I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Barclay’s now allows partial redemptions of travel charges on their Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®.
Free Travel
“Barclaycard Arrival” Targeted Credit Card Offer — $450 in Free Travel, or Not?
Spoiler Alert: The best rewards credit card offers are not hyped in the blogosphere.
This is the story of how I learned to sit back and wait for the superior targeted credit card offers to roll in.
In a typical week, my husband and I receive a dozen offers in the mail for new credit cards. The banks even try to induce our kid to apply for credit cards on a regular basis. My usual habit is to toss out these envelopes without opening them.
That is, until I learned how lucrative sign up bonuses could be.
Romancing the Triple Bump
The Sundance Film Festival was wrapping up in late January and the Salt Lake City (SLC) Airport was swamped. My United Airlines flight to Washington Dulles (IAD) was booked solid and the gate agent was looking for a volunteer to give up their seat. Usually when these opportunities arise I am too busy to take advantage…but this time I had some flexibility.
I volunteered my seat and the agent booked me on the same flight the next day. She issued me a voucher for $400 good for future travel on United, $20 in food vouchers, and booked a hotel reservation at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.
The Bump: $1350 and a Free Afternoon in Las Vegas
Joel Shprentz photo
It was a Sunday morning and we were waiting in the Las Vegas Airport (LAS) to board our Southwest Airlines flight home. Oh no. The flight is delayed two hours. There is an equipment change.
The gate agent makes an announcement. The substitute aircraft has fewer seats. Volunteers are needed to give up there seats. They can offer compensation and booking on the next flight out for each passenger who gives up their seat.
How to Stop Worrying and Start Enjoying Free Travel
Joel Shprentz Photo
In November 2011, while changing planes in Denver, I was lured by a vendor offering to sign me up for a Southwest Airlines credit card. Southwest was celebrating their expansion in the Denver market by offering 50,000 “Rapid Reward” miles as a sign-up bonus. I had a few minutes to kill so I talked to the vendor about the offer. He convinced me of the value of these Southwest frequent flyer miles by mentioning that the miles could be used on any flight — there are no blackout dates on Southwest. The annual fee for the card, issued by Chase bank, was $69.