Barclays
- Thread starter Hanoi IG
- Start date
Mountain Trader
Level 2 Member
For traveling around as a tourist, I agree. My comment was about longer stays of weeks/months outside the US. The longer the stay, the more your purchases approach the same as at home-supermarkets, books, clothes, etc., etc. most of these are non-bonused, or bonused on cards with forex fees that make using the card uneconomic.
Hanoi IG
Level 2 Member
Got it. We lived abroad for two years and have spent a month or more on occasion. When we lived in Hà Nội, we knew nothing of points, miles or fees. Now we have a bunch of cards without the fee. It burned me that AX Hilton Honors has a fee, so I couldn't use it abroad. could but chose not to.
I think you may not realize that most US issued cards are chip and signature, not chip and pin. Arrival+ is one of the few last I checked.
Even as tourists we still do grocery stores and buy a ton of souvenirs. And entrance tickets; those that aren't arranged in advance (which might score 2% with some cards, others not). Books! Yes. So there are still plenty of tourist expenses that can't find a bonus.
So the math (for me) is if an additional 1% of all of that spend exceeds the $89 a year fee and exceeds it enough to warrant worrying about it. For me, it doesn't work well enough but I certainly can see how it might for others. This is also my second Arrival+ card and bonus. Which wouldn't be possible if I had kept the first.
Hanoi IG
Level 2 Member
Nice! We are old and don't have children so saving is not a huge priority. Also we don't buy anything other than the odd tiny souvenir. We never go to grocery stores except for water which is usually given in abundance at hotels. We have had $25000 trips with less than 150$ spent on non-hotel/restaurant fees
Ian
Level 2 Member
some Arrival DPs
Had it last winter, bonus miles posted. Bought a refundable SW ticket, applied bonus, then later cancelled the ticket to cash out the miles.
Cancelled 1-26-17, reapplied 43 days later and automated message said I already had this product (no pull). play on applying again in 2 weeks , will post results
Had it last winter, bonus miles posted. Bought a refundable SW ticket, applied bonus, then later cancelled the ticket to cash out the miles.
Cancelled 1-26-17, reapplied 43 days later and automated message said I already had this product (no pull). play on applying again in 2 weeks , will post results
Right. And as I spelled out above, "my plan" was to spend exactly $3750 and no more on each card to get a full $600 in rebates with minimal remainders. I was very successful with this on my own card ... I have $600 in travel credits already claimed with 508 points left ... I will ignore these. I had a bad 2-visit experience with my local Simon Mall and ended up using gc.com (and overspending a little) to finish my wife's card. We've claimed her $600 but have a 1200+ point balance. I am also going to ignore those and not advance it.
Our first statements were just recently cut and it will all be cleaned up and "done" by the time the second statements cut.
It will be interesting to see how long their memory lasts. My Hawaiian Airlines card was canceled on 11/2/2016 but still shows up (as closed) when I log on.
HariOm
Transcendent Level
Is Arrival+ still churnable? I just got auto-rejected for my third one, with no HP. My previous Arrival+ was closed over six months ago, but my last Barclays app (for Aviator red) was five months ago. I goofed on timing; the collective wisdom says to wait six months between Barclays apps. Maybe that's what initiated the extra scrutiny and I would have been fine after six months? Letter from Barclays says: "Our records show that you've already established the maximum allowable number of this product with us."
Mountain Trader
Level 2 Member
When I got that letter several years ago on my Barclays AA cards, I was done for good on that card.
Barclays seems to have me on some type of list. I was approved for the Arrival+ in Feb but denied the Wyndham card at the same time. 3 months later, denied again. Waiting to see if they pulled credit or found me on a blacklist. I'm tempted to cancel the A+ card in spite, as it won't see any more use ... but I want to keep a cool head and see if it fits into a better strategy. Not sure how, tho, with denials on these should-be simple cards.
To be fair, I also applied for the Choice Priv card right after the Wyndham in both cases. Maybe I'm doing THAT wrong and when someone sees the 2 apps denies both.
To be fair, I also applied for the Choice Priv card right after the Wyndham in both cases. Maybe I'm doing THAT wrong and when someone sees the 2 apps denies both.
HariOm
Transcendent Level
I think that's a different situation, as the new Aviator that became available in late December 2016 is considered a different product than the [edit: old] Aviator that Barclays issued as replacement for converted US Airways cards.
HariOm
Transcendent Level
DoC and other sources advise waiting six months between Barclay apps. That's always worked for my loving wife and me, until the above note where I jumped the gun and applied after five months and got rejected.
