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
May 29, 2015, 9:07 am
#2311
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: Delta + United Airmiles
Posts: 703
This is interesting.... I downgraded about 6 months ago b/c I wanted to keep the credit line open. The no AF Arrival is all but useless. I assume trying to get the Arrival+ is going to bring the "already have our product" response.
What did you say that changed their mind to give you the Plus?
What did you say that changed their mind to give you the Plus?
ps: DID get the $400 signup bonus again - which would NOT have happened had I "upgraded" and you similarly don't get $200 signup bonus when downgrading to A- from A+ so downgrading/upgrading is not so sweet!
May 29, 2015, 6:31 pm
#2312
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 514
Foreign transaction fee
During the last few months I did several test foreign transactions (in Brazilian Real, Canadian Dollar, South African Rand, Euro, and UAE Dirham) using either Barclay's Arrival+ or Capital One Venture Miles Visa. I intentionally made each pair of transactions for about the same amount and about the same time (usually with no more than a few seconds gap), once with Barclay's Arrival+ and once with Capital One Venture Miles Visa. Across more than 35 pairs of transactions, Capital One Venture Miles always gave me a better exchange rate for all currencies, with the difference in rate ranging from 0.73% to 1.27%. I decided to stop using my Barclay's Arrival+ card for foreign transactions. (I never used DCC.)
Also in a few debit transactions that I had, Capital One debit MasterCard seems to give a better exchange rate relative to Schwab debit Visa. I am not sure how to interpret these observations. My understanding is that, if DCC is not used, banks do not play a role in determining exchange rate. But in this case for whatever reason cards issued by Capital One (Visa or MC) had a better ROE.
Also in a few debit transactions that I had, Capital One debit MasterCard seems to give a better exchange rate relative to Schwab debit Visa. I am not sure how to interpret these observations. My understanding is that, if DCC is not used, banks do not play a role in determining exchange rate. But in this case for whatever reason cards issued by Capital One (Visa or MC) had a better ROE.
Last edited by mizzou1; May 30, 2015 at 1:40 am
May 29, 2015, 10:45 pm
#2313
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 441
During the last few months I did several test foreign transactions (in Brazilian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, South African Rand, Euro, and UAE Dirham) using either Barclay's Arrival+ or Capital One Venture Miles Visa. I intentionally made each pair of transactions for about the same amount and about the same time (usually with no more than a few seconds gap), once with Barclay's Arrival+ and once with Capital One Venture Miles Visa. Across more than 35 pairs of transactions, Capital One Venture Miles always gave me a better exchange rate for all currencies, with the difference in rate ranging from 0.73% to 1.27%. I decided to stop using my Barclay's Arrival+ card for foreign transactions. (I never used DCC.)
Also in a few debit transactions that I had, Capital One debit MasterCard seems to give a better exchange rate relative to Schwab debit Visa. I am not sure how to interpret these observations. My understanding is that, if DCC is not used, banks do not play a role in determining exchange rate. But in this case for whatever reason cards issued by Capital One (Visa or MC) had a better ROE.
Also in a few debit transactions that I had, Capital One debit MasterCard seems to give a better exchange rate relative to Schwab debit Visa. I am not sure how to interpret these observations. My understanding is that, if DCC is not used, banks do not play a role in determining exchange rate. But in this case for whatever reason cards issued by Capital One (Visa or MC) had a better ROE.
May 29, 2015, 10:56 pm
#2314
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: Delta + United Airmiles
Posts: 703
During the last few months I did several test foreign transactions (in Brazilian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, South African Rand, Euro, and UAE Dirham) using either Barclay's Arrival+ or Capital One Venture Miles Visa. I intentionally made each pair of transactions for about the same amount and about the same time (usually with no more than a few seconds gap), once with Barclay's Arrival+ and once with Capital One Venture Miles Visa. Across more than 35 pairs of transactions, Capital One Venture Miles always gave me a better exchange rate for all currencies, with the difference in rate ranging from 0.73% to 1.27%. I decided to stop using my Barclay's Arrival+ card for foreign transactions. (I never used DCC.)
