American gets exclusive with Citi, boots Barclays from cobrand party

American Airlines and Citi are finally going exclusive. After years of a multi-party cobrand credit card relationship Barclays will be pushed out as part of a new, 10-year deal for American. From 2026 Citi will be the exclusive issuer of cards for the AAdvantage loyalty program.

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. – Robert Isom, American Airlines CEO

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The deal calls for a variety of “innovative” moves to improve the overall value for both companies. As part of the announcement they’ve teased “alignment between the Citi ThankYou and AAdvantage® card programs” as part of delivering “a significantly expanded loyalty and rewards offering for AAdvantage® members and Citi-branded cardmembers.” It would not be hard to imagine this developing with ThankYou points as an exclusive transfer partner to the AAdvantage program, similar to Membership Rewards points into SkyMiles.

For those concerned that the exclusive opportunity for bonus points on a card signup – available today only on this specially selected flight – will disappear, fear not. As part of the deal American shared that “Citi will take on all American Airlines acquisition channels, including inflight and at airports.” In a message to flight attendants the carrier also reassures its frontline sales team that Barclays Aviator Red commissions and incentives are not changing. Moreover, it shares that “Citi is committed to caring for American’s flight attendants in the same way you are accustomed and is eager to develop new opportunities to reward you through the AAdvantage Cash program.”

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Citi will also acquire the Barclay’s AAdvantage portfolio in 2026 as part of the deal, seeing value in the “attractive cardmember base” to help fuel Citi’s growth, both for cobrand and personal banking. The companies say today that benefits will remain as they are today, with more information to be shared in the months ahead.

The biggest question – just how much American expects to realize annually in revenue from the deal – was not shared in the release. Expect that it will be a significant topic of conversation at the next earnings call, if not prior.

In an SEC filing American suggested a 10% annual increase in cobrand remuneration from the current $5.6bn was teased, though the carrier also says it “does not intend to update these amounts or to comment specifically on the results of our affinity programs.”