Did you get the card yet to check the bonus indicator on the website?

What application link did you use?

Welcome to FlyerTalk, lemonoy.

There's been several people who got such letters recently without the welcome bonus language, but that datapoint is not complete until you actually the card and find out (through checking whether the online tracker for your bonus spend appears) whether you're getting the bonus or not.

So please come back and tell us what you find out after you get the card itself. Thanks.

And others, please wait until you get the card (and set up your online account) to report this. We already know some people are getting letters without the welcome bonus language (while others are getting letters with the welcome bonus language), so that by itself is not all that useful, without knowing the followup of whether the online bonus tracker appears. Thanks.

Shrodinger's loophole?

And/or did you SM Citi to ask, lemonoy?

Thus fueling rumors that Citi will be adding a new TYP transfer partner, Quantum Airways.

But in the end it's possible the loophole could have a dead cat bounce. Or not.

You could call and ask if the card comes with a bonus. That's what I would do.

The way that's worded leads me to a question:
When you say the flight was purchased on that card, what do you mean? Do you mean you used the points from that card to pay for a flight? Or you paid for a cash fare on that card? Or you put the taxes & fees from a points redemption on that card?

If it's the first one, there's no need to keep the card open. Tons of us are working through points we earned last year (or earlier), on cards that have been closed for months or years.

If it's the second, have a look at the (limited) travel insurance provided by this card, and see if it's worth it to you. The insurance is only valid if the card is still open. If you're flying out of the country, see the note on situation 3 below.

If it's the third, there's not a really compelling reason to keep the card open (at least for domestic flights). There have been reports of some airlines in foreign countries requiring you to present the card you paid with (even if it was just taxes and fees) at check-in. I've never personally run into it, but I'd also prefer not to, as apparently sometimes it can make it very difficult to get your boarding pass. Just something to think about.

So yes, the safe solution is to keep the card open, but it may or may not be necessary. If you do, make sure you manage your credit limits (lower them) to make it easier to get instant approval on your next card.

:D :D

Yepp, Shrodinger did his experimentation with the loophole :D

Thank you. I see there is doubt if we can churn the card anymore. So in the mean time I am going to apply for the citigold and hopefully in a few days we will know if it's dead or not. If it isn't, I'll apply for a MC and close (change to a different card) the Visa (hopefully I can move the cl on to the MC). If it is dead then I can see what's the best way to move fwd.

I meant that the flights were purchased with cash fares on the card, not award travel. Good tip on the travel protection, though - I had never realized that before. I adjusted all of my Outlook reminders this afternoon, and all of my 'cancel card' reminders occur after the flights occur.

This loophole basically allowed me to generate enough points to cover our flights to Maui in 2018, so I'm off to a strong start.

World to World Elite conversion on my 2nd card from November happened in January. Applied for a new card Feb 4 after receiving my new World Elite using a random link on Citi's website. Instantly approved. I had pre-lowered my credit lines before getting a new card. Received my letter confirming the 50K points around Feb 8. Got my card today. Registered and confirmed the tracker has been reset for 3 months / 50K miles.

This was my 3rd card in 12 months.

But the welcome letter doesn't include the account number, does it? So you have to wait for the card to arrive to be able to call, which is about the same as waiting for the card to arrive to activate it online and then see if you have the signup bonus spend tracker online (which doesn't require talking to anyone at Citi).

In other words, it's easy to figure out once you have the card in hand. You can go online and check for the spend tracker, go online an send an SM, or call.

But none of those are likely to help until you've activated the card.

And if you've activated the card, assuming it did it online, it seems easier to figure it online (checking for the spend track or sending an SM). Calling would seem to make more sense only if you're activating by calling on the phone.

Using available information you don't need the card number to determine if you will get the 50,000 mile bonus. You can call the application ID phone number, give the CSR the ID number and ask if the card comes with a bonus.

Thank you sdsearch for your reply!

I just heard about the "World Elite" trick, unfortunately the AAdvantage Platinum I opened on 4/1/2015 says "World", it never got converted to a "World Elite".

In that case, there's no way for me to take advantage of the "World Elite" loophole, since I have an open "World" account, correct?

I might be willing to become a guinea-pig and downgrade, just need to find a way to meet minimum spend for the new card, now that Serve is gone.