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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.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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