Another winner for the A+ for someone who wants to maximize cashback for travel spending.

Although I wonder how long rewards boost will last though. Capital one and Amex got rid of theirs awhile ago, Chase just recently removed travel partners from their portal. Arrival seems to be the only one left where you can earn a points boost for travel purchases through a portal. Wonder how long it will last though. A bigger question to me is why are travel portals dropping like flies for credit card companies it seems like? Seems like it would be a good marketing tool to entice people to buy things.

try telling that to older people in China riding for 20 hours on standing-room only trains...

The fact Barclays has this while others got rid of their portals sets the Arrival card apart from the competition. I certainly hope Barclays keeps that in the front of their minds moving forward. I much rather get points for shopping that go towards any of my travel in general versus travel through one airline or hotel chain.

A+ with travel agent
 

If I get the A+ and want to use the credit for travel, do I have to book directly with an airline or can we use a travel agent to book?

You can book with a travel agent

Qualifying Travel Redemptions are defined as: Airlines, Hotels, Motels, Timeshares, Campgrounds, Car Rental Agencies, Cruise Lines, Travel Agencies, Tourist Attractions, Discount Travel Sites, Trains, Buses, Taxis, Limousines, Ferries, and your Barclaycard Arrival Annual Fee (if applicable).

To qualify for redemption, Travel Purchases must be submitted by merchants using the eligible merchant category codes for purchases in the above categories. Barclaycard is not responsible for incorrectly coded purchases

Travel statement credit redemptions start at 2,500 miles for $25 toward any travel purchase within the last 120 days.
If you redeem your miles for a travel statement credit, the credit will be posted to your Account within 5 to 7 business days. Statement credits reduce your account balance but cannot be applied toward any minimum payment and are otherwise subject to the terms and conditions applicable to your Account.

Thank you so much for your quick response. I'm assuming the answer to this question will be on this forum somewhere, but when our travel agent (merchant) purchases our tickets, will I have to tell her about coding the purchase a certain way using a code?

Sorry if this is a pretty elementary question. We are adopting and will be using a travel agent because they can secure lower fares at short notice for adoptions, and we will hopefully be using our 50,000+ miles toward the purchase.

I have a CSP and currently use it for all travel/commute expenses. However I have grandfathered Priceline 2x card, which is a better version of A+ with no AF, that's why I don't have A+. In a near future I plan to replace my CSP with Citi Thankyou Premier for all of my travel expenses, as it will give 3x points on travel and 2x on dining and entertainment. Combined with Citi Prestige and Citi Forward, both of which I already have, it will be a killer combo, and I will have no need to keep CSP, as Premier beats CSP in every aspect, except for dining, for which I don't care that much, as I have grandfathered Citi Forward, which pays 5x for dining. I will also keep my Barclays Priceline forever, as long as it gives 2x for everything (effectively 3.3% right now), and 5x for Priceline (effectively 8.3%).

I thinks this thread is talking about which card to apply for now and not talking about those grandfathered cards like Citi forward or Priceline.

In addition, Grandfathered Priceline is a A+ without AF with 2.2%. I am not sure how to derive 3.3%.

I ended up going for the CSP and will be adding the Freedom card soon to collect the rolling 5% bonus and transfer those over to the CSP. Better benefits, better customer service, and better redemption.

Earning points is only half the equation -- spending points is the other half. Yes, CSP requires more work to maximize the reward, BUT just like many things in life, more work means greater rewards. If you play it right you can get an effective 2-10% back with CSP if you play the points game right with the airlines.

Not sure which airlines (if any) Citi allows you to transfer points to, but CSP allows transfers to OneWorld, Star Alliance, and SkyTeam, along with SouthWest, Virgin, United, BA, Korean Air. That's quite a bit of leverage.

My conclusion is that if you want a guaranteed 2.2% with easy redemption, choose Barclay. If you want more and are willing to do a little mouse-clicking, get the CSP+Freedom.

As an aside, I think info on the grandfathered/old benefits are worth including -- it shows us where the cards were in relation to where they are today. And possibly where they may return at some point.

Even without those 2, Citi Premier beats CSP.

Priceline point worth 1.5 cents when redeeming against priceline, and 1 cent for anything else, with travel adding 10% bonus.
Priceline is also travel, thus 1.5*2*1.1=3.3

I would suggest to get Freedom+Ink Plus, which is a better combo.
Citi also allows transfers to One World, Star Alliance and SkyTeam, as well as Etihad and Virgin Atlantic. I agree that Chase partners are more useful, but if you have Citi Prestige, you can book AA and US with TYPs at 1.6 cents each, and those include codeshare flights on something like Alaska, etc.

I looked at Ink+ but the 5% is in categories I, nor the company I work for, spend much money on. Even our corporate Staples/Office Depot prices aren't usually as good on Amazon/Costco/Sam's, so there goes the office supplies thing. As tempting as it is, I'm not going to buy from a more expensive vendor to get points, especially when it's not my money (reimbursables). The only reason I'm allowed to buy a lot of the products for the office is that I've been getting them far cheaper than their old vendors were providing.

Internet/TV/phone, same deal -- the company I work for got fed up with the local telco & Comcast and decided to become their own telco and buys everything on the wholesale market. I do like my free 100Mbps/100Mbps connection at home.

Good to know on Citi. I'll be keeping it in mind when Costco/Citi come knocking sometime next year.

As an aside, I wonder how many other Costco Amex people are/will be shopping around for a new credit card this year. I wouldn't have even bothered to look until the breakup was announced.

Those office supply stores sell a lot of different GCs for retailers, airlines, etc, as well as Visa, MC and Amex gift cards. This is the key on how to use Ink+.

Ah... I forgot about the GCs (MS). Not sure why I did as I was looking to pick up a Freedom card for that sort of thing.

It seems more generally useful, but the main reason I'd pick up it up is to rack up hyatt and marriott points. And the hyatt points can be pretty valuable from just the sign up.

I still love my A+ though.