Credit Cards | 1995

In the early 90s it was realized that while Global Airlines was ahead of the competition in terms of network size and service on board, it was lagging behind when it came to the Global Rewards loyalty program. Only basic mileage accrual and status benefits were offered, while other carriers were already rolling out advancements to their program. An immediate effort was made to correct this oversight, and in 1995 Global Airlines released its first co-branded credit cards, partnering with Citibank for this purpose. It was still the last major US airline to do so, but it definitely came in swinging, offering three tiers of credit cards and simultaneously implementing massive changes to Global Rewards, making it one of the most advanced frequent flyer programs in the world.

The three credit cards were Citibank Global Executive, Citibank Global Gold, and Citibank Global Black, and they had a $0, $200, and $150,000 annual fees. The Global Executive card worked similar to how many co-branded airline credit cards are today, offering mileage accrual (3 miles per dollar on Global Airlines purchases and 1-2 miles per dollar in a variety of other categories), priority boarding, and savings on some airline-affiliated purchases. The Global Gold card, with its $200 annual fee, had even greater mileage accrual (up to 5 miles per dollar depending on the category) as well as automatic Gold status with Global Airlines (which came with its own perks, upgrades, etc). Finally, the Global Black card was ahead of anything the world had seen at that point, coming with automatic Platinum status with Global Airlines, guaranteed upgrades to the highest class of service available on any flight (which not even Platinum status could offer) and guaranteed accommodation on any flight, no matter how fully booked.

The combination of these two perks meant that a Global Black cardholder was able to walk onto any aircraft in the fleet about to depart for any destination, point at a First Class seat, say 'this is mine now', and get it for the price of a Coach-class ticket on that flight. The fact that this was happening at around the same time as Global Airlines introduced the best First Class in the western hemisphere made the Global Black card by far the most desirable credit card in the world - for those who could afford the 150 thousand dollars a year for the annual fee, of course. Furthermore, because of the newly-formed One Sky Alliance, cardholders had the same access to First Class on Royal Airways, Singaporean Overseas Pacific And Service, and Vienna Airlines (with a few restrictions).