New HAL Credit Card Redemption Plan Now Functional - and it is Better than Before

[Tom O.]

A few weeks ago, I started a thread in which I was very skeptical of the new HAL credit card redemption plan. Starting today, the plan is functioning on the Barclays Bank website. It turns out to be an improvement over the previous plan.

I just logged on and received a full credit for my final payment for my next HAL cruise.

The way you earn points is unchanged 1 point per dollar charged, 2 points per dollar charged at HAL.

What is different is that your points will go further when redeeming. Now you only have to have a purchase of $2001 or more to make your points worth 2 cents each - before you had to have a $3000 purchase to make them worth that.

Example: If you make a final payment of $2500, and you have at least 125,000 points, you can ask for a statement credit for the entire final payment. 125,000 points will be deducted from your total. That works out to be 2 cents per point.

If your purchase is at least $4001, your points are worth even more 2.5 cents per point.

Also all this is done easier than before, just a few clicks on the website.

I know there are credit card programs that have a greater return, but most of them have large annual fees, whereas the HAL card has not annual fees.

So out upcoming cruise is free. We are thrilled.

[dadecitycruiser]

I agree and I disagree.

 

I just redeemed 180,000 or so points against a 4500 cruise charge I made last week. So you are right, much better.

 

Had I made a deposit and several payments along the way however, they each would have been separate redemptions, I believe. That would be worse than previous plan which would look at the whole cruise charge for a free cruise credit.

 

If that is true, which I believe it is, they are encouraging, and rewarding, paying for the cruise in advance, in total.

 

DCC

 

PS: I am pleased! Paid for without actually paying for it.

[Tom O.]

Yes, I agree with you concerning the deposit being a separate charge. Since I made my deposit more than 180 days ago, I can't redeem points for it at all. But in my case, I didn't have enough points to redeem the deposit anyway.

Yes there would be an advantage of paying for the entire cruise at the time of making the reservation - assuming you have the points.

Another thing to consider is the advantage of making a smaller deposit, as is allowed with the Explore 4 package. In the past making a smaller deposit meant nothing to me, because all it does is create a bigger bill when final payment is due. But now having a bigger final payment has an advantage with the new points redemption plan.

[Tom O.]

I forgot to mention, that it makes the future cruise credit a very valuable option, because of the smaller deposit required.

[SeaBands]

and we never saw on OBC on any of our cruises.

[Tom O.]

and we never saw on OBC on any of our cruises.

 

I have never requested OBC with the Credit Card. But the normal way in which the card works, is that you purchase items, such as OBC, and then request a point redemption from Barclays. They then credit your account.

The system is easier to use now. You go online and request to redeem points, then a list of purchases that qualify for redemption comes up and you choose which one to redeem. I received a credit the next day.

On the list that showed up for me was my final payment, some purchases for specialty dinners, and my airline tickets to Ft Lauderdale with American Airlines. The airline tickets aren't as good of a return per point. And the miscellaneous purchases from HAL were not of a high enough value to be worthwhile, so I used almost all of my points for the final payment.

[qsuzi]

On the list that showed up for me was my final payment, some purchases for specialty dinners, and my airline tickets to Ft Lauderdale with American Airlines. The airline tickets aren't as good of a return per point. And the miscellaneous purchases from HAL were not of a high enough value to be worthwhile, so I used almost all of my points for the final payment.

 

Do you receive the same number of points using HAL vs independent purchase of airline tickets?

[Cruising-along]

I'm confused. :confused:

Right now I have 25,000 points. Before this change, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten $250 off my statement balance. Now a list pops up, as you said, showing my last final payment $3,220, some shore excursions and airfare. The best I can do now is $200 off my statement balance.

 

Am I seeing this correctly or missing something? It seems that now there's no reason to put everything on that charge card, only qualifying purchases (HAL and airfare). :confused:

[Tom O.]

Do you receive the same number of points using HAL vs independent purchase of airline tickets?

 

That is a good question. I cannot answer it because I have always booked my own airline reservations. But my best guess would be that any charge directly to HAL will earn double points. And that would include airline tickets.

However, only cruises are able to be redeemed at the better redemption rate.

So if you booked your flights through HAL you would earn double points, but if you chose to redeem points to par for the airline tickets, they would only be worth 1 cent per point. But if you used those same points to pay for your cruise, they could be worth up to 2 1/2 cents each (depending on the amount).

[Cruising-along]

I'm confused. :confused:

Right now I have 25,000 points. Before this change, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten $250 off my statement balance. Now a list pops up, as you said, showing my last final payment $3,220, some shore excursions and airfare. The best I can do now is $200 off my statement balance.

 

Am I seeing this correctly or missing something? It seems that now there's no reason to put everything on that charge card, only qualifying purchases (HAL and airfare). :confused:

 

Ok, I just talked to DH, the mathematician in the house. :D We're just under 25,000 points right now, so once we reach the full 25,000 more options should pop up, right? I'd rather get $250 off than $200. ;)

[Tom O.]

I'm confused. :confused:

Right now I have 25,000 points. Before this change, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten $250 off my statement balance. Now a list pops up, as you said, showing my last final payment $3,220, some shore excursions and airfare. The best I can do now is $200 off my statement balance.

 

Am I seeing this correctly or missing something? It seems that now there's no reason to put everything on that charge card, only qualifying purchases (HAL and airfare). :confused:

 

The problem is that you don't have enough points to pay for your final payment. You would need to have 161,000 points to pay for the final payment. In order to get a good return on your points is to have at least 100,000 points. However you have 6 months after your purchase from HAL to redeem points.

It is probably unlikely that you will manage to acquire 75,000 points in the next 6 months. So, probably it is best that you hold onto those points until your next cruise and maybe by that time you will have enough to be worthwhile.

