This is not the first time Amex runs this kind of promotions for its Delta cobranded SkyMiles Credit Cards, and won't be the last one.  Now through 9/19/18:

• Amex Delta Gold SkyMiles Card (personal) - 60K miles ($95 annual fee waived for 1st year)
• Amex Delta Gold SkyMiles Business Card - 60K miles ($95 annual fee waived for 1st year)
• Amex Delta Platinum SkyMiles Card (personal) - 70K miles + 10K MQMs ($195 annual fee)
• Amex Delta Platinum SkyMiles Business Card - 70K miles + 10K MQMs ($195 annual fee)

As our current valuation for Delta miles and its MQMs are around 1 cent a piece, the signup bonus after considering the first year annual fee for either of these four cards is roughly $600.

Barclays American Airlines Aviator Red WEMC has increased the signup bonus from 50K miles to 60K miles (the best ever offer), still just after your make the first purchase (which is very rare these days).  Our review has been updated too to reflect the post- Amex SPG discussions (see below).

The Facts

• Annual Fee: $95
• Signup Bonus: 60,000 miles after your first purchase within 3 months of new account opening.  Historical best bonus of this card: 60,000 miles for limited time in 2017 and 2018.
• Application Landing Page
• Rewards: 2x American Airlines, 1x everywhere else.  
• Best Use of AAdvantage miles:  AAdvantage is the frequent flyer program of American Airlines, a member of oneworld.  AAdvantage miles are generally valuable when redeemed on American or partner flights.
• Travel Benefits: (1) Receive 10% of your redeemed miles back, up to 10,000 miles per year.  (2) Earn $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars after spending $25,000 each calendar year.  (3) First checked bag free for you plus four passengers on your reservation.  (4) Priority boarding (Group 1, after first or business class passengers and elite members) on American flights.  (5) 25% discount for onboard purchases. (6) Waived foreign transaction fees with an embedded EMV chip.
• Standard World Elite MasterCard Benefits: including World Elite Luxury Hotels & Resorts (free breakfasts, upgrades, early check-in, late check-out, and hotel specific amenities), World Elite Air Program (upgrades, savings, or companion tickets, mostly on full fare tickets), World Elite Cruise Program (up to $500 savings), World Elite Tours and Vacations (up to $250 or 5% savings), World Elite Car Rental (savings and elite status with Avis, National, and Sixt), World Elite Chauffeured Car Service (savings and benefits), World Elite Private Jet Program (savings and benefits), MasterCard Airport Concierge (15% savings), and so on.
• Other Facts:  This product was introduced in early 2015 as a replacement for US Airways MasterCard, with the merger of American Airlines AAdvantage and US Airways Dividend Miles.  After the merger until 2017, Citi was the sole issuer of the post-merger American Airlines' credit card products, and Barclays could only convert existing US Airways MasterCard to the new Aviator Cards.  However, starting 2017, Barclays began to issue new Aviator Red cards to new applicants and increased the annual fees from $89 to $95 while upgrading it from World MasterCard to World Elite MasterCard and adding the EQD earning feature.

The Math
In the past we used to not recommend this card for general spending, as the old Amex SPG (before August 2018) returned 25% more AA miles than any AA cobranded cards.  Effective August 2018, AA cobranded credit cards have become the best way of earning AA miles via credit card general spending.

AAdvantage Aviator Red vs. AAdvantage Aviator Silver: Aviator Silver is $100/year more expensive than Aviator Red, and it comes with three premium features: (1) a 3-2-1 earning structure vs. 2-1 on Red (one additional mile on American, hotels, and car rentals), (2) EQM earning potential with $25K-50K spending, and (3) annual $99 companion certificate with $30K spending.  Even if you don't use the last two, you just need to spend $6,250 a year on American airlines, hotels and car rentals to come ahead of the $100 difference in annual fees if you happen to value an AA mile at 1.6 cents a piece like we do, as $6,250 x 1 mile/$ x 1.6 cent/mile = $100.  Of course, if your value is different, you can do your own math.  The bottom line is that if you are a frequent American flyer, you will most likely find upgrading to Silver Aviator a great deal.

