I stand by my post last week that “just” the removal of the AA club access from the Citi BANK Prestige card last week was just no big deal (for most of us). However, the MASSIVE destruction of the perks (HT to M2M) that is on the way as of July 27, 2017 changes things:
- End to AA bonus spend perk
- End to golf perk
- Changes to 4th night hotel free
- End to AA lounge perk (old news).
Clearly, as I have shown you, the 3 rounds of free golf per year cut is one that just guts me. This was a perk like no other card has ever offered that I can recall in my lifetime. This alone made the card a home run to hold year after year. Heck, had they even just offered 1 or two rounds free it would still be an amazing perk and offset most of the card fee. Removing it is all but a death blow for this card for me.
But there is some great news for those of you who were smart enough to get the card before the changes hit last week. First off, bank and credit rules are very specific. They have to honor what you signed up for (yet one more reason NEVER to call to get a new card but to always use a link and do screen shots of an offer). They also have to give you notice of changes. This is especially important when you have paid an annual fee for some card.
So time to extract max value before we dump it before the fee bills again next year. The good news is:
- 3x golf perk is per “calendar year” so we get it this year and again next
- $250 airline credit is also per “calendar year” so we get it this year and again next
This means, for me, I am getting $500 back in credits and well over $1,000 (more like ~$1,500) in golf perks all for the one time $450 fee. I also got 50,000 Thank You points that are worth at least $500 on top of that so worst case I got 2k in value for the card for one year. I will be sure to book my next year’s golf rounds and spend my yearly airline credit after 1JAN17 to make sure the credits are posted ASAP.
If you have not yet gone for Global Entry (or as I have shown you, renewed yours) what in the world are you waiting for? The card will pay you back the $100 so do that before the second year fee bills to get that perk as well that includes TSA PreCheck for that one price.
Also understand that w/in days (if not hours) of your canceling the card your Priority Pass membership with 2 guest privilege will go away. This is ONLY active while you are a card member so hold off canceling as long as you can to keep this perk alive.
Lastly, and a DUHHHHH bit of info, be sure to transfer out or cash out in some way all your TY points before you close the card. You earned them so spend them in full.
So is there ANY reason to keep the card anymore? For me, I have better choices now for this high of an annual fee. I already pay $450 for my Delta AMEX Reserve card each year but I really value that and the perks I get plus bonus points. I also pay $450 a year for my non-Delta AMEX Platinum business card and will keep paying that year after year as long as they don’t change the perks with that card. I would have kept paying forever the Citi Prestige card fee if they had just kept the golf perk, but now no more. I will be dumping the card. I do value booking flights with the card due to the fact that delay perks kick in after just 3 hours but I have other cards that are pegged at 6 hours and that works for me under most circumstances.
You tell me – will you dump the Citi Prestige card before the next year’s annual fee hits? – René
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Can you explain how, or give me a link that tells me how to use the card to renew my Global Entry, even if the original time period is not up? Thanks.
@Larry – You can renew up to 1 year before it is up:
.http://renespoints.boardingarea.com/2016/06/23/hard-simple-global-entry-tsa-pre%e2%9c%93-re-new-process-just-long-take/
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Or you can pay for someone else:
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http://renespoints.boardingarea.com/2016/04/05/why-not-pay-for-your-siblings-friends-global-entry-fee-and-get-paid-for-earning-points-yep-i-did-that-too/
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Key point is use the perk before you dump!
This was a perfect example of a card that was not sustainable but Citi took the hit to get as many people as they could to sign in. Once they had enough people with the card they just decided to dump most of it perks. However, it may still be a great card if you have a use for it. I am included on thr group that was not affected by thr changes and I extract way more value from this card than what I pay for it. Here is how:
– I don’t play golf
– I don’t care for Admirals Club access (I am a Delta hostage and if I fly AA I will have access to Amex or Priority Pass lounges which are way better than AA lounges in my opinion)
– I don’t fly AA
– It cost me $450 per year but I get $250 back by making an airline purchase which I do anyway. Thus, the card costs me $200 per year
– I get Priority Pass for my family of four. Yes, people say you can only bring two people but I’ve used the Priority Pass that came with my Citi Prestige in at least 8 different Priority Pass lounges this year and me, my wife and 2 kids were admitted under my membership with no extra cost. I even called PP which confirmed I could take my family for no extra charge
– Now the 4th night benefit: I used twice this year and I saved $2,000. Yes, I booked expensive hotels which with taxes included were that expensive. Even if they do an average price of the 4 nights I know I can get at least the $200 I pay for this card back.
Thus, unless they eliminate even more benefits this card is a keeper for me.
Dumping it. Flying a couple AA flights in November that j picked up on TY points them I’m out. I’ll miss my upside down and backwards card but it’s simply not worth it to me. Sad to see them give up on a flagship non airline card. Had high hopes for this one.
We’ll keep it. We travel a lot, and the 4th night free benefit saves us thousands.
I’m definitely keeping it. Only paying $350 a year. The airline credit makes it an effective $100 a year fee. During the Hyatt promotion, I had two stays where I able to use the fourth night free to pick up credit for Hyatt nights – one was a situation where 4 nights, after the credit, was cheaper than the 2 I actually needed. A couple of priority pass uses a year and the 3x for hotels and airlines and it’s worth the fee to me. With the access more card, I’m starting to see a nice increase in TY points. In fact, I’m kind of happy it was just the golf benefit that got decimated. The 4th night free change sucks for the isolated incidents where you could extract max value, but I’ll still get plenty of “normal” use out of it.
Can you lay out side by side reasons for keeping these two cards
Delta AMEX Reserve and AMEX Platinum business
@Shami – Happy to work up a point by point post of value
Keeping one, probably cancel the other. We both pay $350 annual fee, so the effective rate was $100 a year, which made sense as long as we were getting AA lounge access and AA tickets for 1.6 cents. I will still keep one for me (or my wife) and get City National Crystal for the Priority Pass.
Any thoughts on how much you value the superior travel insurance that Prestige offers compared with Amex Platinum or Delta Reserve?
Also, any thoughts on which airline/hotel you will be transferring the points to?
@jediwho – I see you have City National like me. It will be my goto booking card for cars and airline tickets
Dumping it next year. The golf benefit and AA lounge benefit were the two reasons we held onto the card.
How do you get the $350 annual fee? Would still like to keep it. Thanks!
@Jhona – Some with Citi branches have a lower priced card I have been told.