@kdm31091 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I'm interested as to why the Arrival+ makes sense to a credit pro like you given that it's just a 2% back card in disguise and limits you to only travel redemptions. Is it that none of your other travel cards get 2x points on every purchase with no FTF?
I'd have to agree. If you are invested in the "real" travel programs it's going to be very difficult to rack up enough points on the Arrival+ to even redeem ($100 minimum).
While trying different cards out can make sense, you don't really need to actually apply for (and potentially damage your credit) a bunch of cards to figure out what will work for you. Earning and redemption structures are pretty readily available online and this doesn't change just because you don't have the actual card. No harm in trying it of course, but having it doesn't change what it is.
kdm - yes absolutely. As I responded to CS after that, the functional use that this card has/will have is really just for use in Europe where Americans seem to run into hassles trying to use our (almost entirely) chip + signature EMV cards, where Europe has pretty much moved on to the more secure chip + PIN setup.
I will definitely be downgrading this now that we know the normal Arrival can still be used that way, with no FTF.
If my gf wasn't pushing so much for some European vacations over the next few years, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it, but reading travel vlogs that seems to be a common issue that American tourists run into, being unable to pay because there are only a handful of chip + PIN-compatible cards available here as of yet.
I know Diner's Club cards were both defaulted to PIN, but they aren't accepting applications (I would have rather had a DC Premier than this Barclays card) and I found that both United Nations Federal Credit Union and Andrews credit union have chip + PIN cards but they both have ~$50 AFs and lame rewards structures - plus those two are both VISAs which I already have plenty of.
TBH if Chase made CSP PIN-compatible that would pretty much take my cake as far as card choice. Eventually I would like to be able to par down to 10 or fewer cards while still maintaining payability in every likely situation.
