American Airlines Credit Card
It’s getting to crunch time with American Airlines Loyalty Points. Just under four months remain for earning American’s elite currency under the current qualification year. If they haven’t already, loyalists should focus more on their current totals and what’s needed to reach the next level. American offers plenty of ways to earn Loyalty Points – perhaps my favorite feature of the program. But many individuals can make a simple change to earn even more during the current qualification year – updating their American Airlines credit card statement timeframe. Today, I’ll spell out why this matters and how to do so with the two major American Airlines credit card issuers.
Why This Matters
The current American Airlines qualification year ends on 29 February 2024 – remember leap year! Many loyalists rely on credit card spend to get to that next AA elite level. But simply using those cards through February doesn’t mean all of that spend will count. Why not? Because Loyalty Points earned from credit card spend don’t post until after statement cut. Let’s go through my current situation as an example.
My Barclays Aviator’s current statement date is the third of every month. TMy last statement date before the qualification year’s end is 3 Feb. This would mean credit card spend for the remaining 26 days of February won’t count toward the current qualification year. I bet many AA cardholders could use more time to meet that next elite level via spend.
Luckily, cardholders have a fairly easy option to solve this. Citi and Barclays, the primary issuers of AA credit cards, offer online options for tweaking dates. But the change isn’t completed instantly, so you’ll want to pursue this sooner rather than later. For example, I made a Citi change a few days ago, but it’s not effective until the January statement. Here’s how to make the change with each issuer.
Citi
It’s easiest to change statement dates via Citi’s app, in my experience. After logging in, simply navigate to the AA card, tap Services at the bottom, then Card Services at the top. Next, tap Payment Due Date and make the change. But wait!
Obviously, this is not your statement date. Before making any changes, compare your existing statement and payment due dates. Shift the payment due date forward or back the appropriate number of days to comparatively affect the statement cut date. I wouldn’t go too far either way, though. You want as many days as possible to spend, but also incorporate a few days for the Loyalty Points to post to your AA account after the statement date.
Barclays
I found changing my Aviator statement date easiest via the Barclays site. Once logged in, click on the Services drop down menu. Select Change Payment Due Date – within the center of all options. Like Citi, remember this is not the statement date – make timeframe comparisons and calculations before selecting the new payment due date, and add in a few “buffer” days for the Loyalty Points to post after the statement date.
American Airlines Credit Card – Conclusion
Some of you have several different AA cards, and you can follow the same process with those other ones to change dates with the respective issuers. Also, Barclays Aviator cardholders can easily move credit limit to maximize earning during the qualification year. That’s not as easy with Citi, but asking for a credit line increase is. Regardless, consider the plethora of options you have to maximize Loyalty Points earning. More importantly, have fun!
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Just got off the phone with an American Airlines Advantage customer service representative who told me that all transactions in February will count toward the current year, regardless of when they post. Apparently they changed the policy in January.
Yes, that’s correct. You can read about that here, including a possible Loyalty Point Reward issue.
To anybody who’s trying this at the last minute, I’m not having much luck with BarclayCard. I spoke to them on the phone as well as chat, and they told me the change in statement date likely won’t take effect this month, and can take up to two billing cycles. Even if they were to take effect immediately, the only choices still available (i.e. after the 19th) were the 21st and the 28th of the month. The 21st gives you a statement date of the 24th, and the 28th gives you a statement date of the 3rd of the following month. Guess I may be doing some last minute travel…
I am going crazy and feel dumb. I’m doing a challenge that ends the 9th of Feb. My due date is the 7th and the statement coincidentally also cuts on the 9th. So I’ll need it to cut a few days before that to ensure everything posts by the 9th. To do that, I need to move the due date forward? I swear I’m a smart human
I do not believe you are correct on this, at least as regards Citi cards and how end-of-year postings were handled last March.
Sometime in March of this year a credit of AAdvantage points, NOT miles, posted to my AA account. The credit of 3422 points was dated Feb 28, 2023, and the description in my account stated:
“As a courtesy, we have posted a one-time deposit of the Loyalty Points you earned on purchases made between your February credit card statement closing date and February 28, 2023, the end of the 2022 AAdvantage® status qualification year.”
This post contradicted what I was told by an AA agent as few weeks earlier, when I knew I was on the cusp of reaching EXP status. At that time she told me that only Citi points posted to my account as of Feb 28 would be credited towards my 2023 status. Because of that (and prior to receiving the catch-up post from AA), I changed my closing dated to the 26th of the month going forward. Whether the AA agent was wrong, or AA adjusted its policies after 2/28 I don’t know, but based on what happened last year, I did not need to.
Sorry you had this experience, disco dave. In my experience, it hasn’t turned out that way. You may want to check out my response to B.
I thought that the elite credit was assigned based on the transaction posting date, not the statement closing date?
B,
Review these terms: “AAdvantage® miles and Loyalty Points earned on purchases made with your AAdvantage® credit card will count based on the date the activity posts to the primary cardmember’s AAdvantage® account, typically within 8 to 10 weeks. Review your AAdvantage® Aviator® Mastercard® Reward Rules and your Citi® AAdvantage Card Directory of Services for details. Keep in mind, Loyalty Points that post on or after March 1 count toward the new qualification year. All other flight and partner transactions will count based on the activity date of the flight or other transaction.”
The key I read above is “…based on the date the activity posts to the primary cardmember’s AAdvantage® account.” There’s no mention of a transaction posting date, only when activity posts to the AAdvantage account. In my experience, the miles and loyalty points post to my AAdvantage account a day or two after my statement cut, well within the 8 to 10 week period.
[…] Reminder that both Citi and Barclays will let you change your credit card statement close date – those of you spending on American Airlines cards for status can choose whether your February spend counts for the current, ending status year or for the new status year by shifting the close date. […]
What date did you change to from your Feb. 3 example?
Based on my calculations, my new statement date should be around the 26th of the month.