I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.
This $95 annual fee card is underappreciated for its cost, its earning power, and for its bonus. And Citi points are transferable to a variety of different airline programs including some that don’t partner with Chase or Amex. Right now the card has its biggest-ever initial bonus offer, the second best up front offer of any card right now behind the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
Great Initial Bonus
Citi Premier® Card is offering a 80,000 point signup bonus after $4000 in purchases on the card within your first 3 months of account opening.
What I’ve seen most of the time over the years has been either a 30,000 point bonus or no signup bonus at all. This is a great bonus for a card with transferable points, second only to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
Earns Transferable Points Fast
Citi Premier® Card earns 3 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants and Supermarkets, 3 Points per $1 spent at Gas Stations, Air Travel and Hotels; 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
Unique Points Transfer Partners
Not all ThankYou points transfer to airline miles, for instance points from checking accounts and no annual fee Citi ThankYou points-earning cards do not.
However points from the Citi Premier® Card transfer one-to-one to a variety of frequent flyer programs or can be spent directly towards airfare on any airline or redeemed for gift cards.
This card’s Citibank ThankYou points transfer to:
- Star Alliance: Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, Avianca LifeMiles
- SkyTeam: Air France-KLM
- oneworld: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Malaysia Airlines Enrich, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Qantas Frequent Flyer, and [through November 23, 2021] American AAdvantage
- Non-alliance: Etihad Airways Guest, Emirates Skywards, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, jetBlue, InterMiles (formerly JetPrivilege)
My favorite transfer partner choices do overlap Chase and American Express:
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer for better premium cabin award space than is offered to partners, upgrades from premium economy to business, and United domestic premium awards)
- Etihad Guest for Etihad premium cabin awards, American Airlines awards at cheap prices
- Air France KLM Flying Blue for better availability on Air France than is offered to partners and Air France arguably has the best transatlantic business class now
- Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles for distance-based premium cabin awards on Cathay
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for ANA first and business class to and from Japan and Delta business class trips to and from Europe.
But you can’t discount Turkish Airlines which has some of the least expensive awards, and partners with Star Alliance carriers like United. And Emirates has great value awards for JetBlue business class. EVA Air’s Star Alliance program is also underrated.
ANA First Class
Virgin, Singapore, and Air France are duplicated by both Chase and American Express, and Cathay Pacific and Etihad are duplicated by American Express. However there are niche reasons to transfer to other partners like Qantas and Garuda as well.
And this duplication is a huge benefit rather than a downside to the card. It means you can sign up for a Citi Premier® Card and a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and put the points from each into the same place so that you can redeem for better travel for yourself or have enough points to travel with someone.
EVA Air Business Class
Some Things to Consider With Citi Cards When Choosing to Apply
Citibank doesn’t have a hard limit on the number of their cards you can have though of course how much credit they’ll make available for each person will vary.
After you apply for one card they’ll consider another application from you 8 days later, but you can’t apply for more than 2 cards in 65 days.
Generally Citi will not give you the bonus on a new card account if you received a bonus from a product’s family in the past 24 months of if you’ve closed an account in that family. If you’ve gotten a Citi Prestige bonus (or Rewards+, ThankYou Preferred, or this card’s) in the past 24 months you won’t be eligible for this bonus. If you get this bonus now you won’t be eligible for a Citi Prestige bonus.
Is it closed account within 24 months are closed ever. I had the card but closed itabout 4 years ago,
But, in addition to its partners being not as good, Citi is far inferior to Amex and Chase in terms of the restrictions it puts on points use: 1. Points are linked to the one specific card you used to generate those points. 2. Thus, if you cancel that specific card, you must use its points or convert them to a partner program within 60 (or 90??) days; otherwise, you lose them.
Citi got rid of travel protections so be careful what you charge on this card.
Reasons not to love the card: It has become a very difficult card to get approved for. I was denied on recon based on having had 3 credit pulls in the past 12 months from Experian. Not even new cards, just PULLS. Woe be unto you if you’re applying for a mortgage, for example.
Doesn’t Virgin Atlantic allow for one way NH awards?
The only reason for me to have EVER loved Premier is the temp transfer to AA. 80k is more AA miles than I have recall seeing the co-branded cards offer. Expecting to receive it this week to finish spend pronto & transfer those points to AA!
Isn’t the current public offer on the Amex Plat 100,000 MR? High min spend $6k vs $4k but an extra 3 months to get it.
What’s better than this Citi Premiere card
@ GetF’d no they don’t. Only RT. I’ve booked a couple of trips and both times Virgin was clear in stating only RTs could be booked.