Tag Archives: Citi Bank

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Transfer Times to KLM / Air France from Chase Ultimate Rewards, AMEX Membership Rewards, Citi Thank You Points & SPG Starpoints

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Update 8pm PT on 5/24: My 1500 SPG points posted to my KLM / Air France account within 48 hours of making the transfer (Tuesday afternoon).  SPG may do a bulk transfer at the same time for everyone, so your transfer times may vary.

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  I was in Portland over the weekend and had my fair share of food carts, Voodoo Donuts, rain drizzles, and weird people.  But enough about me… it’s all about KLM / Air France today.  Yesterday, Frequent Miler reported that KLM / Air France was added as a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner.  This is great news because you can now get KLM / Air France Flying Blue miles from all 4 major points currencies: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, Citi Thank You Points, American Express Membership Reward Points, and SPG Points.  In this post, I will show you how long transfers from each points currency takes to post to your KLM / Air France account.  This post is a sequel to Transfer Times to Singapore Airlines from Chase Ultimate Rewards, AMEX Membership Rewards, Citi Thank You Points, and SPG Starpoints.  I have always wanted to book a KLM / Air France promo award, so hopefully that dream comes true.

KLM Air France Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partner

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Rainy Weekend Trip to Portland, Oregon using Citi Thank You Points, British Airways Avios & Club Carlson Points

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am heading to Portland, Oregon tonight for a short weekend trip.  I wanted to go over Memorial Day Weekend, but I thought about the trip too late and the prices were too high and the award availability was not available.  Therefore, I am going this weekend.  I like to plan 2 holidays in advance, so right now, I recommend people start making plans for Labor Day Weekend in early September.  People are only thinking about Memorial Day Weekend and Fourth of July Weekend, so now is the time to start planning your Labor Day Weekend trip.

Anyway, a few months ago, I wrote about a Bad use of Alaska Airlines $99 Companion Ticket & Codeshare American Airlines / Alaska Airlines Booking with Citi Thank You Points.  In that post, I showed how I booked an Alaska Airlines flight, that was a codeshare with American Airlines, with my Citi Thank You Points for 1.6 cents per point toward the paid ticket.  15,012 Citi Thank You Points is worth $240.19, which is a pretty good price for 2 one way tickets from SFO to PDX.

Citi TYP Booking AA Codeshare AS SFO-PDX

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My Retention Offers for Citi Forward, Premier, Prestige & AA Platinum Credit Cards

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Good morning everyone.  Yesterday, I called Citi to ask about a recent credit card transaction.  Toward the end of the call, the rep asked if I had any other questions and I said that I had just paid the annual fee on my Citi Prestige Credit Card, but that I was considering closing the credit card.  I told her that I use my Citi Premier Credit Card more often than my Citi Prestige Credit Card and I don’t take advantage of the 3 free rounds of golf or 4th night free hotel benefit, so I don’t get much value out of paying the *huge* annual fee.  She put me on hold for a minute and transferred me to the credit card retention team (actual department name may differ).

After talking to the rep for a few minutes, he offered me the following retention offers on my Citi Prestige Credit Card:

  • Spend $4,000 in 3 consecutive months and get a $200 statement credit
  • Spend $3,000 over the next 6 months and get 10,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points (TYPs)

The $200 statement credit sounded tempting, but spending $12,000 over the next 3 months seemed like overkill for a 1.67% bonus ($200 / $12,000 = 1.67%).  I decided to take the second offer which only required me to spend $3,000 over the next 6 months, or about $500/month.  Since I value Citi TYPs at 1.6 cents per point (CPP), I would be getting a $160 bonus after spending $3,000, which results in a 5.33% bonus ($160 / $3,000 = 5.33%).

Citi Prestige Small Logo

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Trip Advice for Central and South America: Panama City, Lima & Cusco

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am about to embark on a week-long trek around Central and South America and I want some trip advice.  Here is my itinerary with a 23 hour layover in Panama City (PTY), 2 full days in Lima (LIM), and 3 full days in Cusco (CUZ).  If you have been to any of those cities, what do you recommend that I see or do while I am there?

GCM SFO CUZ

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Which Credit Cards will Replace my Citi Forward Credit Card after June 4?

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Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  I know this is old news, but my beloved Citi Forward Credit Card is changing (for the worst) on June 4, 2016.  Since the very beginning, I have been a huge fan of my Citi Forward Credit Card.  I have enjoyed the perks of earning 5x Citi Thank You Points on all restaurant, music, movie, and book purchases.  Unfortunately, the good times are ending abruptly on June 4, 2016, when the 5x categories are going to be downgraded to 4x 3x 2x categories.

As a consolation prize, Citi is extending the expiration period on Citi Thank You Points from 5 years to forever.  *sarcasm* Thanks Citi, I really appreciate that my Citi Thank You Points never expire.

Citi Forward Credit Card Terms Update June 4 Front

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