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Barclay Aviator Business 80k Offer

Barclay had been running a great Business Aviator deal for the last year that required some employee spend to hit the bonus. That just changed. You can now earn up to 80k American Aadvantage miles with their new sign up. I think this is a stellar offer, one that I will most likely sign up for myself, but alas, I have no affiliate links this is just a bad mamajama of a deal. Let’s break it down

Let’s take a look

Breaking down the Barclay Aadvantage Aviator Business 80k offfer

This is a pretty straight forward, two tiered offer that works like this:

• Spend $1k in 90 days, receive 50k Aadvantage Miles
• Earn another 30k after you spend $6k total in 12 month

The Earn Structure of the card

• 2x on AA flights
• 2x on office supplies, telecom and car rental merchants

Benefits

• Annual 5% bonus on miles accrued on the card per year
• 1st checked bag free for up to you and 4 companions
• Companion Certificate after $30k spend
• Preferred Boarding
• Spend $25k, get $3k EQD
• 25% inflight savings
• No foreign transactions fees
• Reduced Mileage Award access

Is this the best ever offer on the card?

Whenever you’re looking to pick up a co-branded credit card, and really any card ever, you want to make sure you’re nabbing it when the offer is the highest, or close to the highest, ever. I believe, and correct me if I’m wrong, that this is the best ever welcome offer for the card we’ve seen. Prior to this the 75k offer that required employee spend took top marks.

Does this affect my 5/24

Barclay business cards don’t reflect as a new card added to your personal credit profile and as a result, won’t add to your 5/24 number. If you’re unfamiliar, this is a ratio that Chase uses to discern whether they will approve you for one of their cards. Any more than 4 new account openings in the past 24 months and you won’t be approved.

Do you have a business?

Barclay has gotten progressively “sticky” when it comes to businesses, even those with EINs, requiring financials to be submitted or detailed over the phone. This doesn’t mean you won’t be approved if you are a sole proprietor which can range from being a blogger to a drop shipper, but you may face increased scrutiny.

Do you qualify?

Barclay discloses that this offer may not be available to you if you have another Barclay account. Anecdotally, some people claim to have had the card before, cancelled it, and then 6 months to a year later either got targeted or decided they made a mistake and wanted it back, and qualified for an offer again. Others were not afforded the same luxury.

Great Uses of 80k AA miles

The best uses of AA miles are international business class flights

Business Class to Europe

You can fly to Europe for around 57.5k or 60k AA miles ( the 57.5k is the saver level, and 60k is a common web special fare ) on AA or any of its partners that have space. I’ve luckily been able to find and use this space twice this year for my wife and I.

Japan in Business Class for 60k or first class for 85k

QSuites to Middle East/Maldives for 70k and Africa for 75k

Overall:

Certainly, if you have not had this card, maintain a business, and want to take advantage of American miles, this is a fantastic, best ever offer. The minimum spend requirement is a low for the first 50k miles at just $1k in 3 months, and the next tier requires just $6k spend in a year.

The biggest deterrent is Barclay’s often arduous application process, but if you’re willing to put in the effort, your account will have 80k more miles in it with quite little effort.