Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Credit, Debit and Prepaid Card Programs > Credit Card Programs
Reload this Page >

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

Community
Wiki Posts
Search
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.




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)

Print Wikipost

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

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Aug 14, 2017, 5:12 pm
  #3901  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 257
Data point (card history):

Applied for 1st A+ May 2015, canceled Jun 2016
Applied for 2nd A+ Nov 2016, canceled Apr 2017
Applied for 3rd A+ Aug 2017, denied. Got letter in mail saying "Our records show that you've already established the maximum allowable number of this product with us."

Is this worth a shot at recon?

Edit: No hard pull though per the letter.
shinjukuflyer is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2017, 5:30 pm
  #3902  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
Originally Posted by shinjukuflyer
Data point (card history): ...
Edit: No hard pull though per the letter.
Do you have other accounts with Barclays?
Did you close any of them with neg point balance?
MaxVO is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2017, 6:27 pm
  #3903  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 257
Originally Posted by MaxVO
Do you have other accounts with Barclays?
Did you close any of them with neg point balance?
No to both questions. The two A+s are the only Barclays accounts I've had.
shinjukuflyer is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2017, 8:29 pm
  #3904  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Wine Country, Finger Lakes
Programs: LFFRS BOD
Posts: 1,355
Originally Posted by shinjukuflyer
Data point (card history):

Applied for 1st A+ May 2015, canceled Jun 2016
Applied for 2nd A+ Nov 2016, canceled Apr 2017
Applied for 3rd A+ Aug 2017, denied. Got letter in mail saying "Our records show that you've already established the maximum allowable number of this product with us."

Is this worth a shot at recon? Yes Nothing to lose

Edit: No hard pull though per the letter.
3 mos after cancelling looks like that may be the problem, I have had no issues applying at least 4 mos or more after canceling.
duranza is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2017, 4:55 am
  #3905  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 257
Originally Posted by shinjukuflyer
Data point (card history):

Applied for 1st A+ May 2015, canceled July 2016
Applied for 2nd A+ Nov 2016, canceled Apr 2017
Applied for 3rd A+ Aug 2017, denied. Got letter in mail saying "Our records show that you've already established the maximum allowable number of this product with us."

Is this worth a shot at recon?

Edit: No hard pull though per the letter.
Apologies, typo earlier. I canceled my first card in July 2016 not June. In both cases I reapplied more than 3 months but less than 4 months after canceling.
shinjukuflyer is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2017, 12:55 pm
  #3906  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 257
Called recon. They said my app was auto denied for having closed the card recently. Was not able to find out how long I was supposed to wait.

They verified my info, pulled my report. Was denied eventually because I've opened 4 credit cards since June. They asked me why I'd opened them and I told them I was trying out different products and not because I needed the credit. Again, could not find out what the magic number was. Hard pull wasted
shinjukuflyer is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2017, 3:51 pm
  #3907  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 24
Originally Posted by duranza
All my charges via NCL have come through as redeemable for miles.
Were they giftcards?
elitefusion is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2017, 5:21 pm
  #3908  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,166
Originally Posted by shinjukuflyer
Called recon. They said my app was auto denied for having closed the card recently. Was not able to find out how long I was supposed to wait.

