Apr 6, 2018, 3:33 pm
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)
Apr 6, 2018, 5:58 am
#76
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
Apr 6, 2018, 7:04 am
#78
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 378
Apr 6, 2018, 7:12 am
#79
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Agreed, we wouldn't use Chase Freedom Unlimited or American Express Blue Business Plus for foreign currency transactions, but to offset Arrival Premier's $150 annual fee one would need to spend about $5,000 in other currencies.
Less expensive alternative: Bank of America's Virgin Atlantic MasterCard earns 1.5 miles per dollar (plus a bonus at $15,000 and $25,000) with no foreign transaction fee for a lower annual fee.
Less expensive alternative: Bank of America's Virgin Atlantic MasterCard earns 1.5 miles per dollar (plus a bonus at $15,000 and $25,000) with no foreign transaction fee for a lower annual fee.
Last edited by mia; Apr 6, 2018 at 7:22 am
Apr 6, 2018, 9:17 am
#80
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, DL PM, Marriott Platinum, IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,305
A highly underrated card for sure. At $25K spending, it gives you more than 2x Virgin miles, which in itself are underrated. Throw in the huge sign up bonus and Virgin card is so much better!
Apr 6, 2018, 9:55 am
#81
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
Agreed, I definitely wouldn't use CFU for foreign transactions. That doesn't mean a component in the aforementioned combo is bad for foreign currencies, however; +1x is still better than -1.5x or worse. Not to mention that for most people, the majority of spend is still going to be domestic.
Apr 6, 2018, 10:05 am
#82
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: HHonors, TrueBlue, Delta SkyMiles, Hyatt Discoverist, Starwood Preferred Guest, American Airlines.
Posts: 2,035
Apr 6, 2018, 11:24 am
#83
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: TYS/BNA/ATL
Programs: UR, TYP, MR, C1, AA, UA, WN, BA, AS, AV, AC, Choice, Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Wyndham, Marriott
Posts: 1,978
Apr 6, 2018, 11:47 am
#84
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
https://creditcards.chase.com/cash-b...edom-unlimited
Last edited by mia; Apr 6, 2018 at 12:57 pm
Apr 7, 2018, 8:15 am
#85
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
So IMHO the big issues with this card are the annual fee and the lack of domestic airline transfers partners and the lack of a signup bonus, not the transfer ratio. A transfer ratio of 0.7:1 or or 0.85:1 or even just 1:1 would be fantastic for AA, because none of the cards you mentioned can transfer to AA. But of course, because Barclay didn't make AA a transfer partner for this card, even though they issue AA Aviator cards, that' (plus the annual fee) is what makes this card a dud, not the 0.7:1 to 0.85:1 effective transfer ratios.
IMHO, with a wavier of the annual fee and/or a signup bonus and adding domestic airlines to the transfer list, the transfer ratio would be wonderful, not laughable.
So I'm not saying the card is not a dud, I'm just saying it's a dud despite a good transfer ratio, rather than a dud because of a bad transfer ratio.
Apr 7, 2018, 8:40 am
#86
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: TYS/BNA/ATL
Programs: UR, TYP, MR, C1, AA, UA, WN, BA, AS, AV, AC, Choice, Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Wyndham, Marriott
Posts: 1,978
But neither lets you transfer to AA. And they have 1:1 transfer ratios (to UA and DL respectively), not 0.7:1 or 0.85:1. 0.7:1 is better than 1:1.
So IMHO the big issues with this card are the annual fee and the lack of domestic airline transfers partners and the lack of a signup bonus, not the transfer ratio. A transfer ratio of 0.7:1 or or 0.85:1 or even just 1:1 would be fantastic for AA, because none of the cards you mentioned can transfer to AA. But of course, because Barclay didn't make AA a transfer partner for this card, even though they issue AA Aviator cards, that' (plus the annual fee) is what makes this card a dud, not the 0.7:1 to 0.85:1 effective transfer ratios.
IMHO, with a wavier of the annual fee and/or a signup bonus and adding domestic airlines to the transfer list, the transfer ratio would be wonderful, not laughable.
