Last edit by: mia
It appears this benefit will end in October 2014. See THIS thread.
Please verify that you are posting in the correct thread.
This thread discusses a 15% Discount benefit provided to Citi Premier and Prestige cardholders.
There is also a Companion Ticket benefit, which is discussed in a separate thread:
Citi Premier & Prestige TY card companion ticket
Please verify that you are posting in the correct thread.
This thread discusses a 15% Discount benefit provided to Citi Premier and Prestige cardholders.
There is also a Companion Ticket benefit, which is discussed in a separate thread:
Citi Premier & Prestige TY card companion ticket
New Citi Premier & Prestige 15% Off Travel when booked through Spirit Incentives
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,291
New Citi Premier & Prestige 15% Off Travel when booked through Spirit Incentives
As a data point on the 15% off airfare for the recently converted Citi Premier card, I wanted to book an open-jaw from IAD-CDG outbound and TXL-IAD return. The cheapest fare I found on my own was via Continental (UA outbound and BMI/UA on the return through LHR) for $1345.
I called and was told all the flights have to be operated by the same carrier (not codeshared). The CSR gave me the flight best flight options available to her (it was on LH, not a bad routing but not quite as good as I did on my own. After the 15% discount (and plus taxes), the fare was $1405. On LH's website, the same routing was $1545.84. So, probably since the 15% only comes off the base fare, it may actually be a real 15% discount.
So, seems like as long as you can get a flight on the same carrier, this may be a pretty good benefit! I was afraid it would be something like 15% off full fare.
Anyone else have any data points on this?
I called and was told all the flights have to be operated by the same carrier (not codeshared). The CSR gave me the flight best flight options available to her (it was on LH, not a bad routing but not quite as good as I did on my own. After the 15% discount (and plus taxes), the fare was $1405. On LH's website, the same routing was $1545.84. So, probably since the 15% only comes off the base fare, it may actually be a real 15% discount.
So, seems like as long as you can get a flight on the same carrier, this may be a pretty good benefit! I was afraid it would be something like 15% off full fare.
Anyone else have any data points on this?
#2
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Tampa, FL
Programs: AAMM & PLT; UA Gold, DL Silver, Marriott LT Titanium Elite, Hilton Diamond, Hertz #1 Gold Club
Posts: 1,591
As a data point on the 15% off airfare for the recently converted Citi Premier card, I wanted to book an open-jaw from IAD-CDG outbound and TXL-IAD return. The cheapest fare I found on my own was via Continental (UA outbound and BMI/UA on the return through LHR) for $1345.
I called and was told all the flights have to be operated by the same carrier (not codeshared). The CSR gave me the flight best flight options available to her (it was on LH, not a bad routing but not quite as good as I did on my own. After the 15% discount (and plus taxes), the fare was $1405. On LH's website, the same routing was $1545.84. So, probably since the 15% only comes off the base fare, it may actually be a real 15% discount.
So, seems like as long as you can get a flight on the same carrier, this may be a pretty good benefit! I was afraid it would be something like 15% off full fare.
Anyone else have any data points on this?
I called and was told all the flights have to be operated by the same carrier (not codeshared). The CSR gave me the flight best flight options available to her (it was on LH, not a bad routing but not quite as good as I did on my own. After the 15% discount (and plus taxes), the fare was $1405. On LH's website, the same routing was $1545.84. So, probably since the 15% only comes off the base fare, it may actually be a real 15% discount.
So, seems like as long as you can get a flight on the same carrier, this may be a pretty good benefit! I was afraid it would be something like 15% off full fare.
Anyone else have any data points on this?
#7
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: SEA
Programs: HH Gold, SPG Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 354
One thing I can't remember asking about when I called them was whether the cardholder had to be one of the people traveling on the ticket, or if you could buy a ticket at 15% off for a family member or a friend when you're not traveling with them. Does anyone know whether this constraint exists?
#8
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: East Coast
Programs: All major Airlines, Hotel Chains, Credit Cards and Car Rentals
Posts: 1,261
One thing I can't remember asking about when I called them was whether the cardholder had to be one of the people traveling on the ticket, or if you could buy a ticket at 15% off for a family member or a friend when you're not traveling with them. Does anyone know whether this constraint exists?
#9
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Tampa, FL
Programs: AAMM & PLT; UA Gold, DL Silver, Marriott LT Titanium Elite, Hilton Diamond, Hertz #1 Gold Club
Posts: 1,591
I assume you can buy more than 4 tickets; however, discount limited to 4?
#10
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: East Coast
Programs: All major Airlines, Hotel Chains, Credit Cards and Car Rentals
Posts: 1,261
#11
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chicago
Programs: Mileage Plus, Rapid Rewards
Posts: 949
I've called to check on using this benefit, and have found it to be almost worthless.
I was trying to book a weekend trip CMH-ORD and they would only allow me to select from pre-10 AM returns on Sunday--and I could ONLY fly AA. There are probably some limited situations where this would be a valuable benefit but overall I found the benefit to verge on being a "scam"--really no different form the supposed "free companion" ticket, which charged more than 150% of a single ticket for two tickets under the companion ticket program--not as bad as the 15% discount but equally as misleading. In Citi's defense, they do include 3 pages of small print about both of these "benefits."
I can't think of anything that could even begin to justify a $125 annual fee on this card, much less the additional $50 fee for additional cards. They want to be like Amex Platinum and charge for adding additional card members while adding exactly zero incremental value. With Amex, additional card members get lounge access, which has a very real cost involved. Adding additional card members to this account affords zero additional benefits and costs Citi almost nothing. If anything, THEY would benefit from card members charging more purchases on their card accounts.
What a joke!
I was trying to book a weekend trip CMH-ORD and they would only allow me to select from pre-10 AM returns on Sunday--and I could ONLY fly AA. There are probably some limited situations where this would be a valuable benefit but overall I found the benefit to verge on being a "scam"--really no different form the supposed "free companion" ticket, which charged more than 150% of a single ticket for two tickets under the companion ticket program--not as bad as the 15% discount but equally as misleading. In Citi's defense, they do include 3 pages of small print about both of these "benefits."
I can't think of anything that could even begin to justify a $125 annual fee on this card, much less the additional $50 fee for additional cards. They want to be like Amex Platinum and charge for adding additional card members while adding exactly zero incremental value. With Amex, additional card members get lounge access, which has a very real cost involved. Adding additional card members to this account affords zero additional benefits and costs Citi almost nothing. If anything, THEY would benefit from card members charging more purchases on their card accounts.
What a joke!
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,291
Can you give us prices for what they were offering? How much was the difference between the cheapest fare and what Spirit gave you?
Last edited by mia; Mar 14, 2011 at 3:18 pm Reason: Excessive quotation
#13
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chicago
Programs: Mileage Plus, Rapid Rewards
Posts: 949
So there is a very real discount IF you are okay with the VERY limited times/airline(s) that they have available.
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,291
#15
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chicago
Programs: Mileage Plus, Rapid Rewards
Posts: 949
More than anything I was frustrated but the extremely limited flight availability (i.e. no post 10 AM departures for the outbound OR return available). It didn't help that the--very kind/friendly--agent took almost 10 minutes to price out a ticket. Perhaps "scam" is too strong a word, but a benefit that is so tightly controlled that it becomes unusable by many, just doesn't seem like much of a benefit, especially when this "exciting new benefit" is hailed as a new plus while so many other aspects of the ThankYou program and ThankYou cards have been devalued.
I really wanted to like this card, but with such limitations, it's hard to find much to like.
I really wanted to like this card, but with such limitations, it's hard to find much to like.