BarclayCard Arrival Plus vs Starwood Preferred vs Chase Sapphire...

[mongstradamus]

I think for all of three of these cards you need to travel an fair amount or spend quite an bit. Arrival + and CSP for most may be just an signup bonus and cancel type cards. 

[IWOL]

For a while the Arrival card was effectively a 6.6% cash back card for general spend. They were offering 4% extra cash back through the rewards boost mall on AMEX gift cards.

You could by the AMEX gift cards and then use them for general spend......gas, groceries, shopping, paying bills etcand earn 6.6 points per dollar.

Unfortuantaly they removed AMEX gift cards a month or so ago.

[longtimelurker]

TopCashBack is 3% as of yesterday, so you can still get about 5.2% with the Arrival

[jonald11]

I have the Arrival, CSP and Freedom and like them all. I only have a total of four cards (AMEX BCP is the other).

I want to clarify a few things. First, anyone saying that you have to pay taxes, fees etc. when you get an airline ticket on points transferred from CSP is mistaken. It depends on the airline. United charges virtually nothing in extra costs, and availablity is great if you are one of the higher tiers of frequent fliers. But United is very inconsistent and getting worse, no doubt.

If you fly to Europe a lot, United/CSP transfer points are, without question, the best value. To the Middle East and Asia they are garbage, and you are better off using points as cash through the UR program or Arrival.   If you are buying domestic tickets, I think the 2X back on all Arrival purchases, and the travel redemption bonus, Make Arrival a much better bet.

CSP also has a 20-percent discount when points are used to purchase tickets directly (for example, a $1,000 flight to Istanbul will only cost you 80,000 points). That is a huge break, and puts it close to being on par with United Saver awards, (60,000 points round trip to Europe). 

CSP is great if you eat out a lot, and no other card can match the value. And, Freedom with UR points can be 10x on every online purchase at Best Buy, Macy's or Lowes if you time it right. That is huge.  And Chase is a much better company than Barclay to deal with.

But when you add in the 2x on every purchases, and all the other advantages, I thin+ is the very best card on the market right now. 

[lg8302ch]

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@jonald11 wrote:

I have the Arrival, CSP and Freedom and like them all. I only have a total of four cards (AMEX BCP is the other).

I want to clarify a few things. First, anyone saying that you have to pay taxes, fees etc. when you get an airline ticket on points transferred from CSP is mistaken. It depends on the airline. United charges virtually nothing in extra costs, and availablity is great if you are one of the higher tiers of frequent fliers. But United is very inconsistent and getting worse, no doubt.

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...I wish you would be right !  I am flying out of Europe and have never paid less than 400-600$ in taxes on award tickets to the US... try any European airline and you will see .. so for me the Arrival+ is the far better deal !

[mongstradamus]

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@lg8302ch wrote:

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@jonald11 wrote:

I have the Arrival, CSP and Freedom and like them all. I only have a total of four cards (AMEX BCP is the other).

I want to clarify a few things. First, anyone saying that you have to pay taxes, fees etc. when you get an airline ticket on points transferred from CSP is mistaken. It depends on the airline. United charges virtually nothing in extra costs, and availablity is great if you are one of the higher tiers of frequent fliers. But United is very inconsistent and getting worse, no doubt.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...I wish you would be right !  I am flying out of Europe and have never paid less than 400-600$ in taxes on award tickets to the US... try any European airline and you will see .. so for me the Arrival+ is the far better deal !

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It really depends on if you are flying on UA or one of the partners into europe. I was looking at flights on UA with points to London. If you fly on UA flights it an reasonable 5.60 in taxes and fees, which is an lot better than if i chose BA that has fees in the hundreds :-) 

[Open123]

In general, here's how I prefer to maximize travel redemptions.

1.  For low fares (below, say, $400), I'd just charge it with whatever card that earns the most for travel.

2.  For low fares which become high fares during peak season, use miles for redemption, even for coach seats.  Usually, US Airline redemptions have very minor fees & taxes, while the European ones tend to be exorbitant, which is why there's more value to redeem AA flights with BA.

3.  For higher priced fares, use miles redemptions.

For lower priced fares, I think the Arrival is an excellent choice, especially with the 10% redemption; but, a high enough level of spending must justify the annual fee (or, if primarily spending abroad), otherwise the Fid Amex would be better.

In my view, it may seem complicated and daunting initially, but it really isn't.  The possible combinations with the different redemptions through airlines and their alliances will become second nature after a while.  As with all things, for those willing to spend the time and effort to sort it out, higher rewards are easily attainable with minimal effort. 

