For a card that supposedly lives in Barclays’ back closet, the Arrival+ sure keeps getting attention.
The Barclays Arrival® Plus World Elite Mastercard® has always been a bit of an enigma. It’s no longer available to new applicants, it doesn’t get the attention of cards from Chase, American Express, Citi or Capital One, and yet it keeps doing just enough interesting things to make me wonder what Barclays has planned for it.
Now there’s another reason to ask that question.
Barclays recently sent Arrival+ cardholders an email saying the card has a refreshed look.
That may not sound like a big deal. Banks change card designs all the time. But this isn’t a current card that Barclays is actively marketing to new applicants. So why spend time and money updating the look of a card that’s supposedly obsolete?
The Arrival+ Still Has A Purpose
The Arrival+ is a $99 annual fee card that earns 2X miles on purchases. The main use has always been straightforward: use the card for purchases, then redeem miles to erase eligible travel expenses.
That simplicity is still useful.
I’ve written before about how to redeem Barclays Arrival+ miles for travel expenses, because there are times when wiping out a travel charge is easier than dealing with award charts, blackout dates or transfer-partner availability.
That’s also one of the main reasons I’ve kept the obsolete Barclays Arrival card. It isn’t flashy, but it can still be useful.
And then Barclays made it more interesting.
Barclays Added Transfer Partners
For years, Arrival miles were basically fixed-value travel rewards. You earned miles, used them to erase travel purchases, and moved on.
Then, Barclays added transfer partners.
That was a strange move for a card many people assumed had been left behind. I recently wrote about the Barclays Arrival+ transfer partners, and while the program isn’t strong enough to replace Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards or Capital One Miles, the fact that the option exists at all is interesting.
Banks don’t usually add redemption options to products they’ve completely abandoned.
Then Came The Aviator Conversions
The Arrival+ also got more attention when some former Barclays Aviator cardholders were moved into the card instead of being sent to Citi.
I covered that when some Aviator cardholders were converted to Barclays Arrival+.
That made Arrival+ feel less like a forgotten legacy card and more like a place Barclays could put customers it still wanted to keep.
And if Barclays is moving more people into Arrival+, even through conversions instead of new applications, a refreshed card design starts to make more sense.
So What Is Barclays Planning?
The boring answer is that this is just housekeeping. Maybe Barclays is updating digital wallet images and online account artwork across its card portfolio, and Arrival+ happened to be included.
That could be all this is.
But there are other possibilities.
Maybe Barclays wants Arrival+ to remain a conversion option for cardholders who don’t fit into another Barclays product. Maybe the card is being cleaned up because more people will be seeing it in their online accounts and digital wallets.
Or maybe Barclays is preparing to do something more with the Arrival+ brand.
That doesn’t necessarily mean a public relaunch is coming. It doesn’t mean new transfer partners are about to appear. It doesn’t mean Barclays is building a full transferable-points ecosystem to compete with Chase, Amex, Citi and Capital One.
But it does make me wonder.
Final Thought
I’m not saying Barclays is definitely bringing Arrival+ back. I’m not saying this email proves anything major is happening.
But the card keeps getting just enough attention to be interesting.
First, Barclays kept it alive. Then it added transfer partners. And then some former Aviator cardholders were moved into Arrival+. Now, Barclays is refreshing the card design and telling cardholders about it.
For a card that was supposed to be obsolete, Arrival+ sure doesn’t act dead.
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