Category Archives: Barclays

Using Lufthansa Miles: Part 1 – 18 Ways To Use Lufthansa Miles

Posted on May 22, 2013 by | 47 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a commission if you're approved using the link to the Barclays Lufthansa 50,000 mile card in this post.  You don't have to use our links, but thanks for your support!]

I’ve been digging into the Lufthansa Miles & More program because of the Barclays 50,000 mile credit card.

I could not find much information on the program, so I’ve spent over 80+ hours studying how to avoid the high fuel surcharges, discounted award flights, stopover rules, extra award availability and other quirks of the Lufthansa frequent flyer program.  This will be the most comprehensive guide to using Lufthansa miles in English.

Use Lufthansa Miles

50,000 Miles With the Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More Card

If you find this 8 to 10 part series helpful, please consider applying for the 50,000 mile Lufthansa credit card using the links on the blog.  You get the same offer, and I get a commission which helps keep the blog going.  But you don’t have to use our link if you don’t want to!  Or if the card isn’t right for you. Continue reading →

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Posted in Barclays, Lufthansa, Lufthansa

Lufthansa 50,000 Mile Card – Confusion Over Bonus & Fuel Surcharge Update

Posted on May 7, 2013 by | 22 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a commission to the 50,000 Mile Lufthansa card.  You don't have to use our links, but we're very grateful to all the readers who use our link!]

BEST OFFER

There’s a lot of questions on the best link to use for the 50,000 mile Barclays card.  Having years of, umm, experience :) with credit cards, here’s what I can very confidently say:

If you apply using my affiliate link, you will get 50,000 miles after spending $5,000 within 3 months regardless of whether you get approved for the Premier World OR Platinum MasterCard version.

50,000 Lufthansa Miles

50,000 Lufthansa Miles

The terms and conditions are very clear about this and say (under Welcome Bonus): Continue reading →

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Posted in Barclays, Lufthansa, Lufthansa

Barclays Lufthansa Card with 50,000 Miles (Use For 2 Coach Tickets or 1.5 First Class Tickets Within the US)

Posted on May 4, 2013 by | 30 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a commission to the 50,000 Mile Lufthansa card, the Arrival card, and the Starwood personal and business cards.  You don't have to use our links, but we're very grateful to all the readers who use our link!]

Barclays increased the sign-up bonus from 20,000 miles to 50,000 miles with the Lufthansa Miles and More card.  The $79 annual fee is NOT waived in the first year.  But $79 for 2 domestic coach trips seems worth it to me.

50,000 Lufthansa Miles

50,000 Lufthansa Miles

Lufthansa is a German airline, but is a member of the Star Alliance.  This means that you can redeem Lufthansa miles for flights on other Star Alliance airlines, including United & US Air in the US. Continue reading →

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Posted in Barclays, Lufthansa, Lufthansa, United Airlines, US Air

Are 100,000 Point Offers Coming Back?

Posted on April 29, 2013 by | 24 Comments

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I attended the Randy Petersen Executive Travel Conference on Friday, and I was especially looking forward to the session, The Plastic Fantastic, with senior executives from our favorite credit card companies.

And boy was it good!  They talked about credit card sign-up bonuses, about how well blogs analyze credit cards, about how 30,000 point to 50,000 point cards are the current standard, and how one executive even admitted to having 2 identical airline credit cards from his bank!

Credit Card Panel

The Plastic Fantasic Panel

The panel consisted of: Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Barclays, Capital One, Chase, US Bank

Daraius’ March 2013 App-O-Rama – 6 Cards. 265,000 Miles & Points

Posted on April 11, 2013 by | 81 Comments

[Emily and I get a referral for links to the Chase Ink Plus & Credit Sesame.  We do not get a commission for links to the US Air, Mercedes-Benz Platinum, and the Citi American Airlines cards because of the mother-in-law rule. We thank all readers who apply using our links!]

Warning:  If you’re new to miles and points, you should NOT apply for more than 1 or 2 cards at time.  Much better to start small, gauge the impact for yourself and then work your way up to more.  Also read The 5 Dangers of Credit Cards before applying for a credit card!

