The Citi Prestige is looking a lot more prestigious these days

The Citi Prestige has been an also-ran for its entire existence–the poor man’s Amex Platinum. But with recent changes, it’s looking a lot better now. It’s certainly not a must-have, but the $450 annual fee is more justifiable than it used to be.

There have been two big announcements about the card recently. First, Prestige cardholders now have American Airlines Admiral’s Club access. (And of course Amex Platinum cardholders no longer do, but for some reason many people think it’s still a really good card because Centurion Lounge.) Can you take others with you? Yes:

The primary cardmember may bring as guest(s) either immediate family (spouse, domestic partner and/or children under 18 years of age) or up to two traveling guests. This benefit does not provide access privileges to US Airways clubs^®, Arrivals Lounge, or Flagship^® Lounge facilities, or other airline lounges or clubs with which American Airlines may have reciprocal lounge or club access privileges, including lounges operated by oneworld Alliance.

So can take friends and family with you, but you can’t get into USAir lounges, which makes it not as good in that regard as the Citi Executive AAdvantage.

The second change is the more favorable redemption rate of ThankYou Points for certain flights. At long last, after years of devaluing ThankYou Points, Citi has increased their value. Prestige cardholders can now redeem their TYPs at the rate of 1 TYP = 1.6 cents when you redeem them for AA or USAir flights. Which means that if you fly either of those airlines a lot, the Prestige is a 1.6% card (with a really big annual fee). You also effectively get 3.2% back on dining, though that’s not huge unless you know a restaurant that sells Visa gift cards.

BUT… if you happen to be sitting on a pile of TYPs and you’re interested in redeeming them on either of those two airlines, Citi has just given you a 60% bonus if you’re interested. Turns out that 5% G/G/D card you had was actually an 8% card. Who knew?

This card also has that weird flight points program which I’m not too familiar with, so I’m just going to quote a FWF poster named esoterica:

Flight Points are converted to TYPs at a maximum 1:1 ratio with TYPs earned from purchases. In other words, if you make a $600 airfare purchase with the card, say, NYC-LAX RT, you get 600 TYPs from the purchase, AND 4890 Flight Points (on top of whatever miles you earn with your airline), with 600 Flight Points automatically converted to TYPs and the rest banked until you earn an equivalent number of TYPs through purchasing (i.e. you would have to spend an extra $4290 on purchases at 1 TYP/$ to be able to use all the Flight Points from the above flight). Incredibly convoluted program, but potentially very lucrative: if you purchase a lot of tickets with your card (they don’t even have to be for yourself), this card can effectively be a 3.2/6.4% (dining) card.

Got that? So if you fly a lot on American, this card is looking very valuable.

In addition to all of the above, you get $200 in statement credits each year plus a 30,000-point TYP bonus, plus a one-time $100 Global Entry reimbursement. (You don’t get access to the Amex Centurion Lounge, though.)

And then there’s this:

Receive a complimentary economy-class companion ticket to any worldwide destination booked through our travel benefits provider every year you are a Citi Prestige cardmember.

And this:

Enjoy a complimentary night at your choice of over 800 luxury hotels and resorts twice per calendar year with a minimum 3 consecutive night stay at any World Elite Luxury Hotel and Resort. Properties include W, Swissotel, Hyatt, Taj and Shangri–La hotels, and more.

This card won’t be great for too many people (if it were, it probably wouldn’t be called the Prestige), but I imagine a small number of folks could put it to good use.