Citi® / AAdvantage + Citi Prestige Card
 

I would like to hear from you guys what I need to do with my CC situation. 1) Stay with Prestige; 2) Get rid of Prestige and get AAdvantage® Executive World Elite; 3) Keep my Prestige and Open AAdvantage® Executive World Elite; 4) Something else?

Maybe a little context...

I just moved from Boston to Philly. So right now, I do not have any status with any airline. But since Philly is AA Hub, I can foresee that I will eventually get some kind of lowly status with AA since I fly AA up and down the NE corridor (PHL-BOS for work) and occasionally further (for leisure).

When I was in Boston, I opened up the Citi Prestige card and have collected ~100K rewards points already. I have enjoyed (barely) the AC access, especially when I travel PHL-BOS every other week. It has been nice to at least have a place to work on my computer while I eat some free snacks.

I have not been able to take the 4th night "free" hotel benefits yet and I have not used the free golf benefits since I don't really golf all that much (no time).

Since access to AC is the only thing I reap the benefit from the Prestige card, does it make sense to keep the Prestige card since Citi will be getting rid of that benefit?

Let's me tell you what my goal is by collecting all these points... I was hoping to collect enough points (some day) to redeem at least 2 J class tix EWR/JFK - HKG in the next 12-18 months. That was my hope when i signed up for the Prestige card.

Here are my questions then...

If I keep my prestige card (without the AC access) and just use it to do my day to day purchase and occasional travel, I think I can get there with enough points for my HKG trip. But if I open up the citi AAdvantage card and pay the $450 annual fee, just so that I can access AC and some occasional day to day purchase as well. So when I redeem my points for EWR/JFK-HKG via citi, can I combine the points from Prestige and citi AAvantage card?

So that brings back to my opening statement... What is a good option for me? Keep prestige, rid of prestige and open citi aavantage, kept prestige and open citi aavantage, or something else?

Regards,

A very confused CC user

I can't fully answer this for you, but keep in mind your $450 annual fee for the Prestige can be reduced by $250 every year by buying an airline ticket worth that much on it. That, plus the 4th night free is what makes it worth it to me, even with the loss of the Admirals Club access.

That AC membership provides a lot more than free snacks and a place to work on your computer. You can also find some peace away from the airport crowds; get assistance with rebooking and rerouting from AC agents; take a shower; grab a newspaper. Plus, you can add authorized users to your credit card account, and each user has AC access (with guests).

The Thank You points you earn from the Prestige card can be especially valuable if you book Amercian flights through the Thank You travel portal up to July 23, 2017 (bonus offer). After that date, I believe the Thank You points used for American flights are at the same redemption rate as other airlines. American AAdvantage is not a transfer partner for Thank You Points, so you cannot just transfer the points from Thank You Rewards to your American account.

You may want to consider carrying both credit cards. That may sound like an expensive splurge. But, the Citi Executive card provides the AC access. The Citi Prestige provides the $250.00 travel credit; the 4th night free benefit; superior trip cancellation and delay benefits compared to other cards; and the Thank You Rewards can offer the flexibility to book with a variety of airlines.

Good luck.

AA Prestige ceases offering Club access soon. Executive includes full Club membership.

For the one $450 membership fee you get TWO $250 AA credits, once when you join and after Jan. 1 you get a second $250.^
If you have Citigold the annual fee is only $350.

Until / unless AA restores saaver award availability, we should vote with our wallets, boycott AA-branded credit cards.

As a Citi Prestige card holder, I am unhappy with the elimination of Admiral's Club access and 1.6x TY point redemption rate for AA ticket purchases in August. As others have indicated, the $250 annual airline credit, 4th night free (particularly great for all-inclusives), Priority Pass, travel insurance and 1.3x point redemption still make sense, when card is used for 3x flight and hotel purchases.

Barclay's continues to waive the AF on my Aviator card, even though I only use it for rare inflight meal purchases, so it is worth keeping around for the 10% rebate on mileage redemption (earned from BIS).

With that said: As a "new" Admiral's Club member, LT AA PLT, individual membership is $500; AF for the Executive World Elite Mastercard is $450, so I will be saving $50 for the first year, plus I can add my wife to the account for free, which will allow her to access Admiral's Clubs when traveling separately. SO while my heart says to boycott AA branded credit cards, my wallet will likely result in an application before July 23.

If you aren't using the 4th night free benefit, then I see little benefit to the prestige with the loss of lounge access and reduction in points value when using against a paid American ticket.

Just be sure to use:transfer the TYPs before they expire (I think 60 days after cancellation, but double check)

Not only does Admirals club access go away, the preferred redemption rate on AA (1.6¢/point) goes away this summer as well. Echoing several others on this thread, I think that the real valuable perk continues to be the 4th night free. If you don't use that, there's little point in holding onto Prestige.

If you have another CITI TYP card (a few are free), even if you close the Prestige account, you should still keep your TYPs via that other card.

So what I am hearing is that I should cancel my prestige card this summer when lounge access goes away. When I do cancel the prestige, I should a) transfer my TYP to my other (free) citicard (which I have one already); b) open an Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite MasterCard - so that I can still get access to AC. Am I getting this right?

I do have a couple additional questions...

1) When I cancel the Prestige card, will I also lose my Priority Pass benefits too? On my Priority Pass Select card, it has an expiry date of Jan 2019. What is the consensus here if citibank will be smart enough to tell Priority Pass to cancel my membership there as well?

2) I have heard somewhere that if I cancel a citi cc, there is a grace period of something like 6 months (or a year) before I can open another citi card? Is this true and what is the strategy here then if I am to open a new account with citi exe worldelite card?

Thanks for all the comments so far.

I'm canceling my Prestige. The card isn't worth the $250 (after travel credit) AF without AC access and the ability to redeem TYP for AA flights at a discount.

Yes, you'll lose any and all benefits associated with the card, including PP.

There's no waiting period between opening/closing Citi cards.

If AC access is really really important to you, I'd get the AA Exec card strictly for that purpose. For points-earning, nothing beats the Chase Sapphire Reserve, even though the 100k UR bonus is gone now.

Isn't the travel insurance that comes with the Executive Card basically the same as the Prestige?

Where did you get this? It's NOT true. The points for each account are segregated behind the scenes and each card's points will expire 60 days after you close the card.

https://www.thankyou.com/cms/thankyo...r|ty-term-cond

From the linked t&C's

"If you have multiple Citi Accounts associated with only one ThankYou Account at the time one of your Citi Accounts is closed, you'll lose only the Points that you earned with the closed Citi Account."

What you describe is true for Amex Membership Rewards but not TYPs.

I believe so. I should have clarified "superior to non-Citi cards".

Citi's travel insurance on award benefits is limited by the amount you have paid for the ticket in taxes and fees and carrier imposed surcharges. Definitely worse than Chase on award tickets.

I agree it's better on revenue tickets.