Barclays Arrival Premier Annual Fee Now Waived For First Year

July 06, 2018

•

2 min read

This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

In an attempt to compete with similar cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Citi Premier® Card, in April Barclays launched a new mid-tier credit card — the Barclays Arrival Premier World Elite Mastercard. The card introduced airline transfer partners (with odd transfer ratios) and features an upfront sign-up bonus of zero but a total 25,000-mile bonus after spending $25,000 in a calendar year. In a nutshell, the Arrival Premier offers a decent but not groundbreaking 3% return on spend, but only if you can hit the spending bonuses each year.

But starting on Friday, Barclays is waiving the $150 annual fee for the first year of cardmembership. This doesn't appear to be a limited-time offer, but something that Barclays intends to offer long-term. It's a nice feature that makes signing up for the card slightly more enticing. On top of the miles earned through the Arrival Premier, the card offers a handful of perks like a $100 Global Entry Fee credit, discounted lounge access through Lounge Key and secondary rental car collision damage waivers.

Additionally, Barclays has confirmed that it will soon be adding two transfer partners to its current list: Italian carrier and SkyTeam member Alitalia and Oneworld member Finnair will be added by "the end of July." And, Barclays isn't stopping there. A Barclays spokesperson confirmed that there are "more partners in the pipeline," but no details can be shared yet. In June, Barclays added Air Canada Aeroplan as a tenth transfer partner, albeit at a transfer ratio of 1.7 to 1.

These changes comes on the heels of the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard being reintroduced earlier today with a 60,000-mile sign-up bonus after spending $5,000 in the first 90 days. However, you can't transfer the miles to any airline or hotel program, or between the Arrival Plus and the Arrival Premier. The $89 annual fee is waived for the first year.

This story has been updated since publishing to reflect confirmations received from Barclays that new partners are being added.