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
Jul 10, 2015, 3:43 pm
#2611
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,762
tfl=transport for London...the operation that runs London Underground and coordinates the bus lines. Never asked for a pin using these machines.
The fact of the matter is that no matter the whining of so many here, chip and signature works every bit as well as chip and pin 99.9% of the time no matter what some say.
The fact of the matter is that no matter the whining of so many here, chip and signature works every bit as well as chip and pin 99.9% of the time no matter what some say.
Jul 10, 2015, 3:50 pm
#2612
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
tfl=transport for London...the operation that runs London Underground and coordinates the bus lines. Never asked for a pin using these machines.
The fact of the matter is that no matter the whining of so many here, chip and signature works every bit as well as chip and pin 99.9% of the time no matter what some say.
The fact of the matter is that no matter the whining of so many here, chip and signature works every bit as well as chip and pin 99.9% of the time no matter what some say.
Jul 10, 2015, 4:02 pm
#2613
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,760
tfl=transport for London...the operation that runs London Underground and coordinates the bus lines. Never asked for a pin using these machines.
The fact of the matter is that no matter the whining of so many here, chip and signature works every bit as well as chip and pin 99.9% of the time no matter what some say.
The fact of the matter is that no matter the whining of so many here, chip and signature works every bit as well as chip and pin 99.9% of the time no matter what some say.
Agree. Some tend to make a mountain out of a molehill on this CHIP and PIN issue.
The only times we needed the PIN function was the French/Switzerland unmanned gas station / toll booth and the parking at Mt. St. Michael - however, the unmanned gas station and the parking could be avoided. Toll booth though, just need to have loads of coins.
Jul 10, 2015, 4:16 pm
#2614
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
Also, the fact that there is a PIN of some sort on some cards that's not used nearly all the time is pretty confusing though, but that's because the major card brands don't want to take a position on having one in the first place. And obviously some banks and CUs still don't feel like signature-only is enough because even with the Visa rule changes the cards that have had PINs still do. Granted, they already did the work to support PIN at least on a secondary basis so it might not be worth it to dismantle all of that.
It almost seems like it would be easier for Visa/MC to expressly prohibit American credit cards from having a PIN (at least when signature is preferred and possibly for all of them); that would avoid having to explain to people when exactly the PIN gets used or worse have one that's almost never asked for even at kiosks.
(Anyway, back to your normal Arrival+ discussion.)
It almost seems like it would be easier for Visa/MC to expressly prohibit American credit cards from having a PIN (at least when signature is preferred and possibly for all of them); that would avoid having to explain to people when exactly the PIN gets used or worse have one that's almost never asked for even at kiosks.
(Anyway, back to your normal Arrival+ discussion.)
Jul 10, 2015, 4:18 pm
#2615
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: STL
Posts: 1,546
I've made it through Ireland and Germany in the past year. In Germany, only had chip and sig, never had any issues. In Ireland, used my A+ for everything, wasn't asked for a PIN once, everything was sig verified or no CVM.
I'll have no qualms about canceling my A+ before the AF hits. I think just having a chip card is more important than having chip and pin.
I'll have no qualms about canceling my A+ before the AF hits. I think just having a chip card is more important than having chip and pin.
Jul 10, 2015, 4:36 pm
#2616
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
I've made it through Ireland and Germany in the past year. In Germany, only had chip and sig, never had any issues. In Ireland, used my A+ for everything, wasn't asked for a PIN once, everything was sig verified or no CVM.
I'll have no qualms about canceling my A+ before the AF hits. I think just having a chip card is more important than having chip and pin.
I'll have no qualms about canceling my A+ before the AF hits. I think just having a chip card is more important than having chip and pin.
Jul 10, 2015, 4:54 pm
#2617
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,762
To be fair, PIN does come in handy for some to avoid the extra time that's taken up by clerks actually following Visa/MC requirements and verifying signatures. The cards that prefer PIN though are rare. (Increasing/instituting a signature waiver amount isn't a viable solution because there's no interest from PIN countries in doing so, partly because contactless/NFC does that already.)
