Barclaycard has confirmed the following to VFTW:
we are exploring other travel redemption options for 2018, like point transfers, that could be used for Uber and some of our other card products
That’s a lot less committal than the NYTimes piece, but there could be some level of downplaying the feature at this stage. Reposting due to this update.
It’s fair to say that there has been a bit of hype and coverage surrounding the new Uber credit card from Barclaycard that will be launching on November 2nd. We knew that the card earns points that can be redeemed via Uber or for statement credit at a value of 1¢ per point. NYTimes is reporting that:
- Barclays and Uber said point transfers to airlines will be coming in 2018
That would make the 4x on restaurants even more powerful. I’d also think if they are planning to add transfer partners to the Uber card that it might be an option for either a new flagship card or the Barclaycard Arrival Plus as well. Obviously there is no guarantee that this will happen and it’s also possible NYTimes is misreporting this (similar to Time reporting no fees for Apple Pay’s p2p). The obvious transfer partners would be airlines Barclaycard already has a co-branded card with. For example:
- American Airlines
- JetBlue
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Frontier Airlines
But they could also have other transfer partners (American Express & Chase have lots more than just those they have cards with). I’ve reached out to a media rep responsible for the Barclaycard Uber card for comment.
So I’m assuming there wasn’t ever any news of airline transfer partners?
This card is completely unsustainable with no annual fee, in fact this card actually has a negative annual fee since everyone subscribes to either Netflix or Amazon prime. Barclay is basically paying you $50 a year to use this card. Considering how easy it is to break or lose a smartphone, I can’t imagine that offering free insurance on them is going to be cheap either.
Not only are the reward categories too high, but it is targeted to millennials who will only use the card on the bonus categories and use other cards for noncovered ones.
The idea that on top of all of this ridiculousness, they are going to let you transfer points to travel partners at 1:1 is just icing on the cake.
The most ironic part of the uber card is that it doesn’t even give you any uber benefits at all, The AMEX platinum gives you an uber credit every month and uber VIP status.
This card will be nerfed into the ground after in about 12 months for sure.
I’m really suspicious about this card. Barclay’s is negatively incentivizing you to not use Apple Pay or Paypal which mask your data by not offering the online 2% cashback, and thus want you to give them your swipe data. My guess is that in the privacy policy, it will state that they have the ability to sell your swipe data to a third party to offset the $50 loss…this card is directed at Millennial’s who won’t pay attention to that, and thus will blindly sign up.
I agree 100 percent. This card has nerf written all over it
I’d pay an annual fee for an actual Nerf card…
“We’re sorry, your card will be delayed as we underestimated the demand for it and ran out of foam…”
Nerfed in 12 months? Completely agree. And when you consider the opportunity cost of a hard pull, it’s a much riskier venture to imagine your returns on the card are going to match or beat a typical “good” sign up bonus of $500-1000 with the strong potential of a 12 month nerfing.
Previously got hosed with the BBVA NBA 5% card. Much more leery about cards expected to pay returns over time.
Lol!!…Because NYT hasn’t ever gotten it wrong before, right?!…
My $.02: no way Lufthansa or AA would transfer at 1/1, if AA somehow did 1/1 another devAAluation is in the works trust you me (tho that is probably in the works anyway, in corporates 18-24mo forecast to optomize profits lol), I could see smaller carriers like Frontier or JetBlue or Hawaian taking this opportunity at 1/1 but that would be a big roll of the dice for those companies, and they could get fleeced six way to Sunday. Another airline is possible but not likely.
Most likely this is just a great no-fee card that I will look into applying for next year, after all of the dust settles and there are sufficient d.p’s. Just hope this doesnt effect my sywp/uber situation. Thanks as always Doc for the recon!
I’m totally getting this card. Hopefully it’s available for product change. What a solid offering for a no-AF card.
Barclays hasn’t been very pliant with product changes in the past.
They usually only allow changes within in the same product family.
Arrival+ to Arrival is ok
But not Ring to Arrival…
This card sounds awesome. I have gotten 2 Barclay cards in the last 5 months I wonder if they will allow a third.
No guarantees it’s a 1:1 rate.
Hoping no transfers to AA. AA is already devaluing fast enough!
Day dream is still free: how about Uber points to WN or AS? Oola!
In the reality, Uber is burning money at the speed of billions of $$, which gives them the power to negotiate with Airlines.
I want to be skeptic but “will be coming in 2018” part tells me that this reporter got an inside scoop.
Anyway, I don’t see AA allowing Uber points to be transferred to AA when they have passed on the likes of TY program. And, why would other BC partners let another BC partner (read: uber) have a transferable currency to their program? In all likely-hood, Uber will have to directly work on securing airline partners themselves.
Or it could be that a CSR told the reporter this when she called in to check her balance on her Barclay CashForward card. She got the great “scoop” from a CSR because they always know it all before everyone else!
If I had to guess, airline gift cards will be one of the reward choices and points will be worth 1cpp on cash airfare. This would be similar to Chase’s garbage United TravelBank card. Understandable how a layperson publication would get this wrong.
Wouldn’t that seem just a bit toooooo generous for a no-AF card?
Ya, I agree. Seems too good to be true but will cross my finger nonetheless.
If any card in Barclaycard’s lineup should be getting transfer partners, shouldn’t they at least prioritize their own cards first?
Regardless its fun to speculate, thanks for reporting.
Yup, does seem too generous but would be weird for NYTimes to get something like this wrong.
I hope NYT is right. I don’t want the president to lash out his “Fake News!” talk on NYT again.
Don’t know if it makes much of a difference in terms of credibility, but the article I saw on the NYTimes referencing the airline transfers was actually an AP article, not something written by the publication itself.
Good point