May 14, 2014, 1:15 pm
Last edit by: rrgg
This thread is a continuation of the discussion posted here from 12.08.2012 - 5.13.2014: Barclays Arrival/Arrival Cards (1.05%/2.1% travel credits)
Current offer for Arrival Plus is 70K pts w/$5K spend & AF waived 1st year.
Barclays says that you earn “miles” but you’re actually earning cash back with the card since you can’t transfer your Barclays miles to airlines. But you can redeem them for statement credits at 0.5 cents per mile (poor value) or 1.05 cent per mile if you redeem for travel.
You get 5% of your miles back if you redeem for travel, so 40,000 miles gets you $400 towards travel and 2,000 miles back (5% of your miles back). You must have at least 10K 'miles' in your acct if you wish to redeem as a travel credit. 2500 'miles' can be redeemed for a stmt credit though.
If you want, you can redeem miles to cover a portion of a travel charge instead of the full amount. For example, if you have 80k miles and a $740 airline charge, you can choose to redeem just 70k to cover $700 of the charge.
You earn 2X miles on all purchases, so you’re effectively getting 2% cash back for each purchase. But since you get 5% of your miles back when you redeem for travel, this is effectively a 2.1% cash back card when miles are redeemed for travel.
This makes the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM World Elite MasterCard® (with 2.1% cash back for travel) better than the Capital One Venture card which offers only 2 miles per $1 or 2% cash back, only if you spend $30k+ per year after first year, because Arrival Plus AF is $30 more than Venture.
If you receive a call from 302-255-8000 after applying for this or any other Barclay's card, it is a legit number! You can also call them back directly at 866-951-1437.
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Let's crowd source things that have counted towards travel redemptions that are not so obvious
="3"%Successful
Don't forget travel purchase needs to be > $100 charge for 10K mile redemption
Airlines that post purchases of multiple tickets as one amount or split them:
One Amount
BA (USD based award ticket)
Multiple Transactions
UA (award)
DL (award)
Current offer for Arrival Plus is 70K pts w/$5K spend & AF waived 1st year.
Barclays says that you earn “miles” but you’re actually earning cash back with the card since you can’t transfer your Barclays miles to airlines. But you can redeem them for statement credits at 0.5 cents per mile (poor value) or 1.05 cent per mile if you redeem for travel.
You get 5% of your miles back if you redeem for travel, so 40,000 miles gets you $400 towards travel and 2,000 miles back (5% of your miles back). You must have at least 10K 'miles' in your acct if you wish to redeem as a travel credit. 2500 'miles' can be redeemed for a stmt credit though.
If you want, you can redeem miles to cover a portion of a travel charge instead of the full amount. For example, if you have 80k miles and a $740 airline charge, you can choose to redeem just 70k to cover $700 of the charge.
You earn 2X miles on all purchases, so you’re effectively getting 2% cash back for each purchase. But since you get 5% of your miles back when you redeem for travel, this is effectively a 2.1% cash back card when miles are redeemed for travel.
This makes the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM World Elite MasterCard® (with 2.1% cash back for travel) better than the Capital One Venture card which offers only 2 miles per $1 or 2% cash back, only if you spend $30k+ per year after first year, because Arrival Plus AF is $30 more than Venture.
If you receive a call from 302-255-8000 after applying for this or any other Barclay's card, it is a legit number! You can also call them back directly at 866-951-1437.
Very Old Wiki Info ---
Regarding official company representatives
Note that there is an official procedure for company representatives to register themselves with the FlyerTalk Community Director and verify their credentials. When that process is completed, the username will turn green in posts, rather than the standard blue.
Anyone who does not appear in green has not followed this procedure. Those posts should be considered the same as any other user's posts. It is important to remember that the moderation team does not generally monitor the veracity of any posts; it is up to you to judge a poster's content and history yourself.
