gpp79

Although I have been very loyal to citi PP Elite cared for the last 3 years, I am completely unhappy with their customer service off late. Not posting the ThankYou points and Flight miles promptly and I am sick of calling their customer service. I still have 70000 flight points sitting in my account and I donno when I will match the purchase points to get ThankYou points. Since I don't make reservation for both air and hotel together, this card isn't suitable at all. We did a trip to Sri Lanka last December and the citi hasn't posted the flight points since then after using the citi PP Elite card to book the reservation online. They are still investigating. This is ~ 19000 miles per passenger, so it is 19000 flight points. I guess this is a good time to get out of this awful customer service card, but I need your advice.

Meanwhile, from the other post, I was recommended to use Costco TrueBlue Amex card based on my expenses:
My monthly expenses include
$1000 on hotels
$300 on restaurants
$200 on Costco/groceries (which may increase if I start to collect those hyatt gift certificates available at Costco)
$600 on rental cars
$100 on gas
(My air bookings are reserved from my company card, which I book through my company's travel agent)

Looks like I can earn Costco certificates more than the ThankYou points from citi PP Elite.
Before I can apply for TrueBlue card, kindly advise whether this is a wise move or am I better off with the citi PP Elite card?

mia

This may be a side issue, but I don't understand this comment. The only benefit to booking air and hotel together would be if you purchased airfare through Expedia and you could earn one extra TYP per dollar. That wouldn't seem to be the core problem, which is that the Flight Points feature is too complicated for Citi to implement (or explain) reliably.

gpp79

Thanks Mia, sorry it wasn't clear. Yes, I don't make reservations through expedia. So far, I had made air reservations seperately and hotel reservations seperately and matched the flight points with my purchase points to give me ThankYou points

kair528

You mean TrueEarnings card from Costco/Amex?
I'd say that both programs works for different people.
I never had any problem with PremirePass card's customer service and thankyou point posting but if you are completely unhappy with their customer service, it should be a reason alone to move to a different service in my book, especially if you are paying annual fee for it!
As for the reward program, it all depends on how much do you value our thankyou point, hotel points, airlines miles and how many point/how much cash back you can get per dollar spent in each spending category. I believe you have all the information you need to run that calculation on your own.

angel.x.martinez

Costco Amex

Gotta love cashback at the end of the year!

TAHKUCT

Did you mean beginning of the year? Costco cashback cheecks come in February statement.

gj83

I'd been using the regular Citi Premier Pass and since I don't book my own airfare except for personal trips I don't accrue many TYPs on it.

Also, when I do try to book airfare on it Citi and United go back and forth about why the card can't be properly authorized for the trip so I would just use my Hilton AMEX and have no issue.

I've mainly just been using TYPs for gift cards, but the $100 gift cards are now very few and far between so I'd rather just have costco cash. Plus I like the fact that it's a photo card.

tondoleo

Costco Executive Members receive an additional check during their birthday month for their 2% rebate on Costco purchases.

best

You mean on COSTCO Amex card when they say 3% discount for COSTCO gas--it is not given/ deducted instantly, but later only once per year they send you a check?

TAHKUCT

Costco True Earnings Amex rebate check does come once a year and is included in a February statement as I have posted above.

angel.x.martinez

Not a discount, cashback. It accumulates over the year and yes, a check is issued and can be redeemed at any Costco for cash.

TAHKUCT

Thanks for posting this. However, we do discuss here Costco Amex card vs Citi Premier Pass and my post above was in regards to Costco Amex card. Costco Executive 2% rebate does indeed come on your Costco membership renewal date and completely seperate from Costco Amex rebate.

gpp79

Thanks for the post. I have company car and I can't use Costco gas.

gpp79

BTW, how long will it take to get Costco Amex card? Do we get immeditate approval at store and will be able to use at once?

gpp79

Just made a calculation. I earn 999000 ThankYou points through Citi premier pass elite card last 12 months (20000 points came from opening a checking account) Do you think I need to replace this one to Amex TrueBlue?
Do you think I can earn much bigger with Amex TB than the Citi PPE?
As stated above I still have 70 K TY points sitting in my account.