an absolute no-brainer as a KEEP.

  2. they wouldn’t budge on waiving or compensating my annual fee and they raised my annual bonus offer from $500 spend for three months to $1000 spend for three months.

  3. This card is also chip and PIN capable so that means you can use it at a kiosk or vending machine abroad. It defaults to chip and signature, but will call for a PIN at an unattended point of sale.

    1. Yes! One of my favorite features of Barclaycard! I bring this or the Arrival on each and every international trip I take. Thanks for the note!

      DW

  4. Waived fee but never saw any bonus spending offers at all, neither on my card nor the wife’s. Already have many Citi AA Cards that I get with no AF the first year, so not clear why I would keep this card longterm.

  5. This is not a fake comment. last week I was reading some of those comments in here because I wanted to cancel my aviator credit card because I have other credit card that is enough for me. So, I read that someone said that he asked then to wave the annual fee and they did. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED WITH ME TODAY. 07/25/2018. I called to cancel and the lady said I would wave your annual fee and if you make a purchase of $1,000 dollars inside 3 months we will give you 5000 miles. I am a Police officer and I dont make enough money to keep up with too many credit cards so I guess it is a great deal!

  6. I spent about 13k on this card this year, and when I called the offer was to downgrade to a (free) card where I get half the miles for every dollar spent, no free checked bag on domestic flights, and no 10% refund on redeemed miles. I told them I would think about it, but I don’t think I will accept the downgrade (is it a good idea to have free cards you won’t use?), or the 89$ fee card (I have another card I get better points with).

  7. How early should I call to get this waved? My anniversary is in Dec. so wanting to get a feel for when I should call. Also, do you have any talk tracks? IE: Flat out ask for the fee to be waived or just inquire about cancelling.

  8. I just tried to cancel my aviator mc aa and they said all miles provided TO DATE would be eliminated. They are talking about the inception of the card. How can they possibly do this transactionally, and legally when I have earned those miles?

  9. Why wouldn’t I cancel?? I canceled right after I got Bonus miles, and they returned my Annual Fee! So I got 60000 miles for buying a Coke, and Paid Zero Annual Fee.

  10. Sitting on 40k miles, not comfortable flying this year due to COVID-19, so I call to ask about getting my annual fee waived, first time I had ever asked and I have had the card for years, I got a big NOPE! So next year my calendar has marked cancel before the next fee. Bye!

  11. Or depending on how long you’ve had the the card like if you’ve had it for years you can downgrade the card to a no annual fee card so that your average age of credit and credit availability won’t decrease which can cause your credit score to go down. You might not have the same perks but at least you don’t close a credit card.

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