Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® Review
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Note: Some offer details in this article have expired and the offer is no longer available through Credit Cards House .
If you’re looking for a travel rewards card not attached to a specific airline, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® can be the perfect fit.
One of the best mileage cards around, this card will earn 2x miles on all purchases. The tour-de-force is the one-time 70,000 mile bonus when you spend $5,000 in 90 days. This is the equivalent of $700 worth of travel.
This card can be one building block on your road to a free vacation—it may not get you to Italy, but it can help you enjoy a long weekend in Napa Valley. And while it may not pay for an entire flight to Paris, it can help you avoid paying extra fees when you use your credit card or getting you compensated when your bags are delayed. See below for more information on what this card can do for you.
Features
This card comes with all the basic features that you expect from a solid travel card, including the following:
- 70,000 mile one-time bonus can be earned after spending $5,000 in 90 days
- Earn an extra 5% back of all your redeemed miles
- Mastercard World Elite Concierge & Luxury Travel Benefits
- Travel Accident & Trip Cancellation Insurance
- Baggage Delay Insurance
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
- $0 Fraud Liability on unauthorized charges
- The annual fee of $89 is waived for the first year
- Miles can be used on a variety of airlines, flights, hotels—even discount websites such as Kayak and Expedia
- Free FICO credit score available on your monthly statement
Card Benefits
One of the best ways to use this card is in conjunction with other deals. For example, you can redeem the miles for travel purchases that don’t have to be made through specific airlines, hotels, or car rental companies.
That means you can scour deal sites such as Expedia, PriceLine, and Kayak to see when the best time to buy is and use your miles that way. While many travel cards force you to book tickets directly through merchants, Barclay doesn’t.
Plus, the one-time bonus of 70,000 miles is still one of the best in the industry. If you’re serious about earning travel rewards, this card should not be missed. Those 70,000 miles equal $700 on your statement, and redemptions start at 10,000 miles for $100 worth of travel when you redeem directly through Barclay. And you can use your miles for any travel expense, from two nights at a resort in Hawaii, to three nights at an Orlando resort, or four nights on a cruise in the Caribbean.
Balance transfer offers are one benefit of the card; you get 0% APR for the first 12 billing cycles. After that, the rate will change to 18.24% , 22.24% or 25.24% depending on whether or not you have good credit.
After you redeem your miles, you’ll receive 5% back of your redemption that you can save for your next trip. For example, after you earn the 60,000 mile bonus, you’ll get 3,000 miles back after you redeem the full 60,000.
This card also doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, which can save you more money if you use this card to both book your travel and use it while you’re on vacation. You can also waive auto rental collision damage coverage if you rent a car at home or on vacation. You also qualify for baggage delay insurance, which can alleviate any headaches you can have if you’re traveling and lose your luggage.
Your miles also never expire, so this is one card you can keep around if you plan to earn miles for a while.
Drawbacks
While the annual fee is waived for the first year, it will be $89 for every year after. That type of fee is common for popular travel cards including the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Southwest Airlines Rewards Premier Credit Card, and the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card.
Also, this card is designed with travelers in mind—if you redeem your miles for gift cards or other rewards, each mile is only worth pennies compared to what you could get for travel redemption.
Bottom Line
If you don’t have a plan for where your next trip will be, but want to use credit card rewards to get there, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® is a great choice. There are plenty of benefits to attract world travelers including zero foreign transaction fees, insurance for lost luggage, rental car, travel accidents, and trip cancellations.
First published , last updated
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Holden Briggs is a freelance writer specializing in personal finance. She writes a blog about paying off her student loans in three years at Debt Free After Three. A trained journalist, she's covered everything from murder trials to the Final Four.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.
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