Citi Prestige-Debating on my next app

T

TravMomof2

Silver Member
Curious to hear some thoughts on the Citi Prestige. I've noticed more push for it on the blogs. I'm sure there's an increase in commissions or something but I'm actually intrigued by the benefits, especially the 4th night free, $250 reimbursement and the other reimbursements.

I mainly fly UA but will probably eventually start to mix in AA (once I start acquiring MR and AA points). I have the CSP, Ink and SPG so far. Ive been double dipping with my husband applying for the same card as me but we'll start to part ways (apps wise) as we move forward. We fly a family of 4 so we have to be careful in our planning (I plan way ahead).

Anyway, I'm looking at the Prestige also to start building TYP. Any thoughts on this card? Do you have it? Do you love/feel indifferent about it? Have you found value in the 4th night benefit?

I'm also trying to patiently wait to see if I'll be targeted for an increased bonus offer since I don't have a Citi card.
 
D

DanT

Level 2 Member
I have the card and it's been great so far. I fly AA domestically a good bit so the the extra boost in value of the points to 1.6 cents from 1.25 for premier and 1.00 for the preferred card is very nice. The category bonuses are decent and better than the CSP. I have used the 4th night benefit only once but it worked as advertised. It took about 6 weeks to get reimbursed. I would say the main thing would be to do some leg work and make sure you know what the best rates for the hotel you are looking at because you cant count on them to come up with the best rates. It's really handled by mastercard travel services so you can sometimes combine it with some promos like free breakfast or hotel credit which is what I am getting for a couple of stays next year.

The $250 travel credit is the most flexible I have seen. It works for airfare even.

I hear you can get the AF knocked down to $350 if you apply in branch. You may want to do some research on that option. Also, after you get the card you probably will get targeted for a Citigold account at some point. If you do definitely look into it because that can be a whole another little pot of gold. I know people have applied that were not targeted but there has been a few reports of people who were not targeted being denied the bonus.

Citi has also added some transfer partners but I have not taken advantage of them yet but they have some decent options now which is part of the reason why so many bloggers got excited about the card(and yes probably commissions). Maybe one day Citi will get around to adding American as a transfer partner which is the one negative of the card. It has some other benefits I havent used like free rounds of golf.
 
Debrae0322

Debrae0322

Level 2 Member
This is the next card on my horizon. It seems like every time I look at airfare, American is the way to go, so I'd like that 1.6 rate. I already have the Premier, and I like the categories like 3% travel and 2% entertainment. I think they have a good transfer policy, so since the premier is in my husband's account, I'll apply for the Prestige early next year. The bonus for the Premier was earmarked for a quick trip to the Bay Area, but the bonus took too long to post and I found $49 fares in the mean time!
 
T

TravMomof2

Silver Member
Yeh it sounds like a really good card. I'm really trying to hold out for an increased bonus (more than 50K). Usually my husband and I double team the card apps but since I need him to get the UA card in Jan he won't be getting the Prestige too (we move slower than many on the apps because we've refinanced our home, bought a car (financed a car) so I don't want too much new activity on either of our credit reports). I feel like 50K TYP isn't enough to get going so I'm hoping for a targeted (or public, no matter) increased bonus. We'll see.

My husband thinks I've gone mad because I now check all junk mail looking for those snail mail offers!:oops:
 
T

TravMomof2

Silver Member
I know, that's what I'm dreaming of, the 100K offer! Since it was floating around at the beginning of last year I'm hoping it'll come back around at the beginning of 2016.

Ugh, I just looked and it was April when that offer was out. I don't want to wait that long. Darn.

I've used that link before and wasn't targeted for anything good.
 
R

raenye

Lever 2 Membel
TravMomof2 said:
I know, that's what I'm dreaming of, the 100K offer! Since it was floating around at the beginning of last year I'm hoping it'll come back around at the beginning of 2016.

Ugh, I just looked and it was April when that offer was out. I don't want to wait that long. Darn.

I've used that link before and wasn't targeted for anything good.
Click to expand...
I'd go for the Premier before the Prestige.
Its bonus categories are better, the AF is lower (and waived 1st year) and you'd want to build up a healthy TYP balance before you get the Prestige. You can freely transfer TYP so get one for both of you.
When the Preferred card hits a 30k bonus I'd go for it too.
 
