In 2018, Sharon decided to apply for the Arrival+ card from Barclays. It was a new travel card and was offering a 70K sign-up bonus to new applicants. Apart from the sign-up bonus, the card provided 2X points for every dollar spent, which could be redeemed against travel purchases made using the card. Additionally, cardholders were eligible to receive a 5% rebate on all award redemptions.
The Barclays Arrival+ Card offers 2% back on travel purchases but with a $95 annual fee. However, with the emergence of several other cards that offer 2% cash back or 1.5X to 2X points, such as the Citi Double Cash, Fidelity Rewards, and Chase Freedom Unlimited, which don’t have any fees, the appeal of keeping a cashback card with an annual fee was limited. As a result, the Barclays Arrival+ Card stopped accepting new applications in 2019.
Although I redeemed most of the points earned with the sign-up bonus, I decided to keep it open for various reasons. One of the main advantages of having a card with a long history with Barclays is that it simplifies the process of applying for new cards from the same bank. I believe that our good credit history with the Arrival+ card played a significant role in our instant approval for the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business card.
Sharon uses her Arrival+ card for everyday spending but only rotates it to the front of her wallet when Barclays offers a bonus for using the card. Earlier this year, we earned an extra 3,000 points by spending $300 per month for three months..
Eventually, we had 20,000 points in her account, which equals $200 when redeemed to cancel a travel purchase made with the card. I decided to use our points to pay for our recent trip on Amtrak since I had no other way to use points to pay for the trip.
Barclays gives you detailed instructions on how to use your Arrival Plus miles. One big difference when redeeming Barclays points for your travel expenses is that you’ll earn 2X points on your purchase and then can use points to erase the expense with points. The major limitation is that redemptions start at 10,000 points for $100.
You can redeem your miles for a travel statement credit in 3 easy steps. First, find the best travel deal and purchase it with your Barclaycard Arrival Plus card and earn 2X miles on your purchase. Second, select the Manage Rewards option within the website, and choose the travel statement credits redemption option. Third, choose any qualifying travel purchase of $100 or more made within the last 120 days and redeem your miles for a travel statement credit toward all or a portion of your travel purchase. Travel statement credit redemptions start at 10,000 miles for $100. Please note, the minimum for account annual fee redemptions within the travel statement credit category is 2,500 miles for $25. You will also get 5% of your miles back, to use toward your next redemption, every time you redeem. Please note, if a purchase does not display you do not have any eligible purchases to redeem against. Additionally, you may only redeem against a purchase one time.
Our round-trip tickets from New York to Philadelphia cost $140.
Instead of using 14,000 miles to erase $140, I chose to redeem 12,500 points for $125.
This was because I wanted to leave myself with over 10,000 points so I could immediately redeem those points for another $100 travel purchase. Otherwise, I’d have to wait to earn over 10,000 points.
After redeeming 12,5000 points for $125 credit against our Amtrak ticket, I received 625 points back for the 5% rebate.
Although the Barclays Arrival Plus card may not be the most optimal choice for a travel card, it offers valuable insights into Barclays’ future product offerings. Despite not breaking even on the $95 card every year, it’s still worth retaining due to its unique features and potential benefits for experts in the field.
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1 comment
The card also has some transfer partners for miles that, say, Amex doesn’t have and that have good redemption availability (EVA Air).