They verified my info, pulled my report. Was denied eventually because I've opened 4 credit cards since June. They asked me why I'd opened them and I told them I was trying out different products and not because I needed the credit. Again, could not find out what the magic number was. Hard pull wasted
No agent will ever tell you this, even if they actually knew the answer. Most approvals I've seen has been for 6+ month wait between apps. Used to do 3 months but not anymore.
Superorb is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2017, 5:31 pm
  #3909  
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 433
Originally Posted by Superorb
No agent will ever tell you this, even if they actually knew the answer. Most approvals I've seen has been for 6+ month wait between apps. Used to do 3 months but not anymore.
Did you have any of the same card you were applying for open when you applied ?
rover4618 is offline  
Old Aug 16, 2017, 8:29 am
  #3910  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,166
Originally Posted by rover4618
Did you have any of the same card you were applying for open when you applied ?
No, they will deny you for this reason. I've even heard of people having a regular Arrival getting denied for a + card.
rover4618 likes this.
Superorb is offline  
Old Aug 16, 2017, 11:00 am
  #3911  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Wine Country, Finger Lakes
Programs: LFFRS BOD
Posts: 1,355
Originally Posted by elitefusion
Were they giftcards?
No but I don't see how that would make a difference if it's coming through on the statement as NCL purchase.
duranza is offline  
Old Aug 16, 2017, 2:07 pm
  #3912  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
Originally Posted by duranza
No but I don't see how that would make a difference if it's coming through on the statement as NCL purchase.
GC sales can be outsourced to a financial services company, who would not code their charges as travel or transportation.
MaxVO is offline  
Old Aug 16, 2017, 10:24 pm
  #3913  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 448
Has anyone had good luck with reconsideration? my last arrivals app was denied for too many opened new accounts in the last 24 months and I offered to transfer CL from my aviator card but it's been no go.
jasonz9238 is offline  
Old Aug 17, 2017, 8:34 am
  #3914  
RNE
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: JZRO
Posts: 9,169
Originally Posted by jasonz9238
Has anyone had good luck with reconsideration? my last arrivals app was denied for too many opened new accounts in the last 24 months and I offered to transfer CL from my aviator card but it's been no go.
How many new cards in 24 months do you have? How many in 12 months?
How many (if any) of those are AUs?
RNE is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2017, 7:02 pm
  #3915  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: PWM
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 1,335
Originally Posted by shinjukuflyer
Data point (card history):

Applied for 1st A+ May 2015, canceled Jun 2016
Applied for 2nd A+ Nov 2016, canceled Apr 2017
Applied for 3rd A+ Aug 2017, denied. Got letter in mail saying "Our records show that you've already established the maximum allowable number of this product with us."
This just happened to me (twice). We have strikingly similar profiles...

Applied for 1st A+ Jan 2014, canceled Feb 2016
Applied for 2nd A+ Mar 2016, canceled Mar 2017
Applied for 3rd A+ Mar 2017, systematic decline. Got letter in mail saying "Our records show that you've already established the maximum allowable number of this product with us."
Applied for 3rd A+ Aug 2017, systematic decline. Was told same reason (already have the product / not enough time since last had product / couldn't give timeline). No letter yet.

Per another poster, maybe 6 months is the magic number?

Update 8/23/17: Per this comment, I decided to try recon again. Asked to reactivate and they asked employment questions / pulled credit. Came back with decline. My stats: TU FICO ~780, 1/12, 9/24.

"Cannot return decline status. Not related to credit. Specific to that product. Can apply for other cards. No way to override."

I'm thinking MOLA/YMMV. Hopefully not a sea change as the overzealous reddit OP suggests.

Update 2 8/23/17: Tried recon again and was told too many accounts in last 24 months. No mention of product limit. Spoke to supervisor who reiterated it's a "bank policy." Pressed for a hard number x/24 but of course she wouldn't say. Sounds like decision is made by human and not computer. Interestingly enough, she quoted "taking advantage of sign-up bonuses" and not "credit seeking behavior" as a red flag, so she knows what's up. My guess is that churners have to sneak by with autoapprovals and will be caught and executed upon manual review :P

Update 3 9/18/17: Wrote a nice recon letter to EO on 9/9. Took a while to research and got back to me today. No go. Sent to review team and they "refused to reconsider." I asked a few specific and general questions but the rep wasn't knowledgeable.

Update 4 11/14/18: Managed to get autoapproved for 3rd card July 2018. Closed Nov 2018.

Update 5 12/8/18: Apped for Arr4 and declined for max allowable

Last edited by sexykitten7; Dec 16, 2018 at 9:02 pm Reason: Updates and link to reddit
sexykitten7 is offline  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.