The good news is that points now never expire, so you have more time to accumulate them.

[Cruising-along]

Thanks, got it now. [emoji1]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Tom O.]

Here is another way to look at it:

 

Redemptions of 5,000 to 49,999 points are worth 1 cent per point.

Redemptions of 50,000 to 119,999 points are worth 1 ¼ cents per point each.

Redemptions of 120,000 to 133,333 points are worth 1 ½ cents per point each.

Redemptions of 133,334 to 149,050 points are worth 2 cents per point each.

Redemptions of 149,051 and more are worth 2 ½ cents per point each.

 

The above rates only apply when they are used for actual cruises. Non-cruise redemptions are all at the rate of 1 cent per point, regardless of the size of the purchase.

So you see you actually need a 120,000 points or more to be worthwhile. And if you can get over 149,050 points you can do even better.

[qsuzi]

I spoke with Barclays HAL card Customer Service yesterday. Is the following information correct?

 

I was told you can only redeem your points for "Statement Credits" when you have a HAL cruise or any airfare purchase within the last 180 days. The amount credited to your account is based on your total points not Statement Credits. For example of you have 3,000 Statement Credits in the last 180 days and 30,000 points you will get a redemption of $300 for your 30,000 points. If you don't have any Statement Credits within the 180 days you can use your points at any time for things like Gift Cards and OBC but not as a statement credit.

[RBB]

I spoke with Barclays HAL card Customer Service yesterday. Is the following information correct?

 

I was told you can only redeem your points for "Statement Credits" when you have a HAL cruise or any airfare purchase within the last 180 days. The amount credited to your account is based on your total points not Statement Credits. For example of you have 3,000 Statement Credits in the last 180 days and 30,000 points you will get a redemption of $300 for your 30,000 points. If you don't have any Statement Credits within the 180 days you can use your points at any time for things like Gift Cards and OBC but not as a statement credit.

 

What are "Statement Credits"? Does that just mean the amount of money you have spent booking a HAL cruise?

[qsuzi]

What are "Statement Credits"? Does that just mean the amount of money you have spent booking a HAL cruise?

 

Purchases in the last 180 days for airfare and/or a HAL (or qualifying cruise) are what showed as "Statement Credits" on my account. Let's see what experience others have had that may be able to confirm this.

[Tom O.]

I spoke with Barclays HAL card Customer Service yesterday. Is the following information correct?

 

I was told you can only redeem your points for "Statement Credits" when you have a HAL cruise or any airfare purchase within the last 180 days. The amount credited to your account is based on your total points not Statement Credits. For example of you have 3,000 Statement Credits in the last 180 days and 30,000 points you will get a redemption of $300 for your 30,000 points. If you don't have any Statement Credits within the 180 days you can use your points at any time for things like Gift Cards and OBC but not as a statement credit.

 

That is partially correct. A statement credit is what Barclay's gives you to compensate you for your redemption. For example, I made a final payment on a cruise for $2700, I redeemed 135,000 points toward the qualifying purchase. The next day I received a statement credit for $2700, which worked out to be the same as if I had made an extra payment of $2700.You can receive a statement credit for any qualifying purchase done in the last 180 days. The only qualifier is that you have to have enough points to receive the credit.

[qsuzi]

That is partially correct. A statement credit is what Barclay's gives you to compensate you for your redemption. For example, I made a final payment on a cruise for $2700, I redeemed 135,000 points toward the qualifying purchase. The next day I received a statement credit for $2700, which worked out to be the same as if I had made an extra payment of $2700.You can receive a statement credit for any qualifying purchase done in the last 180 days. The only qualifier is that you have to have enough points to receive the credit.

Sorry to be obtuse on this. Please be specific what part of my summary you quoted is incorrect. I received $300 Statement Credit for 30,000 accumulated points (all purchases since card inception) even though only about 3,000 points were within the last 180 days. Customer Service said I could redeem some/all of the points for OBC, Gift Cards etc. if I did not have a qualifying purchase within the last 180 days.

Edited November 13, 2016 by qsuzi

[Tom O.]

I see what you were trying to say now, I just think you were using the terminology wrong.

When you said "For example of you have 3,000 Statement Credits in the last 180 days." This didn't make sense to me because in order to have 3,000 Statement Credits, the bank would have to credit your account 3,000 separate times. But I believe now, is that you were talking about a single statement credit for $3,000.

At any rate, yes you are correct, you can only get a $300 statement credit, if all you have is 30,000 points. This would be true, no matter how large the qualifying purchase is.

If you don't have any qualifying purchase, as you say in your case, you can still redeem points for on-board items. But when you do that, the points are only worth 1 cent per point, so again the most you would get is $300 for your 30,000 points.

What I would recommend, is to save your points until you have at least 120,000 so that they will be worth more. This is easier to do now, since points don't expire.

[qsuzi]

I see what you were trying to say now, I just think you were using the terminology wrong.

When you said "For example of you have 3,000 Statement Credits in the last 180 days." This didn't make sense to me because in order to have 3,000 Statement Credits, the bank would have to credit your account 3,000 separate times. But I believe now, is that you were talking about a single statement credit for $3,000.

At any rate, yes you are correct, you can only get a $300 statement credit, if all you have is 30,000 points. This would be true, no matter how large the qualifying purchase is.

If you don't have any qualifying purchase, as you say in your case, you can still redeem points for on-board items. But when you do that, the points are only worth 1 cent per point, so again the most you would get is $300 for your 30,000 points.

What I would recommend, is to save your points until you have at least 120,000 so that they will be worth more. This is easier to do now, since points don't expire.

Thanks for being patient with me and sorry I was not clear or it was confusing. I understand it now so thanks. I appreciate your feedback.