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Barclays Arrival Plus, now 70K w/$5k spend

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Old May 14, 2014, 1:15 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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
  • 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)

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Barclays Arrival Plus, now 70K w/$5k spend

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Old Jul 14, 2014, 9:18 am
  #781  
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 817
If I applied for the B+ in May and got denied due to too many inquiries (they gave me a regular one instead which I immediately cancelled) how long should I wait before applying again?

My credit score at the time was ~750
greggarious is offline  
Old Jul 14, 2014, 11:34 am
  #782  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 209
Instant approval w/ $10k CL

in the past 3 months opened 2 Citi HH and SPG Biz and now this Arrival
riversidetom is offline  
Old Jul 14, 2014, 2:03 pm
  #783  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: MDT
Programs: DL, AA
Posts: 390
Originally Posted by JaytheBarber
Successful redemptions so far for my upcoming trip to Italy include tickets to the Vatican and tickets to the Roman Colosseum.
Awesome! I'll be there soon too, maybe I'll see you there, I doubt it will be very busy...

Originally Posted by Happy
Not true at all.

If you SM Chase on their no forex fee cards, they ALWAYS tell you Visa would charge 1% Network fee - Look, it is not called Forex fee, but "Network" fee.

FIA amex card specifically tells you there would be 1% process fee for transactions ORIGINATED outside US. Personally I have other cards carry 0% forex fee and earn at least 1%, so no reason to even bring the FIA amex with me on trips.

BTW, since it is NOT called "forex" fee, the 1% is BUILT IN the exchange rate, NOT a separate line item as stipulated by the legislation.

You can ban your head against the wall on this but will NEVER get a clear-cut answer. My take is, this is how the banks get away from charging the 1% and have no need to list it separately.

This also applies to the Fido and Schwab ATM cards. When the banks charge the 1% separately on the withdrawal slip, Fido would NOT reimburse it. I have the experience with BNP at Aix-en-Provence, where the BNP has 1 euro listed as "purchase" on a 100 euro withdrawal. Fido said that was the 1% Visa Network fee and would not be reimbursed.

I use the same BofA 123. I also carry other cards from Chase / Citi / CapOne that have 0% forex fee. More often than not, I found the 1% Visa fee is more like 0.5% or less. No reason to spend lots of time and energy to just "figure it out". Just treats it as a very tiny increase of your total trip cost and be done with it.
Based on my post upthread, if there was a Visa fee, it was .15%. Although that could just as easily be from using a different exchange rate than what xe.com has listed for that day.
mh1361 is offline  
Old Jul 14, 2014, 2:17 pm
  #784  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
A pleasant recon call

Hope the experiences would help others.

Have 2 existing US cards (one opened Nov 13, one opened Mar 2014), combined CL 22.5K with Barclay at the time of applying Arrival.

As expected, did not get instant approval like all prev 4 US cards.

Waited a few days until status showed denial, called Recon last week. The credit analyst was a guy who was courteous but "cold". He said the reason for denial being max credit line has reached with Barclay. I emphasized the reason to get Arrival card was the true Chip and PIN function of the card and suggested reallocation of the CLs from existing US cards.

He said he would see if he could do anything. Came back to tell me Nope, because my accounts with Barclay are too new and I have open/closed 4 or 5 cards in the past 12 months (incl 2 US cards after no waiver on the annual fee.) and he denied it again.

Got both denial letters today. Called again and this time lucked out with a very pleasant very helpful lady analyst.

Again I told her the reason to get the Arrival card. Reiterated that I did not need extra credit. She took a look of the app and other 2 US cards and mentioned they were fairly new. I said yeah because of the US/AA merger, this would be my last chance to get US cards as Barclay would stop issuing those come Jan 2015. She then asked me, how much credit I would like to move over to the Arrival. Bingo!

I kept $5K on each US card and moved 12.5K total to the Arrival card. She did her magic and even came back to tell me it would take just a few more minutes before the approval process was completed.

Arrival now shows up on my Barclay online.

Incidentally, the lady I got was based in Las Vegas. She could see the strip from her office. There is another call center in Delaware she told me.

Last edited by Happy; Jul 14, 2014 at 2:51 pm
Happy is offline  
Old Jul 14, 2014, 2:40 pm
  #785  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: NW GA
Posts: 28
Data point

Another data point: Applied for Arrival + for hubby on 6/29. He previously applied April 2013, closed card in April 2014. No other Barclay cards at time of application a few weeks ago. 823 FICO according to Barclays. Probably 4-5 inquiries in the last year, I'm not positive.

Application was pending, after 5 days I told him to call in. Coached him on all they could possibly bring up (thinking they might ask why he just cancelled in April and reapplied a couple months later). He said they just wanted to verify his contact info and salary and approved him for $10k. Call took 2 minutes he said. Previous Arrival had $12.5k limit.

