Citi Thank You Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

I Used Points From All Three Banks And We’re Flying To Germany On Singapore Airlines!

It’s not often that I get excited about a flight. Remember, I’m the person who proudly wrote how we’re over flying in business class “just because we can.” However when all of the puzzle pieces fell into place and allowed me to book a flight I had my eyes set on for forever, I had to pull the trigger.

Here’s the post I wrote about how I wanted to book a flight on Singapore Airlines from New York – JFK to Frankfurt. I had the flight on waitlist for saver space but I kept checking to see if anything opened up. Saver space never showed up but one day when I logged in, I saw that tickets were available to book at the Advantage level.

Under the new Singapore Airlines chart, a flight from the East Coast to Europe costs 72,000 KrisFlyer Miles at the Saver level and 85,000 miles at the Advantage level. If I was willing to pay 72,000 miles for a ticket, what’s an extra 13,000 miles a ticket, really?

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Citi Prestige: What Changed, What Didn’t, And What It All Means

The Citi Prestige card. Either you think it’s one of the most valueable cards out there or you don’t understand why people love the card so much. I’d say that I’m in the first camp. I appreciate the unique perks the Prestige provides and keep the card because it’s easy for us to end up making money without much effort or having to change our travel preferences.

In October 2018, Citi announced a major revamp to the Prestige card. Several of the changes went into effect on January 4th. Since many of these changes are major improvements to the card, it has earned a permanent slot back in my wallet. Here’s a list of things that have changed already, what changes are coming down the road and what hasn’t changed.

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When Paying The Check At A Restaurant, I Froze When I Needed To Pull A Card Out Of My Wallet

I guess there are worse problems to have than not knowing which is the best card to pull out of my wallet when paying for a meal. When I went out for dinner with friends last night, we split the check and I needed to choose a card to pay for my share. I saw someone paying with an American Express Gold Card that earns four Membership Rewards per dollar and the other party was paying with a Capital One card that earns 4% cash back. So I needed to make sure my selection showed I know the best way to maximize points earning. I mean, I’m the one at the table who writes about points and miles, right? So why did I freeze and ponder which would be the best card for me to use?

It wasn’t that I didn’t have a card that earned a great return, it was that I had three cards in my wallet that each would earn a good return on the cost of my dinner. Any of them would be a good choice, but which card was the best choice and did I choose wisely?

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Watch Out For This Fee If You Transfer AMEX Membership Rewards To A U.S. Airline

When booking our upcoming, spontaneous (for us) trip to London, I needed to top up our Delta SkyMiles balances to have enough miles in our accounts for the tickets. One of the reasons I like to earn flexible miles is the ability to transfer them where and when I need them. Since American Express is the only one of the three main flexible currencies that partners with Delta, I went to the Membership Rewards website to transfer 30,000 points from Sharon’s AMEX account to Delta.

After having to verify information from the card, I was reminded of the hidden fee American Express adds if you want to transfer points to a U.S.-based airline.

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Why Should You Keep A Discontinued Credit Card?

Once you’ve been getting credit cards for different sign-up bonuses and benefits for long enough, eventually one of the cards you have will be discontinued. One day the bank will stop accepting new applications for the card and you’re in credit card limbo. Most of the time banks will allow you to keep the cards open and continue to offer the same benefits as before. This can be for months, years or even decades after the card is initially ended.

The most common reason a card is discontinued is that the bank is refreshing a product and decides to relaunch the card with a new name and new benefits. However, there are sometimes where a bank just decides that the card is no longer a good fit for their portfolio. Another reason is contractual, such as when AMEX lost the Costco contract or when Citi’s Hilton agreement ended. In these instances, you’re not able to keep the old product and will either be offered a different card from the old bank or the equivalent card from the new bank.

Back to discontinued, yet still active, cards. Should you keep them? What’s the advantages and disadvantages of doing so?

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