Also in a few debit transactions that I had, Capital One debit MasterCard seems to give a better exchange rate relative to Schwab debit Visa. I am not sure how to interpret these observations. My understanding is that, if DCC is not used, banks do not play a role in determining exchange rate. But in this case for whatever reason cards issued by Capital One (Visa or MC) had a better ROE.
Also in a few debit transactions that I had, Capital One debit MasterCard seems to give a better exchange rate relative to Schwab debit Visa. I am not sure how to interpret these observations. My understanding is that, if DCC is not used, banks do not play a role in determining exchange rate. But in this case for whatever reason cards issued by Capital One (Visa or MC) had a better ROE.
May 29, 2015, 10:59 pm
#2315
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
During the last few months I did several test foreign transactions (in Brazilian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, South African Rand, Euro, and UAE Dirham) using either Barclay's Arrival+ or Capital One Venture Miles Visa. I intentionally made each pair of transactions for about the same amount and about the same time (usually with no more than a few seconds gap), once with Barclay's Arrival+ and once with Capital One Venture Miles Visa. Across more than 35 pairs of transactions, Capital One Venture Miles always gave me a better exchange rate for all currencies, with the difference in rate ranging from 0.73% to 1.27%. I decided to stop using my Barclay's Arrival+ card for foreign transactions. (I never used DCC.)
Also in a few debit transactions that I had, Capital One debit MasterCard seems to give a better exchange rate relative to Schwab debit Visa. I am not sure how to interpret these observations. My understanding is that, if DCC is not used, banks do not play a role in determining exchange rate. But in this case for whatever reason cards issued by Capital One (Visa or MC) had a better ROE.
Also in a few debit transactions that I had, Capital One debit MasterCard seems to give a better exchange rate relative to Schwab debit Visa. I am not sure how to interpret these observations. My understanding is that, if DCC is not used, banks do not play a role in determining exchange rate. But in this case for whatever reason cards issued by Capital One (Visa or MC) had a better ROE.
Debit cards do have a PIN though. Also, the poster hasn't indicated whether kiosks were used at all.
May 30, 2015, 11:18 pm
#2317
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
May 31, 2015, 3:29 am
#2318
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 825
I've been in ireland for the past week. SO annoying that this card defaults to chip and signature. Half the people I'm paying get confused when their card terminal starts printing extras papers and they often do not have a pen. Make sure you always have a pen with you!
May 31, 2015, 1:29 pm
#2319
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
The card works. Quit complaining - or go to the EMV thread and complain there 
May 31, 2015, 1:50 pm
#2320
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
May 31, 2015, 4:43 pm
#2322
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 259
Hi, can we churn this Barclay Arrival + card? I closed my arrival card last Nov 2014. Can I apply again and get the 40,000 points?
May 31, 2015, 7:38 pm
#2323
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: Delta + United Airmiles
Posts: 703
YMMV.
I did NOT do this to churn the card though. I got the card again to support my chip and pin need for travel in Europe in April because the HSBC card I got blatantly advertised chip and pin priority abroad but is definitely chip and signature (and NO offline pin support) and thus is totally misrepresented per the CVM list (same as BofA and Chase if I recall correctly) and verified by my test transactions while traveling. Sadly, the HSBC reps (multiple ones) refuse to admit that the card is signature priority despite my presentation of the proof - they insist that the merchant is the issue (despite the guy ahead in a line in Paris grocery of me getting to use a pin!). I finally just gave up and closed the HSBC account - their reps are definitely stubborn script spouters.
Jun 4, 2015, 11:59 am
#2324
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 24
Newbie-type question about the AF - if I were to open the card now, does "1st year waived" mean that I get charged the first AF in June 2016 or June 2017?
Jun 4, 2015, 12:57 pm
#2325
Join Date: Mar 2014
Programs: AA Exec Plat, Hilton Diamond, Citi-Prestige,
Posts: 131