Citi Platinum AMEX has been upgraded [includes 2011 conversion discussion]
 

Citi® Platinum American Express® Card
$0 for 12 months, $99 thereafter

Earn great rewards, access to VIP airport lounges, companion air tickets, and 15,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $300 in purchases. You will even earn 5 ThankYou Points for every dollar spent on purchases at supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations and 3 ThankYou Points on other purchases for 24 months from the date you become a cardmember. There’s no pre-set spending limit.

Let the Citi Platinum American Express Card be your access to over 500 VIP airport lounges in more than 90 countries and 275 cities worldwide no matter what airline or class of ticket. Relax in comfort away from the chaos and enjoy complimentary refreshments and snacks with Priority PassTM. Free annual membership in Priority PassTM, VIP airport lounge program (a $99 annual savings) and the cost of your first 3 cardmember lounge visits waived (normally $24 per visit) – initial enrollment required along with yearly renewal.

Make your next trip more affordable with unlimited companion tickets on domestic and international airlines to hundreds of destinations on several domestic and international airlines including Virgin Atlantic and Mexicana Airlines.

15,000 ThankYou PointsEarn 15,000 bonus ThankYou Points after you make $300 in purchases within 3 months of becoming a cardmember.

However, there is a ThankYou point cap...

Earn up to 150,000 ThankYou Points in a calendar year

...and this card does not qualify for Fixed Flight redemptions.

So you only get the first three Priority Pass visits free and then after that have to pay $24 each time for each person for the "privilege"? I thought the "enhanced" Citi AMEX Platinum had the "self and up to two persons for free" feature with Priority Pass. Which card is it that has the latter feature or does such a card no longer exist? Was is the old version of the Chairman card?

You are confusing this card with the Citi Chairman Card. The Chairman Card provides priority pass with free access for the cardholder and 2 guests.

This is the first time that the Citi AMEX Platinum has offered lounge access.

Interestingly enough...the airline benefits of this card seem to be the same as the Chairman Card.

My understanding has been that Entre was bundled with all Citi American Express cards, though this doesn't mean the benefits are identical.

This is an interesting card:

1. It comes with the entry level Priority Pass (which is worth $99 per year)
2. It comes with Citi Identity Monitor (which is worth $13 per month)

I already pay for #2. I have said in other posts: Given that I travel 90% DL and have Fidelity AMEX Platinum, I do not need the super-duper priority pass that comes with Chairman. This Citi AMEX card would work just fine for me.

Interesting in that the TY points being offered for the first 24 months with this card surpass what is being offered with the Chairman Amex product. Additionally, the 15K bonus points also is superior to the zero points you receive if you get the Chairman Amex product through application versus invitation.

The same is true at American Express where Rewards Plus Gold ($150) includes a version of Membership Rewards that generates bonus points, but Platinum ($450) does not. This marketing approach is based on the perception that there are affluent cardholders who are more interested in benefits than rewards, and also on the idea that splitting features between products increases the probability the client will carry multiple cards from the same issuer and reduces the probability of carrying a competitor's card.

Just to clarify...

There appear to be two invitations circulating for the Chairman Card.

a. Charter Membership with 30,000 bonus points that equate to 60,000 points with flight points
b. Regular Membership with ZERO bonus points

I have not heard of any bonus points being offered for new card enrollments.

Not to turn this into a Chairman Amex thread but this is where we get into semantics around "invitation" and "application." I define invitation as being asked by Citi to apply for the product and application as where you have to ask Citi for the product. In my case and some others that presently have the Chairman MC card, we had to contact Citi and request an application. We were then sent one based upon being an existing Chairman customer. To the best of my knowledge, Citi has not opened the Chairman Amex product up to just anyone applying. Relative to "membership," since the card has just recently launched, all individuals that get one are considered "Charter Members" with the same card benefits, with the exception of the 30K bonus TY points for invitees only, being the same between invitees and applicants.

So there I was just about to sign up for the Citi PP Elite as my new primary card and then I see this! The benefits seem to differ a very small amount and the common ones are worded such that I can't tell if I am comparing apples to apples. Example - The Citi Plat Amex touts some benefits as 'worldwide' while the PP Elite does not mention geo limitations. Another example - the AmEx does not mention No Blackout Dates like the PP Elite does. I travel heavily inc intl on a no-rewards corp AmEx, so this would be for non-core travel charges and personal use. So does the PP Elite have anything over this card now?

but if the points go to your thankyou acct and you have a card that quualifies for FIXED FLIGHT, then how would this affect it?

and to get to 150k TYP only requires 50k in spending if you avg 3 pts per $. Hell, I can do that in less han one month since my house is almost finished framing and it is time to start chrging all the bills.

this is even better than Chairman MC !!!

My understanding is that as long as you have any card eligible for Fixed Flight redemptions you would be able to redeem without regard to source of the points. If I recall correctly the Professional card is both fee-free and qualifies for Fixed Flight redemptions, which means easy to devise a low cost high point strategy, but of course Citi knows this ;) .

PremierePass Elite earns Flight points based on distance flown, the Platinum card does not earn any Flight points. The lack of Flight Points is unimportant in the first two years because you would earn a mininum on three points per dollar with the Platinum card, but going forward it would have been nice to have accumulated a bank.

PPE is eligible for Fixed Flight award redemptions, Platinum is not, but this is easy to work around (see previous message).

PPE is a Mastercard, more widely accepted than Platinum which is an American Express network card.

so...I will be looking forward to applying for this card....as the 3 pts are unbeatable for all purchases...