Top 9 Reasons Why I Love the Premium Citi Prestige Card

The Citi Prestige credit card is one of my top cards. In fact, I always use it for booking flights, but it is also great for a few other reasons! Here’s why I love the Citi Prestige.

1) The Best Credit Card Travel Insurance Out There

The Citi Prestige offers absolutely stellar travel insurance. You can get reimbursed for lost or delayed baggage and trip cancellation and interruption. Many cards offer this coverage, but the Citi Prestige’s is better primarily for two reasons. First, to submit a trip delay claim, your delay only needs to be three hours and Citi will reimburse up to $500. Most other cards require a delay to be at least 12 hours or overnight. I usually end up using the flight delay benefit at least once per year which allows me to make up time by taking a taxi instead of public transit or grabbing a meal at the airport. The second thing that makes the Citi Prestige’s insurance superior is that it covers traveling companions that aren’t related to you. Other cards will generally only cover immediate family members.

2) Amazing Spending Bonuses

One of the reasons I love the Citi Prestige is because of the great spending bonuses. You’ll earn 3 ThankYou Points per dollar spent on all airfare and hotel purchases, 2 TYP per dollar spent on dining and entertainment, and 1 TYP per dollar spent on all other purchases. The spending bonus for flights as well as the travel insurance mentioned in #1 are the two reasons why I would (almost) never use another card to pay for my flights.

3) $250 Air Travel Credit

The Citi Prestige has a pretty steep $450 annual fee, but the $250 annual air credit helps offset that by quite a bit. You can get up to $250 reimbursed every year for many airline-related purchases including seat selection fees, checked bag fees, and more. Effectively, this means that your Citi Prestige only costs $200 per year, assuming that you are able to use the full amount of the credit. That’s not a bad annual fee at all considering how many other benefits are packed into this card!  

4) Citi’s 4th Night Free Benefit

I don’t stay in hotels for four nights or longer very often, but Citi’s 4th night free makes me really glad that I have the card when I do! When you use 4th night free, you will save the average nightly rate of your hotel stay, excluding taxes and fees. You have the option to book online and save right away or call in and be reimbursed for the average nightly rate. There’s no limit to the number of times you can use this benefit, so you can potentially save thousands of dollars per year with this benefit.

5) Great Transfer Partners

Earning Citi ThankYou points is a great idea because you can take advantage of their great transfer partners. TYP transfer to 15 different partners at a 1:1 ratio (unless otherwise noted) including: Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Asia Miles, Etihad, EVA, Garuda Indonesia, JetBlue TrueBlue (1:0.8), JetPrivilege, Malaysia, Qantas, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Hilton Honors (1:1.5), and Sears Shop Your Way (1:12) . Some of these transfer partners are considerably more valuable than others, but no matter how you look at it you have many options with Citi ThankYou Points.

6) Awesome 75,000 Point Sign-Up Bonus

Citi just raised the sign-up bonus on the Prestige card and it’s now a whopping 75,000 TYPs. This is the highest public sign-up offer we’ve ever seen on this card. The downside to this sign-up bonus is that it requires a higher minimum spending spending in order to earn it. You’ll need to spend at least $7,500 within 3 months in order to qualify. I generally value my TYP at 1.8 cents each, meaning the sign-up bonus is worth $1,350 when redeemed toward travel. Of course, you can get more or less value out of your TYP, so you’ll have to do a bit of homework to make sure you are making good redemption decisions.

7) Priority Pass Select Membership

With the Prestige card, you’ll be able to access over 1,000 Priority Pass lounges worldwide. Having lounge access makes traveling so much more enjoyable. Just think about it — food, drinks, and sometimes even showers in the lounge! These small luxuries can make your long travel days so much more enjoyable.

8) Global Entry Fee Credit

If you don’t have Global Entry yet, the Citi Prestige gives you the ability to get it for free! You will be reimbursed $100 for your Global Entry application fee or $85 for your TSA PreCheck application fee. If you do already have Global Entry, you can use your fee credit for a family member or friend instead!

9) Purchase Protection

While not a travel benefit, Citi offers some of the best purchase protection out there too. As a Prestige cardholder, you’re eligible for reimbursement of up to $10,000 per item and $50,000 per year for items that are damaged or stolen within 120 days of purchasing. You also will get an extended warranty of 24 months and return and price protection. What Citi is probably most known for when it comes to purchase protection is Price Rewind. Price Rewind automatically tracks purchases for a lower price. If a lower price is found, you will automatically be refunded for the difference.

Final Thoughts

There are so many reasons to love the Citi Prestige card. I estimate that I get at least $1,250 in value out of the Citi Prestige card every year. Since it only costs me $450, it’s an absolute no-brainer for me to keep this card!