GuyFromBOM

Since the CitiPM is less VFM for my prefrence, I was browsing for alternate cards on Citi website and found out that the Citi Rewards Credit Card offers a good deal. Low fees, converts points into FFP @ 0.75 and has Flipkart, GoIbibo, Yatra, Bookmyshow (same bunch as CitiPM) as 10x partners.

So, for an annual fee of INR 1000 (waived on annual spends for INR 30k), I can potentially earn 7.5 FFP on every INR 125 spent.

https://www.online.citibank.co.in/po...wards-card.htm

vikasr

Now that the last date to transfer PM to airlines at earlier rates is coming close, I was thinking what to do.

I have 3 PM cards in the family out of which my main PM card, I will transfer to my Prestige card and the miles get transferred to Prestige points. The other 2 PM cards are hardly used but i would like to keep them just to take advantage of any promotions. Their current miles balances are approx 15k miles and 27k miles.

My main concern is that the miles should not get expired and give me a good value. I can either speculatively transfer to an airline or keep the miles as it is and transfer to a hotel partner as would be required at a future date since transfer to any hotel program is not being devalued.

As for airlines, since the number of miles is not large, they can only be used to redeem for short one way flights. After consideration, the only viable airline I could think of is BA. SQ miles expire in 3 years and they charge YQ as well. BA is cheaper than CX at almost every level for Oneworld flights. Delta also charges YQ on some routes (in Europe) and very high miles for some short one way flights (in Middle East and Asia). I have enough miles on Jet and AI and they can also be generated effectively using other cards. Other airlines I would not consider.

As for hotels, the points can be redeemed for Points Break with IHG, points and cash with Hilton or points and cash with Taj. IHG can give good value with Points Break specially since points don't expire. Taj is also quite ok. Hilton I would not consider as I already have some points in my Hilton account and they expire in 12 months of no activity.

Finally, I decided to transfer 27k PM to BA Avios (very good value for short flights and easy to extend validity) and 15k PM to IHG.

It would be interesting to know what others in similar situation are doing, if not converting to Prestige.

onlysuites

For those that have converted to the Prestige card I was wondering did they also bill you pro rata. They only charged me for 6 months and refunded me my 6 months PM fees. So I think this should mean that I can apply for the 10k Hotel voucher and miles again in 6 months ^

Keyser

yes they did....not sure if you can apply for the vouchers & miles again in 6 months though....

also, for those who got their card converted to prestige, how long did it take to get the 5k etihad miles bonus????

onlysuites

Are you also getting EY card upgraded to Gold too? Let me know time taken as I will be doing the same.

Keyser

already got that done....took about a week or so....but i haven't received the 5k miles yet....

onlysuites

Don't forget you also get some bonus miles if you transfer 20k to EY.

Keyser

i know....planning on doing that next month....

kshastry

Can you tell me more about this bonus miles with EY? Didn't notice any info about it anywhere..

A2A

all prestige card holders get EY gold and 5K miles in their account from EY Guest. If you trf 5000 points -> 20000 miles on Etihad Guest, you also get a bonus of 6K for the first transfer as long as it is done within 6 months of card establishment

Keyser

did you get the 5k miles????if so, how long did it take????

onlysuites

Also Citigold customers get a bonus according to how much they spend. What is the easiest way to Citigold as I don't have my savings account with them as of now. Can I just open up a FD? If so what is the minimum amount?

AJLondon

Used to be INR 25/30L as minimum. FD is fine, but they will likely link it to a savings account (which you can have a close to zero balance in, if needed).

The biggest thing though is that Citi offers horrid FD interest rates... Easily 3-4% less than market leaders. You need to decide if that is worth the tradeoff for the bonus. Or maybe invest in MF or something thru Citi...

Whizkid

Tried calling Citi and the CSA told that the eligibility is 40LPA income and that's about it.

Since travel has reduced a lot with the arrival of kids, I'm thinking of bailing out and transferring the miles.

1. If I put in a transfer request today / tomorrow, and if the actual transfer takes 5+ days, will the old transfer rates prevail?

2. My Travel is mainly India Domestic & India-US (Intl)+ US domestic. what is the best option to transfer to?

3. I was planning to transfer to BA, but the recent devaluation got me thinking and need to understand the impact on India-US redemption

Any help / Pointers would be nice.

awarty

The golden rule to follow in these situations is 'Hang Up and Call Again'

The first Citi CSA I spoke to was very condescending and implied that I wasn't eligible, without even checking my account, the second processed the transaction within minutes.

If you want to liquidate your points balance then I recommend transferring the miles to Etihad which has a decent redemption table for domestic J on 9W.

Live from a Lounge has published an excellent series of posts comparing the options http://livefromalounge.boardingarea....iles-balances/ required reading if you haven't made up your mind yet.