Barclays Review: Arrival™ World MasterCard® Annual Fee vs. No Annual Fee

Please Note: The Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® & Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® are currently unavailable through this site.

For a multitude of reasons, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® is considered one of the best credit cards around. Still, there’s a lot of curiosity and confusion when it comes to deciding which is the more valuable of the two: the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® (with an $89 Annual Fee, waived first year) or the Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® (with No Annual Fee).

It might be natural to gravitate toward the card with no annual fee, but in almost every case, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® is a considerably better rewards credit card.

With this dual Barclays review, I’ll explain why by comparing the two cards in more detail.

Barclays Arrival Card Differences

The first major difference between these two cards is what you get when you sign up. The second is the rate at which you earn rewards.

Finding The Differences

With the annual fee card, you’ll earn a solid 2x miles per dollar spent regardless of what type of purchase you make. On the flip side, with the no-fee card, you’ll need to consider the fact that only travel & dining purchases will reap the most benefits.

Key Takeaways

Despite the $89 annual fee (waived first year), the annual fee version of this card still garners you more rewards every single year. And the annual fee card is even more valuable if you spend little on travel & dining purchases since those are the only two categories that earn you double miles with the no fee.

When you should get the Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard®

The only instance when you should get the Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard®: is if the total amount of purchases you make result in you earning less than $89 in rewards. Simply put, if you plan to keep this card for the long haul, the annual fee card will lead to greater rewards in almost every scenario.

No matter which card you choose, the benefits can lead to plenty of savings on travel over the course of several months or years. Here’s how they work:

• Just book your travel through any airline, hotel, discount travel engine.
• Redeem your miles for statement credits toward all or a part of your travel purchases within the last 120 days.
• To redeem, go into your statement online and select the travel purchases of your choice to redeem your miles.

Big Benefits from Both Barclays Credit Cards

• No mileage caps or foreign transaction fees
• Get 5% miles back when you redeem for travel
• Use miles for a statement credit toward any airline purchase to any destination with no seat restrictions and no blackout dates
• Book the travel you want – airfare, hotels, cruises and more and earn miles on your purchase
• Complimentary online FICO® Score access for Barclays Arrival cardmembers
• Reimbursement for expenses if your baggage is delayed or misdirected
• Trip cancellation/interruption coverage
• MasterCard(R) Global Service with 24-hour emergency assistance