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 7, 2015, 8:15 am
#1951
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,807
For those that have closed their A+ account, how long does it take for Barclays to refund the annual fee after you close it? I closed mine on Wednesday and while the website says "account closed" it is still showing the AF and a balance on the account. Once they refund it there will be a slight net credit on there that the rep said would be refunded by check.
Mar 9, 2015, 12:11 am
#1952
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,626
Could someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't this mean the card is an ONline chip +pin and not OFFline? IIRC most of the problems for USA cardholders is with the offline machines which are usually unattended.
Mar 9, 2015, 12:48 am
#1953
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
- Some kiosks can't handle the "No CVM Required" entry in our cards' cardholder verification method (CVM) lists. Since most American cards don't have a PIN, this means that even if the kiosk can do online transactions, it'll balk. Supposedly this is going to become less of a problem over time.
- A few (also supposedly dwindling) can't handle online transactions at all.
Mar 9, 2015, 11:54 am
#1954
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Washington DC
Programs: AA Nothing, Marriott Gold
Posts: 581
The Arrival+ has both offline and online pin capabilities. When you make your first EMV transaction it has to be signature with an online capable merchant. It will then physically download to the card whatever pin you set online and makes it available for offline merchants going forward.
Mar 9, 2015, 1:22 pm
#1955
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,068
Have had lots of problems with the Arrival+ in Indonesia -- it doesn't work on most (around 80%) of the terminals both using the chip and swiping.
Anyone have experience using the Arrival+ in China, India and Korea? -- I'm wondering if I should even bother carrying it to these countries.
Anyone have experience using the Arrival+ in China, India and Korea? -- I'm wondering if I should even bother carrying it to these countries.
Mar 9, 2015, 4:38 pm
#1956
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: PDX|AKL|AMS|GVA|AGP|CPT - or somewhere in between
Programs: DL DM; 2MM
Posts: 2,418
And Korea is soon on my itinerary for the card to be used.
Mar 9, 2015, 5:51 pm
#1957
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: Delta + United Airmiles
Posts: 703
The Arrival+ has both offline and online pin capabilities. When you make your first EMV transaction it has to be signature with an online capable merchant. It will then physically download to the card whatever pin you set online and makes it available for offline merchants going forward.
Or, more likely, from what I have also found in blogs, the card can be used initially at ANY terminal:
1. at online terminal (manned or not), new pin is used and pin on chip is updated. Thus, the online pin has priority over pin on the chip during an online transaction or chip pin is only used when offline. As I recall, that's consistent with the order on the CVM list:
Barclaycard Arrival+ MC ($89 AF after 1st year)
1 Online PIN - unattended cash Apply succeeding CV rule if this rule is unsuccessful
2 Signature (paper) Fail cardholder verification if this CVM is unsuccessful
3 Online PIN Apply succeeding CV rule if this rule is unsuccessful
4 Offline (ICC verified) PIN Apply succeeding CV rule if this rule is unsuccessful
5 Offline (ICC verified) Plaintext PIN Apply succeeding CV rule if this rule is unsuccessful
6 No CVM Required - Always Fail cardholder verification if this CVM is unsuccessful
2. at offline terminal, use old pin since it's still on the card until changed via online.
I actually convinced either Barclay's or Andrews (can't remember which) to add language about needing the prior offline pin number at offline terminals until the chip was updated via online transaction to their FAQs.
Mar 9, 2015, 7:34 pm
#1958
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: NYC
Posts: 557
Worked fine in India. Never had to key the PIN.
Mar 9, 2015, 9:01 pm
#1959
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
The card has a pre-baked PIN. First transaction does not need to be signature. What you're describing is only if you changed the PIN online, to be something other than the pre-baked PIN, to 'set' the new PIN.
The Arrival+ has both offline and online pin capabilities. When you make your first EMV transaction it has to be signature with an online capable merchant. It will then physically download to the card whatever pin you set online and makes it available for offline merchants going forward.
Mar 10, 2015, 8:31 am
#1960
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,068
Mar 10, 2015, 9:59 am
#1961
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Wine Country, Finger Lakes
Programs: LFFRS BOD
Posts: 1,355
Travel expenses are showing only for a cruise, not a condo rental ( business not a private rental) the rental is $2780 and the cruise charge is $788
Is it any better to use the 45,000 points ($450) towards the $788 or the rental which isn't showing at the moment but did receive 5,456 points.
Is the 10% back on points the decisive choice?
Is it any better to use the 45,000 points ($450) towards the $788 or the rental which isn't showing at the moment but did receive 5,456 points.
Is the 10% back on points the decisive choice?
Mar 10, 2015, 10:13 am
#1962
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: PDX|AKL|AMS|GVA|AGP|CPT - or somewhere in between
Programs: DL DM; 2MM
Posts: 2,418
Mar 10, 2015, 1:30 pm
#1963
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist No More..., Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 4,375
Travel expenses are showing only for a cruise, not a condo rental ( business not a private rental) the rental is $2780 and the cruise charge is $788
Is it any better to use the 45,000 points ($450) towards the $788 or the rental which isn't showing at the moment but did receive 5,456 points.
Is the 10% back on points the decisive choice?
Is it any better to use the 45,000 points ($450) towards the $788 or the rental which isn't showing at the moment but did receive 5,456 points.
Is the 10% back on points the decisive choice?
Mar 10, 2015, 3:00 pm
#1964
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Wine Country, Finger Lakes
Programs: LFFRS BOD
Posts: 1,355
Call Barclay and see if they will do a manual redemption for you for your rental. And plz post back the results. I plan to do the same with a house rental that I'm doing this month. I know the down payment did not code as travel but I didn't call in. I wanted to save up points for the bigger full payment. FYI, I have had good luck with having them do manual redemptions for other stuff.
I have double points on the purchase but when I go to rewards it doesn't show up..only the cruise charge.
Mar 10, 2015, 9:38 pm
#1965
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 267
Secure message didn't work for me. It was denied. When I called, I was transferred to the rewards dept and they manually applied my charges.