AAdvantage Aviator Red vs. Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select:  These two cards are direct competitors - they share many features.  Their differences are: (1) Citi's version has a $99 annual fee ($4 more than Barclays') but waives it for the first year; (2) Citi's version offers 2x dining and gas; (3) Citi's version offers Reduced Mileage Awards (saving 7,500 miles on select routes); (4) Citi's version offers $100 flight discount after $20K annual spending; (5) Barclays's version offers 3K Elite Qualifying Dollars after $25K annual spending.

The Conclusion
Barclays designs the replacement of US Airways MasterCard to align with Citi's counterpart.  However, if you frequent American or just have big hotels/rental cars spending, you will find upgrading from Aviator Red to Aviator Silver very rewarding.

Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier World Elite MasterCard now has a 105K + $50 credit signup bonus, the best we have ever seen on this card or the card it replaced (IHG Rewards Club Select MC).  The $89 annual fee is not waived for the first year.  The signup bonus: $50 statement credit after the first purchase + 100,000 points after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening + additional 5,000 points after adding one authorized user and making the first purchase within the same 3-month period.  The bonus is not available if you currently have this card or have received a signup bonus for this card in the past 24 months. Note that this card is NOT subject to Chase' infamous 5/24 rule (you won't be approved for a new card if you have opened 5 or more new accounts within the past 24 months).

So do you apply now?

• Pros: (1) The best ever signup bonus on any IHG-brand credit cards (the previous best bonus was 85K).  (2) The card is NOT subject to the 5/24 rule, so for people who are over 4-card limit it could be be approved.  (3) The anniversary free night capped at 40K level, even not as lucrative as the un-capped free night previously available on IHG Select MC, is still a good reason to keep the card after the first year.  (4) If you still have the old IHG Select MC, you will have two anniversary nights going forward.
• Cons: The value of IHG points are generally not that great - our value is 0.4 cent a piece.  So the signup bonus in our book after considering the $89 annual fee is $380.  If you are interested in other great signup offers, you might want to check out our Promotions page for the list in the order of signup value.

Effective July 29, 2018, Citi has updated the travel and consumer protection benefits provided by its credit cards, and they get worse!  The last time Citi revamped the protection benefits was in May 2016 and it was a major enhancement.  We think it was a little too generous and undoubtedly represented industry-leading benefits, and this time around Citi has reduced certain benefits to get closer to the rest in the market.  The following summary is for Citi Prestige ($450 annual fee) which offers the best level of protection among Citicards; other cards may not have all these benefits, but if they do the changes will be the similar.  However, at this point, we are not sure if Citi AA Executive WEMC which used to share all the same protection benefits as Citi Prestige will be affected, though we highly suspect Citi will exempt one card from what seems like a system wide change.

• Car Rental Insurance: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $75,000, reduced from $100,000. In addition, coverage won't apply to charges or expenses for the loss of use of the rental car, rental agency fees, or taxes any more.  Note that cheaper cards continue to have a maximum of $50,000.
• Trip Cancellation & Interruption: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $5,000 per trip - this maximum used to be per person per trip.  Note that some cheaper cards reduce the maximum accordingly, for example, from $3,000 per trip to $1,500 per trip.  In addition, coverage will be limited to you and your family members - it used to also cover traveling companions.  Citi used to be the only issuer that cover traveling companions and it makes sense for them to reduce it to meet competitions.
• Trip Delay Protection & Baggage Delay Protection: Coverage will be limited to you and your family members - again it used to cover traveling companions. In addition, coverage will only apply to delays of 6 hours or more, down from 3 hours or more.  Citi used to be the only issuer that cover delays of 3 hours or more, for certain cards (Citi Prestige and Citi AA Executive), which was very generous and beneficial in practice.  Some other cards such as Citi ThankYou Premier continue to cover delays of 6 hours or more.
• Lost Baggage Protection and Travel & Emergency Assistance: Coverage will be limited to you and your family members - again traveling companions won't be covered any more.
• Citi Price Rewind: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $200 per item and $1,000 per calendar year - the maximum was down from $500 per item & $2,500 per year.  In addition, coverage won't include consumables, tires, watches, firearms, or ammunition any more.  You also won't be reimbursed if the lower priced item is found at a warehouse club where the merchant requires a membership fee.
• Damage & Theft Purchase Protection: You may be covered for up to $10,000 per incident for 90 days from the date of purchase or delivery of the item purchased with your card - it used to be 120 days from the date of purchase or delivery.  In addition, coverage won't include lost items, firearms, ammunition, jewelry, watches, tires or items that are under the care and control of a third party including, but not limited to, the U.S. Postal Service, airlines, or delivery services.  Also note that coverage will be secondary (meaning if you have another insurance policy, this benefit will cover only the amount your other policies do not). 
• Return Protection: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $1,500 per calendar year, down from $2,500 per year.  Coverage won't include firearms, ammunition, tires, jewelry, furniture or appliances any more.

