Which Business Card Is Better? Comparing Barclays and Citi AA Business Cards.
Which business card is better for American Airlines rewards – Citi or Barclays? We previously looked at maximizing the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Card and how to make great use of the 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles it comes with. Today, I want to take a look at its competitor: the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard. Let’s review this card and then compare the two options to see which business card is better.
Quick Recap on CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Card
Here’s a quick recap on our analysis of the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Card and its increased welcome offer.
- Type of card: business
- Card issuer: CitiBusiness / Citibank
- Application rules to follow: 1 business card every 90 days and unwritten “6 inquiries in last 6 months” rule; 24 months same card family rule should not apply from personal card to business card (see more here)
- Spending requirements: $4,000 in 4 months
- Welcome offer: 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles
- Annual fee: $99 (waived for the first year)
- 2X earning categories: cable & satellite providers, gas stations, telecommunications merchants, and car rentals (and also on PPDG purchases)
- Learn More
The Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard
If you’re looking to maximize cards to earn great rewards and welcome offers with American Airlines, Barclays also has a business card that won’t add to your 5/24 total. It’s the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard. Here are the important details of the welcome offer:
- Type of card: business
- Card issuer: Barclays
- Application rules to follow: 1 business OR personal card every 6 months; sensitive to inquiries; known for asking for a lot of documents for this card (see more here)
- Spending requirements: $1,000 in 90 days
- Welcome offer: 65,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles PLUS another 10,000 miles after adding an authorized user who makes any purchase in the first 90 days
- Annual fee: $95, no fee for employee cards
- 2X earning categories: office supply, telecom and car rental merchants
What Do The 2 Cards Have In Common?
Both cards offer 2x earning on American Airlines purchases. Both give you free checked bags, priority boarding, and no foreign transaction fees. The cards both have the Companion Certificate after spending $30k and the 25% savings on in-flight purchases. Also, they both offer very little in the way of extra perks (such as trip insurance, purchase protection, car rental insurance, etc.). Their 2X spending categories also have a lot of overlap.
Where Does the CitiBusiness Card Come Out Ahead?
The CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Card waives its fee for the first year. The period in which you have to meet the minimum spend is a full month longer than that of Barclays’ card. Importantly, approvals on the CitiBusiness card are much less strenuous and occur much more easily. The approval odds and application rules (plus work required) on this card are much simpler than with Barclays. See my Barclays experience here.
Where Does the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard Come Out Ahead?
Year over year, the annual fee is $4 less with Barclays. This card also offers a 5% AAdvantage mileage bonus earned every year after paying the annual fee. You also can earn $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars (needed for elite status) after spending $25,000 annually. And of course the spend required to earn the miles from the welcome offer is much lower while earning a higher amount of miles.
Choosing Which Business Card Is Better For You
Maximizing a card really comes down to what it can be used for and which is more beneficial to you. Do you want to earn elite status? Only one card (Barclays) can help with that (although now Million Miler status can be earned with both cards for the next several months). Do you want a lot of miles for low spend? Again, it’s Barclays.
Do you want to avoid the annual fee the first year and keep your business costs down? Then the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Card is the better option. It is also the easier card to open between the two.
Obviously, “choosing” isn’t really required. You can apply for and obtain both cards. Be careful about the frequency of opening co-branded American Airlines cards, given the recent account shutdowns and Barclays being totally clueless about it.
If you do open both cards, you’ll have around 150,000 AAdvantage miles. Dream big. Here are some ideas on what you could do with those miles and even some of my favorite American Airlines award sweet spots.
Final Thoughts
The spend and the parks on the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard and CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Card are similar in many ways. There are some key differences, though, which can help you decide which business card is better for you. We compared the perks you can earn from spend, the welcome offer terms, and the application rules relevant for both cards. One is easier to obtain and waives the annual fee in the first year but gives less miles for a higher spend. The other is harder to obtain but can give you a much better welcome offer.
If you apply for the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard, I hope your application process is smoother than mine. And I hope you have a great trip on the miles you’ll earn from the welcome offer!
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Go for the CITI card. Much easier process. My wife and I both got approved. BC denied us due to too many inq or new accounts in past 24 months. This was despite credit scores in the high 700s and a perfect payment hx with BC on several other cards. I got mad and cancelled the now worthless Uber card. I am done with Barclays for a long time. Ridiculous lender!
CMorgan – We have a guide to all of the application rules by bank here – https://milestomemories.com/credit-card-application-rules-by-bank/
Yes, Barclays can be strict about # of cards and # of inquiries, so it doesn’t surprise me that you were declined.
Don’t they have different 2x mileage categories?
Citi:
Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent on cable and satellite providers
Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent at gas stations
Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent on select telecommunications merchants
Earn 2 miles for every $1 spent on car rentals
Barclays:
Earn 2X AAdvantage® miles
for every one dollar spent at eligible office supply, telecom and car rental merchants.
Valid point. I’ve added a comparison on this, which has 50% overlap but may be beneficial to some people.