Negative Changes To Citi Prestige Trip Delay Insurance.

[Anonymous]

@wasCB14

Whether I get the card at the $350 fee or not is irrelevant to the sign up bonus. Honestly I don't know what to expect for a sign up bonus, but I'm considering apping for the Premier for its 50k SUB at $4k spend (beats the Prestige's recent thresholds of 10k:$1k), waived annual fee for year 1. At the beginning of year 2, I'll sign up for 1 month of their Premier banking so qualify for the reduced Prestige fee, then PC to the Prestige, then after the (reduced?) annual fee drops, canceling the Premier banking...from what I've read I think that should lock in the $350 fee.

[wasCB14]

I'm not sure either way if it's possible to get a $350 AF via PC. I have heard the $350 fee, once obtained, lasts after Gold or Priority status is lost.

Of course, the card changes so much it's hard to say what it will look like in a year. I don't think they can be making much money when they have a product that only an unprofitable 4th nighter, travel insurance user, or retention seeker could love.

[Anonymous]

Whether the $350 fee is obtainable with a PC'ed card the only thing holding me back on this one. Getting a 50k bonus for $4k is nice, but if it means I can't end up getting the prestige for $350 then I'll be pretty miffed. Either way, I gotta wait til late May at least to apply, so I'll just have to see how the SUBs are looking at that point.

Plus, there's always the possibility that nabbing the $350 fee now may be a loophole that's shut down in the next year, but perhaps if you can swing it before that you'd be able to keep it - all speculation of course, but with this kinda thing you never know how they're gonna do what.

[wasCB14]

By the time $100/yr exceeds a lump sum of 50k TYs, the card may no longer exist, may have become something you have no interest in, or may require the Gold or Priority account to remain open.

When it comes to CCs, it's not often fruitful to make a plan that requires practices to not change for a few years.

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14wrote:
I'm not sure either way if it's possible to get a $350 AF via PC. I have heard the $350 fee, once obtained, lasts after Gold or Priority status is lost.

Of course, the card changes so much it's hard to say what it will look like in a year. I don't think they can be making much money when they have a product that only an unprofitable 4th nighter, travel insurance user, or retention seeker could love.

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I've had that question for a while. Is the $350 obtainable through PC and how? Anyone? 

[wasCB14]

f4,
I just realized you used the term "Premier" to describe a relationship tier with Citi. I'm not sure if that's a thing. Maybe you meant Priority? Or Gold? I know Premier is the name of a CC.

And it's not at all clear to me that new Priority customers get the lower AF. I think the lower AF is for Gold and grandfathered Priority customers.

Mdv,
Are you planning on applying for Gold or Priority? You might need Gold.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe you can apply for Citi Gold anymore. I think Citi automatically upgrades you if you meet the $200,000 minimum (or whatever) in your account. Priority would be the only way to get in with the $350 annual fee. 

[longtimelurker]

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@wasCB14wrote:
UNWG,

Super premium cards seemingly don't go for long without some sort of changes, but Prestige has been especially volatile.

Your hypothetical favorite features, the 1.6 AA and AC access, only date back to a card overhaul around the summer of 2014. Before that, it had some sort of extra points for physical distance flown, and I think a companion certificate and discounts on Spirit.

So if they keep it around...and I don't know that they will...it may well end up a very different product than it is now.

Of course, Citi would have to decide to start seriously competing again for non-AA-loyalist travelers.

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I had the old premier, which included some nice things, such as 15% discount (on the non-tax part) on airfare booked through their travel center, the distance based air points which converted to TYP in an overly complex way (from what I recall, 1 air mile (they had another term) could become a TYP once you earned another TYP, so fly 500 miles you would end up with 1000TYP if you also earned 500 TYP.  Worked best if miles flown and earning on dollar cost were even, which they never are).

Those benefits went away and so I cancelled.    But after that, in a major moment of de-nerfing, they made TYP transferable to partners.  Now many people don't think much of the partners, but it hasn't been always nerfing downwards (whereas US Bank Cash + HAS only been down!)

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurkerwrote:

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@wasCB14wrote:
UNWG,

Super premium cards seemingly don't go for long without some sort of changes, but Prestige has been especially volatile.

Your hypothetical favorite features, the 1.6 AA and AC access, only date back to a card overhaul around the summer of 2014. Before that, it had some sort of extra points for physical distance flown, and I think a companion certificate and discounts on Spirit.

So if they keep it around...and I don't know that they will...it may well end up a very different product than it is now.

Of course, Citi would have to decide to start seriously competing again for non-AA-loyalist travelers.

---

I had the old premier, which included some nice things, such as 15% discount (on the non-tax part) on airfare booked through their travel center, the distance based air points which converted to TYP in an overly complex way (from what I recall, 1 air mile (they had another term) could become a TYP once you earned another TYP, so fly 500 miles you would end up with 1000TYP if you also earned 500 TYP.  Worked best if miles flown and earning on dollar cost were even, which they never are).

Those benefits went away and so I cancelled.    But after that, in a major moment of de-nerfing, they made TYP transferable to partners.  Now many people don't think much of the partners, but it hasn't been always nerfing downwards (whereas US Bank Cash + HAS only been down!)

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Citi's transfer partners are nothing to sneeze at either. If you're trying to fly domestically and use a straight foward approch to flying with points, Jet Blue is your only option. If not, you have to try to book through alliances, such as Skyteam. 

Citi's just become very lazy lately. Why was the AT&T Access More discontinued, and why did they let Hilton, a two card and transfer partner leave? It seems as if Citi just doesn't care. 

[wasCB14]

LTL,

"Flight Points" was the term. And apparently part of how they managed the flight discounts was to sometimes charge people for one fare class, but actually book a lower one with the airline. I don't know if they still do it, but they did it on my numerous 1.6 cpp AA redemptions.