T

TravMomof2

Silver Member
raenye said:
I'd go for the Premier before the Prestige.
Its bonus categories are better, the AF is lower (and waived 1st year) and you'd want to build up a healthy TYP balance before you get the Prestige. You can freely transfer TYP so get one for both of you.
When the Preferred card hits a 30k bonus I'd go for it too.
Click to expand...

You don't get the 4th night free with the Preferred, correct? I do plan on getting the Preferred eventually too for the additional points but I'm really after that 4th night free benefit (along with the 50K TYP).
 
Beltway Explorers

Beltway Explorers

Level 2 Member
I haven't been able to use the fourth night free benefit since we typically do three night trips or stay on points. That said, the airline reimbursement has been fantastic. It credits once your statement has closed and I've used it to pay for a mix of flights as well as taxes and fees for award flights on Southwest, United, and American. It's great not being locked into one airline. I also used it to get my daughter's global entry covered; if your family doesn't all have that yet, it's great to start with at least one parent for pre-check since children under 12 can join you in the line as well.

The TYP booking for AA have been fantastic. You can also combine cash with points if you don't want to burn them all or are running low, like with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I've seamlessly transferred points to my Prestige account from my husband's Premier card and my mom's no annual fee Preferred card. They only take a few minutes to post. Sometimes the airline booking engine sorts flights in weird ways so I have trouble finding what I've seen on Google Flights, but after doing some digging or changing my search I was always able to book the same flight at the same price as the airline itself.
 
D

DanT

Level 2 Member
Only the Prestige card gives you the 4th night free benefit. One small downside to transferring points between accounts is that the transferred points have to be used within 90 days so don't do it unless you plan on redeeming them right away.

I have all 3 cards attm. I have the preferred from the time when they gave you 5x points for 12 months then CVS and Citi took my milk and cookies away! Raenye does have a point about the premier card having a good category bonus in the form of 3x on gas at least if you do MS but if you call Citi you may be able to be get a retention bonus. Some people have gotten some really good ones but you have to do a little arm twisting.
 
T

TravMomof2

Silver Member
Beltway Explorers said:
I haven't been able to use the fourth night free benefit since we typically do three night trips or stay on points. That said, the airline reimbursement has been fantastic. It credits once your statement has closed and I've used it to pay for a mix of flights as well as taxes and fees for award flights on Southwest, United, and American. It's great not being locked into one airline. I also used it to get my daughter's global entry covered; if your family doesn't all have that yet, it's great to start with at least one parent for pre-check since children under 12 can join you in the line as well.

The TYP booking for AA have been fantastic. You can also combine cash with points if you don't want to burn them all or are running low, like with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I've seamlessly transferred points to my Prestige account from my husband's Premier card and my mom's no annual fee Preferred card. They only take a few minutes to post. Sometimes the airline booking engine sorts flights in weird ways so I have trouble finding what I've seen on Google Flights, but after doing some digging or changing my search I was always able to book the same flight at the same price as the airline itself.
Click to expand...

I didn't know you could do cash + points for flights. How did I miss that?! I thought that was only for hotels. Do you have to book through the Chase or Citi travel portal to get that option? Not that it matters, that's great if it's an option! I'll check that out right now. Thanks!
 
Burgertm

Burgertm

Level 2 Member
Do you golf? If so, that benefit will pay for the AF by itself if you want to play some nice courses. I've used it on courses that are normally $150-$200/round, but there are some like Chambers Bay (where they played the US Open last year) that are much higher priced.
 
T

TravMomof2

Silver Member
Burgertm said:
Do you golf? If so, that benefit will pay for the AF by itself if you want to play some nice courses. I've used it on courses that are normally $150-$200/round, but there are some like Chambers Bay (where they played the US Open last year) that are much higher priced.
Click to expand...

I don't golf but I am rethinking my strategy here. I'm thinking I should get the Premiere first, get the 50K TYP then later, if I can get my hands on the 100K TYP, get the Prestige. If not, get it anyway at another 50K TYP.
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
The Premier was 60K earlier this fall for a few hours really. 50K as a bonus for Premier and Prestige is actually high for both. They used to be split, getting some of the points now and some at annual fee time. I would ballpark it that getting 100K would be a unicorn and would not hold my breath hoping it would happen again. Indeed 100K bonuses for any card come up rarely enough that you can almost count them on one hand.
 
