SpammersAreScum

I've received a letter confirming the downgrade, which stated that the change would mean a new "account number".

Update: And now the just-received card does indeed have a new number. Not surprisingly, it's a "World" rather than a "World Elite". But since a Premier would also be "World Elite", that does not explain our differing results.

Further thoughts:
My Prestige was 1yr old, and my Premier will be 2 in Nov. My original plan was to downgrade the Prestige, and then "retain" the Premier to avoid resetting the clock. Then my 24 months would be up next Aug. But since I have to assume the Prestige downgrade reset the clock, I might as well immediately cancel the Premier.

eggzlot

So I have a preferred and a prestige card. I have 160,000 miles and for 2 years I have not found a decent redemption. In that time I've used points to book 2 different 2.5 week trips to Spain and the South Pacific and I used Amex/Chase points, so it is not as if I am that slow to the game. I just find the transfer partners on Citi to be rather weak in comparison at least to where I've looked to travel.

So my $450 fee is coming due on the Prestige card and since I also have an Amex Plat and CSR I cannot see keeping the Prestige. They offered me a $50 a month for 7 months as a statement credit for spending 1500 a month and then they offered me $200 to spend 4,000 a month for 3 months. Nothing seemed to move the needle - even if I got another 12-15000 points, really no difference between 160k and 175k in points. 80k is usually good to get US > long distance one way in business class. I have 200k in Chase and 120k in AMEX to help me get home :-) Even if a flight was 85k and I had to buy 10k points (me and the wife) that may be around $450 so its a wash.

Anyways...so I think I want to downgrade to the free Preferred card. Two different reps gave me two different answers, one saying my points will be fine and the other saying I'll lose more than just the Prestige benefits and the points may expire in 60 days (but he couldn't confirm where he found that information)

I am fairly sure if I get the free preferred card all of my 160 points are still in my account, will not expire, etc and I can transfer 1:1 (or 1:1.5 for JetBlue) to the airline programs. I just lose the Prestige benefits like travel credits, 4th night free, etc.

Just looking for a sanity check (or another opinion or option).

nesnith

I can't comment specifically about downgrading from the Prestige to the Preferred, but I did a downgrade from the Premier to the Preferred a few months ago. With the downgrade, my account number remained the same. The points earned from the Premier account stayed intact (i.e. didn't expire).

I guess you should confirm whether the downgrade from the Prestige to Preferred would trigger a change in account number. If not, I believe the points should not expire. If it changes, then the 60-day expiration should kick in since the TY points sponsoring account (i.e. original Prestige) no longer exists.

One more thing: Unless you hold either a Prestige or a Premier at the same time as the Preferred, keep in mind that the points earned by the Preferred card can only be transferred to JetBlue, and not to any other airlines.

SpammersAreScum

As with you, once I got the CSR none of the reported retention offers on the Prestige made financial sense for me, unless you find the "4th night free" to be of significant value.

As I reported in the post just above yours, my very recent downgrade from Prestige to Preferred did result in a new card number. I am therefore assuming that the 24-month clock has been reset. Whether the points would go away in 60 days, especially considering I also have the Premier, is unclear, but I am assuming they will. (Since I now intend to also cancel the Premier as well, as long as 24 has been reset anyway, the Premier aspect will be moot anyway.)

I made a point of using almost the points before they lost the 1.6x redemption rate on July 23, so what's left is actually of minor concern. Which makes me wonder why you were focusing on transfers for "good redemptions". Getting that rate on any travel purchase always seemed good to me...

LukFilm

Question: I recently applied for and received 2nd Citi Prestige card to get 75,000 bonus. If I now convert my 1st Prestige to Preferred will I still be eligible to receive the 75,000 bonus?

EDIT: Never mind, I didn't look closely at my application for Citi Prestige #1 and it was 22 months ago, so I screwed myself out of 75,000 points anyway

yugi

Can you please check on a TY portal if your points are going to expire?

SpammersAreScum

Looking at My Points Summary on thankyou.com, I am told I have the (expected) number of points available. I see no indication of expiration.

mia

Unfortunately expiration due to account closure doesn't seem to display a warning in the same way as expiration due to the terms of the product.

