Sep 11, 2013, 7:42 am
Last edit by: SpammersAreScum
Prestige cardholders: the current value of points is $0.016 if redeemed for flights on American Airlines, or $0.0133 on other airlines.
The redemption value on all airlines changes to $0.0125, on July 23, 2017. This is the same value as Citi Premier and Chase Sapphire Preferred. Discussion is in this thread:
Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes
If the TYP portal is not showing the lowest fares you've identified on Google, an OTA, or the airline directly -- call Citi TYP and then ask to get Connexions on the line. Doesn't cost extra to do book that way....but will take longer and manual bookings will NOT show up in your TYP MyTrips tab.
TYP portal pricing should be verified for every flight, it cannot be trusted to show the lowest fare. Also scroll over all the way, since some carriers are not on the main screen, and may have lower fares/points than their preferred carriers.
The redemption value on all airlines changes to $0.0125, on July 23, 2017. This is the same value as Citi Premier and Chase Sapphire Preferred. Discussion is in this thread:
Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes
If the TYP portal is not showing the lowest fares you've identified on Google, an OTA, or the airline directly -- call Citi TYP and then ask to get Connexions on the line. Doesn't cost extra to do book that way....but will take longer and manual bookings will NOT show up in your TYP MyTrips tab.
TYP portal pricing should be verified for every flight, it cannot be trusted to show the lowest fare. Also scroll over all the way, since some carriers are not on the main screen, and may have lower fares/points than their preferred carriers.
TYP flight redemption: Prestige $0.0133 - $0.016/pt until 7/2017, Premier $0.0125/pt.
Jun 16, 2015, 2:58 pm
#336
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 47
Question regarding booking AA tickets with citi thank you points. I know they're considered as cash purchases and earn EQM, but unlike cash bought tickets they cannot be cancelled with any sort of refund given back.
Does anyone know if they are they eligible for same day changes, standby, and applying SWU?
Does anyone know if they are they eligible for same day changes, standby, and applying SWU?
Jun 16, 2015, 3:11 pm
#337
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: PHX
Posts: 323
Question regarding booking AA tickets with citi thank you points. I know they're considered as cash purchases and earn EQM, but unlike cash bought tickets they cannot be cancelled with any sort of refund given back.
Does anyone know if they are they eligible for same day changes, standby, and applying SWU?
Does anyone know if they are they eligible for same day changes, standby, and applying SWU?
I recently purchased US Airways tickets to Madrid and applied a SWU to the reservation. I do not have direct experience with your other questions.
Jun 17, 2015, 4:45 pm
#338
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Western US
Programs: Costco Executive Member, Amazon Optimus Prime
Posts: 1,251
We just used the portal to book a transcon flight. It priced out the same as google flights and AA and US sites had it at. No markup or anything.
All that being said, I would double check everything with other vendors before buying, and the web site does say to call in to speak with a travel agent if needed. I get the sense that they are aware the connexions portal is weak/buggy/scammy.
There was no information about what to do if one needed to change/amend the ticket later, so I guess that is an unpleasant surprise awaiting me if anything happens....
All that being said, I would double check everything with other vendors before buying, and the web site does say to call in to speak with a travel agent if needed. I get the sense that they are aware the connexions portal is weak/buggy/scammy.
There was no information about what to do if one needed to change/amend the ticket later, so I guess that is an unpleasant surprise awaiting me if anything happens....
Jun 25, 2015, 10:47 am
#339
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Western US
Programs: Costco Executive Member, Amazon Optimus Prime
Posts: 1,251
That was painful. Just booked a couple of flights that were not pricing out correctly on the portal. So I had to call in to the connexions desk. Took 35 min to book two simple tix because even though they can see your TYP balances, they don't have any other info like email, traveler info, etc.
Initially the agent could not see the flights we wanted, which were showing as the best flights on Google, Expedia, and United. They stated that United does NOT give them auto feeds for the low costs flights. Maybe. Somehow I think its just crummy tech. Delta stuff seems to price ok/properly in my limited testing.
So I fed her the specific UA flights, and she was able to get it to price out correctly. But booking is painful.
For this benefit to be more useful, beyond AA/US which may price more accurately, they've got to improve that web booking interface. At least they don't charge fees for a phone booking, but everything that way is just so much more fraught with errors - names misspelled, FF numbers wrong, dates/venues etc.
