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.