In general, we are sad to see Citi reduces these benefits, especially the loss of traveling companion coverage, Trip & Baggage Delay coverage minimum changing from 3-hour to 6-hour, reduced maximum for a few benefits, as well as loss of consumer coverage for items like lost items, firearms, jewelry, tires, furniture, etc.  However, they are still considered reasonable adjustments.  Note that Citi's travel protection is still considered the best in industry, probably on par with Chase's, as it covers cardholders plus family members as well as awards tickets; also Citi's Extended Warranty is still industry leading (now on par with Amex, see below) because it covers two additional years.

In comparison, you need to be aware of the fact that effective August 26, 2018, Chase will be eliminating two consumer protection benefits: Price Protection (for all Chase cards) and Return Protection (for Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Preferred, United Explorer).  So we should actually give credits to Citi for at least not taking some benefit items away completely like Chase does.

Interestingly, when Citi and Chase scale back on the protection benefits, Amex has decided to improves some of its.  Effective August 1, 2018, Amex will increase Extended Warranty from one additional year to two and will extend Purchase Protection from 90 days (from date of purchase or delivery) to 120 days.

Citi has brought back the 75K-miles signup bonus for American Airlines AAdvantage Executive WEMC, which carries a $450 annual fee but offers full Admirals Club membership for the primary cardholder and access to 40+ domestic/international AA lounges for the authorized users plus two guests.  Our value for the signup bonus after considering the first year annual fee is $750.  For details see our review.

This offer could die at any moment!  One of our Top 10 lister Citi ThankYou Premier is offering 60K points signup bonus after $4K spending.  See details in our review.

The new benefits of Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard (what a long name) kick in today for existing cardmembers: gas & dining as 2x bonus categories and an annual $100 flight discount after $20K spending; the annual fee is increased from $95 to $99, still waived for the first year.  The expanded bonus categories give this card a boost in scores which enables the card to land on our Top 10 Best Credit Card list as #8 and bumps Chase United Airlines Club Visa Signature off the list.  BTW, the Top 10 List will be going through major changes in the coming month considering the revamp of SPG and Marriott affiliated credit card products and the reduction of Citi's travel and consumer protection.  Stay tuned.

The card offers either a 60K-mile bonus or a 50K-mile +$200 credit bonus.  The 10% rebate for awards bookings, up to 10K miles per year, along with other travel perks such as free first bags, priority boarding, 25% onboard discount, have made the card a keeper after the first year.  Now with the newly added 2x bonus categories and Amex SPG's reduced points earning starting August, this card becomes a must-have if collecting American miles is your primary goal concerning credit cards.  For details see our updated review.

We haven't written many posts in the recent year or so, and the reason was explained in the previous few posts.  However, now we would like to change things up again, based on feedback from readers.  We will have more short, Twitter like posts, for new or updated reviews as well as credit card and poitns/miles related news.

