Readers who hold the Citi Prestige credit card should have all received an email yesterday. The heavily discussed rumors from more than a week ago about Citi Prestige benefit cuts have now all come true. These changes will take effect starting on July 23, 2017 (not June 21, which was mentioned in the earlier email about removing the Admirals Club benefit), and include the following:
- No more access to Admirals Club.
- You will no longer be able to redeem TYP for AA tickets at 1.6c per point; redemptions for both AA and other airline tickets will be reduced across the board to 1.25 c/p.
- The fourth-night-free hotel benefit will change: for a single four-night hotel booking, the reimbursed amount will be the average nightly room rate for the four nights, excluding taxes and fees.
- The annual benefit of three free rounds of golf will be eliminated.
Whether you are booking hotels, airfare, or golf, the July 23 deadline refers to the booking date rather than the actual travel, stay, or play date. So as long as you complete the booking on or before July 22 of next year, you can still enjoy these benefits. Meanwhile, the following benefits, including the core $250 airline credit, remain unchanged:
- $250 reimbursement for airline spending each calendar year.
- A Priority Pass membership that allows you to bring in two accompanying guests for free.
- Reimbursement for the application fee for Global Entry or TSA Pre.
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How to respond
From now until these changes are actually implemented, there is still a full year left. In the fast-changing credit card world, a lot can happen in a year, and no superstar card stays on top forever. After apparently failing to reach terms with AA, Citi is actually being pretty generous by giving customers a full year of advance notice so they can prepare. We recommend that Citi Prestige cardholders consider the following moves over the next year.
Keep Admirals Club access another way
Although Prestige still offers a PPS card, PPS has poor coverage for domestic U.S. flights, so losing Admirals Club access is a major blow for readers who fly domestically in the U.S. often. For those readers, we recommend applying for the Citi AAdvantage Executive credit card. This card comes with Admirals Club membership and has a $450 annual fee, but since you can add four authorized users for free, and each authorized user can independently bring in two accompanying guests to Admirals Club, the cost works out to only $90 per card if you max out all four authorized-user spots. The card also offers a 60,000 AA mile sign-up bonus worth at least $1,000.
Of course, readers could also switch to holding the AMEX Platinum and use Delta SkyClub instead; that depends on your airline and lounge preferences. But realistically, if Prestige can no longer get you into Admirals Club, how much longer will the AMEX Platinum SkyClub benefit last?
Holding a large TYP balance?
If you have a large stash of TYP that you have not used yet, the best option is naturally to turn all of it into AA tickets before next year. If you do not currently have a good use for it, we suggest waiting and watching, then finding the right opportunity to transfer points next year. Good transfer partners mainly include Singapore Airlines (SQ), Cathay Pacific (CX), Air France/KLM, and Virgin Atlantic. For a detailed introduction to how to use TYP, please see this article.
Is it still worth keeping after the benefit cuts?
Even after these benefits are cut, we still recommend the Citi Prestige credit card for the following types of readers.
Readers who need a PPS card
Among the credit cards that offer PPS, Citi Prestige is still the best option if you cannot get approved for the Crystal Visa Infinite. If you often fly international economy class, especially if you travel with family, not having PPS may leave you with no lounge access at all, so it can still make sense to keep the Citi Prestige.
Readers who fly frequently
The travel insurance on the Citi Prestige credit card is still overwhelmingly better than comparable products from AMEX and Chase. So if you fly often and are likely to run into delays, we recommend keeping the Citi Prestige to pay for airfare. One delay is usually enough to earn back the annual fee.
Readers who spend a lot on the AT&T card
Although the value of TYP has dropped significantly from 1.6c to 1.25c, talking about point value without considering earning rate misses the point. If you can earn a large number of points on the Citi AT&T Access More credit card in a year—for example, if you can easily exceed the 30,000-point cap on the Chase Freedom—then the 25% boost from Prestige is still very powerful, and we would recommend continuing to keep it.
Readers who may still use the fourth-night-free hotel benefit
Although the fourth-night-free hotel benefit has also been devalued, in practice it is still usually strong enough that using it once will basically cover the annual fee.
Downgrade options
If you cannot find a reason to keep the Prestige, downgrading it to a no-annual-fee card is of course also an option. The top recommendations are still the Citi Double Cash and Citi Dividend. The Citi AT&T Access and its annual-fee version, the Citi AT&T Access More, are also worth considering. But without Prestige, the value of those cards takes a real hit. The no-annual-fee AT&T Access card's 2x on online shopping is not as good as Double Cash, and whether the annual-fee Access More is worth it depends on how much you can spend on it.
Switch to comparable products from other banks?
In the past, when we talked about products comparable to the Citi Prestige, we were basically referring to the AMEX Platinum. But recently there have been many rumors about Chase's new premium product, the "Sapphire Reserve." If this card offers both PPS and United Club, and if its effective annual fee comes in slightly below the AMEX Platinum's $250, then because you could also save the Sapphire's $95 annual fee, it looks like it could be an excellent new product. However, there are still too many unknowns surrounding this card, including not only the exact benefit details but also the dreaded 5/24 rule. Once more of the rumors are confirmed, we will bring readers a side-by-side comparison of these premium cards.