Initially the agent could not see the flights we wanted, which were showing as the best flights on Google, Expedia, and United. They stated that United does NOT give them auto feeds for the low costs flights. Maybe. Somehow I think its just crummy tech. Delta stuff seems to price ok/properly in my limited testing.
So I fed her the specific UA flights, and she was able to get it to price out correctly. But booking is painful.
For this benefit to be more useful, beyond AA/US which may price more accurately, they've got to improve that web booking interface. At least they don't charge fees for a phone booking, but everything that way is just so much more fraught with errors - names misspelled, FF numbers wrong, dates/venues etc.
Jun 25, 2015, 1:06 pm
#340
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,475
For this benefit to be more useful, beyond AA/US which may price more accurately, they've got to improve that web booking interface. At least they don't charge fees for a phone booking, but everything that way is just so much more fraught with errors - names misspelled, FF numbers wrong, dates/venues etc.
Jun 26, 2015, 11:53 am
#341
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Western US
Programs: Costco Executive Member, Amazon Optimus Prime
Posts: 1,251
Another data point for trying to book another AA/US flight today.
Web site was pricing 50% higher than Google Flights, Expedia, AA and US web sites.
Called in. Was able to get what I needed but it took 25 min.
And then after getting the booking....look up the record locators on the airlines web sites. Somehow our FF numbers did not get properly appended to the booking, despite providing them over the phone.
It does make TYP way more useful, basically turning them into a way around the lack of sAAver inventory, and opening up mixed carrier types of itins, but its tiresome having to deal with this.
Todays rep was good, and sorted everything out in 25min, but I'm still going to have get those FF's added manually I think. Maybe its an issue that AA ones aren't mapping to US flights? I thought those were getting merged....?
And of course if code shares are able to be paid for via this, even better!
Web site was pricing 50% higher than Google Flights, Expedia, AA and US web sites.
Called in. Was able to get what I needed but it took 25 min.
And then after getting the booking....look up the record locators on the airlines web sites. Somehow our FF numbers did not get properly appended to the booking, despite providing them over the phone.
It does make TYP way more useful, basically turning them into a way around the lack of sAAver inventory, and opening up mixed carrier types of itins, but its tiresome having to deal with this.
Todays rep was good, and sorted everything out in 25min, but I'm still going to have get those FF's added manually I think. Maybe its an issue that AA ones aren't mapping to US flights? I thought those were getting merged....?
And of course if code shares are able to be paid for via this, even better!
Jun 28, 2015, 1:23 pm
#342
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 122
Question regarding booking AA tickets with citi thank you points. I know they're considered as cash purchases and earn EQM, but unlike cash bought tickets they cannot be cancelled with any sort of refund given back.
Does anyone know if they are they eligible for same day changes, standby, and applying SWU?
Does anyone know if they are they eligible for same day changes, standby, and applying SWU?
Jun 30, 2015, 7:29 am
#343
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM, Marriott Gold, Hertz PC, National Exec
Posts: 6,736
I've booked at least 5 flights with TYP on AA. They've all booked into a normal revenue fare code, and have easily been able to utilize any AAdvantage benefits related to my FF#. After booking, I just deal with the reservations via AA.com instead of anywhere else. I've been able to do both same day standby and upgrade into C business SWU/miles upgrade fare.
Jul 15, 2015, 6:29 pm
#344
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Western US
Programs: Costco Executive Member, Amazon Optimus Prime
Posts: 1,251
Flights booked manually via calling into Connexions do NOT show up on your TYP travel portal MyTrips field though. One has to find the record locator separately, and then check the airline site.
For US/AA mixed carrier flights, I have been finding that connexcions booked TYP redemptions do not show up the same way that TYP portal booked ones do.
The CSRs, when queried on it, just said its a known issue. No offer to manually fix MyTrips or anything.
I'm just hoping AA eventually moves stuff over so I can see all our US/AA flights on their site, rather than making me go to US. I'm concerned about flight changes since I don't get the feeling the phone booked flights will relay that information properly to the traveler (since one cannot see them in MyTrips)
For US/AA mixed carrier flights, I have been finding that connexcions booked TYP redemptions do not show up the same way that TYP portal booked ones do.
The CSRs, when queried on it, just said its a known issue. No offer to manually fix MyTrips or anything.
I'm just hoping AA eventually moves stuff over so I can see all our US/AA flights on their site, rather than making me go to US. I'm concerned about flight changes since I don't get the feeling the phone booked flights will relay that information properly to the traveler (since one cannot see them in MyTrips)