US Airways 50,000 Bonus Miles Premier World Card: 7 Reasons to Apply

US Airways and American Airlines are expected to complete merging by May or June of 2015.  Early this week, I called to cancel my US Airways Premier World MasterCard issued by Barclay bank.  As part of a routine procedure, the customer support transferred me to a Barclay Bank retention specialist.

He shared that, Barclay bank,

1. will not charge my account $89 annual fee for the upcoming anniversary (for all existing US Airways Premier World Card holder), so no annual fee until May 2016
2. offers me 10,000 bonus miles if I will spend $3,000 within the next 90 days.
3. will stop issuing this credit card after May 2015.

This card suddenly becomes a must-have for the following 7 reasons.

This offer is available to new Cardmembers only

1. Limited-time 50,000 bonus miles after 1st purchase and $89 paid.  No $2k or $3k spending requirement.  US Airways Dividend miles will become American Airlines AAdvantage miles.  $89 for 50,000 miles is a quite a good value  Typically we need to pay +$1000 to purchase 50,000 AA miles.
2. No foreign transaction fee.  The currency exchange rate depends on the Barclay bank's exchange rate.  I tested Chase bank exchange rate is excellent. Barclay's is unknown to me
3. Citi AA Platinum 50,000 bonus miles card (my Review) can be applied at the same time.  Together, these two cards will net you 100,000 American Airlines miles.
4. Barclay seems to be expanding benefits of this card to match Citi AA Platinum card, such that this card is worthy to be kept, and would allow us to churn Citi AA Platinum card every 18 months for bonus miles, and still earning AA miles with the Barclay card.



Card member benefits



That looks like Citi AA card offering

5. Barclay bank watches card holders who churn their credit cards, and value those who use them often. This card is an excellent card candidate to keep. 
6. Miles are good to redeem for AA flight ticket to Europe. We plan to fly in 2016 to Europe. Coach-class flight is fine to us, as miles devaluation typically hits hard redemption of only Business and First-class flight tickets .  
7. AMEX Serve loading credit card.  Unlike Chase, Citi or Bank of America, Barclay bank allows AMEX Serve to load money from credit card without charging cash advance fee. Barclay bank may change their mind later, but at least not now.

Do you still think about applying this card or not?  Do not wait too long.