Barclays Arrival Premier Adds Aeroplan As Transfer Partner

Barclays Arrival Premier Adds Aeroplan As Transfer Partner

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In early April, the new Barclays Arrival® Premier World Elite Mastercard® was introduced. This is a card that many people were excited about, though once it was introduced, some of the details were disappointing.

The card does have a fairly rewarding points structure, as it offers 2x miles on all purchases with no caps, and on top of that offers some spend bonuses:

  • Spend $15,000 on purchases in a cardmember year, earn 15,000 bonus miles
  • Spend an additional $10,000 on purchases in a cardmember year, earn 10,000 bonus miles

Each point can be redeemed for one cent towards the cost of a travel purchase, though what makes this card unique is that they also introduced airline mileage transfers with this card. This is where many of us ended up being disappointing. I think we were hoping (perhaps optimistically) for 1:1 transfer ratios, but instead we got the following ratios for their nine airline partners:

Barclays Arrival Premier Transfer Partners
Transfer Ratio (Premier Points : Partner Points)
Air Canada Aeroplan
1.7 : 1
Air France / KLM Flying Blue
1.4 : 1
Aeromexico Club Premier
1.4 : 1
China Eastern Airlines Eastern Miles
1.4 : 1
1.4 : 1
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
1.4 : 1
JAL Mileage Bank
1.7 : 1
Jet Airways JetPrivilege
1.4 : 1
Malaysia Airlines Enrich
1.4 : 1
Qantas Frequent Flyer
1.4 : 1
Barclays Arrival Premier Transfer Partner Ratios

Well, they’ve just added an additional transfer partner. You can now transfer Barclays Arrival Premier miles to Aeroplan at a 1.7:1 ratio. While it’s cool to see an additional partner added, that’s not a very lucrative transfer ratio at all. Most transfer ratios are 1.4:1, and up until now the only partner that had a worse ratio is JAL Mileage Bank. Unfortunately Aeroplan now matches JAL for having the worst transfer ratio. Earning 0.58 Aeroplan miles per Barclays mile really isn’t very good. Put another way, you’re earning 1.16 Aeroplan miles per dollar spent, based on earning 2x miles per dollar spent. Or you’re earning 1.74 Aeroplan miles per dollar spent for the first $25,000 spent, when you factor in those bonuses.

Given that Amex Membership Rewards is also an Aeroplan partner, and you can earn 1.5-2x points per dollar spent with them in non-bonused categories, it’s had to imagine a circumstance under which this would be a good way to earn Aeroplan miles.

So more options are good, but this doesn’t really change my thoughts on the card.

(Tip of the hat to DansDeals)

Conversations (4)
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  1. mangoceviche Member

    “This is where many of us ended up being disappointing.”

    i don’t think we are disappointing LOL

    do you mean disappointed?

  2. Euro Gold

    Better. You're on the right path, Barclays. Keep going. Ahem Lufthansa ahem. Ahem American ahem.

  3. George Guest

    I can't even get approved for Barclay cards anymore.

  4. moe8555 New Member

    Original newsbreaker from DansDeals here.

    This card is nothing but great news for those of us living abroad (especially for those of us in TLV, where it will really turbocharge Qantas earning for no-surcharge El Al redemptions coupled with Citi Premier or Prestige). Obviously if I was in the U.S. full time, I would probably go with the standard Chase tri/quadfecta, but alas...

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The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

mangoceviche Member

“This is where many of us ended up being disappointing.” i don’t think we are disappointing LOL do you mean disappointed?

0
Euro Gold

Better. You're on the right path, Barclays. Keep going. Ahem Lufthansa ahem. Ahem American ahem.

0
George Guest

I can't even get approved for Barclay cards anymore.

0
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