sethMCOflyer

Info is up https://www.doctorofcredit.com/barcl...mier-now-live/

Seems like it's DOA, I don't get what they were going for here.

cplush

definitely wont be a splashy card, but there are some aspects i like. personally i'd love a spend bonus each year on my personal plat, so that aspect is cool. the lack of domestic transfer partners limits it severely however, adding aa would have made it more attractive.

flyaxa

-As I unfortunately suspected, the transfer ratio is 1.4:1 and 1.7:1 for JL.

From a tax payment perspective, $25K spend would get you 75K Barclay miles and would cost (1.87%) $467.50 + $150 AF = $617.50. For that you would get 53,571 miles (for the 1.4:1 airlines) or stated another way...1.15 cents/mile to "buy" miles for Aeromexico, Air France/KLM , China Eastern, Etihad, EVA, Jet Airways, Malaysia Airlines or Qantas. (1.40 cents/mile for JL).

-Doesn't sound like a great opportunity, but I am also not familiar with the FF programs for all these airlines.

sethMCOflyer

And that's exactly the problem, not many people are familiar with them.

For someone who isn't into churning they're going to see a card with a $150 annual fee that will only recoup that cost after spending $7.5k. If you are into churning you'll still need to spend $25k to have any sort of decent redemption options.

I don't see who they're targeting with this card, every category of customer I can think of would be better off with a different card.

wyogold

I wonder what jenius over at Barclay cobbled this​​​​​​ together. With no or low annual fee and some signup bonus it would be decent, maybe? But as it stands the value proposition is simply not there. And no lh or AA as transfer partner? Get out of here!

This is to real flex currencies like Zimbabwe dollars were to us dollars.

edit: Thinking more about it, an Air Zimbabwe credit card would have been a great April fools joke. 1 million points signup bonus, transfers to all alliance partners at 1:10.000.

jediwho

They have the Gold card with $995 AF and 2% cash back and annual airline credit is $200.

mikesyr18

Yep. If you have JetBlue and AA as card partners, at least include them with your new card as transferable points. They had an chance to chop Citi by the knees and didn't capitalize on it.

Barclays is a stupid bank, plain and simple and their cards stink. This card is just a lazy effort by them to introduce a card with transfer partners... People want to fly domestically when picking up this card.

wyogold

Yes, but the Luxury Gold TM card is made with 100% 24 karat actual real shiny gold. It's clear who they're targeting with this one. Might as well call it BLING card.

Jokes aside, that is one crummy product. Looks like whosoever came up with the gold card also designed the Arrival premier.

mikesyr18

Don't fall for the marketing. Real (24k) gold is too soft to make a card from... It's plated gold, which technically lowers the value since it becomes a compound material that makes it harder.

wyogold

Next time I'll include a /s tag at the end. Of course we all know it's made WITH gold, not OF gold. If it were made of gold it would weigh over two ounces and be worth almost $3K. Believe you me I would have as many of these cards as I could and sell them for scrap.

mia

While Barclays is the issuer of the Luxury metal cards, the products are designed by a third party who simply needs a bank to issue them.

In the case of the Premier card, it appears that the co-brand card product managers prevailed over the Arrival product manager, and the transfer feature won't be allowed to cannibalize the co-brand cards. This isn't a bad idea, but the initial lineup is weak. Same was true when Citi added transfers to ThankYou rewards, and over time they have added partners. Barclays will probably do the same.

If you spend about $15,000 or $25,000 in a year the transfer ratio to most airlines is 2.1 miles per dollar. That's better than most cards, if you can use any of the partners, and we don't know if there will be periodic transfer bonuses.

However, the card is priced wrong for the level of benefits. That won't be easy to fix.

benny08

Hard pass ... but maybe its a metal card so you get that. lol

Critterlynn

This card is complete garbage. The only way I would even consider it would be if there were no annual fee. Don't know if I would even use it then since I would be losing out on the opportunity cost with other cards. The global entry is the only perk I'd use and I already have that with the CSR.

I can see why there isn't a signup bonus. Most people who have half a brain wouldn't consider it without one. And it would only be used for that bonus then put in the sock drawer. Clearly they are looking for people who know no better.

jediwho

Priced wrong on two fronts: $150 more in fees than Amex Blue and no sign up bonus.

blaz

Their marketing department messed up the naming, too. They should call it Barclays Dead On Arrival.