For those who have the Citi Prestige card, one of the card benefits is the $250 airline credit reimbursement. This is an annual, calendar based benefit.
Reminder: Airline Credit Reimbursement
With the end of of the year in sight, this is a reminder to use your credits before they expire. I wouldn’t wait until last days of the year, in case the purchase goes into pending for a few days.
I used a portion of airline credit to pay for luggage fees on Hawaiian Airlines earlier this year. In the past, I have also purchased Delta gift cards. You can use it on luggage fees, airline tickets, some upgrade fees, etc. For those who need some ideas on how to spend it, you can check out this helpful Flyertalk thread.
Potential Changes Coming to Citi Prestige Benefits?
Back in July of this year, Citi made some changes to the card benefits, including the removal of the golf benefit and removal of Admiral Club lounge access. The removal of the Admiral Club access is quite a loss for a premium travel card.
Just last week, I received a survey from a marketing company who was conducting a survey on behalf of Citibank. I filled out some questions and I “qualified” for the survey.
I don’t know if the survey questions are indicative of upcoming changes. Still, some areas stuck out at me.
Survey Questions
- There were a few questions about increasing or decreasing the airline credit. The comparison primarily involved whether a $300 airline credit is preferable to an additional $50 benefit towards car sharing services (if I remembered it right). Maybe Citi is looking to compete with Chase Sapphire Reserve card in this space? The Chase Reserves is a real competitor and it comes with a $300 “travel” credit — this is even less restrictive than Citi’s airline credits.
- There was a question about whether you would use the benefit more if they offer a 3rd night free benefit, instead of the 4th night free benefit. I see the 3rd night free as a more practical benefit, and it would incentivize me to keep the card.
- There were a number of comparisons involving the earn rate, and whether you want a higher earn rate on airline purchases vs dining. Not a dealbreaker, though my preference is a higher earn rate on dining.
In Summary
The Citi Prestige is a card that I review every year to determine if it’s worth keeping. It’s been a keeper for a couple of years now. Let’s see if it stays that way.
Interestingly, Citi also sent me an updated card with a more metal feel card to replace my existing one. I hope that the marketing arm of Citi does not think that the feel of the actual card has a significant bearing — at least it doesn’t for me. Ironically, I actually prefer my cards to be the standard plastic-like credit card, simply because they are lighter and less thick to carry around in the phone slot.
Hope you responded “YES” to 3rd night free. I’ve only used “4th night” once. Seems I keep booking 3 night stays, and can’t justify or even rationalize a 4th. Tell Citi 33% off sounds MUCH better than 25% off.
Absolutely! Frankly, I was pretty excited when I saw that question myself. Like you, I also find that I tend to book 3 night stays as well, so I’d much prefer a 3rd night free benefit. (Although the way they phrased the question, it almost made me think they were concerned about people using the 3rd night benefit more than the 4th night benefit (which would also be true). Still, if they offer a 3rd night free benefit, I think it’d make their card that much more valuable.
Thanks for reading and for your comment!