Between now and the end of the year, Barclaycard is offering one of its
Plus you get double miles on all purchases. This is huge since most cards only offer bonus miles on certain categories like travel or dining.
If you have tired of accruing miles or points with just one brand, this card frees you of the restrictions of having to search for oft-elusive award space. Instead, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard accrues points in its own mileage program.
These can then be redeemed for air travel, statement credits, gift cards, or other merchandise. This type of all-purpose “mile” is one of the best ways to go when considering where to bank points and miles since it offers tremendous freedom for using them.
There are no transfer partners if you want to move miles over directly to another airline or hotel, but it is easy to use them directly from the Arrival program. You apply points to your statement’s existing charges, which essentially eliminate the charges before you even have to pay them. This means that you can extract even greater value from points if redeeming for cheaper flights.
International Travel
If you travel internationally, this card has the added benefit of not charging a foreign transaction fee when making purchases overseas. The card also has chip-and-pin technology, which makes it much easier to use in countries that require it. Often, cards without a chip are not accepted by many credit card machines in foreign countries.
What’s more, Barclaycard products have a strong reputation for satisfaction. According to the most recent J.D. Power credit card satisfaction survey of U.S. cards, Barclaycard ranked in the top five putting it higher than Chase or Citi card products when it comes to terms and conditions or overall reward benefits.
Any type of travel purchase that you want! Since miles are redeemed as credits against your credit card statement, you don’t need to rely on any award availability to become available. This means no blackout dates, no need to call reservations agents, and no concern of having a certain number of miles available.
Travel includes anything from taxi rides to cruises. Other unusual categories that count as travel are campgrounds, discount travel sites, and timeshare purchases. Those that do not count for travel include rental properties and non-travel merchants that happen to be located inside an airport or train station.
Redemption Bonus
On top of that, Barclaycard provides a 5% rebate on miles when redeeming them that way. This means that you are redeeming points at a 2.2 cent value.
Card users redeem 10,000 miles for $100 worth of travel purchases made in the past four months. Users have to log onto their account to manually apply the credits, and the website shows the charges that are eligible to be paid for with miles.
This means that each mile is valued at a penny a piece, and the signup offer provides you with $500 of travel credits immediately. Since there is no annual fee in the first year of having the card, it is a no-brainer when it comes to signing up. Why pass up on $500 worth of travel credits?
Bonus Benefits
Additional benefits of the card include no foreign transaction fees, which means that frequent travelers need not worry about extra charges appearing on their statement when they return home.
The card comes with automatic insurance coverage in a variety of situations including bag delay, trip interruption, car rental, and travel accident. Since it is also a
Keep in mind, this card is best for people looking to offset travel expenses. 50,000 miles might be enough for a business class, one-way redemption on some airlines, but 50,000 miles with this card correlates to $500 in travel spend. That’s why it’s important to consider when this card is best for you. It can offer exceptional value in some situations, but since miles cannot be transferred to an airline or hotel, there is less of a bonus when it comes to redeeming miles for outsized value.
It is wise to keep a card like this in your wallet as it is a great complement to other cards. There is also a no-fee version of the card that comes with a smaller signup bonus of 20,000 miles available before the end of the year for spending $1,000 within the first 90 days of holding the card.