The $30 Flights to Asia

For my very first major award booking, I was able to explore Hong Kong, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Taipei (for an extended layover) all by signing up for a single credit card. All of the flights for this trip ended up costing me only $30.80 out of pocket. However, after considering all of the other benefits of the credit card, this fee easily turns into a hefty profit. Aside from saving a ton of money on flights, having this credit card also allowed me to travel more luxuriously than normal. I was given free access to airport lounges in each location and I was able to bypass the long immigration line when returning back to the US. Keep reading to find out how!

**Please note. Credit card deals come and go and the offers can change fairly often. What is explained below is the offer I received and how I used it to my advantage. If you are interested in trying to do something similar, be sure to check what the current offer is before applying. However, even if this same offer has changed or is not currently available, this should, at the very least, exemplify the power of responsibly using credit cards for the benefit of travel. There are dozens of cards out there that enable you to take advantage of similar benefits.

The Card
Citi Prestige from Citibank

Notable Benefits (this is not a complete list)

• Annual fee: $450 (charged after approval and every year after that). Keep reading to see how this fee actually turns into quite the profit!
• Bonus: 50,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months after account opening.
• Point accrual rates: I earn 3 points for every dollar I spend on airfare and hotels, 2 points per dollar for every dollar spent on dining and entertainment, and 1 point per dollar on everything else.
• Type of points: Thank You Points. These are very valuable points because I have the ability to transfer them to multiple different airlines. However, for this trip, I simply booked my flights through the Citi prestige online travel portal.
• $250 air travel credit every calendar year. This credit can be applied to purchases made for any airfare, baggage fees, airport lounge fees, and in flight purchases.
• $100 credit for a Global Entry application fee. Global entry significantly speeds up the process of immigration when entering into the US from another country. It also comes with TSA pre check, which allows expedited security clearance in most US airports. These are good for 5 years and they are an awesome perk for anyone who travels even only a couple times per year. No more showing up so early to the airport and no more hassle with long security lines!
• Priority Pass airport lounge membership. Myself and up to two guests are allowed entry into select lounges all over the world. Most lounges offer free alcohol, food, and wifi. Some even offer showers and massages!
• Complimentary 4th night free for hotel stays booked through Citi’s concierge service (this also includes all inclusive resorts). There is currently no limit to how many times you can take advantage of this.
• No foreign transaction fees while traveling abroad.
• Trip insurance

This was the More Premium Lounge in Taipei, Taiwan that I was allowed free access into with my Priority Pass. I was given free entrance, all I could eat free food (a ramen noodle bar and self serve Haagen Dazs ice cream!), all I could drink free alcohol, free wifi, massage chairs, and I was even able to shower before my flight.

The Strategy and the Value
Don’t let the $450 fee scare you. I found that the perks of this card more than made up for the hefty fee. I had to pay the fee after opening, however, I really came out on top later on. The main way that I found to really take advantage of this card was to make sure that I got approved for the card at the right time of year in order to be able to take advantage of the travel credit TWICE within the first year of membership. Let me explain. The card came with a $250 travel credit every calendar year. A calendar year is considered to be the time between January 1st of a year through December 31st of that same year. This meant that, since I received the card in June, I could get that credit before the end of December of that year and then again after January 1st of the following calendar year (before my next fee was due in the following June).

The schedule I followed:

• June 2016- account opened
• August 2016- received $250 credit
• February 2017- received $250 credit

So I used my card to pay for some flights and I was reimbursed $250 on two separate occasions. That’s a $500 value, which already makes up for the $450 fee and leaves you with a profit.

Now lets look at the value of the other perks..

The card reimbursed me for my Global Entry application. To do this, I applied for Global Entry online and paid with my Citi Prestige card. Within a short amount of time, Citi credited me the $100 to my card. Within a couple weeks after account opening, I also received a Priority Pass, which is currently sold for about $400 per year (not including the $27 fees they charge for having guests). After meeting the bonus requirement, I was given 53,000 points (50,000 bonus points plus the 3,000 from the minimum spending requirement). In addition to some extra everyday spending, I racked up 68,267 points and this enabled me to book my flights to Asia for only $30.80. The flights would probably have cost me around $800 if I would have paid for them on my own.

So let’s add up my approximate value so far: $250+$250+$100+$400+$800= $1800. After subtracting the $450 annual fee and the $30 flight fees I paid, the value I received from this card was around $1,300. And this could have been way more if I would have taken advantage of the 4th night free hotel stay benefit. That perk could easily save a couple thousand dollars within a membership year! In the end, regardless of monetary value, as you can see from this video, there is nothing more valuable than the experience I received from the trip it allowed me to take.

Lastly, I plan on canceling the credit card around 1 month before the second years annual fee is due. I always wait 11 months because that is a safe time frame that I can keep the card before the unwanted second fee gets charged and because the longer I keep the card open the less of a negative impact it has on my average age of credit (this is one of the factors used in determining ones credit score). Overall, in my case, I won’t get enough benefits for the second year to offset paying the hefty $450 fee again. This is because during the second year, I would only get a single $250 travel credit. I wouldn’t be able to double dip on that perk again. Also, I wouldn’t be getting the value from the bonus points and Global Entry credit as I did in the first year. Also, I just don’t stay at hotels enough to use the 4th night free benefit. However, keep in mind that many can easily still find it well worth it. Especially given the hotel perk.

Booking the Reward
In order to book this reward, I simply used the Citi Prestige travel portal. Typically, I think that transferring points to specific airlines and booking with airline partners tends to be a more lucrative use of points. However, this was my first major award booking and booking through the site made things quick and easy (and also made me very addicted to this credit card game). Also, by doing so, I only had to pay $30.80 in taxes and fees, which seems to be very low.

The Basics of Utilizing Credit Cards For the Benefit of Travel
If you are new to using credit cards in such a manner, I highly recommend reading my other post where I discuss the basics of this hobby. Click here. That post, along with your own online research, should give you the information you need to better understand the logistics to all of this.