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Let's crowd source things that have counted towards travel redemptions that are not so obvious
Successful
Successful - Plus Only
Unsuccessful (please mention the amount redeemed - important as anything under $25 cannot be reimbursed)
Don't forget travel purchase needs to be > $25 charge for 2,500 mile redemption
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.
Let's crowd source things that have counted towards travel redemptions that are not so obvious
Successful
- NS Hispeed Train Tickets (nshispeed.com)
- Capitaine Train Tickets (capitaine.com)
- Eurostar Train Tickets (eurostar.com)
- DB Bahn Trains Germany (bahn.de)
- Super Shuttle (mixed, worked in SF when (billed SUPERSHUTTLE EXECUCARS), worked in Boston (SUPERSHUTTLE BOSTON), failed in LA (SUPERSHUTTLE)
- rail europe on travelocity
- New York City MTA Subway Cards
- Boston MBTA Charlie Card reload & Commuter Rail passes & tickets
- San Francisco Clipper Card public transit (autoload from website)
- Norwegian Cruise Line purchase made from telephone order from vacationstogo.com
- rail JR Rail in Japan, load as tourist attraction, call in to get it credit (Post#938)
- Alaska Airlines checked baggage fee $25 charge
- Southwest Early Bird Check-in (billed separately from airfare charges)
- cheaptickets.com hotel
- Amtrak train ticket >$25 (ALB-NYP)
- Amtrak train ticket >$25 (unknown destinations)
- Buying Lifemiles from Avianca
- Primetime Shuttle (Worked from LAX-SNA)
- Orbitz.com purchase
- Priceline
- Las Vegas Show Booked through hotel
- Hotels.com
- WMATA (Washington DC Metro) Weekly pass
Successful - Plus Only
- Uber
- NYC Taxi
- Empire State Building tickets
- SF Taxi (coded as "YELLOW CARD SERVICES I")
Unsuccessful (please mention the amount redeemed - important as anything under $25 cannot be reimbursed)
- Amtrak (possibly due <$25 charge)
- IHG points and cash hotel redemption
- www.b-europe.com (SNCB rail)
- Description: ZERVE *CA WHALES Merchant Category: THEATRICAL PRODUCERS (EXCEPT MOTION PICTURES), TICKET AGENCIES...Tickets to whale watching tour purchased over the phone.
- Car2go
- Hostelbookers.com deposit (maybe the charge which is >$25 will count?)
- Thello train (France-Italy night train, codes as rail-freight)
- Trenitalia (both online and in stations, posts as rail-freight)
- Brazil airline GOL booked online codes as DIRECT MARKETING/DIRECT MARKETERS--NOT ELESWH ..
- Blue Water Rafting. Merchant category "Recreation Services -- Not elsewhere classified"
- Parking at IAH (Houston Intercontinental - on airport) -$76 (PARKING LOTS AND GARAGES)
- Parking at SNA (John Wayne Airport)
- Skyjump at Stratosphere Hotel LV $150 (01/14) - not charged by hotel.
- Gotobus.com Long Distance Buses, ~$100
- Global Entry
Don't forget travel purchase needs to be > $25 charge for 2,500 mile redemption
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.
Barclays Arrival/Arrival Cards (1.1%/2.2% travel credits)
#46
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 167
SW CP
Am I right in thinking that a great way to use these points is in conjunction with a Southwest Companion Pass? Rapid Rewads Points are worth exactly 1.66 CPM. This is worth 2.2 and becomes 4.4! Am I wrong?
#47
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: Delta silver, HH silver, IHG platinum, SPG gold, AMEX platinum
Posts: 400
#48
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: UA 2P
Posts: 53
Well, unless you otherwise couldn't fly at all, having the companion pass doesn't change the value of the points. You get the free companion ticket whether you pay with points or cash.
#49
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 167
Yes, but wouldn't it be more worthwhile to use points earned on this card as opposed to the SW card or the ink cards? Say I'm able to do 6K of non-category spending. On the SW or ink cards, that comes out to $100, or approx $200 worth of flights with the CP. $6K of spending on the Arrival card gets you approx $264 of flights with the CP - about 32% more!
Is this correct?
Is this correct?
#50
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: UA 2P
Posts: 53
Yes, but wouldn't it be more worthwhile to use points earned on this card as opposed to the SW card or the ink cards? Say I'm able to do 6K of non-category spending. On the SW or ink cards, that comes out to $100, or approx $200 worth of flights with the CP. $6K of spending on the Arrival card gets you approx $264 of flights with the CP - about 32% more!
Is this correct?
Is this correct?