Let's crowd source things that have counted towards travel redemptions that are not so obvious
="3"%Successful
Don't forget travel purchase needs to be > $100 charge for 10K mile redemption
- 9/11 Museum and Memorial - NYC
- Accuracy Limo (via Square, Salt Lake City, UT limo service)
- ACE Adventures (West Virginia White Water Rafting), had to call in to get it processed manually
- agoda.com
- AirAsia Flights (airasia.com)
- airbnb bookings
- airbnb GC purchased on United MPX site
- Alaska Airlines checked baggage fee $25 charge
- Amazing Bike Tours Thailand
- AA Gift Card
- American Airlines telephone booking (including booking fee)
- Amtrak train ticket >$25 (ALB-NYP)
- Amtrak train ticket >$25 (unknown destinations)
- Arrival+ Annual Fee
- Argosy Cruises (SEA, classified as RECREATION)
- Autoeurope.com
- BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) San Francisco
- Balloons over Bagan
- Bieber bus tickets
- Boston MBTA Charlie Card reload & Commuter Rail passes & tickets
- Burj Khalifa observation decks
- Buying Lifemiles from Avianca
- Capitaine Train Tickets (capitaine.com)
- Carmel Limo (NYC car service)
- carrentals.com
- cheaptickets.com hotel
- Chinese Visa Application Fees (had to call in. Credit showed up in account in 2 business days. See Post 912 and 921 for details)
- City Taxi (Tampa)
- CostcoTravel
- Cotai Waterjet (Hong Kong)
- CT Limo
- Daily Getaways purchase of HHonors points
- DB Bahn Trains Germany (bahn.de)
- Disneyland Hong Kong (Manual redemption required)
- DriveNow - all locations in EU/US
- Dublin Bus Tours Hop on, Hop off (Green)
- Eiffel Tower (manual redemption by phone allowed)
- Empire State Building tickets
- Enterprise rent-a-car, paid at the counter when returning the car (used Chase United Visa initially for primary coverage, but asked to pay with a different card when returning the car)
- Eurostar Train Tickets (eurostar.com)
- Europcar.com
- Expedia.com
- Hertz Rent-a-Car (booked on hertz.com)
- Hong Kong Airport Express Pass
- Hotel bookings through Rocketmiles (even refundable bookings or those tied to other promotions)
- Hotels.com
- Hotwire
- ItaliaRail (online booking agency for TrenItalia)
- LA Swamp Tours, Steamboat cruise, Haunted History Tours (New Orleans)
- Lahaina-Maui Ferry Tickets - booked online at www.go-lanai.com
- Las Vegas Show Booked through hotel
Las Vegas show tickets booked online (Mandalay Bay Box office) - Limo Charges - Two limo charges that I made in March PRIOR the the recent changes to what qualifies as "Travel" showed up as eligible travel charges. I guess with the changes to what's covered, and for how long, these got pulled back in.
- Lyft
- M-Life advance reservation deposit
- Montway Auto Transport (deposit)
- New York City MTA Subway Cards
- New York Waterways Ferry (between NJ and NYC)
- Ngong Ping 360 (Hong Kong)
- Norwegian Cruise Line purchase made from telephone order from vacationstogo.com
- Norwegian Cruise Line (deposits and payments)
- NS Hispeed Train Tickets (nshispeed.com)
- NYC Taxi
- Orbitz.com purchase
- ORCA card for Seattle area tolls (considered the very typical GOVERNMENT SERVICES NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED)
- Paris RATP Metro/VATP (buy 10-ticket pack for >$25 and save cost)
- PeruRail (Machu Picchu train)
- PMRF Beach Cottages (Kauai)
- Priceline
- Primetime Shuttle (Worked from LAX-SNA)
- rail europe on Travelocity
- rail JR Rail in Japan, load as tourist attraction, call in to get it credit (Post#938)
- Safari Helicopter Tour (Kauai)
- Sandals.com resort booking (unique vacations) was not redeemable last year. Is redeemable online now
- SEASTREAK LLC - NYC (Commuter Ferri)
- Singapore Cable Car
- Southwest $100 gift card
- Southwest Early Bird Check-in (billed separately from airfare charges)
- Spirit of NY Dinner Cruises - www.spiritcruises.com, which have cruises in several other cities as well.
- Starwood Vacation Ownership (SPG Timeshare) Westin Princeville Kauai (coded as Timeshare).
- St Pauls Cathedral (manual redemption by phone allowed)
- Super Shuttle (mixed, worked in SF when (billed SUPERSHUTTLE EXECUCARS), worked in Boston (SUPERSHUTTLE BOSTON), failed in LA (SUPERSHUTTLE), Worked in Cancun.
