Many of us are now carrying the Citi Executive® / AAdvantage® World Elite™ MasterCard® thanks to the 100,000 mile promotion earlier this year. Interest in this card perked up a bit when Amex Platinum card members lost access to the Admirals Club and US Airways Club lounges following the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. According to an email I received from Citi this morning, effective November 23, 2014, Cit Executive Card members will receive new or improved coverage in a number of areas including:
- trip delay protection,
- baggage delay protection,
- medical evacuation coverage,
- worldwide car rental coverage (still secondary),
- trip cancellation/interruption protection,
- return protection,
- missed event ticket protection (ironically being deleted from Amex Platinum coverage in December), and
- damage & theft purchase protection.
These are all travel-related areas that the Amex Platinum Card is known for, and they do represent improvements in the Citi Executive card. However, you’ll notice that things like reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fees, a $200 airline fee reimbursement, Cruise Privileges, etc. are missing. Of course, there’s also access to the American Express Centurion Lounges.
It’s good to see Citi upping the benefits of the Citi Executive card. In my opinion, the card is as good of a way as any to access the Admirals Club, and it offers respectable benefits and protections for travelers. However, the Amex Platinum Card offers most of the same traveler protections, reimbursement for known traveler options, and access to the best domestic US airport lounges. For these reasons and more, the Platinum Card is still the one for this traveler, but the best card for you will depend on your personal situation.
-MJ, September 15, 2015
I could not make Citi Prestige work for me, and finally cancelled it last week. For the first several months, glitches prevented me from registering this card for online payment. I was in direct contact with their IT people and with a few apathetic customer service representatives, and the issue was never properly resolved. At this day and age, if you are a frequent traveler you need to control and pay your bills from the road, and not depend on paper statements being delivered in the mail. The limit was also not adequate – one international business class ticket often… Read more »
[…] Citi Executive card Steps Things Up vs. American Express […]
I was very intrigued at the travel delay insurance. Looking at it, it seems you can get $500 in expenses reimbursed if there’s more than a 3 hour delay on your flight. Seems like an easy way to get a free meal or something else for even a moderate delay.
The thing I don’t like about the Citi Executive card is the spending requirement. I don’t do MS, and spending $5K in 3 months is way over my budget. I suppose I could buy around 20K miles or so, just so I don’t feel like I’m starting from nothing, but that would be on top of the $450 annual fee.
The spend can be a heavy lift for many, Brian.
Citi Prestige doesn’t get much coverage. Good point.
The Citi Executive card offers some benefits that the Amex card does not, such as travel cancellation insurance.
Also, if you want an annual airline reimbursement, TSA precheck, and Admirals club access (when flying AA), there’s always the Citi Prestige card.