The same conversion ration applies to other FF programs - Asia Miles, Royal Orchid Plus, and SkyMiles.

There's also this on the website: "For Citi Platinum Card members, your existing Citi Dollars as of 11th October 2010 will also be multiplied by five. This will be reflected in your next statement."
So if you have the card already, start using it and hopefully they won't change the conversion ratio.

Still, even at 10 miles per $, you'll need to buy a lot of milk...

Does anyone seriously think they are NOT going to change the conversion ratio as well, given that they are revaluing existing points? It would be unprecedented, and just doesn't make sense for a bank to increase in value of existing balances of rewards points by a factor of 5.

They better be, lol. :)

SQ is quoting me about S$7,300 for a return ticket to FRA in J.

But if I spend $9,350 in a supermarket I can get that ticket for free? Hmm... and they do sell more than food at those Carrefour stores. Might be high time to stock up on some quality wines and get a new lcd tv while I'm at it. :)

The $5 thing always gets rounded down, so if you spend $14.99 you get awarded miles as if you spent just $10.

I think they just phrased this one wrongly - what they're probably trying to say is that this offer also applies to existing cardmembers, and they will also earn more citi$ starting October 11 - not that their existing balance will be multiplied X5.

At the end of the day, the 10 miles/$ is for supermarket spend only. But still... I don't think this is sustainable, so do expect some small print where they'll limit those bonus miles to a certain amount each month.

Or you could buy a promo LH C class tix with the card and later fly both SQ and LH :p .

This is from the citibank website, seems pretty clear to me that existing balances will be multiplied by 5:
My point was that I would fully expect them to adjust the burn rate as well.

After the changes supermarket spend will get 5 citi$/$ spent. At the current redemption rate 1 citi$=2 KF miles that would give 10 miles as you suggest.

However in the process of multiplying everyone's balances by 5, they will probably adjust the burn rate as well to become 5 citi$=2 miles, then you will get 2 miles per $1 spent at supermarkets (not 10), which is in line with some competitor cards.

Let's give it a week and see, but from the look of things the only way to make this Platinum card attractive is to boost the miles whilst leaving the conversion ratio as is.

That way 2 miles per $1 spent would make the card worth getting. If the ratio changes to 'spend $5 to get 2 miles' then so much for that one...

We'll see soon enough, but personally I think it's great that DBS and Citi are fighting tooth and nail to edge each other out.

I'll concede, let's wait and see. But if it was 2 miles per $1 spent, why would the bother continuing with the 1.2:1 Premier Miles card (and 2:1 > $4,000).

Of course if you are correct, I will be more than happy to eat humble pie, as I will immediately stop using my PM card and start using my Platinum Clear for more than just books, movies and nights out.

For curiosity's sake, I've put a couple of charges on the core plat card. We shall find out what really happens soon enough.

It's a tough one to call. One one hand they're not changing the ratios for the Clear card which gives hope that they're just making the Platinum one better while leaving everything else alone. Then again they're using the "5X rewards" slogan on both cards even though it's 1:1 on the former and 1:5 on the latter with regards to Citimiles.

Also, their website still has an error in that it wasn't previously "$5 earns 1 citidollar at department stores and supermarkets." It was 1 citidollar for every $1 spent.

Don't know what to think now, but even if things end on a positive note I think it's only a question of time before they limit the bonus miles to a certain threshold each month as I can't see them offering 10 miles/$ on supermarket/department store spend. It even sounds too good to be true. :)

Guys, I would also wait and see if the Premier Miles card will continue with its 2 miles/$ spent above $4k promo, which in the fine print is stated to end on December 31 of this year.

Also, this card only makes sense if you charge over $7k/month to it. Otherwise the DBS Altitude card offers more miles.

The only reason why I haven't chopped up my PM card for the DBS one is that PM is visa, and Altitude is Amex.

And if for some reason citi doesn't change the conversion ratio after the plat earn rate is updated, the PM card won't be renewed when Feb comes around, annual fee waiver or not.

Ok. Today is 12 Oct, and it's time for an update...

The good news is, the entire account balances have been multiplied by 5, so my account went from a mere 32 points to a whopping 160 points.

The bad news is, the redemption ratio also multiplied by 5. i.e. 5 citi dollars for 2 miles.

So, to all the boys and girls out there, you may now resume your normal life. There's nothing to see here, and it's pretty much the end of the 5x Citi dollars saga - $5 spending gets you 2 miles every where, with a 5x bonus at supermarkets.

You were right - they didn't change anything and have basically maintained the status quo.

I guess I'll be sticking to my DBS Altitude for the near future...

Take note of DBS's redemption criteria...Citibank still better
 

DBS's Altitude card need to transfer in blocks of 2000 Krisflyer miles and pay annual transfer fee of $42.80 for unlimited transfers. But what if you need only say 800 miles to redeem air tickets urgently...u need to spend a lot more to get the 2000 krisflyer miles blocks (or 1000 DBS pts).


But Citibank is different...for both Citibank platinum cards n premiermiles card, you juz need to transfer a minimum of 500 krisflyer miles and any amount in multiples of 2...say 834 miles and pay $25 PER transfer...

Also, DBS has only 2 choices...Krisflyer & Asia Miles..Citibank has Thai's Royal Orchid Plus and Delta's Skymiles on top of Krisflyer & Asia Miles.

Citibank's is VISA card while DBS Altitude card is American Express....VISA is more widely accepted and has lower conversion charges for foreign transactions compared to AMEX...

I still find the DBS Altitude card much better when in Singapore. As long as I get more points out of that card than out of the Citibank ones, I see no need to "defect".

Plus with DBS Amex you get the best of both worlds as you can take advantage of DBS' dining/shopping offers and at the same time make use of all the promos available only to AMEX customers. :)