So I'm not saying the card is not a dud, I'm just saying it's a dud despite a good transfer ratio, rather than a dud because of a bad transfer ratio.
So IMHO the big issues with this card are the annual fee and the lack of domestic airline transfers partners and the lack of a signup bonus, not the transfer ratio. A transfer ratio of 0.7:1 or or 0.85:1 or even just 1:1 would be fantastic for AA, because none of the cards you mentioned can transfer to AA. But of course, because Barclay didn't make AA a transfer partner for this card, even though they issue AA Aviator cards, that' (plus the annual fee) is what makes this card a dud, not the 0.7:1 to 0.85:1 effective transfer ratios.
IMHO, with a wavier of the annual fee and/or a signup bonus and adding domestic airlines to the transfer list, the transfer ratio would be wonderful, not laughable.
So I'm not saying the card is not a dud, I'm just saying it's a dud despite a good transfer ratio, rather than a dud because of a bad transfer ratio.
Apr 7, 2018, 9:02 am
#87
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, DL PM, Marriott Platinum, IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,305
Apr 7, 2018, 11:08 am
#88
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: New York, NY, USA
Programs: UA 1K - 2.1MM, HH LT Diamond, IHG Diamond, Bonvoy LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 766
Alas, no. I think all of Chase's free cards apply 3%. (There is at least one exception, Amazon Rewards cards.)
https://creditcards.chase.com/cash-b...edom-unlimited
https://creditcards.chase.com/cash-b...edom-unlimited
Apr 7, 2018, 12:45 pm
#89
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Barclays can improve the offer at any time, by adding a bonus or a fee waiver. For all we know there may be targeted offers waiting at post offices already. The product, however, is likely to evolve gradually. To my knowledge, Barclays has no experience with mileage transfer programs, we may have to wait from them to gain some confidence before we see an appealing refresh.
The fact that Barclays priced this card at $150 rather than $450 suggest that they don't really have a clear demographic target. There are not many travel cards priced in the gap between $95 and $450. Yes, there are a few, but because most $450 cards net down to $150-250 there isn't really much space for a true $150 card. They could fix this by adding a travel credit, but I don't expect it.
Last edited by mia; Apr 7, 2018 at 2:56 pm
Apr 7, 2018, 3:28 pm
#90
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: All of them
Posts: 1,664
The transfer ratio from points (Arrival Miles) to Airline Miles is unimportant. Look at the transfer ratio from Dollars Spent to Airline Miles: $1 = 1.42 Airline Miles (or 1.17 Japan Airlines). This is better than SPG credit card, but not as good as Freedom Unlimited or Blue Business Plus, unless you earn the $15/$25k bonus which boosts the ratio to $1 = 2.14.
Barclays can improve the offer at any time, by adding a bonus or a fee waiver. For all we know there may be targeted offers waiting at post offices already. The product, however, is likely to evolve gradually. To my knowledge, Barclays has no experience with mileage transfer programs, we may have to wait from them to gain some confidence before we see an appealing refresh.
The fact that Barclays priced this card at $150 rather than $450 suggest that they don't really have a clear demographic target. There are not many travel cards priced in the gap between $95 and $450. Yes, there are a few, but because most $450 cards net down to $150-250 there isn't really much space for a true $150 card. They could fix this by adding a travel credit, but I don't expect it.
Barclays can improve the offer at any time, by adding a bonus or a fee waiver. For all we know there may be targeted offers waiting at post offices already. The product, however, is likely to evolve gradually. To my knowledge, Barclays has no experience with mileage transfer programs, we may have to wait from them to gain some confidence before we see an appealing refresh.
The fact that Barclays priced this card at $150 rather than $450 suggest that they don't really have a clear demographic target. There are not many travel cards priced in the gap between $95 and $450. Yes, there are a few, but because most $450 cards net down to $150-250 there isn't really much space for a true $150 card. They could fix this by adding a travel credit, but I don't expect it.
They really have no clue what they're trying to do. Someone wrote that they think the miles transfer is just a minor side benefit in their eyes. So it's a a more expensive version of A+ with no added benefits and no 5% cashback redemption bonus?