T

TravMomof2

Silver Member
smittytabb said:
The Premier was 60K earlier this fall for a few hours really. 50K as a bonus for Premier and Prestige is actually high for both. They used to be split, getting some of the points now and some at annual fee time. I would ballpark it that getting 100K would be a unicorn and would not hold my breath hoping it would happen again. Indeed 100K bonuses for any card come up rarely enough that you can almost count them on one hand.
Click to expand...
In my right mind I realize that (unicorn).
 
Beltway Explorers

Beltway Explorers

Level 2 Member
TravMomof2 said:
I didn't know you could do cash + points for flights. How did I miss that?! I thought that was only for hotels. Do you have to book through the Chase or Citi travel portal to get that option? Not that it matters, that's great if it's an option! I'll check that out right now. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Yes, you have to book through their travel agency and can manually adjust the number of points that you apply. If you're low on points it will automatically add the cash difference.
 
patonpoints

patonpoints

New Member
Currently debating on the Citi Prestige for my next "benefits & perks" card as well. I held the Ameriprise Plat card last year and the Centurion Lounge + Elite Status at hotels and rental cars were well worth it. I'm wondering if I apply early December, I would be able to quality for the $250 airline reimbursement three times (Dec 2015, 2016, Jan 2017) before the annual fee hits as most fees usually hit in the beginning of the 13th month's cycle?
 
D

DanT

Level 2 Member
My understanding of the airline credit is that it is based on the billing cycle not the calendar year so to get credit this year the charge must occur in a billing cycle that ends before 12-31-15.
 
Last edited:
I

Intertraffic

Level 2 Member
Citi once changed my statement closing date on my aa elite card. He also mentioned something about needing to request the change 3-5 days before close. I can't remember exactly, it's been about a year. But that would solve the statement closing date and triple dipping the $250 credit.
 
D

DanT

Level 2 Member
If he changes his billing cycle then I would assume that would assure his af would be charged in dec 2016. However you have 30 days to cancel and get a full refund of the af and in the past citi has prorated the af for me.
 
italdesign

italdesign

Level 2 Member
Quick question. I would like to buy a $250 UA GC as the travel credit. I believe it should be automatically reimbursed, but let me know if it wouldn't qualify for any reason.
 
T

TravMomof2

Silver Member
Just a follow-up.... I went with the citi premier for now (approved last night). I figured I'd get the 50K points then in a few months I'll get the citi prestige for another 50K. At that time I'll have my husband get the premier for an additional 50K points.

I went with the premier now because of the AF. I figured it's best to get the prestige later in the year (maybe even end of March) so I can get the travel credit twice. Plus I won't need the 4th night free until December so, no rush.

We're using these points solely for domestic travel on AA (although UA is my primary). I have a family of 4 so paying for fall, winter, spring break domestic trips etc. works for me.
I save my UR points for the international trips.
 
I

Intertraffic

Level 2 Member
Some notes on the golf benefit.

The blogs say you can't book more than one round at a time: Not completely true. On December 31 I booked a round for both Jan 3 and Jan 6. Bones, these rounds counted for my 2015 benefit and I've already received 3 more vouchers for 2016.

Blogs say you can't book for others: Technically true, but I've booked rounds for my Dad using my wife's card 3 times now with no issues. Just give the course the name of the cardholder. In all my years of golf I've never been questioned and certainly never ID'd to see if names match.

Bonus: most courses will let you call in and change your tee times to a different date. They don't care, they already have your (citis) money. I've done this twice.

In 2015 I booked a $230 round at TPC Scottsdale that included a forecaddy, a $185 round at We-Ko-Pa a top 5 course in AZ, and a $195 round at Sunridge Canyon- another top 5 course. $600+ in golf on my card and another 600+ on my wife's card. The real winner here was my father who got all my wife's rounds for free
 
E

ewwiccc

New Member
italdesign said:
Quick question. I would like to buy a $250 UA GC as the travel credit. I believe it should be automatically reimbursed, but let me know if it wouldn't qualify for any reason.
Click to expand...
Did this with UA earlier this year and it posted just fine after the statement closed.
 
