topic Re: ThankYou Points Question in Credit Cards

ThankYou Points Question

Matt9543 — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 20:08:28 GMT

Hi everyone, I was looking through the ThankYou Point terms and conditions and I found out that "on-demand internet streaming media" count as 2X points. Would that be the case for Netflix and Apple Music? If this is the case then I would put my subscriptions & memberships on this card to get the most out of the points.

If anyone has any experience with this please let me know, I'd appreciate the feedback!

Re: ThankYou Points Question

K-in-Boston — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 23:33:40 GMT

Yes, "entertainment" is pretty wide open with Citi.

You won’t earn 2X Points for purchases made at… sporting camps, public and private golf courses (including membership fees), stores that sell musical instruments, video game arcades, bowling alleys, stores that primarily sell video games/accessories, charitable organizations that provide live entertainment, bookstores, sports complexes where you participate in the sport.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

Matt9543 — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 00:00:46 GMT

Sounds like a quick way to earn 2X points then. Thank you!

Re: ThankYou Points Question

wasCB14 — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 00:06:29 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Yes, "entertainment" is pretty wide open with Citi.

You won’t earn 2X Points for purchases made at… sporting camps, public and private golf courses (including membership fees), stores that sell musical instruments, video game arcades, bowling alleys, stores that primarily sell video games/accessories, charitable organizations that provide live entertainment, bookstores, sports complexes where you participate in the sport.

I wouldn't call that wide open!

It can be a little arbitrary.

Disneyland admission is entertainment. A gift shop within is not.

Met opera tickets are not entertainment. The Met opera streaming service is entertainment.

I have indeed only gotten 1x on bowling.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

Matt9543 — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 00:28:31 GMT

I wish I could get 2X on bowling. I'm literally there all the time. But it is nice to know that just putting monthly streaming fees on it can count as 2X back.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

wasCB14 — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 00:44:00 GMT

@Matt9543 wrote:
I wish I could get 2X on bowling. I'm literally there all the time. But it is nice to know that just putting monthly streaming fees on it can count as 2X back.

And I didn't get 2x on dining with Prestige for pizza and beer within the bowling alley, either. Other bowling alleys may be different, though.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

K-in-Boston — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 00:48:04 GMT

It's all going to depend on how the merchant account codes. At a recent theme park visit, everything coded as entertainment except for ride photos and the gift shop, both of which oddly coded as Fast Food (but still 2x), while the "fast food" at the restaurants and food trucks coded as entertainment.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 17:22:08 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Yes, "entertainment" is pretty wide open with Citi.

You won’t earn 2X Points for purchases made at… sporting camps, public and private golf courses (including membership fees), stores that sell musical instruments, video game arcades, bowling alleys, stores that primarily sell video games/accessories, charitable organizations that provide live entertainment, bookstores, sports complexes where you participate in the sport.
I wouldn't call that wide open!

It can be a little arbitrary.

Disneyland admission is entertainment. A gift shop within is not.
Met opera tickets are not entertainment. The Met opera streaming service is entertainment.
I have indeed only gotten 1x on bowling.

Why wouldn't Met Opera tickets be entertainment? The Premeir is a good card. If I wasn't churning it would be a good card to use as a the single card. When I spent my 3k on it I seemed to earn a ton of points.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

wasCB14 — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 18:01:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Yes, "entertainment" is pretty wide open with Citi.

You won’t earn 2X Points for purchases made at… sporting camps, public and private golf courses (including membership fees), stores that sell musical instruments, video game arcades, bowling alleys, stores that primarily sell video games/accessories, charitable organizations that provide live entertainment, bookstores, sports complexes where you participate in the sport.
I wouldn't call that wide open!

It can be a little arbitrary.

Disneyland admission is entertainment. A gift shop within is not.
Met opera tickets are not entertainment. The Met opera streaming service is entertainment.
I have indeed only gotten 1x on bowling.
Why wouldn't Met Opera tickets be entertainment? The Premeir is a good card. If I wasn't churning it would be a good card to use as a the single card. When I spent my 3k on it I seemed to earn a ton of points.

It codes as a charitable organization.

It's possible to add a charitable contribution on top of the ticket price (and applicable fees) when making a ticket purchase, and it's possible to separately make a charitable contribution to get first dibs on buying seats. That may be part of why the coding is messy. The billing for streaming is a lot simpler.

But the ticket price itself is not a charitable contribution for tax purposes, since the customer is considered to receive something of equal value. Same for streaming. But while streaming does qualify as entertainment to Citi, tickets don't.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 01:19:52 GMT

My question is why isn't "bowling" considered "entertainment," when it clearly is.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

Shadowfactor — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 01:48:04 GMT

So golf doesn’t count as entertainment?
That just took a big chunk of the reason I was considering the premier

Re: ThankYou Points Question

wasCB14 — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 04:08:27 GMT

Maybe some jokester at Citi thinks opera, golf and bowling are too boring to be considered entertainment.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

K-in-Boston — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 14:31:22 GMT

Golf and bowling, while entertaining to some, would be considered sports so I see the logic.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 17:01:55 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Golf and bowling, while entertaining to some, would be considered sports so I see the logic.

But then again, sports is considered entertainment.

Re: ThankYou Points Question

K-in-Boston — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 18:14:28 GMT

Citi seems to determine that by whether you are participating in the sport, or not.