Not sure about getting the bonus points again, but I used the hack to apply for the 0% purchase APR and it shows 0% APR online till July 2015. Legalese for receiving bonus points COULD exclude him, but I will update once we hit spend. Fingers crossed we get those points!
ralexander is offline  
Old Jul 14, 2014, 5:09 pm
  #786  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 266
Originally Posted by mike2200
Did you call and check with Barclays??
Thanks for the advice. I did call them and Busch Gardens is definitely on the list. Sport Venues, like MLB and stubhub.com don't appear to be on the list.
dontippet is offline  
Old Jul 14, 2014, 6:58 pm
  #787  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,166
I'll be leaving for Germany next week so hopefully the Chip & PIN plays nice.
Superorb is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2014, 7:56 am
  #788  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,762
Anybody with any info on when the no fee card for the peasants will be available?
JEFFJAGUAR is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2014, 2:37 pm
  #789  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 34
Just got instantly approved for 5k. A little low for me, but I'll take it. Thank goodness undercover tourist counts as travel. Will be buying my WDW and Universal tickets from there.
ellecsor is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2014, 3:34 pm
  #790  
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 45
Cheaptickets.com

I saw in the wiki that orbitz.com purchases coded as travel and are able to be used with points. I went to the activities area on orbitz and was looking at purchasing some disneyland tickets. When I clicked on the "disneyland tickets" it wants me to submit dates, etc but the browser kept me on orbitz.com. I clicked back and saw other "activities" near the disneyland tickets and when I clicked "see more" it took me to another website (sister of orbitz?) called cheaptickets.com. Some of the tabs are travel activites like flights, hotels, cars, cruises, etc. but the last one was event tickets. I clicked on a upcoming baseball game I'd like to attend, but when I was prompted to make a log in for a new account there is a little tip that says "Your event tickets account is different than your cheap tickets travel account".

I'm wondering if anyone has used this site before and whether or not this codes as travel and can be redeemed with barclay points. If not, I'll take the plunge and buy the baseball game tickets anyway and see how it codes. Would obviously like to use points if it all possible...

TIA
nayrb3 is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2014, 4:54 pm
  #791  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist No More..., Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 4,375
Originally Posted by nayrb3
I saw in the wiki that orbitz.com purchases coded as travel and are able to be used with points. I went to the activities area on orbitz and was looking at purchasing some disneyland tickets. When I clicked on the "disneyland tickets" it wants me to submit dates, etc but the browser kept me on orbitz.com. I clicked back and saw other "activities" near the disneyland tickets and when I clicked "see more" it took me to another website (sister of orbitz?) called cheaptickets.com. Some of the tabs are travel activites like flights, hotels, cars, cruises, etc. but the last one was event tickets. I clicked on a upcoming baseball game I'd like to attend, but when I was prompted to make a log in for a new account there is a little tip that says "Your event tickets account is different than your cheap tickets travel account".

I'm wondering if anyone has used this site before and whether or not this codes as travel and can be redeemed with barclay points. If not, I'll take the plunge and buy the baseball game tickets anyway and see how it codes. Would obviously like to use points if it all possible...

TIA
Cheaptickets and orbitz are sister websites. They basically have the same functionality so I would suspect that they behave the same in coding.
cdancer20 is offline  
Old Jul 16, 2014, 8:08 pm
  #792  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 11
Barclaycard points for Disney hotels?

I have searched in vain to see if Barclaycard Arrival points can be redeemed for Disney branded hotel costs. Has anyone seen if this is feasible?
the5reeds is offline  
Old Jul 17, 2014, 12:21 am
  #793  
Moderator: Chase Ultimate Rewards
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 2P, MR LT Plat, IHG Plat, BW Dia, HH Au, Avis PC
Posts: 5,454
Originally Posted by the5reeds
I have searched in vain to see if Barclaycard Arrival points can be redeemed for Disney branded hotel costs. Has anyone seen if this is feasible?
There was recently some discussion in:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...-vacation.html
MDtR-Chicago is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2014, 9:27 am
  #794  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 14
Originally Posted by nayrb3
I saw in the wiki that orbitz.com purchases coded as travel and are able to be used with points. I went to the activities area on orbitz and was looking at purchasing some disneyland tickets. When I clicked on the "disneyland tickets" it wants me to submit dates, etc but the browser kept me on orbitz.com. I clicked back and saw other "activities" near the disneyland tickets and when I clicked "see more" it took me to another website (sister of orbitz?) called cheaptickets.com. Some of the tabs are travel activites like flights, hotels, cars, cruises, etc. but the last one was event tickets. I clicked on a upcoming baseball game I'd like to attend, but when I was prompted to make a log in for a new account there is a little tip that says "Your event tickets account is different than your cheap tickets travel account".

I'm wondering if anyone has used this site before and whether or not this codes as travel and can be redeemed with barclay points. If not, I'll take the plunge and buy the baseball game tickets anyway and see how it codes. Would obviously like to use points if it all possible...

TIA
I've purchased my Disneyland tickets through Orbitz and was able to redeem my points and I've booked my Hotel through Cheaptickets.com and was able to redeem my points as well.
mjly2008 is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2014, 12:30 pm
  #795  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Midwest
Programs: Southwest CP, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Platinum, Club Carlson Gold
Posts: 69
I am considering churning my way to the Super Bowl in Minneapolis (Feb 2018). I know that I can get the Barclays NFL card and accumulate 200k points to get a pair of tickets. But I was also thinking that it might be worthwhile to get my choice of seats by buying my own on the secondary market.

I have searched and not found an answer to my question. Does the Arrival Plus count any sporting event ticket sellers as travel for point redemption?
WhoGoesThere is offline  


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