Barclays recently changed the sign up bonus on the Barclays Aviator red personal card, it now comes with 50,000 miles after a single purchase and a companion certificate. Previously the offer was 60,000 miles. As this companion certificate is new I thought a dedicated post was in order.
The Basics
- The companion certificate looks to be part of the sign up bonus, meaning you need to complete the requirements (in this case a single purchase) before the companion certificate is sent out.
- The terms state to allow 8-10 weeks for the certificate to post after meeting the requirements. In practice I’m not sure how long it usually takes as usually these time frames are extremely conservative.
- Certificate is valid for one year after it’s issued, travel must also be completed within this time frame.
- When using the companion certificate you pay $99 plus government taxes and fees ($21.60 – $43.20). The companion certificate is good for a round trip domestic economy fare (L, M, N, Q, S, V, G or O).
- There are a number of black out dates (hat tip to Middle Age Miles):
- 2019: Jan 1-3; Feb 15-19; Mar 8-11; Mar 15-18; Mar 22-25; May 24-28; Jun 28-30; Jul 1-7; Nov 27-30; Dec 1-2; Dec 14-23; Dec 27-31
- 2020: Jan 1-3; Feb 14-18; Mar 6-9; Mar 13-16; Mar 20-23; May 22-26; Jun 30; Jul 1-6; Nov 25-30; Dec 12-23; Dec 27-31
- Flights must be booked at least 14 days before departure.
- Flights must be booked using the Aviator card the certificate was earned on
- Primary cardholders must be the one flying on the original ticket
- The sign up bonus certificate is the same certificate you receive after spending $20,000 within a card member year (you can earn one from the sign up bonus and another from meeting the spend requirement. They just function the same).
- Must be booked through American Airlines meeting services (800-433-1790).
Some people will prefer the certificate over an extra 10,000 miles and vice versa. I generally find the companion certificates such as these too difficult to use and I prefer extra miles but if you can get the certificate to work for you then it can represent much better value than 10,000 miles.
AA is a joke with this. They want you to call to reserve the flight for you + companion, then they provide a paper form you have to sign and RETURN by mail within 14 days of your phone call and within 7 days of your reservation. Once they receive it, they issue the booking electronically.
Have to be kidding me….
Does anyone know if one can utilize a Companion Certificate if the primary fare is booked with points? It says something about using the same credit card on both bookings, but I’m wondering if the tax and fee of the points fare might qualify.
+1
did you ever find out an answer? if companion must be a paid ticket then the value of CP just dropped even more.
Not sure why there are so many complaints about the companion tickets. It is a paid fare so the comments about lousy AA award availability are irrelevant. You’ll earn miles on the ticket (not sure if companion is supposed to earn miles but in my recollection my companions always have). The blackout dates are perhaps equivalent to 12 weekends over the course of the year (not all are weekends but the point holds, with a little flexibility you’ll be able to use). If you live in a AA hub and don’t mind flying economy you should be able to get great use out of these, particularly on short but expensive routes where AA is flying smaller planes anyhow. Think DCA to Key West in season. Awesome value particularly with the two companion Silver Aviator certificates but good value even with just one companion.
I do agree it is always more stressful to have a certificate that will expire as opposed to miles in your account but these certificates offer a great way around crAApy award availability.
If you travel domestically on AA, then yes, this is true. Though for me for example, unless we were flying to an AA hub, it would never make sense for us to fly them domestically.
Has anyone here been able to downgrade to the no AF version of this card? I see multiple people on FlyerTalk say they’ve been denied.
Yes, I did.
Catch is I didn’t ask, I just asked to cancel and when she asked why I said I do not have travel plans in the near future so the AF wasn’t worth it. She then offered the downgrade.
After holding the Barclays Aviator Card for many years, I will be cancelling it. I had the version that gave me 10K miles yearly. With that gone, the annual fee is no longer worth the cost and will be cancelling the card. The companion ticket certificates are always too restrictive.
Do flights from the mainland to Hawaii or Alaska count as round trip domestic?
Where do you see the certificate? In your AA account somewhere?
Must be redeemed on a full moon after sacrificing a virgin goat to the AA gods.
I had wondered if this is the same companion certificate conditions for the one that can be earned by $20,000 spend – and the article seems to suggest, yes. This is sad, as I had hoped it would allow for international flights. This makes the cert much worse than either Alaska’s or Delta’s companion certs, as Alaska’s has no black out dates and can allow you to go to Hawaii and Delta has no black out dates or $99 cost.
Thanks a bunch for the Hat Tip, Will. Those Barclays AA certificates have a lot of restrictions and nuances, and there was a dearth of info online about them, so we were glad to share for the benefit of the community. Despite the restrictions, though, if you know the ins and outs, there’s a chance to get some great value from them (especially the 2-companion certificates that you can earn on the Barclays AA Silver card). It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside to get both a Hat Tip on Doc this morning and a shout-out from the discerning Reddit Churning crowd yesterday on this article 🙂 ~Craig