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
Feb 25, 2019, 5:50 pm
#4201
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,760
^^^^^ Responding to all of the above posters.
Report back on my data point.
FICO 800, 3/24, I last had the Arrivals+ card probably 3-4+ years ago. Just met my 5k minimum spend on friday, logged into my account and the 70K miles bonus showed up!!! WOOT!
Hope this helps others be more at ease. And as always, YMMV.
Have a good week all!
Report back on my data point.
FICO 800, 3/24, I last had the Arrivals+ card probably 3-4+ years ago. Just met my 5k minimum spend on friday, logged into my account and the 70K miles bonus showed up!!! WOOT!
Hope this helps others be more at ease. And as always, YMMV.
Have a good week all!
Feb 25, 2019, 7:16 pm
#4202
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MCI
Posts: 698
I'll have to go back and see. when I applied for the Arrivals+ it was approved on 2/5/2019 - so I think it may have been before the new language? ....not sure when the language changed exactly on which date....
Feb 26, 2019, 12:04 pm
#4203
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
This seems pretty unambiguous, though they may not be able to track whether you had the card before:
Enticing but maybe with the $5000 required spend, previous cardholders should hedge their bets and look at another card.
Bonus Miles: Primary Cardmembers will earn 70,000 bonus miles if you use your new credit card account to make $5,000 in Net Purchases within ninety (90) days of your credit card account being opened. This one-time 70,000 miles offer is valid for first-time cardmembers with new accounts only. Existing cardmembers and existing accounts are not eligible for this offer. This offer may be cancelled at any time without notice.
Mar 1, 2019, 10:45 am
#4204
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 78
Any feedback on whether AAA codes as travel? Was looking to buy Disney annual passes. I know Undercover Tourist codes but they don't sell the FL Annual Passes. Any datapoints on those tickets or comparable spending at AAA appreciated!
Mar 6, 2019, 1:47 pm
#4205
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 49
My wife and I were both denied for this card with the message of "too many times of the same product". Granted I did open and close this car a few times over last 5 years. They didn't run her credit but ran mine. go figure.
Mar 6, 2019, 10:04 pm
#4206
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Intermountain West
Programs: Too many to list
Posts: 12,082
airline GC
I'm surprised that there is only one comment (AA GC works) in the wiki about whether or not an airline GC, purchased thru the airline's website, counts for travel reimbursement or not.
I would guess that these GCs would all count as travel for reimbursement. But I could be wrong. Any empirical evidence?
Could be a good way to help meet the minimum spend and then much later use the GCs for a flight or two.
I just received my new card yesterday so looking a ways to meet the MSR. Usually it's not a problem with our travel, kids and grandkids.
I would guess that these GCs would all count as travel for reimbursement. But I could be wrong. Any empirical evidence?
Could be a good way to help meet the minimum spend and then much later use the GCs for a flight or two.
I just received my new card yesterday so looking a ways to meet the MSR. Usually it's not a problem with our travel, kids and grandkids.
Mar 9, 2019, 1:00 pm
#4207
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: ORD
Posts: 701
I wanted to give my data point. I applied for the card today and the decision went pending. I checked the status 2 minutes later and was denied. I am currently at 5/24. Pay off in full every month, no negative comments on my report, etc. I have had this card twice before. The first time I opened this card was 3/20/14 and closed one year later. The last time I opened the card was 8/23/16 and closed 1 year later. I checked Credit Karma and it does show that they pulled my credit. I currently have two cards with them. One of the cards is never used and I had the credit line reduced on it about 6 months ago. The 2nd card I do use sparingly and have been using it for about 6 months. I will wait for the letter to see what it says.
Mar 11, 2019, 6:19 am
#4208
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 291
Applied yesterday, went pending and got the approval this morning. I last had this card 5-ish years ago, it might have just been the plain old "Arrival" back then. Will report whether I get the bonus.
Mar 12, 2019, 1:14 pm
#4209
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 6,752
^^^^^ Responding to all of the above posters.
Report back on my data point.
FICO 800, 3/24, I last had the Arrivals+ card probably 3-4+ years ago. Just met my 5k minimum spend on friday, logged into my account and the 70K miles bonus showed up!!! WOOT!
Hope this helps others be more at ease. And as always, YMMV.
Have a good week all!
Report back on my data point.
FICO 800, 3/24, I last had the Arrivals+ card probably 3-4+ years ago. Just met my 5k minimum spend on friday, logged into my account and the 70K miles bonus showed up!!! WOOT!
Hope this helps others be more at ease. And as always, YMMV.
Have a good week all!
Mar 15, 2019, 10:48 am
#4210
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: ORD
Posts: 701
I wanted to give my data point. I applied for the card today and the decision went pending. I checked the status 2 minutes later and was denied. I am currently at 5/24. Pay off in full every month, no negative comments on my report, etc. I have had this card twice before. The first time I opened this card was 3/20/14 and closed one year later. The last time I opened the card was 8/23/16 and closed 1 year later. I checked Credit Karma and it does show that they pulled my credit. I currently have two cards with them. One of the cards is never used and I had the credit line reduced on it about 6 months ago. The 2nd card I do use sparingly and have been using it for about 6 months. I will wait for the letter to see what it says.
Mar 15, 2019, 10:34 pm
#4211
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 1,945
Re: referral bonus on this card, No. "Thus, we truly regret to inform you that the Member Get Member promotion is not available at this time."
Last edited by EkekoBWI; Mar 17, 2019 at 8:43 am Reason: CSR answered question
Mar 18, 2019, 2:22 pm
#4212
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 148
If i pay a travel charge (airport shuttle to hotel) via paypal (they sent me paypal invoice) would it code as travel or does paypal has only 1 merchant code for itself?
Mar 19, 2019, 11:54 pm
#4213
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 1,945
70k bonus just hit ~3 months from card arrival. Previously canceled card ~5 years ago.
Mar 29, 2019, 12:17 pm
#4214
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 2
Data point for churning: I had this card twice before, with applications in 2013 and 8/2017. I applied last weekend and was rejected. Received a letter today saying: "Our records show that you already have or had the maximum allowable number of this product with us." It does not appear that this cost me a hard pull.
Apr 3, 2019, 5:24 pm
#4215
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Intermountain West
Programs: Too many to list
Posts: 12,082
I don't have to redeem 'miles' for 100% of my airline charge do I?
Example: I have 80K 'miles' and a $740 airline charge. Can I just redeem 70K 'miles' and save the rest for a $135 charge? (80K-70K=10K plus 3500 rebate=13550 remaining).
Example: I have 80K 'miles' and a $740 airline charge. Can I just redeem 70K 'miles' and save the rest for a $135 charge? (80K-70K=10K plus 3500 rebate=13550 remaining).