JEStarr

I have the TY Premier card and just don't use it enough to justify the annual fee.

Just wanted to discuss my best options before cancelling outright.

1. Looks like I can downgrade to the no AF, Citi TY Preferred Card. Are there any points restrictions on this card?

2. Keep open depending on retention offer

Are there any options I should think about?

mia

Points not transferable to Hilton airlines or to airlines (except to JetBlue at a reduced rate.) Value when used for pay-with-points travel is less.

Have you asked for a retention bonus to offset the fee?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...all-cards.html

Explore

If I cancel the Prestige, do I have 60 days to transfer points to any travel partner, or is it just JetBlue? Is the situation any different if I product change to the Preferred (that card would be just a placeholder and I wouldn't charge anything on it).


Thanks...

sdsearch

Just keep in mind that are very few travel partners other than Jet Blue where what you transfer can be kept from expiring there. Most of the TYP airline partners have unavoidable ("hard") expiration policies (which are very common in foreign airline programs). So be careful that where you transfer to you're absolutely sure you can use the miles/points up before the expire there, or else that you choose a transfer partner where expiration can be deferred indefinitely through "activity" of some sort. (There's a link in the wiki of this thread to a list of the expiration policies for each partner.)

Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure that as soon your card turns into Preferred and thus stops being Prestige you'll have only the Preferred's "crippled" points usage policy immediately. It won't be a cancellation, so the 60 days after cancellation won't apply.

If you cancel, it's still a Prestige, just a cancelled one. The JetBlue-only transfer is a Preferred thing, and so if you don't convert to a Preferred, there's no JetBlue-only world for you.

Keep in mind that there's one other option: For about 1/5 of the annual fee of the Prestige ($95/year), you can downgrade to the Premier, and keep all the same transfer options. You'll just lose any Prestige-specific features such as 4th night free.

Explore

Thx, very detailed response. I'm going to transfer the points to Singapore Airlines immediately. They have a hard deadline on points usage, but it's one I have to meet for my existing SQ points by December - so it'll be a blowout trip hopefully in Suites class booked one year ahead!

With the end of the Admirals Club tie-in, the Citi Prestige offers little compared with Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum. How many people really book a hotel for 4 nights? I never do.

sdsearch

Well, I didn't fly AA enough to warrant a $$$ card for Admirals Club tie-in (when it existed) anyway, and I also can't remember when I've ever booked a hotel with cash for 4 consecutive nights (I may occasionally book a hotel for 4 nights with the hotel's own points, but the Prestige gives nothing in that case).

Which is why I went for the $95 AF Premier (which earns about the same as the Prestige AFAIK), and why I have totally ignored the Prestige, because I wasn't after the benefits, only the great earning structure on "the broadest definition of travel" (as Citi promotes its 3x) and even a broad definition of "entertainment" (at 2x).

Citi has now started sending me invitations to upgrade from Premier to Prestige and it's all going into the shredder.

But then, I'm not the kind of person particularly interested in other high-end cards either. I signed up for NEXUS, rather than Global Entry, years ago to save money ($50 instead of $100, even though NEXUS includes GE!), but most of these cards don't give credit for NEXUS renewals, and even if they did $50 credit once every 5 years wouldn't get me very far.

But back to your question about 4 nights: Different people have different patterns. Some people just travel to get to another climate (warm beach after cold northern winter), and they might stay a week in place just lounging on a beach. For me, that's not my idea of a vacation, I want to get exploring, and usually 3 nights in any one place is enough for that. But I do understand why certain kinds of travelers might have a lot of use for a 4th night benefit, even if it's not you or me.

Also, I "follow the promos" in booking hotels, and so many hotels have "stay-based" promos, where to maximize the promo you have to "hotel hop". That's another reason to not stay 4 consecutive nights in one hotel!

frudd38

So last month I got disconnected during a Premier retention call that resulted in the agent cancelling my card (I was not intending to cancel). I was at 22 of the 24 month period at that point which was a bummer.

I called back and the next agent was able to reinstate my account and assured me the account is shown as open and "never closed". Is there any way to tell for sure or do I just have to gamble at this point with the new bonus post 24 months?