Does the Barclays Travel Plus Pack make sense for Barclays current account holders?
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This is our review of the Barclays Travel Plus Pack, offered as an optional paid extra to Barclays current account holders.
If you have your bank current account with Barclays, you may be interested in taking a look at the Barclays Travel Plus Pack add-on.
In general, buying an ‘add-on’ pack to your current account from your bank is a waste of money. The services you get will usually not outweigh the cost.
This one, however, is a bit different if you are a regular traveller.
What does the Barclays Travel Plus Pack include?
Full details of the Travel Plus Pack are here.
Travel Plus Pack costs you £18 per month.
In summary, you get:
Worldwide family travel insurance
RAC comprehensive breakdown cover in the UK and Europe
Airport lounge access
I am normally sceptical about ‘free’ travel insurance offers since the cover is often poor and can land you in trouble if you rely on it and have major problems. Barclays claims that the travel insurance in the Travel Plus Pack has been awarded a 5-star rating by Defaqto, however, so it may well be all you need. Feedback from readers confirms that the insurance is good and does cover many pre-existing conditions. This is very rare with ‘free’ policies.
Note that each account holder and their domestic partner must be under 80 years old and the partner must live with the account holder. All trips must start and end in the UK and last no longer than 31 days.
A series of changes in early 2019 also improved the other parts of the package:
The car breakdown now covers cars of any age (the previous age limit was 11 years) and the ‘five call-outs per year’ cap was lifted
The airport lounge benefit increased from 800 lounges to 1,000, due to natural growth in the access offered by its partner DragonPass
Is the Barclays Travel Plus Pack good value?
To get maximum value, it makes sense to just sign up for six months, covering your main annual travel period. You would be paying £108 (£18 x 6) for six airport lounge passes and comprehensive travel insurance. You could then cancel and reapply the following year.
As an airport lounge visit can be valued at £15-£20 (you can rarely buy access for less, and £20 is the ‘additional guest fee’ for American Express Platinum and Preferred Rewards Gold card holders), the travel insurance and RAC membership are effectively free.
Or, put another way, if you usually pay £100 for family travel insurance then the airport lounge passes are free.
If you already have a Barclays current account, you should think about whether the Travel Plus Pack would work for you. Full details are here.
I wouldn’t necessarily want to keep it all year, however. The annual cost is (£18 x 12) £216. This compares poorly with an American Express Platinum charge card which has a £575 fee but comes with unlimited airport lounge access for two people, travel insurance, Eurostar lounge access, Hilton / Marriott / Radisson / Shangri-La / Melia hotel status and 30,000 Avios or other miles for signing up.
My full review of Amex Platinum is here.
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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update
If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.
In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Earning miles and points from small business cards
If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:
American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
