Citi Prestige Card Review

The Citi Prestige Card is their premium ThankYou point rewards card. Here are the highlights of the cards perks and sign-up bonus:

• 50,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
• 50,000 bonus ThankYou® Points are redeemable for $500 in travel, anytime, with no blackout dates when booked through the ThankYou Travel Center.
• Annual $250 Air Travel Credit, valid for flight-related expenses charged to your card including airline tickets, baggage fees, and upgrades.
• Complimentary 4th night stay at any hotel of your choice after a minimum 4-consecutive night booking through ThankYou.com or the Citi Prestige Concierge (based on your average night stay, exclusive of taxes and fees).
• Airport Lounge Access. You and your authorized users get access to hundreds of VIP lounges through Priority Pass™ Select.
• Transfer points to a variety of travel loyalty programs from airlines to hotels.
• 5x points on Air Travel.
• 5x points on Restaurants.
• 3x points on Hotels and Cruise Lines.
• Early 1X Points on All Other Purchases.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees on Purchases.
• $495 annual fee.

Note the following fine print:

Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Rewards+?, Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi ThankYou® Premier/Citi Premier? or Citi Prestige®, or if you have closed any of these accounts, in the past 24 months.

Annual $250 Air Travel Credit details. Unlike other cards, airfare counts as well as baggage fees, lounge access, and other incidental purchases. This renews every calendar year, so it can be used to help offset the annual fee every year.

This statement credit is an annual benefit available for purchases appearing on your billing statements from December through the following December. Pending transactions that do not post in your December billing cycle will count towards the next year’s Air Travel Credit.

Hotel points and airline miles transfer options. Citi ThankYou points are also now available to transfer to certain airline mileage programs on a 1:1 basis including JetBlue, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Etihad, Flying Blue by Air France and KLM, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, EVA Air, Jet Airways, Turkish Airlines, and Thai Airways. For example, 50,000 TY points can get you 50,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. If you know how to redeem this points wisely, you can get a lot of value for international flights.