- Taxi in Zürich
- Top of the Rock tickets - NYC
- Trenitalia Online
- Trimet (Portland OR public transportation)
- Trip Advisor Rental
- TurboJET (Hong Kong)
- Uber
- Uber GC through MPX $100 (re-confirmed 11/1/2018, using Arrival Premier)
- United Baggage Fee
- Universal Studio Orlando tickets (had to call in)
- Viator (sightseeing/tours)
- Victoria Clipper (passenger ferry)
- Wedding at the Stratosphere's Chapel in the Clouds (billed as stratosphere)
- Windsor Castle (manual redemption by phone allowed)
- Wine purchases from different wine tasting rooms
- WMATA (Washington DC Metro) - [[COLOR="Red"]reconfirmed 10/5/15]
- Zipcar
="3"%Unsuccessful (please mention the amount redeemed - important as anything under$25$100 cannot be reimbursed)
Partial redemptions are possible - however you cannot redeem against that charge again. So if you have a $500 charge and you spend 40K points against it, you cannot redeem 10K points for the remaining $100 of that charge. - www.b-europe.com (SNCB rail)
- Amtrak (possibly due <$25 charge)
- Blue Water Rafting. Merchant category "Recreation Services -- Not elsewhere classified"
- Brazil airline GOL booked online codes as DIRECT MARKETING/DIRECT MARKETERS--NOT ELESWH ..
- Broadmoor Hotel Food and Beverage (Colorado Spring, CO)
- budgetair.co.uk (charged >$200)
- Car2go
- De Palm Tours, Aruba (classified as Recreation. Called Barclay twice.)
- Description: ZERVE *CA WHALES Merchant Category: THEATRICAL PRODUCERS (EXCEPT MOTION PICTURES), TICKET AGENCIES...Tickets to whale watching tour purchased over the phone.
- Evan Evans Sightseeing tours (UK based)- http://www.evanevanstours.co.uk
- Fastrak tag autoload for San Francisco bridge tolls ($25)
- Global Entry
- Gotobus.com Long Distance Buses, ~$100
- Homeaway.com, posts as real estate. Barclays said they'd make a one-time exception but future purchases won't count as travel.
- Hostelbookers.com deposit (maybe the charge which is >$25 will count?)
- Hotels.com Gift Card
- IHG points and cash hotel redemption
- Malaysian Overnight Train KUL-SIN (ktmb.com.my)
- Monterey Aquarium
- Parking at DCA - $136 (7/9/19)
- Parking at HSV ($96 in parking at Huntsville International Airport)
- Parking at IAH (Houston Intercontinental - on airport) -$76 (PARKING LOTS AND GARAGES)
- Parking at LAS
- Parking at LGA $204
- Parking at Port Imperial, Weehawken, NJ
- Parking at SNA (John Wayne Airport)
- San Francisco Clipper Card public transit (autoload from website)
- Skyjump at Stratosphere Hotel LV $150 (01/14) - not charged by hotel.
- Space Needle and Chihuly Garden Tickets
- Starwood points purchase (BUSINESS SERVICES NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED)
- Taxi Magic /Curb- Taxi service
- Thello train (France-Italy night train, codes as rail-freight)
- Trenitalia (both online and in stations, posts as rail-freight)
- UBER eGift Card (bought through the UBER app) for $100 - Not coded as "travel," so couldn't redeem online and they wouldn't do it over the phone, either.
Airlines that post purchases of multiple tickets as one amount or split them:
One Amount
BA (USD based award ticket)
Multiple Transactions
UA (award)
DL (award)
Barclays Arrival Plus, now 70K w/$5k spend
Jan 27, 2015, 9:57 am
#1712
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: PDX|AKL|AMS|GVA|AGP|CPT - or somewhere in between
Programs: DL DM; 2MM
Posts: 2,418
Regarding the 10% travel bonus, let's say I have accumulated 40,000 'miles'. I purchase an airline ticket for $400 and pay with this card. Later I apply the 40,000 miles towards the ticket purchase and in doing so earn an additional 4,000 miles. Is that how it works?
I.e. if you would book your $400 ticket by clicking through RewardsBoost and purchase from Orbitz, you would earn an extra 2 miles per $ spend.
In addition to an airline ticket one could could also buy i.e. hotel nights by clicking through RewardsBoost and purchase from a hotel booking site like Hotels.com and earn as many as 4 miles per $ spend.
I myself redeem every week for travel expenses and it is a ridiculously easy process and works flawlessly .
In other words, I don't actually have to book the travel through Barclay's own travel portal in order to earn this bonus, correct?
