Apply for Potentially Merged Airlines Credit Cards

It was not too long ago that Continental merged with United and the Chase Continental credit card was no longer available. Luckily I had applied for this card and canceled before it was discontinued. This allowed me to also apply for the new Chase United card after the merger.

This got me thinking that with the AirTran/ Southwest merger and the American Airlines/US Airways merger hinted by Apple that one counterpart will no longer offer their credit card. Already Barclays is no longer offering the AirTran credit card, so will this be the same for the US Airways Barclays card or American Airlines Citi card? It is too soon to tell as there is no offiicial word but I think it would be a good idea to apply for both of these cards just in case one is no longer offered. They may even come out with a new card all together if the merger does happen. This will not be for some time though but its a good idea to start thinking about it.

Currently Barclays is offering the card with $89 annual fee and comes with 30,000 bonus miles with first purchase, up to 10,000 miles with a balance transfer which includes a fee, two $99 companion passes, first class check-ins, one US Airways club day pass, and flight redemptions for 5,000 fewer miles. The link also offers a $49 annual fee card offering 15,000 miles after first purchase.

There is also a Business card for a $79 annual fee which offers 25,000 after first purchase and a no annual fee Business Card offering 5,000 miles with first purchase.

This card is also reported to be churnable. I don’t currently have this card so I’ll defintitely include it in my next churn.

Citi is currently offering the AAdvantage card with $95 annual fee waived the first year and offers 40,000 miles after you make $3,000 in spend in the first 3 months. The card also comes with 1st bag fee waived, priority boarding, and you will earn 10% of AAdvantage redeemed miles back. Unfortunately it states that it is only available for new applicants and not availabe to any prior or current card member. Citi has in the past offered better mileage bonus offers but who knows if they will offer this high amount in the near future.

They are also offering a business version with practically the same bonus and benefits and it doesn’t state that you can’t get it if you have had the personal card.  If you have had the business version before, you are not eligible to get the bonus again.

Again this is only my spectulation but its good to think about given the history with the past two airline mergers. I do not receive commission to any of the links in this post. If there are better offers out there defintitely let me know in the comments.

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