American Airlines AAdvantage Seals 10 Year Exclusive Deal With Citi

One aspect that is a clear feature of credit card deals for all major US airlines is that they hold some sort of exclusive deal a bank or issuer. That is all except American Airlines, or at least until now as this unique situation is about to change. Here’s how and when.

American Airlines Seals a 10 Year Exclusive Deal With Citi in the US

United has its Chase exclusive deal, Delta has its American Express deal, but American Airlines stood out until now not having an exclusive deal. The airline so far has a deal with two banks not having made the issuing of co-branded credit cards exclusive to either Citi Bank or Barclays Bank.

However, this status-quo is soon to change with the airline finally making up its mind on which partner to team up with for its co-branded loyalty AAdvantage credit cards in the US.

American Airlines AAdvantage co-branded credit cards will be exclusive to Citi Bank. The deal will see the two companies extend their over 37-year partnership for another 10 years. The exclusivity of the deal, however, will kick in only from 2026 onwards.

Why? Well, simply put the airline and Barclays Bank will need time to transition into this new phase. Barclays co-branded cards will need time to either reorganize their miles accrual strategy and the cards will have to be phased out. All of this can’t happen overnight.

Credit cards available are:

• MileUp Card
• Platinum Select
• World Elite
• Executive World Elite

Why is It So Important to Have an Exclusive Credit Card Deal for Airlines?

As often is the case, it all comes down to money and how much of it can be made. Having an exclusive deal has proven to be more profitable for both airlines and credit card companies and banks.

On the airline’s side they can ask for a very generous premium from card issuers or banks to give up doing business with other service providers. The larger the airline and its user base and its frequent flyer member number, the higher the figure they can get out of an exclusive co-branded credit card deal. That is exactly why Delta and United have already gone down this path. American Airlines, simply put, is just a little late to the party.

From the bank or card issuer’s point of view, they can tap into an extremely large already established user-base. Frequent flyers are extremely valuable customers as they are highly incentivized to spend and build up their miles tally. Therefore, revenue is almost certain to be driven by this particular demographic.