Also see: 

• Is Citi Planning Changes to the Prestige Card?
• 10,000 Citi ThankYou points for catching a site error

Update: The old 50K offer is still available! I’d apply sooner rather than later if you want it. It also says you’ll get AA lounge access still.

Update: Peeps on Reddit are reporting the 2 cent valuation, too. Who knows if Citi will honor this – it does seem like a careless typo after all, which is honestly inexcusable for a bank of their size.

Welp, the dreaded changes to Citi Prestige are in:

• 40,000 Citi ThankYou points as a sign-up bonus
• Minimum spending increased to $4,000 in 3 months
• Dropping American Airlines Admirals Club access (but here’s an easy way to get in anyway)
• No changes to 2X dining category (or any other bonus categories)

I’m guessing they had to axe the AA lounge access because of upcoming arrangements between Citi and Barclays with AA cards. That is fine. They could’ve been much worse.

Citi being Citi?

• Link: Apply for Card Offers

All-in-all, the changes aren’t worth dumping the card over. And furthermore, it’s still a decent sign-up bonus if you’ll use the other unique benefits, like:

• 4th night free on any hotel stay (I’ve already saved over $2,000 since I picked up the card in November 2015)
• Annual $250 airline credit to use on any airline, even for airfare
• Priority Pass Select membership with 2 free guests (like the Sala VIP Miro Lounge @ BCN or Air France Lounge @ JFK)
• 3X bonus category for airfare and hotel stays

These benefits are completely unique to this card – and they’re a huge reason why it’s perhaps my favorite credit card right now.

Here’s the link to apply for card offers if you wanna pick up this card (or any others).

Here’s where they start to lose me a little bit.

On the application page, they say 40,000 Citi ThankYou points are worth $800 toward flights on American Airlines. Which would mean Citi ThankYou points are worth 2 cents each when redeemed this way.

As of now, each Citi ThankYou point earned as (or combined with) Citi Prestige points are worth 1.6 cents toward AA flights. And in my opinion, a higher rate would not only offset the loss of lounge access, but also be a real game-changer and directly compete with 2% cashback cards, which would be wild.

I did a quick test flight search to see what would come up. And it’s still showing as 1.6 cents each.

And we all know Citi has a propensity for site typos.

But who knows – it’s on the official page. And they’ve added the “$532 flight” language which I haven’t seen before (because each Citi ThankYou point is worth 1.33 cents each on other airlines). So they obviously tweaked it and chose to leave $800 for American Airlines.

It’s worth noting that 50,000 Citi ThankYou points – the previous sign-up bonus – was worth $800 worth American Airlines flights at a 1.6 cent valuation. 40,000 Citi ThankYou points at 1.6 cents each is worth $640 for American Airlines flights.

So, case of bad copy/paste or new benefit/positive change?

My gut tells me the former, but my hopes obviously prefer the latter.

It’s also worth noting the ThankYou.com front page got a refresh – but the back end looks the same. So it’s anyone’s guess if they’re rolling out site changes or what’s going on. With Citi, ya just never know.

Bottom line

Are the changes to Citi Prestige major? Not really. Citi Prestige is still an amazing card, offers a ton of value, and has a respectable sign-up bonus ($640 worth of points is nothing to sniff at).

Is it as good as before? Well, no. But it could’ve also been a lot worse.

Again, here’s an easy way to regain Admirals Club lounge access.

A change I found as a typo (?) is 40,000 Citi ThankYou points are worth $800 – 2 cents each – toward American Airlines flights. I have a feeling that ain’t right, as typos are common for Citi during refreshes – but hot damn if that wouldn’t be amazing.

The ThankYou.com front page got a new look, so who knows. I’m putting my money on another site error – but if it turns out to be real, wouldn’t that be a cool perk to add?

What do you think – typo or real update? If it proves to be real, would that change things in your opinion?

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