Barclays Improves Arrival Card Mile Redemptions, No Longer Rounded-up

Disclosure: Well Traveled Mile has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Well Traveled Mile and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

It looks like Freequent Flyer Book also noticed this, but I thought it was worth covering since it's a positive change for any Barclaycard Arrival Plus cardholders.

In the past Barclays has rounded-up to the nearest 100 Arrival miles when you redeem miles for statement credits on travel purchases. The overall impact was probably small for most, but it was annoying to say the least to essentially forfeit a few Arrival miles to redeem most full travel purchases.

The Barclays Arrival+ is one of my all-time favorite travel credit cards.

The Barclays Arrival+ is one of my all-time favorite travel credit cards.

For example, if you made a travel purchase for $34.70 it would cost 3,500 Arrival miles to redeem the entire travel purchase. Barclay's would give several redemption options, with the highest rounded-up to the nearest 100 miles. You would be spending an extra 30 miles to cover the cost---or losing 0.30 cents worth in Arrival miles. In this case you would not be getting the full 1.0 cent in value that Barclays claims Arrival miles are worth.

The good news is that Barclays recently updated this to allow travel redemptions down to the exact Arrival mile amount. I noticed this last week I logged into my Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard account to redeem a few travel costs that I had accrued over the last several months of travel.

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Upon checkout I was surprised that the redemption options were down to the exact mile value of the purchase (1 mile = 1 cent). Therefore you are actually getting a full 1.0 cent in value when you redeem any entire travel expense.

It’s good to see enhancements to rewards programs when they actually do enhance the program. This makes it a lot easier to redeem full travel purchases and you’ll get the same 1.0 in value for Arrival mile at any redemption amount.

Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®
Quick review: The Arrival Plus card is one of my favorite all-around 2X earning cards. The miles can be redeemed for any type to travel, making it a great beginner travel rewards credit card.

Why we like it: The Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard earns 2X points per dollar spent on all purchases. You'll also get 5% of your miles back when you redeem your points, to use on your next redemption. The card has Chip+PIN technology, which can be useful for international travel. Especially when traveling in Europe. Lastly, the card comes with a complimentary online FICO® Credit Score and of course has no foreign transaction fees.
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