Question about Barclay Arrival CC

[Parkerpirates]

I am thinking of opening it for the bonus ($400 for travel, 2% back on all purchases, no annual fee the first year). We just opened the Disney visa just for the $200 statement credit and to put our cruise on it for 0% interest and the 2% on gas, groceries and Disney purchases. We pay it off every month and usually every three days so I don't have extra money in our checking account.

My question is, with the Barclay Arrival bonus rewards, will I be able to use this points a year from now when we fly to Miami for our cruise? Or do we have to use the points within so many months of earning them? We will probably cancel the card before we get hit with an annual fee.

 

[Parkerpirates]

Also, can I use my reward miles towards ANY airline? Do we just use the cc to purchase the tickets and then request a statement credit for the tickets purchased?

 

[hsmamato2]

google for info- there are a lot of great sites and blogs with good advice. I had the card, it's pretty great, you use it to pay yourself back for travel- just be sure when paying etc thats it's categorized properly as travel- example- you pay for your hotel stay using the card, when you get home,and see the charge on your card, you will be given the option to use a 'statement credit' to pay for part or all of that hotel stay- which effectively removes it from the bill you will owe. plus it instantly drops 10% of those points back into your account. thus technically costing you less. IMHO that disney card isn't nearly as good as far as rewards per dollar spent.... ok for the bonus but barclays is much better

 

[Parkerpirates]

Thanks for the info. I'm just using the disney card for the up front perks. $200 credit and 0% interest on disney vacations. We won't use it for anything else because it would take so long to earn anything back! Next year when the annual fee is due again we wills with to the regular card for 0% on disney vacations.
I'm thinking of opening a Barclay card in each of our names so we can each earn the bonuses. That will pay for our airline tickets next year and then we will probably close it before the annual fee since we don't travel enough to make it worthwhile.

 

[platamama]

It is a good card, and a good idea for you to open in two separate names so each of you can earn the $400 bonus ($440 total actually after you get the 10% put back into your account).

Recently I've only seen the ability to redeem in $25 (2500 mile) increments, FWIW.

 

[Parkerpirates]

It is a good card, and a good idea for you to open in two separate names so each of you can earn the $400 bonus ($440 total actually after you get the 10% put back into your account). Recently I've only seen the ability to redeem in $25 (2500 mile) increments, FWIW.

Thanks! I read trough the fine print and the only thing I can find is that you can't redeem for less than 2500 miles.

 

[rnorwo1]

It is a good card, and a good idea for you to open in two separate names so each of you can earn the $400 bonus ($440 total actually after you get the 10% put back into your account).

Recently I've only seen the ability to redeem in $25 (2500 mile) increments, FWIW.

I was just looking at this card also, but I'm confused on how to use it with seoarate cards or with other miles. For example. I need flights for our England/Scotland trip that may take 100k points each... I have 60k in chase ultimate rewards, so the 40k bonus with this may allow me to get one flight for free. Anyway to combine the two? It sounds like you have to just book the entire flight with this card then apply the points to the flight on your statement? So, it would basically take about $400 off the $1400 flight? And if we got two cards, then we would have to book one flight on each card to apply the credits? Thanks for any info, I've read through several card forums and am still confused!

 

[Parkerpirates]

I was just looking at this card also, but I'm confused on how to use it with seoarate cards or with other miles. For example. I need flights for our England/Scotland trip that may take 100k points each... I have 60k in chase ultimate rewards, so the 40k bonus with this may allow me to get one flight for free. Anyway to combine the two? It sounds like you have to just book the entire flight with this card then apply the points to the flight on your statement? So, it would basically take about $400 off the $1400 flight? And if we got two cards, then we would have to book one flight on each card to apply the credits? Thanks for any info, I've read through several card forums and am still confused!

I think what you are saying is correct but I'm still reading up on it!

 

[platamama]

I was just looking at this card also, but I'm confused on how to use it with seoarate cards or with other miles. For example. I need flights for our England/Scotland trip that may take 100k points each... I have 60k in chase ultimate rewards, so the 40k bonus with this may allow me to get one flight for free. Anyway to combine the two? It sounds like you have to just book the entire flight with this card then apply the points to the flight on your statement? So, it would basically take about $400 off the $1400 flight? And if we got two cards, then we would have to book one flight on each card to apply the credits? Thanks for any info, I've read through several card forums and am still confused!

Yes, I think that's how it would work. No way to combine the two programs, since Chase and Barclays are two different companies. With Chase UR, usually there's an option of a combination of points and money, so you could use your UR points for one ticket and make up the difference with money. Don't know if UR will let you pay for the money portion with a non-Chase card, I've never tried that. IF it does, then you probably could pay the remainder with the Barclays card and apply your $400 toward that (assuming that buying a ticket through the UR portal shows up as a travel expense). Do you already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred? If not, it's offering the same sign up bonus (slightly better if you add on an authorized user) as the Barclays card.

 

[platamama]

I was just looking at this card also, but I'm confused on how to use it with seoarate cards or with other miles. For example. I need flights for our England/Scotland trip that may take 100k points each... I have 60k in chase ultimate rewards, so the 40k bonus with this may allow me to get one flight for free. Anyway to combine the two? It sounds like you have to just book the entire flight with this card then apply the points to the flight on your statement? So, it would basically take about $400 off the $1400 flight? And if we got two cards, then we would have to book one flight on each card to apply the credits? Thanks for any info, I've read through several card forums and am still confused!

I also wanted to mention that the UR points are so great because of their flexibility. I've used them as a transfer to British Airways to get a trip to Hawaii from the west coast for 12,500 Avios (miles) one way whereas most airlines would charge at least 20,000 miles. I've read that using Aer Lingus (BA partner) from Boston to Dublin will only take 12,500 Avios also. Just don't fly on BA to London because of the fuel surcharges. I don't know what airline you were planning on for your trip, but you might look deeper into the best use of your UR points.

 

[rnorwo1]

I also wanted to mention that the UR points are so great because of their flexibility. I've used them as a transfer to British Airways to get a trip to Hawaii from the west coast for 12,500 Avios (miles) one way whereas most airlines would charge at least 20,000 miles. I've read that using Aer Lingus (BA partner) from Boston to Dublin will only take 12,500 Avios also. Just don't fly on BA to London because of the fuel surcharges. I don't know what airline you were planning on for your trip, but you might look deeper into the best use of your UR points.

I have a conference in Edinburgh, and we were going to add a quick side trip to England to visit friends, and flying into Dublin adds very long layovers. We will have our 3 kids with us, so I'm hesitant to do anything that will make the trip miserable. We may have to just drop the trip to England... The fares flying into Edinburgh are the same as Heathrow, but it does save us a few days of missed work and transportation costs between England and Scotland.
Anyway, back to the cards! I didn't know that you could combine UR and cash, so I'll check into that. I have driven myself crazy looking at all of the different possibilities.... Nearly $8k on airfare is just making me ill! I dont care which airline we use, just looking for something slightly cheaper. we have to fly out of New Orleans, so we dont get the good deals like out of JFK or Boston. Thanks for the info, I'm going to keep looking!