#51
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 290
Arrival Card is best card for non category bonus spending
Yes, but wouldn't it be more worthwhile to use points earned on this card as opposed to the SW card or the ink cards? Say I'm able to do 6K of non-category spending. On the SW or ink cards, that comes out to $100, or approx $200 worth of flights with the CP. $6K of spending on the Arrival card gets you approx $264 of flights with the CP - about 32% more!
Is this correct?
Is this correct?
#52
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Fort Myers, FL
Programs: Hilton Gold, SPG & IHG Plat, & every airline program that I can join
Posts: 2,279
Of course when I got this card last fall it had a 10,000 point bonus and only a $250 limit!!!
JudyJFLA
JudyJFLA
#53
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX/SNA
Programs: AA, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,887
Yes, arrival card is better for non category bonus spending. The only card that compares is SPG AMEX. Would you rather have 1 SPG point or 2.2% travel cash. With SPG properties becoming more expensive, Barclays Arrival may seem like a better choice. I would argue it is better than SPG unless you hold SPG Platinum status.
Everything I read values an UR point at $.02 (which seems very fair), so really you're only losing out on $.002 per dollar, that's not counting the 7% dividend at the end of the year or CSP which is guaranteed, if you don't redeem the Arrival points for travel, you don't get 10%. I'll happily give up that ~$.002 for having more points in a program I can redeem in more frequently for a very similar value.
That being said, this card is high on my list for my next AOR, if Barclays will let me have it.
Last edited by PainCorp; Apr 12, 2013 at 11:51 pm
#54
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 290
The WN card is on my list for an eventual AOR when the bonus for Premiere is 50k. I'll then keep it in the drawer for the AF which I'll swallow for the RR points.
If you only use it for non-category spending it's going to take a lot longer to get anything worthwhile that is redeemable. Especially if you have Ink, Freedom and CSP, you'd have almost all categories covered.
Everything I read values an UR point at $.02 (which seems very fair), so really you're only losing out on $.002 per dollar, that's not counting the 7% dividend at the end of the year or CSP which is guaranteed, if you don't redeem the Arrival points for travel, you don't get 10%. I'll happily give up that ~$.002 for having more points in a program I can redeem in more frequently for a very similar value.
That being said, this card is high on my list for my next AOR, if Barclays will let me have it.
If you only use it for non-category spending it's going to take a lot longer to get anything worthwhile that is redeemable. Especially if you have Ink, Freedom and CSP, you'd have almost all categories covered.
Everything I read values an UR point at $.02 (which seems very fair), so really you're only losing out on $.002 per dollar, that's not counting the 7% dividend at the end of the year or CSP which is guaranteed, if you don't redeem the Arrival points for travel, you don't get 10%. I'll happily give up that ~$.002 for having more points in a program I can redeem in more frequently for a very similar value.
That being said, this card is high on my list for my next AOR, if Barclays will let me have it.
#55
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX/SNA
Programs: AA, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,887
I'll give you that, but that still doesn't address the point of only using this for non-category spend making it take forever to get anything worthwhile for a redemption. If you have the three Chase cards I've talked about, non-category bonus spending is going to be very minimal compared to everything else since you have so many categories covered.
#56
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: DL, SPG, UA.
Posts: 230
Which is why I don't see this card as being worth much outside of the bonus. I would rather have 2% cash from fido which I can use at any point and for anything than an extra 0.002 that I have to use on travel within 90 days when ill likely get a better return on travel purchases using CSP.
There seems to be two schools of thought, 1) concentrate rewards in one or two programs or 2) maximize the reward for every swipe, regardless of the program. I am more in camp #1 (although any pure cash back card (fido, bcp) I consider one program). Yes, I might not maximize my spend yield but Ill be closer to an award I prefer.
There seems to be two schools of thought, 1) concentrate rewards in one or two programs or 2) maximize the reward for every swipe, regardless of the program. I am more in camp #1 (although any pure cash back card (fido, bcp) I consider one program). Yes, I might not maximize my spend yield but Ill be closer to an award I prefer.
#57
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
Planning to get this card in wife's next AOR, specifically for train travel in Europe in November. If you like getting away from big cities and any kind of road trips or unplanned travel, I see it as a great addition. Not a primary card for everyday use, though.
#58
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 4
are points from this card transferrable? could I transfer points to my skymiles acct?
#59
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 176
I just got this card,and I don't understand how to redeem the points..... Do I book travel using the points? Or do I pay for travel,which gets refunded? Can they be transferred into another program to be used? Where would I find this info? all help is appreciated....
#60
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX/SNA
Programs: AA, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,887
You really should do research into a program before you apply...