GA400

GA400

Level 2 Member
I will be canceling my Amex Platinum card due to the fact that I am getting more value out of the Prestige card. Since getting the Prestige last year (I already had the Premier), I have found that I use either the AA lounges or the Priority Pass lounges more often than any other type of lounge when I travel, and I need a place with wifi and a reasonably quiet zone for business conversations. They literally seem to have something everywhere I have been, domestic and overseas. On the other hand, the Centurion lounges that come with the Platinum Amex are certainly very nice, they just aren't on the routes I commonly fly. Buying AA flights with 1.6 cents per TYP is a great deal and I have done it twice already and plan to do it at least 2 0r 3 times this year. I have the legacy Forward card so I bank 5 points per dollar with dining and Amazon shopping. Another consideration for me is that the Delta SkyClub benefit is not something I will use in the future. I am flying less and less on Delta due to their prices being more expensive almost every time I have booked business travel over the last year. One benefit we did use on the Platinum was their roadside assistance (we drive high mileage older cars and canceled our auto insurance roadside assistance in lieu of the Amex premium roadside assistance which was better and cheaper). We will instead use the Amex PRG for that, it comes with free authorized users so all 4 of us with PRG is $95 net = $195/year (free authorized users) less the $100 reimbursement versus $425 net = $625/year for the Platinum (450+175 for three authorized users) less $200 reimbursement. I bank Amex MR points with my company travel card so I need a consumer MR card of some sort to put them on.
 
B

Benqzh

Level 2 Member
Add one more thing, if you want to use TYP to book flights, always search with ITA first. You may call the 800, if you can't find the flights from website.
 
P

PghRocks

New Member
ewwiccc said:
Did this with UA earlier this year and it posted just fine after the statement closed.
Click to expand...
I did it with Southwest and it worked, I tried a little one $10 first and it was reimbursed so then I did another to max out the benefit and it was reimbursed as well

For my wife's Prestige we actually bought flights, but then the flights got cancelled (a low cost Aussie airline) and we're supposed to get a refund, but the Prestige is closed, not sure if we'll get a cash refund or if the refund will de-trigger the airline credit, waiting to find out
 
Miles Hustler

Miles Hustler

New Member
patonpoints said:
Currently debating on the Citi Prestige for my next "benefits & perks" card as well. I held the Ameriprise Plat card last year and the Centurion Lounge + Elite Status at hotels and rental cars were well worth it. I'm wondering if I apply early December, I would be able to quality for the $250 airline reimbursement three times (Dec 2015, 2016, Jan 2017) before the annual fee hits as most fees usually hit in the beginning of the 13th month's cycle?
Click to expand...
Worth a shot.
 
Miles Hustler

Miles Hustler

New Member
There a LOTS of benefits to this card (many of which have already been mentioned), and I've gotten to us quite a few--minus the golf. Got it when they still had a companion ticket available. The perk I get the biggest usage out of is the discount on booking travel. Even with Citi slight mark-up, the 1.6 rate (40% off?) when booking American/US Air (& any partners bookable as American) is pretty hard to beat; and the discount for other airlines is on par with the URs of the redemption world.

It's worth adding to the wallet, even if its just to get the global entry, $250 credit, and just one use of the 4th free hotel night, and call to cancel to either get a retention offer, a pro-rated credit of your used up fee, or downgrade to the fee-free TU Preferred.
 
Craig

Craig

Level 2 Member
The Prestige is tied with my Ink+ for most valuable card in my wallet for the following reasons:
  • the retention offers are unbelievable - 5x points at grocery and drug stores? OK!
  • the points are extremely valuable regardless of whether you transfer them or use them for AA (or any other airline at 1.33 cpp)
  • Priority pass - not the greatest lounges, but certainly better than sitting in the terminal (and it gets me into the Alaska boardroom in Seattle)
  • $250 annual airline credit is free airfare; not free things I wouldn't otherwise buy (upgrades, checked luggage, etc.)
  • Prestige CSR are a pleasure to deal with
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top