American Airlines announced today that it has extended its 37 year partnership with Citi for an additional ten years. With the announcement, Citi will become the exclusive issuer of all AAdvantage co-branded credit cards in the U.S. beginning in 2026. This means that American will end its relationship with Barclays, which it inherited as part of its merger with U.S. Airways.
If you have a Barclays American Airlines AAdvantage credit card, Citi has reached an agreement to acquire the Barclays portfolio and plans to begin transitioning cardmembers to the Citi portfolio in 2026. The press release notes that Barclays cardmembers will continue to experience the same benefits they do today.
Barclays AAdvantage cards were marketed to passengers on-board American Airlines flights, if you’re an American frequent flyer you can probably recite the credit card pitch by heart at this point. Citi cards could not be marketed onboard as part of the previous agreement and instead were only marketed online, via direct mail, and in American Airlines lounges.
American Airlines CEO, Robert Isom, had this to say about the refreshed partnership:
“American is proud to have launched the first airline loyalty program, and with Citi, the travel industry’s first co-branded credit card. The strength of our relationship with Citi has enabled us to deliver first-class products and customer service to millions of AAdvantage cardmembers. This expanded partnership will unlock even more value and exciting new benefits for all of our customers in the future.”
Jane Frasier, Citi CEO, followed that up with this:
“American Airlines and Citi have built something truly special together — a partnership rooted in delivering excellence to our customers. We’re now excited to take this relationship to greater heights through an expanded customer base and a series of new loyalty and reward offerings. Together, we’re creating more opportunities to welcome new cardmembers, deepen our connection with our existing ones and make our co-branded card the clear favorite in everyone’s wallets.”
While more information about the transition will be made available in the coming months, one exciting item of note is that American AAdvantage is expected to become a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou. Details of when that will occur haven’t been released but having the ability to transfer points into AAdvantage is exciting nonetheless.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out for American and Citi during the transition but it sounds like the onboard credit card pitch is here to stay. I would expect to see a drop in welcome bonuses as the two card issuers will no longer be going head to head and, I’m curious to see what changes, if any, are made to the card offerings.
Summary
American Airlines and Citi have expanded their partnership which will see Citi become the exclusive card issuer for all AAdvantage branded credit cards beginning in 2026. Citi will be acquiring the Barclays card portfolio and will begin transitioning customers over starting in 2026. With the change, American AAdvantage will become a transfer partner for Citi ThankYou rewards which is an exciting development!