Chase has introduced Southwest Rapid Rewards (RR) Priority Visa, with a up-to-65K points signup bonus.  The 7.5K anniversary points and the $75 annual Southwest credit combined more than offset the $149 annual fee, and you will enjoy upgrades to Business Select (who will mind A1-A15?) four times a year, 20% onboard discount, potential Tier Qualifying Points earning, etc. for free. A great card to keep after 1st year.  For details see our updated Southwest Visa Review.

The recent highlights on the site include the rebranded U.S. Bank Radisson Rewards Visa, the new Chase World of Hyatt Visa, the new Chase Ink Unlimited Business Visa, the revived Barclays Arrival Plus WEMC.

Airline miles transfer feature: this comes as a pleasant surprise.  Marriott is actually keeping our most cherished redemption option - you will continue to be able to transfer points to frequent flyer miles of 30+ (soon to be 40+) airline partners.  This has actually been a SPG feature which makes this program so unique and valuable: you may transfer SPG points to miles at 1:1 ratio and also enjoy a 25% bonus when transferring in bulks of 20K (20K SPG points = 25K miles).  Beyond August 2018, Marriott will retain this feature, and because SPG points transfer to Marriott points at a 1:3 ratio, the new miles transfer formula is simply 3:1 with the same 25% bonus (60K Marriott points = 25K miles). We have to give Marriott a lot of credit for keeping the industry’s best miles transfer feature.  Another extremely valuable (nevertheless requiring a lot of points) transfer feature - Marriott air+hotel packages, will be tweaked and the details are not available at this point.

In general, on points value of the new program, even with some uncertainties in the new hotel chart (which we suspect to be slight devaluation overall), due to the fact that Marriott retains the valuable miles transfer feature, we are very much pleased.

Elite Status

Effectively August 2018, Marriott will have five tiers of elite status.  Please see below for a summary of elite status under the new system. In general, we think it is very reasonable, similar to status quo for current SPG elites, and an overall enhancement for current Marriott elites.  ​

The highlight is that with 50-74 nights per year and achieving the new Marriott Platinum status, you are entitled to lounge access, suite upgrades upon availability, and five annual suite night certificates.  The current Marriott Gold elites, qualified by staying 50-74 nights, status matched from SPG Gold, or given by credit cards (e.g. by Ritz-Carlton Visa, first year free and maintained with $10K spending thereafter), will receive the new Marriott Platinum status between August 2018 and February 2019.  Marriott is very generous about this, and is probably inflating this status temporarily before everything settles down in 2019.

Credit Cards

There are currently a total of seven credit cards associated with the three loyalty programs, and in the near future two new products are on the way:

• Chase Marriott Premier Plus Visa ($95 annual fee, 6x Marriott | SPG and 2x everywhere else, an annual free night capped at 35K points, 15 night credits per year) represents a decent enhancement over the current $85 Marriott Premier Visa.
• Amex SPG Luxury Card ($450 annual fee, annual $300 credits for eligible Marriott | SPG purchases, 6x Marriott | SPG, 3x dining and airfare, 2x everywhere else, an annual free night capped at 50K points, complimentary new Marriott Gold status, new Marriott Platinum status with $75K annual spending, 15 night credits per year, unlimited access to airport lounges for you plus two with Priority Pass Select membership) is a potential great product to compete with Amex Hilton Aspire Card.

It appears that in August 2018, six cards are here to stay for new applications: Chase Marriott Consumer Card ($45), Chase Marriott Premier Plus Visa ($95), J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton Visa ($450), personal Amex Marriott Card ($95, rebranded from Amex SPG Card), Amex Marriott Business Card ($95, rebranded from Amex SPG Business Card), and Amex Marriott Luxury Card ($450, rebranded from Amex SPG Luxury Card).  Existing cardmembers of other products will be keeping their current cards with some changes kicking in as of August; at this point, we don’t know whether these cards will be converted to other products in the future. Among the changes, we would like to highlight that our beloved Amex SPG Card, which now returns 1 SPG point (=3 Marriott points) per dollar spent on general purchases, will be returning only 2 Marriott points come August and not worth keeping in our opinion.