Emily and I set travel goals and we then collect miles and points to get to those goals. Our goals are quite simple.  We want to have enough miles and points to travel within the US in coach to visit friends, to go to Michigan or Ohio to visit family and to have weekend getaways.

We also want to travel internationally 2 to 3 times a year – ideally in business or first class, but we’ll choose a flight in coach if it means less connections and more time on the ground (like we did when we visited Brazil during Carnival).

We also need hotel points since we have to stay somewhere. We don’t really care which airline we fly or hotel we stay in as long as we can save money while traveling.

daraius’ March cards

Credit Card
Sign-on Bonus
Minimum Spending Required
Annual Fee
Total265,000 Miles$7,000 in 3 months + $3,250 in 4 months$494 Waived for 1st year + $475 Not Waived for 1st year
Chase Ink Plus50,000 Bonus Points$5,000 in 3 months$95 Waived For 1st Year
American Express Mercedes Benz Platinum50,000 Bonus Points$1,000 in 3 months$475 Not Waived For 1st Year
American Express Premier Rewards Gold50,000 Bonus Points$1,000 in 3 months$175 Waived For 1st Year
Citi American Airlines Visa50,000 Miles$2,500 in 4 months$85 Waived For 1st Year
Citi American Airlines MasterCard30,000 Miles$750 in 4 months$50 Waived For 1st Year
Barlcays US Air35,000 MilesAfter First Purchase$89 Waived For 1st Year

The minimum spending requirements may seem high, but you can meet the minimum spending requirements quite easily these days! Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Barclays, Chase, Citi American Airlines, Credit Cards, Denial & Reconsideration, Earn Miles, Southwest, United Airlines

40,000 Miles (~$440 in Travel or $200 Statement Credit) Barclays Arrival Card Now Available to All

Posted on April 4, 2013 by | 84 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a referral to the 40,000 miles Barclays Arrival Card.  You don't have to use our links, but we are grateful to all readers who use our links!  Please read The 5 Dangers of Applying for Credit Cards before applying for a credit card.]

Update:  Post has been edited to reflect that redeeming for non-travel statement credits is a poor value since you get 0.5 cents per mile.

Barclays Arrival Card 40,000 Miles

Link: Barclays Arrival Card – 40,000 Miles

Late last year, Barclays was testing a 40,000 miles Barclays Arrival card.  This was a targeted offer so not everyone could apply for it.

But the 40,000 miles offer is now available to everyone!  I previously had affiliate links to a 20,000 mile offer, but it wasn’t worth writing about.

Barclays Arrival Card

Barclays Arrival Card – 40,000 Points

The $89 annual fee is waived for the 1st year, so this means that you’re getting at least $400 in statement credits after spending $1,000 within 3 months.

Barclays says that you earn “miles” but you’re actually earning cash back with the card since you can’t transfer  your Barclays miles to airlines.  But you can redeem them for statement credits at 0.5 cents per mile (poor value) or 1.1 cent per mile if you redeem for travel. Continue reading →

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Posted in Barclays, Barclays Arrival, Credit Cards

Credit Card Updates: Southwest 50,000 Points & US Air 50,000 (Really 40,000) Miles

Posted on March 30, 2013 by | 29 Comments

Disclosure:  The Southwest 50,000 point offer is better than the 25,000 points offer on the Southwest website.  The US Air 40,000 mile offer isn’t as good as the 35,000 mile offer, but BOTH are better than the 35,000 mile offer (which earns me a commission, but which you should NOT apply for).

1.   Southwest 50,000 Point Cards

On Wednesday, I wrote that the Southwest 50,000 point offers would soon not be available.  By Thursday evening all 4 cards were offering the usual 25,000 points instead of 50,000 points.

I wrote that “I don’t know for sure if ALL the 50,000 point offers will still be available, but I’m pretty sure that at least 1 card will still offer a 50,000 point bonus.”

Well, it turns out that 2 out of the 4 cards are still offering 50,000 points!  As always, I updated the Airline Credit Card tab with the links yesterday.

I also wrote “The Premier version of the card seems to have the 50,000 point sign-up bonus less frequently than the Plus version.”