Jul 10, 2015, 5:13 pm
#2618
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
We're going somewhat off topic but as I've said over in the emv thread, I did notice this past month fewer and fewer clerks in London checking and comparing signatures on small purchases. What irritates me is not when a clerk goes through this charade at a personneled transaction but when some of the chains who are trying to introduce self service, a generation later than we did so in the USA and doing away with clerks at tills, you use a chip and signature card for say a £2 purchase and then you had to wait for somebody to come over to enter his or her code, print a receipt to sign (did they ever hear of signature pads), not once look and compare the signatures, stick the slip into the machine. No matter how you feel about signatures, it is a total waste of time. But with the changes in the Arrival+ card, I am not sure why anybody would want to pay $89 just to have a chip and pin card that might be needed 0.1% of the time to complete a transaction.
A primary PIN instead of a secondary one though? That's much harder to quantify but I'm not sure I'd objectively value that much over $0 either simply because outright merchant rejections at attended terminals for signature are rare. Some people may subjectively value a primary PIN much more than secondary for various reasons though.
Jul 10, 2015, 7:32 pm
#2619
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: STL
Posts: 1,546
I used a few to pay for parking in Dublin (btw, don't ever drive in Dublin) and there was no CVM. Think that was it though. I definitely used kiosks in Germany for the U-Bahn at Munich and had no problem with chip and sig.
Jul 10, 2015, 8:52 pm
#2620
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: SF
Programs: UA, VX, QF, EY, VA
Posts: 756
tfl=transport for London...the operation that runs London Underground and coordinates the bus lines. Never asked for a pin using these machines.
The fact of the matter is that no matter the whining of so many here, chip and signature works every bit as well as chip and pin 99.9% of the time no matter what some say.
The fact of the matter is that no matter the whining of so many here, chip and signature works every bit as well as chip and pin 99.9% of the time no matter what some say.
Have fun trying to even find a manned ticket window after Xpm at most stations.
When it defaulted to C+S with cashiers, the transaction took an extra minute or so as they looked for a pen. Some even looked at the terminal printer in awe as it spat out a signature slip and said "I've never seen that before".
It's a huge pain when the alternative is faster.
Then again Australia has huge contactless support so that would have been even better. But I didn't have my Apple Watch then.
IMHO you're downplaying the pain of C+S. At least in some countries.
Jul 10, 2015, 8:57 pm
#2621
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,762
Having the A+ meant I could use Cityrail kiosks in Sydney where no other U.S. issued card I had worked.
Have fun trying to even find a manned ticket window after Xpm at most stations.
When it defaulted to C+S with cashiers, the transaction took an extra minute or so as they looked for a pen. Some even looked at the terminal printer in awe as it spat out a signature slip and said "I've never seen that before".
It's a huge pain when the alternative is faster.
Then again Australia has huge contactless support so that would have been even better. But I didn't have my Apple Watch then.
IMHO you're downplaying the pain of C+S. At least in some countries.
Have fun trying to even find a manned ticket window after Xpm at most stations.
When it defaulted to C+S with cashiers, the transaction took an extra minute or so as they looked for a pen. Some even looked at the terminal printer in awe as it spat out a signature slip and said "I've never seen that before".
It's a huge pain when the alternative is faster.
Then again Australia has huge contactless support so that would have been even better. But I didn't have my Apple Watch then.
IMHO you're downplaying the pain of C+S. At least in some countries.
Jul 10, 2015, 9:06 pm
#2622
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,760
Jul 10, 2015, 9:20 pm
#2623
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: Delta + United Airmiles
Posts: 703
So losing $200+ no fee Arrival- signup bonus of free money isn't a good enough reason to NOT downgrade (vs cancel and apply for no fee Arrival-)?
Jul 10, 2015, 10:14 pm
#2624
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,037
Had that happen too many times already.
Jul 10, 2015, 11:21 pm
#2625
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 91
Wait, what are the 1 July changes? And why did you get stuck, josephstern? Didn't you have a PIN # to use?