Quote from Savings Beagle on April 26, 2021, 10:26 am

Update: The information/application link below is now directed to a NO ANNUAL FEE offer for this card, saving applicants $99 the first year.

American Airlines has two credit card affiliations - one with Citi and the other with Barclays.

Right now, Barclays has increased its sign-up bonus to 60,000 AAdvantage miles from its typical 50,000 miles.

What's nice about this sign-up bonus is that it does not have any minimum spend requirement to get the 60,000 American Airlines miles aside from making a purchase with your new Barclays card.  And paying the $99 annual fee when the first statement comes along.

Here are the specifics of this sign-up deal.

Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard

Earn 60,000 American Airlines miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full within the first 90 days of card approval.

Ongoing Earning

• Earn 2 American AAdvantage miles per dollar spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
• Earn 1 American AAdvantage mile on all other purchases

Get up to $25 back as a statement credit on inflight Wi-Fi purchases every anniversary year on AA flights.

Receive a 25% inflight savings as a statement credit on food and beverages when you use the card on AA-operated flights.

Each anniversary year, earn a Companion Certificate good for one guest at $99 (plus taxes and fees) if you spend $20,000 on the card and your account remains open for 45 days after your anniversary date.

This is a decent sign-up bonus for effectively one purchase and $99.  But, you have to consider how valuable American Airlines miles are.  And that's a personal decision. 

For those familiar with the Miles and Points hobby, AA miles are best when used for business/first class international flights booked on partner airlines.

For use on American flights, the value of American miles is definitely questionable.  You can do a few award searches to see what award pricing is like for trips you might like to take.  Look closely at the specifics associated with the flights, especially how many stops are involved with a specific itinerary.

Prior to Covid, American moved to open up award availability, but many of those award options included multiple stops to get to a destination...even if there were non-stop AA flights available from an origin to a destination.  I haven't looked recently to see if those practices are still in place.

That said, there can be award deals found using AA miles as long as you're flexible with your travel plans.  Just takes some searching to hunt them out.  And that includes long-haul business class flights on American planes.

Outside of getting the sign-up bonus, this card really isn't worth putting much spend on.  It's a get-the-bonus-and-put-it-away type card.

Although, be aware that Barclays will close an account without notice if the card isn't getting used.  Likely you'd have a year's grace period for limited to no use, but after that expect your account to be closed without periodically putting some spend on it.