Jan 27, 2015, 10:00 am
#1713
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AA Plat, SPG Plat, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Silver, Hertz Five Star
Posts: 30
I have the Arrival Plus and my first statement has closed before hitting the 3k mininum spend. Shortly after the statement close, I hit the mininum spend, but the 40k points will not appear until this statement closes. I have a few travel transactions on my first statement that I would like to use my bonus to redeem, but I do not want to carry a balance. If I pay the first statement balance in full, can I retroactively redeem my bonus for the travel charges and receive a statement credit? Or will those charges disappear from my list of eligible charges once I pay it off?
Jan 27, 2015, 10:15 am
#1714
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: NYC
Posts: 538
My experience a year ago was that the 40K bonus credited shortly after I met the spend without the need to wait for the statement to close.
Jan 27, 2015, 11:16 am
#1715
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: RDU
Posts: 812
Or will those charges disappear from my list of eligible charges once I pay it off?
Jan 27, 2015, 2:44 pm
#1716
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 17
Say you've bought a plane ticket ($200) in December. When January comes around, you gotta pay your December statement. Once you pay it off, you get points some points. And once I receive the points, I choose the use it towards the plane ticket.
Does that mean that the amount you paid for the plane ticket ($200) gets credited back?
Jan 27, 2015, 3:38 pm
#1717
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 96
Yes, if that's the amount of "miles" you use against that charge. You'd need 20,000 points to do so. Therefore, you cannot use only the miles you earned from that transaction; you'll have to use other miles as well.
Jan 27, 2015, 5:00 pm
#1718
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Programs: Milege+, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,685
Receiving the 40K bonus and waiving the first year's AF may make the Arrival + work well the first year, but then you will have to charge $4045 in travel on the card every year just to recoup the $89 Annual Fee.
Jan 27, 2015, 5:09 pm
#1719
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 96
Actually, you have to charge $4450 on anything, and have $89 worth of travel to redeem against. Or charge $8900 on anything, and get the cash equivalent.
Jan 27, 2015, 5:28 pm
#1720
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Programs: Milege+, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,685
I see. You're right. I was making the mistake of factoring in the 10% back, but that extra is after the fact. Thanks.
Jan 27, 2015, 6:24 pm
#1721
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 257
Yes, and in addition to the 10% miles you receive back by redeeming miles for your travel purchase, you can book any flight through their RewardsBoost shopping portal and earn some extra miles.
I.e. if you would book your $400 ticket by clicking through RewardsBoost and purchase from Orbitz, you would earn an extra 2 miles per $ spend.
In addition to an airline ticket one could could also buy i.e. hotel nights by clicking through RewardsBoost and purchase from a hotel booking site like Hotels.com and earn as many as 4 miles per $ spend.
I myself redeem every week for travel expenses and it is a ridiculously easy process and works flawlessly .
There is no travel portal through which one could book - only the RewardsBoost shopping portal to make purchases.
I.e. if you would book your $400 ticket by clicking through RewardsBoost and purchase from Orbitz, you would earn an extra 2 miles per $ spend.
In addition to an airline ticket one could could also buy i.e. hotel nights by clicking through RewardsBoost and purchase from a hotel booking site like Hotels.com and earn as many as 4 miles per $ spend.
I myself redeem every week for travel expenses and it is a ridiculously easy process and works flawlessly .
There is no travel portal through which one could book - only the RewardsBoost shopping portal to make purchases.
Jan 27, 2015, 9:35 pm
#1722
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,166
Or you guys can just buy some Amex GCs when the portals are offering decent CB. That way you don't have to spend nearly as much and you can use the CB to cover the AF. 2.2% for today at BeFrugal.
Jan 28, 2015, 10:15 am
#1723
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 2
Traveled to South Africa for a friend's wedding last year. He arranged some hunting on a neighbor's farm and I just got the taxidermied trophies shipped to the US. The shipper - Safari Air Cargo - got coded by Barclays such that I can redeem Barclays miles against. Pretty obscure travel redemption.
Jan 28, 2015, 12:32 pm
#1724
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 96
Traveled to South Africa for a friend's wedding last year. He arranged some hunting on a neighbor's farm and I just got the taxidermied trophies shipped to the US. The shipper - Safari Air Cargo - got coded by Barclays such that I can redeem Barclays miles against. Pretty obscure travel redemption.
Jan 28, 2015, 12:42 pm
#1725
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: MDT
Programs: DL, AA
Posts: 390
Traveled to South Africa for a friend's wedding last year. He arranged some hunting on a neighbor's farm and I just got the taxidermied trophies shipped to the US. The shipper - Safari Air Cargo - got coded by Barclays such that I can redeem Barclays miles against. Pretty obscure travel redemption.