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
Mar 3, 2015, 3:51 pm
#1936
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 503
Anyone have any knowledge of whether an ExpertFlyer annual subscription cost can be redeemed for miles? I know it's pushing the limits of "travel" but I figured I'd ask in case anyone knows if it's automatically eligible or if someone was able to call and get it credited.
Mar 3, 2015, 7:49 pm
#1937
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
Doing that requires an EMV transaction to 'set' the PIN to the card. Since my first opportunity to do an EMV transaction may not be until I travel, I didn't want to risk it. Called and had them mail me the default card PIN. I had thought they mailed it by default, but apparently not.
Mar 4, 2015, 9:31 am
#1938
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,166
Doing that requires an EMV transaction to 'set' the PIN to the card. Since my first opportunity to do an EMV transaction may not be until I travel, I didn't want to risk it. Called and had them mail me the default card PIN. I had thought they mailed it by default, but apparently not.
Mar 4, 2015, 10:02 pm
#1939
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: EWR-SEA-IAD
Programs: UA 1P MM, AS MVP G*, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat, IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 977
Just made the min spend. Do you guys usually spend points on any smallish travel expense that pops up or do you save them for larger ones? I mean at the end of the day it balances out right?
Mar 4, 2015, 11:25 pm
#1940
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,066
My priority is for the larger purchases if I know they will be coming up. For example- my current miles: 74,000. if I have a $75 travel expense eligible for credit but I know that I will have another travel expense for $750, I will first apply my points to the $750 spend then I could use the 10% back on the $75 spend. However, if the $75 spend is going to expire before my $750 spend becomes realized, I will apply the credit on the $75 spend then break the $750 into $687.50 and $62.50 in separate transactions if possible as each purchase is only eligible for travel credit once and the 10% from the $687.50 redemption can be applied to the $62.50.
Last edited by hightide; Mar 4, 2015 at 11:33 pm
Mar 5, 2015, 7:23 am
#1941
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Programs: Milege+, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,685
My priority is for the larger purchases if I know they will be coming up. For example- my current miles: 74,000. if I have a $75 travel expense eligible for credit but I know that I will have another travel expense for $750, I will first apply my points to the $750 spend then I could use the 10% back on the $75 spend. However, if the $75 spend is going to expire before my $750 spend becomes realized, I will apply the credit on the $75 spend then break the $750 into $687.50 and $62.50 in separate transactions if possible as each purchase is only eligible for travel credit once and the 10% from the $687.50 redemption can be applied to the $62.50.
Mar 5, 2015, 7:38 am
#1942
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Programs: Milege+, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,685
BTW.... When I added to the Wiki yesterday, I alphabetized all the info in both categories, so that anyone looking for a particular item might find it more easily.
Mar 5, 2015, 12:52 pm
#1943
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 207
Not sure if this has been asked or answered. Does the points earned across multiple cards (ex. plus and fee free) belong to each individual card... or can they be combined and used on one card. Thanks.
Mar 5, 2015, 8:44 pm
#1944
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: Delta + United Airmiles
Posts: 703
Same way most airmile cards work except, for an often impractically high fee, airmiles can typically be transferred between accounts.
Mar 5, 2015, 9:55 pm
#1945
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 256
Sorry to go off-topic, but does this mean that airline credit cards don't credit miles earned to your airline frequent flyer account, rather only to that particular credit card account?
Mar 5, 2015, 10:17 pm
#1946
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: Delta + United Airmiles
Posts: 703
If you have multiple credit cards that are linked to a single airmiles program, yes. For example I have both a Delta Amex and a Delta MC via SunTrust, and those both generate miles into my single Delta airmiles account.
If I have a Delta credit card and my friend has a Delta credit card for separate Delta airmile accounts, moving those miles from one account to the other is expensive.
Having both myself and my friend on the same credit card account could be quite problematic but does post all miles into the single airmiles account.
Anyone have experience with multiple people with separate credit card accounts being attached to a single airmile account? That would be great only if confidence was high that the owner of that single airmile account was a straight arrow.
Mar 5, 2015, 10:31 pm
#1947
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 256
Thanks for catching my unclear/perhaps incorrect language "Same way most airmile cards work". What I meant to convey:
If you have multiple credit cards that are linked to a single airmiles program, yes. For example I have both a Delta Amex and a Delta MC via SunTrust, and those both generate miles into my single Delta airmiles account.
If I have a Delta credit card and my friend has a Delta credit card for separate Delta airmile accounts, moving those miles from one account to the other is expensive.
Having both myself and my friend on the same credit card account could be quite problematic but does post all miles into the single airmiles account.
Anyone have experience with multiple people with separate credit card accounts being attached to a single airmile account? That would be great only if confidence was high that the owner of that single airmile account was a straight arrow.
If you have multiple credit cards that are linked to a single airmiles program, yes. For example I have both a Delta Amex and a Delta MC via SunTrust, and those both generate miles into my single Delta airmiles account.
If I have a Delta credit card and my friend has a Delta credit card for separate Delta airmile accounts, moving those miles from one account to the other is expensive.
Having both myself and my friend on the same credit card account could be quite problematic but does post all miles into the single airmiles account.
Anyone have experience with multiple people with separate credit card accounts being attached to a single airmile account? That would be great only if confidence was high that the owner of that single airmile account was a straight arrow.
Mar 6, 2015, 8:01 am
#1948
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Programs: Milege+, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,685
Sun Trust has a Delta MC? Are they taking applications?
Mar 6, 2015, 9:52 am
#1949
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, DL Diamond 1MM, Hyatt Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Diamond, AMEX 2015 Centurion
Posts: 323
Mar 6, 2015, 4:24 pm
#1950
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: Delta + United Airmiles
Posts: 703
I felt bad that I couldn't convince more of my friends or alert more bloggers to sign up before new apps stopped back in about May of 2014.
This card has generated enough airmiles via paying taxes on line (about $3 debit fee, vs 2% for credit card, for each $30k tax payment = 30k miles), along with the 60 or 70k signup bonuses on Delta Amex cards personal+business, to cover my 2 100k airmile round trip business class tickets to Europe in April (which HAD to be booked early September to get them). Yep, paid a ton of taxes in 2014 (one time event so far!). Likely will generate another 100k airmiles via tax payments for that 2014 event in 2015.
Hope this real life example helps folks stay motivated to keep active looking for the next great deal!