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What Will Happen to US Airways Miles and Credit Card with the Merger?

ByThe Miles Professor

The merger between US Airways and American Airlines is moving along and we’re expecting the two airlines to combine by some point in early 2015. With US Airways eventually no longer existing, this has a few consequences for our US Airways Dividend miles and the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard®  we’ve all been getting. Our US Airways and American Airlines mileage accounts will merge into a single US Airways account. The credit card is going to be converting to an American Airlines credit card, but no longer taking new customers. With it currently offering 40,000 miles after first purchase, it definitely makes sense to get in on the offer before it disappears for those who can use the US Airways miles.

What will happen to US Airways Miles?

US Airways miles themselves will eventually become American Airlines miles and your frequent flyer accounts will be combined into a single American Airlines miles account. It’s also likely at some point that you will be able to transfer miles back and forth between the two accounts to take advantage of both types of awards. This was the case when United Airlines and Continental merged.

Good or bad: Though it’s nice to have all the miles in a single account, this will reduce options as we’ll only have a single airline award chart to use them. There are some excellent sweet spots on the US Airways award chart to use those miles, which brings us to the next question…

What will happen to the award charts?

The new airline will release a single award chart and we’re not completely sure how exactly it will look. At this point, the US Airways award chart is, on the whole, more generous than the American Airlines award chart. It allows stopovers  and has very generous routing rules. As an example, we can fly to Asia and have a week-long or month-long stopover in Europe visiting two continents on one trip. It’s entirely possible the new chart will be more like American Airlines, which currently allows no more stopovers.

Here are a few posts on using US Airways miles:

Good or bad: Having fewer award charts and fewer options is generally not very good. Right now, we can take advantage of US Airways miles when we want to take advantage of generous routing rules with a stopover. We can use American Airlines miles for off-peak travel. With one award chart, we won’t have all these options so it’s best to take advantage of the sweet spots in both airlines programs sooner rather than later.

What will happen to the US Airways Credit Card?

The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® is currently issued by Barclays bank. American Airlines co-branded credit cards are issued by Citibank. After the merger, Citibank was chosen to be the sole issuer of new co-branded credit cards for the new American Airlines entity. Barclays bank, however, will still continue the relationship with American Airlines and existing US Airways cards will be converted to Barclays American Airlines cards and will earn American Airlines miles.

Although Barclays will grandfather existing customers to the new American Airlines cards, it will no longer accept new customers. The US Airways 40,000 mile bonus with no spending requirement that is available now will no longer be available.

Good or bad: The US Airways credit card is definitely a good offer and a very easy way to rack up 40,000 miles. I personally have two of these cards that I got two years ago. I will certainly miss being able to get this offer, but will make do with the miles offers available.

What will happen to the credit card benefits?

The US Airways Premier World MasterCard now has some very good benefits, which are still available to new customers. Later on, it will be moving to the “new benefits”.

US Airways World MasterCard
US Airways World MasterCard

Current benefits that will be discontinued include:

  • Annual Companion Certificate to fly two additional passengers for $99 each on US Airways flights of at least $250.
  • 5,000 mile discount on all US Airways award flight bookings.
  • 10,000 Preferred Qualifying miles after spending $25,000 on the card in a year.
  • Annual club pass.

Although those that sign up for a new card will still receive a Companion Certificate in addition to the 40,000 mile sign-up bonus, the Companion Certificate will be disappearing as an annual benefit.

New benefits will include:

  • 10% mile rebate on awards redeemed with miles.
  • 25% off in-flight purchases.
  • $100 flight discount after spending $30,000 in a year.

Good or bad: All I can say is the new benefits will definitely not be as good as the current ones.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I do receive a referral commission for successful applications through my site. I always include the best offer I can find regardless of commission. If you decide to use my links, thank you very much for your support!)

More posts about US Airways Miles and card benefits:

6 Comments

  1. Do you know if offers some of us have like 15k miles upon paying the annual fee will continue? Thanks

    1. The US Airways card hasn’t offered the 10k annual bonus in a while and, in the letter I got, it wasn’t listed as one of the continuing benefits. My guess is it will end too when the card converts to American Airlines. I do hope, though, that Barclays continues to be generous in sending out targeted offers like “Spend $750 a month for 3 months and earn 15k miles”. I’ve gotten that one many times at this point :)

  2. I have a question regarding the Annual Companion Certificate to fly two additional passengers for $99 each on US Airways flights of at least $250. Can I use it for international flights (Like to Europe, asia, carribean)?

  3. For years I’ve had a B of A US Airways Dividend Miles Signature Visa Card. Are they still offering 10,000 preferred miles after $25,000 spent?

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