Rus925

I really hope that wasn't an exaggeration.

mia

No, it is a true story. Citi switched my call to someone who evidently worked for an outsourced benefits service provider. She didn't know the answer to my question, and inadvertently switch my call to Chase customer service rather than back to Citi.

voodoogirl

The Admirals club isn't enough benefit to me to keep the card. I don't always fly American and I'm hardly ever alone. Even with dh having AU, it's no benefit to him. It's a shame, we both used our companion tickets every year. sorry Citi

Enclave

I called Spirit Incentives this morning to inquire about a companion airfare and the agent explained very confidently that the message of the companion airfare and 15% discount airfare ending "does not apply to your card."

I called Prestige customer service and the agent explained right away that the message I am seeing on the Spirit Incentives site does not apply to my Prestige account. The agent said they think the erroneous messages are posting because at some point in the past I had another Thank You card that had the benefit and those cards are losing the benefit. She thought it might be because I had a Premier card in the past. I do not remember ever having a Premier card, but I did have the original Chairman MasterCard that had a different companion benefit plan. I did not mention this to her, but maybe that is why I see the message.

This makes sense that Spirit Incentives is making this mistake with the informational message. They need to look a little deeper into the logic of presenting the message. I think the first five digits of MasterCard simply identify the bank, in this case Citi. Spirit Incentives is then using only our names and postal codes to identify us and does not appear to go any further in their data to determine what specific active accounts we have with Citi and the corresponding benefits.

I think we are safe for now, the companion airfare and 15% discounted airfare benefits are not going away.

wvvm

Hello -- I have a question about Admiral's Club access.

I'm flying next week on a flight I bought with TYP. I bought it as an AA flight (so that's who will issue my boarding pass), but it is operated by BA for what it's worth.

When I log into AA, it shows up as a flight that was purchased for $20 ($0 fare, $20 fee). Will this count as a non-revenue ticket, such that I won't have lounge access?

Thanks!

dw

Citi must provide them with a way to identify which card product we have-- after all, when the Premier card had the companion ticket as well, Spirit was able to distinguish whether cardholders were entitled to either the domestic (for Premier) or international (for Prestige) companion ticket.

This certainly wouldn't be the first time Citi has made a change without properly informing their reps, or even providing proper notification to cardholders. After all, I never received anything in writing last year when they quietly eliminated the HHonors Gold benefit.

What we do know is that Citi has quietly tinkered with their marketing materials with regards to certain benefits... I would like to think that there will be no changes to our benefits, but the fact that such a proactive measure was taken implies to me that something is in the works.

mia

Thank you. I recall that when the benefit was eliminated from the Premier cards a similar message appear on my Spirit login page, even though I have never had a Premier card. Likewise, I remember that sometime after the conversion from Chairman to Prestige I was briefly unable to login to the Spirit site, apparently because my account number (54661) was outside the Prestige range.

This could be a database problem, but it seems a strange coincidence appearing at the same time that dw noticed these benefits being deemphasized in Citi's marketing.

themicah

If it's operated by BA, I'm pretty sure BA will issue the boarding pass, but the terms of Citi Prestige access suggest that you just need to show you are traveling on a flight with an AA flight number, so even if the boarding pass is issued by BA, if you bring a printout of your receipt showing that it has an AA flight number, you should be able to argue your way in.

I don't think TYP tickets count as non-rev tickets.

voodoogirl

Well I do still have my Premiere card.. I hope this is a case of terrible programming. The fact I'm logging in with a different prefix should be enough for them to not post erroneous messages, if that is what is going on.

voodoogirl

My co-worker also has a Prestige, but has no other Citi cards. She has used her companion ticket for the year. When she logs in, she sees the message in yellow. And under Companion, it says she's already used her companion ticket and as of 12/14/2014 (her anniverary), the benefit is being discontinued.

mia

The terms seem pretty clear: Prestige cardmembers must present a stand-by ticket or boarding pass, showing an American, American Eagle Airlines, Inc., or an American Connection carrier flight number, valid for travel on such flight.

jeelele

This was inevitable. A mere question of when and not if. The economics of this benefit were simply not sustainable. Having said that, I feel terribly disappointed that these valuable benefits are going away.

Lets hope Citi clears the air and officially communicates with card members about these changes in detail.

voodoogirl

I feel bad for a friend who applied for this card just last week. She didn't know about the change, I told her to call and ask and not activate the card when it arrives, until there is a definitive answer.

voodoogirl

Interesting, now the message is gone. Someone probably jumped the gun before the changes were communicated.

mia

I cannot think of any benefit of not activating a credit card. The issuer will still bill the annual fee.

Same here, the message is gone.