[I_SUFFER_FROM_FICO_ENVY]

Fair enough. I am a working stiff. I only get a 3 week vacation every year and want to earn enough miles to go to Europe - free, preferably.

According to most people here, then, and according to my above spending habits (reposted below), I should get a CSP and combine it with my Chase Freedom UR. The Arrival doesn't benefit me as much since I am not doing a lot of travelling (only once and overseas). Correct? Do you guys concur?

FROM MY PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT MY CREDIT REPORTS...

1.NO credit inquiries

2.AAoA = 5 years on TU and Equifax; AAoA=8 years on Experian

3.CC UTI=28%; five CC's; Three cards =$0 balance; Two cards with balance; Credit Limits on all five cards=$27,800

4.Annual Income $96000

5.NO real estate (mortgage) loans

6.One open auto loan shown on only two reports: EQ and EX

7.One closed auto loan shown on all three reports

8.FIVE open Credit Cards

9.THREE closed credit cards

10.NO collections; NO judgments; NO liens

11.Only one DIRTY account with SEVERE DEROGATORY INFORMATION - student loan installment. Student loan has been PAID AS AGREED consistently for the past 30 months (2 years, 6 months). Account was SEVERELY DELINQUENT (90+ to 180+) from January 2011 through December 2011. Again, account has been PAID AS AGREED from January 2012 through today (July, 2014) - 30 months.

Presently, I have the following cards:

Capital One Quick Silver

Discover More

Chase Freedom DFCU Visa (credit union)

USAA Amex Rewards

I spend most of my monthly expenses on my Chase (unless Discover has a 5%, like right now, I get 5% on gas using my Discover). I spend $2800/month (cable; phone, gas), groceries; restaurants/bars; monthly newspaper; monthly gym dues. So, close to $36000 per year on credit cards.

[mongstradamus]

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@I_SUFFER_FROM_FICO_ENVY wrote:

Fair enough. I am a working stiff. I only get a 3 week vacation every year and want to earn enough miles to go to Europe - free, preferably.

According to most people here, then, and according to my above spending habits (reposted below), I should get a CSP and combine it with my Chase Freedom UR. The Arrival doesn't benefit me as much since I am not doing a lot of travelling (only once and overseas). Correct? Do you guys concur?

FROM MY PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT MY CREDIT REPORTS...

1.NO credit inquiries

2.AAoA = 5 years on TU and Equifax; AAoA=8 years on Experian

3.CC UTI=28%; five CC's; Three cards =$0 balance; Two cards with balance; Credit Limits on all five cards=$27,800

4.Annual Income $96000

5.NO real estate (mortgage) loans

6.One open auto loan shown on only two reports: EQ and EX

7.One closed auto loan shown on all three reports

8.FIVE open Credit Cards

9.THREE closed credit cards

10.NO collections; NO judgments; NO liens

11.Only one DIRTY account with SEVERE DEROGATORY INFORMATION - student loan installment. Student loan has been PAID AS AGREED consistently for the past 30 months (2 years, 6 months). Account was SEVERELY DELINQUENT (90+ to 180+) from January 2011 through December 2011. Again, account has been PAID AS AGREED from January 2012 through today (July, 2014) - 30 months.

Presently, I have the following cards:

Capital One Quick Silver

Discover More

Chase Freedom DFCU Visa (credit union)

USAA Amex Rewards

I spend most of my monthly expenses on my Chase (unless Discover has a 5%, like right now, I get 5% on gas using my Discover). I spend $2800/month (cable; phone, gas), groceries; restaurants/bars; monthly newspaper; monthly gym dues. So, close to $36000 per year on credit cards.

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In gneral that is true UR points from CSP and Freedom. Arrival+ you get an 40,000 point signup bonus so you can techincally pay with your arrival + and redeem with the points you have i believe. 

[Open123]

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@I_SUFFER_FROM_FICO_ENVY wrote:

Fair enough. I am a working stiff. I only get a 3 week vacation every year and want to earn enough miles to go to Europe - free, preferably.

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For a free trip, the most efficient way would be to apply for cards with sign-up bonuses.  For instance, apply for the Arrival for 40k, CSP for 40K, Ink (if you have a business) for 50k, and points/miles from your preferred airline or hotels.

Stop once you've spent enough to qualify for the bonus and not a penny more, then go onto the next card for another bonus.  This way, you can maximize your rewards on spending earning the free trip much quicker than you otherwise would.

Best of luck!