And sure enough, there are links to the Plus personal and business cards with 50,000 points.  But not to the Premier version! Continue reading →

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Posted in Barclays, Chase, Southwest, US Air

Why Everyone Should Have a No-Annual Fee Credit Card

Posted on March 19, 2013 by | 55 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a referral for all cards in this post except for the JP Morgan Select, Ink Plus, Amazon.com, Amtrak, BP, AMEX Hilton, AMEX Blue, AMEX Clear, Citi Simplicity, Citi Dividend, Penfed, Pricline, BankAmericard & Club Carlson as of the post publication date. You don't have to use our links, but we're very grateful when you do!]

Additional Reading:

Having a personal credit card with no-annual fee which you will keep for a long time is very important for two reasons:

1.   Helps Increase Your Credit Score

According to the FICO website, 15% of your credit score is determined by the Length of Credit History.

Best No Annual Fee Credit Card

Fico Score Calculation (Image from MyFico.com)

So it helps to have a credit card with no-annual fee which you keep for a very long time because it helps increase the average age of your credit accounts.  This is especially important if you apply for & cancel cards frequently.

2.   Builds a Relationship With the Bank

Having a credit card with a bank for a long time also helps establish you as a long term customer with the bank.  I regularly let the folks on the reconsideration line know for how long I’ve had a credit card or checking account with their bank. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Bank Of America, Barclays, Beginner Tips, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Credit Scores, Discover, No Annual Fee, Penfed, US Bank

The Barclays US Air Affiliate Link for 40,000 Miles is Really for Only 30,000 Miles

Posted on February 17, 2013 by | 30 Comments

[Disclosure:  The link to the 30,000 mile Barclays credit card earns us a commission, but the 35,000 version does not.  The 35,000 mile version is much better because it waives the annual fee and gets you more miles.]

On Friday, I wrote that my affiliate link to the US Air card offers 40,000 miles after 1st purchase, but the annual fee of $89 was NOT waived.  And I strongly suggested that the links to the 35,000 mile offer from FlyerTalk with the annual fee waived and without the bait and switch wording in the affiliate offer is likely the better deal.

However, I checked my affiliate link today and it offers only 30,000 miles after your 1st purchase and 10,000 miles after a balance transfer.  Earning miles for a balance transfer is almost always a bad deal, because of the fees, so I see this as a 30,000 mile offer with the annual fee of $89 NOT waived (making it even worse).

Barclays 30,000 Miles Offer-001

Not Really 40,000 Miles, Since 10,000 Comes From a Balance Transfer

I also consider it misleading that the ad text screams out “40,000 Bonus Miles” and the fine print later says that 10,000 miles comes from a balance transfer for which you have to pay a fee. Continue reading →

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Posted in Barclays, US Air

News You Can Use – Barclays NFL $400 Cash Back & 20,000 Points Virgin America, Citi American Airlines 50,000 Miles + $150 Statement Credit, 70,000 Point Marriott, & Accor Platinum Status

Posted on February 3, 2013 by | 57 Comments

 [Disclosure:  Emily and I don't earn a commission for links to the $400 cash back Barclays NFL card.  The links to the Virgin America, Citi American Airlines & Marriott offers are better than the ones which earn us a commission.]

1.   $400 Cash Back Barclays NFL Card.   Thanks to Million Mile Secrets reader dhammer53 for tweeting me a link to Fat Wallet which discusses a $400 Cash Back Barclays NFL card after spending $2,500 within 3 months.

A Fat Wallet member also posted links to get the $400 statement credit after spending $1,000 within 3 months, but it is unclear if Barclays (unlike the other banks) will honor an expired offer/link.  I didn’t see any mention of an offer expiry date in the links for spending $1,000 within 3 months.

We do know that Barclays currently honors the US Air card targeted to Chairman’s Preferred members even if you’re not a Chairman’s Preferred member.

The card doesn’t have an annual fee and you can redeem 40,000 points for $400 in statement credits.  However, only  transactions above $25 qualify for statement credits. Continue reading →

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Posted in Accor, American Airlines, Barclays, Best Western, Chase, Club Carlson, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt, Marriott, VIrgin America