Last edit by: philemer
NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR NEW APPLICANTS, 10/5/18).
Barclays Arrival Premier costs $150/year, with first year waived but no new account bonus offer. Barclays calls Arrival rewards points "miles".
Arrival Premier earns two "miles" per dollar on all spending, with a 15,000 "mile" bonus awarded at $15,000 and another 10,000 at $25,000 in a year.
Arrival Premier "miles" are transferable to ten airlines, including members of all three international alliances, plus two independent carriers.
To compare with other cards, look at the ratio of dollars spent to airlines miles earned:
One World
Japan Airlines
Malaysia Airlines
Qantas
Skyteam
Aeromexico
China Eastern
Flying Blue
Star Alliance
EVA Air
Aeroplan
Independent
Etihad
Jet Privilege
Barclays Arrival Premier costs $150/year, with first year waived but no new account bonus offer. Barclays calls Arrival rewards points "miles".
Arrival Premier earns two "miles" per dollar on all spending, with a 15,000 "mile" bonus awarded at $15,000 and another 10,000 at $25,000 in a year.
Arrival Premier "miles" are transferable to ten airlines, including members of all three international alliances, plus two independent carriers.
To compare with other cards, look at the ratio of dollars spent to airlines miles earned:
Base transfer ratio is $1 = 2 Arrival "miles" = 1.42 airline miles (Exception: Japan Airlines and Aeroplan, $1 = 2 Arrival = 1.175 airline miles )
If you spend $15,000 -or- $25,000 there is a 50% bonus: $1 = 3 Arrival "miles" = 2.14 airline miles (or 1.76 Japan Airlines or Aeroplan miles)
Transfer partners If you spend $15,000 -or- $25,000 there is a 50% bonus: $1 = 3 Arrival "miles" = 2.14 airline miles (or 1.76 Japan Airlines or Aeroplan miles)
One World
Japan Airlines
Malaysia Airlines
Qantas
Skyteam
Aeromexico
China Eastern
Flying Blue
Star Alliance
EVA Air
Aeroplan
Independent
Etihad
Jet Privilege
Barclays Arrival “Premier” (DOA RIP)
#31
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat
Posts: 756
WIthout a reasonable signup bonus for like $3-5k initial spend, this card is going to tank. Getting the Arrival+ is still the way to go for the $500 travel bonus and AF fee waived first year.
15k bonus for $15k spend essentially means 2x miles per dollar, that is of course the average person puts all their yearly spend on this just card. Any savvy churner knows getting the most amount of points is best done by using multiple cards for category-based spending rather than a single one..
15k bonus for $15k spend essentially means 2x miles per dollar, that is of course the average person puts all their yearly spend on this just card. Any savvy churner knows getting the most amount of points is best done by using multiple cards for category-based spending rather than a single one..
#33
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: BART Platinum, AA Plat Pro
Posts: 1,157
15k bonus for $15k spend essentially means 2x miles per dollar, that is of course the average person puts all their yearly spend on this just card. Any savvy churner knows getting the most amount of points is best done by using multiple cards for category-based spending rather than a single one..
#34
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat
Posts: 756
But the question you have to ask here is what will be the draw to get people to even apply for this card in the first place when there's a $150 AF and nothing special about it. Why not just go for Sapphire Preferred which only has $99 AF or Citi Preferred for $95, both of which offer 50K signup bonuses and strong categories?
Granted we still don't know which airline partner this could have, but other cards offer ways to purchase award tickets directly/indirectly for your preferred airline.
#35
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, DL PM, Marriott Platinum, IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,305
If the goal is to set the spend limit so high to prevent people from cashing in on that 15k/10k bonuses, then yes, this will keep churners away from gaming the bonuses.
But the question you have to ask here is what will be the draw to get people to even apply for this card in the first place when there's a $150 AF and nothing special about it. Why not just go for Sapphire Preferred which only has $99 AF or Citi Preferred for $95, both of which offer 50K signup bonuses and strong categories?
Granted we still don't know which airline partner this could have, but other cards offer ways to purchase award tickets directly/indirectly for your preferred airline.
But the question you have to ask here is what will be the draw to get people to even apply for this card in the first place when there's a $150 AF and nothing special about it. Why not just go for Sapphire Preferred which only has $99 AF or Citi Preferred for $95, both of which offer 50K signup bonuses and strong categories?
Granted we still don't know which airline partner this could have, but other cards offer ways to purchase award tickets directly/indirectly for your preferred airline.
My bet is that this card comes with travel insurance which is at least as good as CSR and maybe in line with Prestige. To do this, they would also need some help from MC. This is also where the higher spending threshold comes in -- MC would be willing to pick up bigger portion of the travel insurance cost.
Barclays will make another few hundred bucks on average per cardholder every year on interest income -- higher spending here helps here again as if you have more outstanding balance, Barclays will likely make more in interest income.
Net net, Barclays wants to reduce its upfront marketing cost by no signup bonus so that they could pass on the entire transaction income to cardholders in form of rewards. They make between $300 to $400 per card per year in annual fee and interest income less credit loss write offs. Also, this card will have far less churn than most other higher end cards. If they get 100,000 cardholders, this could be around $40 million a year profit for Barclays. They key for them is to keep/maintain the integrity of there transfer partner platform i.e. 1:1 transfer for unique airlines and hotel chains!
#36
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 889
Spending rewards are nice and all but every bank has cards with those. 2% cashback at 0 AF is better than double unlimited miles at 150 AF. Dollars are the ultimate flex currency. With award space being as crappy as it is, I prefer $s.
Barclay needs to do better than 0 bonus with 150 AF and some milestone spending bonus. If that's what it will be, this will go the opposite of viral.
If I can get an aviator with a 50K signup bonus with $95 AF or a M&M card with a 50K bonus with $90 AF, this new card will not even break even at 25K annual spend in terms of miles gained if there's double earning with 25K bonus miles earned after 25K spend.
#37
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, DL PM, Marriott Platinum, IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,305
#38
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 889
But the reality is that the CSR set a benchmark and countering with a 0K signup bonus is weak sauce.
#39
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat
Posts: 756
My point exactly. For $150 AF, there's plenty of other cards out there that will give better value for $15k spend. Anyone can get all these cc benefits and travel insurance for less (e.g. Sapphire Preferred).
#42
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DFW,OVB (Russia)
Programs: AA HH Gold SPG Gold BA
Posts: 1,823
Not quite true
you can still upgrade to it if offered through the website
i have an arrival no fee card and am always recently getting the option to upgrade to A+ if I so choose
$89 fee would immediately apply by the sound of it.however, and no bonus for the upgrade.....
#44
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, DL PM, Marriott Platinum, IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,305
#45
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DFW,OVB (Russia)
Programs: AA HH Gold SPG Gold BA
Posts: 1,823
Last edited by rgAAFT; Apr 2, 2018 at 10:21 pm