Getting Both Citi Prestige and Citi Premier for 80,000 Bonus ThankYou Points

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I’ve gotten several questions about whether one person can get both the Citi Prestige® Card and the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card and their 80,000 total bonus ThankYou Points.

Yes, one person can get both cards as long you apply for the two cards at least eight days apart.

Questions this article will answer:

• What are the differences between the Prestige and Premier?
• Why would you want both?
• How can you get both?
• How can you combine the points (and why do you really want to)?

What are the differences between the Prestige and Premier?

The Prestige is a premium credit card that competes with cards like the American Express Platinum. The Premier is more of a standard rewards card that competes with cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Sign Up Bonus

The Prestige offers 50,000 ThankYou Points after spending $3,000 in the first three months.
The Premier offers 40,000 ThankYou Points after spending $3,000 in the first three months.

Annual Fee

There’s a huge difference here. The Prestige has a $450 annual fee that is not waived. The Premier has no annual fee the first 12 months, then $95 a year.

Category Bonuses

The Prestige offers 3x on airlines and hotels and 2x on dining and entertainment. The Premier‘s category bonuses are slightly better. It offers 3x on travel and gas. That includes airlines and hotels, but also a lot more. It also offers 2x on dining and entertainment.

Ease of Travel

Both cards have chip technology for global acceptance and no foreign transaction fees.

Value of ThankYou Points

Both cards offer the ability to transfer ThankYou Points to 12 airline and hotel programs. This is the highest value redemption method.

Both also offer the chance to redeem points like cash toward any flight with no blackouts, but the Prestige offers higher value when points are used this way. The Premier‘s points are worth 1.25 cents each toward all flights. The Prestige‘s are worth 1.6 cents toward American Airlines flights and 1.33 cents toward all other flights.

If you have both the Premier and Prestige, you can combine the points into one account, which allows for redemptions at the better Prestige rates.

More info on these redemption options and redeeming ThankYou Points.

Other Benefits

This is where the Prestige kills the Premier, and why the Prestige‘s $450 annual fee is more than justified in my opinion. The Prestige offers:

• $250 per CALENDAR YEAR (so $500 before your second annual fee is due) in airfare or airline fee statement credits. Tickets, award taxes, upgrades, and bag fees all qualify. This more than offsets the first annual fee.
• $100 statement credit for signing up for Global Entry, which also gives access to TSA Precheck. Global Entry has been worth way more than $100 to me over the last few years.
• Lounge access to all Admirals Clubs when flying American Airlines. Lounge access to all Priority Pass Select lounges always. For either type of lounge, you can bring in all your under-18 children plus spouse or any two guests.
• Fourth night free on all hotel reservations booked through Prestige’s travel agency.
• Three free rounds of golf per year at participating courses.

Why Would You Want Both?

Each has strengths beyond its giant sign up bonus.

The Premier has better category bonuses because all the following are included at 3x: airlines, hotels, gas, car rentals, travel agencies, buses, trains, parking, tolls, bridges, and time shares. The Prestige only offers 3x on airlines and hotels. The Premier also has a lower annual fee, and one that is waived for the first year.

The Prestige has far better benefits like the statement credits, airport lounge access, and higher value of points when redeemed like cash for flights. Plus getting the Prestige can retroactively lift the value of ThankYou Points earned on other cards because those points can now be put into your Prestige account, which has higher value redemption options.

If you have one, you might want the other for its strengths. If you have neither, you might want both to maximize the strengths of both.

How Can You Get Both?

According to the combined experience of FlyerTalkers, you can be approved for no more than one Citi credit card application in 8 days and no more than two applications in 65 days.

So if you got one of the cards months ago and want the other now, apply.

If you have neither, apply for one now and one in 8+ days. (Unless you recently got a different Citi card like the American Airlines card with 50,000 bonus miles. In that case, make sure that at least 65 days have elapsed from your previous application to your second application.)

To avoid all confusion:

OK

Got Prestige 8+ days ago, have no other Citi cards, get Premier today

Have neither card or any other Citi card, get Prestige today and Premier in 8+ days

Got AA card 14 days ago. Get Prestige today and Premier in 51+ days. (65 day rule noted above)

Not OK

Get Premier and Prestige on same day

Got AA card 14 days ago. Get Prestige today and Premier in 8 days

You may not be instantly approved on your applications. When that happens, your screen should have a number to call Citi for an instant decision. I always call in to speed things up. I doubt you’ll be asked why you want both the Prestige and Premier, but if you are, mention the strengths of the one you don’t have yet.

How to Combine Points

You want to combine your ThankYou Points once you have both the Prestige and Premier because the Prestige‘s ThankYou Points are worth more when used like cash toward the purchase of a flight, especially an American Airlines flight.

Here is how to combine ThankYou Points from multiple accounts.

Bottom Line

You can get both the Prestige and Premier and long as you apply at least at least 8 days apart, and potentially further apart if you have another recent Citi application. Getting both cards and meeting their minimum spending requirements would earn at least 96,000 ThankYou Points, and probably more if you maximize the category bonuses.

You can combine the ThankYou Points into the Prestige‘s account to take advantage of a higher value for redeeming the points toward any flight like cash. However I still recommend that most people transfer ThankYou Points to airline miles for higher value redemptions.

Application Link: Citi Prestige

Application Link: Citi ThankYou Premier