Barclays Breeze Airways Credit Card: New Launch with $500 Welcome Bonus; $89 Annual Fee

Barclays Breeze Airways Credit Card Overview

Benefits

• Bonus points on Breeze purchases: Earn 5x on Breeze Nicer Bundles, Nicest Bundles & Trip Add-ons; 2x on Breeze Nice Bundles; and 1x on Flex fares. The marketing is a bit misleading, because when you actually fly, you also earn 5x, 2x, or 1x based on the fare class you purchased.
• Priority boarding: Cardholders can board in Group 1. That is actually somewhat useful on an ultra-low-cost carrier, since it makes it easier to find overhead bin space.
• Free inflight Wi-Fi
• Spending bonuses: If you spend $10,000 in a cardmember year, you will receive 7,500 points (worth about $75) when the second year's annual fee is charged. If you spend $15,000 in a calendar year, you can earn one one-way upgrade voucher.
• No Foreign Transaction Fee (FTF)
• Free monthly FICO score: You can keep track of your credit score. See also: Comparison of Free Credit Scores

About Breeze Airways

Breeze Airways is a new low-cost carrier founded in 2021 and headquartered in Utah. Fares can be quite cheap, but note that the airline often uses smaller airports, so make sure you do not mix up the airport.

As a low-cost carrier, different fare types naturally come with different benefits. If you want checked baggage included, you will need to buy a more expensive fare tier.

Breeze points can be redeemed for airfare at a rate of 100 points = $1, which makes them fairly easy to use.

My Take

This card is mainly useful for people who already have a reason to fly Breeze and want to pick up the welcome bonus. Unless you fly the airline often, the $89 annual fee is a bit on the high side. Since this is a low-cost carrier, the points can only be used for yourself, which is a meaningful limitation.

Application

• This is a co-branded airline card. When applying, you can enter your Breeze Airways frequent flyer number; if you do not have one, one will be assigned automatically.

Barclays Application Guide

• Check Barclays credit card application status
• Barclays credit card applications generally pull TransUnion (TU), and HPs on the same day can be combined
• If you already have another Barclays card and your new application is not approved, there will usually be no hard pull
• You can call the reconsideration line (866-408-4064) to speed up credit card approval or request another review of a denied application. They may verify your identity and address, ask why you want the card, and review your employment and repayment situation, so be prepared. You may need to move credit limit from an existing card to get approved.
• More on applying for Barclays credit cards

Application Link