Recent Articles Mentioning the Citi PremierPass Credit Card
The Citi
PremierPass Credit Card: More than your average Airline Miles
Card
Citi’s new
PremierPass credit card offers something most airline credit cards
do not: choices. With the Citi PremierPass, consumers can not only
choose which airline they fly on and when they fly, but also, if
they want to use their rewards for flying at all. With the
PremierPass, you can redeem the points you earn on Citi’s Thank
You Network for everything from retail gift certificates to
statement credits. In many ways, this is the most innovative
rewards credit card on the market today. Here, I will examine the
major features of the Citi PremierPass Elite Card and the standard
Citi Premier Pass Card.
The Citi PremierPass Elite level offers 20,000 bonus points after
$600 in purchases is made within 3 months of account opening.
Then, you earn 2 Purchase Points for every dollar you spend at gas
stations, supermarkets, and drugstores, plus 1 Purchase Point for
every other dollar you spend. On top of that, you earn 1 Flight
Point for every mile you fly on any airline — or anyone else whose
ticket you buy with the card. That means a roundtrip flight from
New York to Los Angeles would earn you over 6000 Flight Points, in
addition to the Purchase Points earned with the ticket purchase.
All of these advantages do have a price. There is an annual fee
with this card (the amount varies).
How does this compare to a standard airline rewards credit card?
Quite favorably. With a standard miles card, you would receive
points for the cost of the airline ticket from New York to Los
Angeles. That might total 350 to 700 points. With the Elite Level
Citi PremierPass, you not only get the purchase points, you get
6000 Flight Points, bringing your rewards total to anywhere from
6350 to 6700 miles for just one flight.
One primary way in which the Citi PremierPass Card differs from
the Elite level card is that the standard PremierPass does not
charge an annual fee. Consequently, it offers 10,000 less bonus
points upon first purchase, and a different rewards tier. With the
standard Citi PremierPass, consumers earn1 Flight Point for every
3 miles flown on any airline—or miles for anyone else whose ticket
you buy with the card. Additionally, this card offers a flat 1
Purchase Point reward for all purchases, with no double points at
grocery stores and gas stations. With this reward structure, a
flight from New York to Los Angeles would net 350 to 700 purchases
points, plus 2000 Flight Points. The total rewards you would earn
with the regular premier pass would thus be substanstially lower
than they would be with the Elite level card.
However, a typical airline rewards credit card not tied to a
particular airline would only offer points for your purchase, not
your miles in the sky. Without the added value of Flight Points,
the time it would take to accrue the 35,000 or more miles needed
to obtain a free flight would be, quite literally, miles upon
miles away.
As with any rewards credit card, the best option for small
spenders is always one with no annual fee. However, the Citi
PremierPass Elite’s expansive rewards program greatly offsets the
annual fee charged for just about anyone who uses their credit
card for most purchases and purchases airline tickets on a regular
basis.
For more
details, you can review the Citi PremierPass Application.
View all Airline Rewards Credit
Cards |
