On April 23rd, 2015 I wrote a post titled “Citibank Offering A 25% Transfer Bonus To Etihad Airlines“. Basically Citi was offering a 25% bonus when you transferred CitiMiles to Etihad Airlines, the page specifically mentioned the United States and the following cards: Citi ThankYou Premier, Citi Prestige, Citi Chairman.
Because of that and the fact that it was never mentioned that the promotion was country specific, I made the assumption that this would apply to United States cardholders as well. Citi has sneakily changed the terms today and the offer page now states: “when UAE cardmembers transfer CitiMiles”.
In addition to this they’ve also changed the offer page, it used to reside at the following url: http://www.etihadguest.com/en/earn-miles/financial/citibank/ and now resides at http://www.etihadguest.com/en/earn-miles/pointexchange/citibank/.
I think the blame in this promotion lies in Etihad and not Citibank though, the transfer bonus was only ever mentioned on the Etihad website so it looks like they were the ones giving the 25% bonus.
Some people have actually reported receiving the 25% bonus even though they are Americans and not UAE cardholders, so it’s entirely possible that those who previously transferred will receive the bonus but going forward only UAE cardholders will. If that’s the case, I don’t have a problem with the change. Companies usually reserve the right to end a promotion early, that being said it would be nice if Etihad removed the overview section at the end of the bonus which includes credit cards from locations outside of UAE.
If Etihad/Citi aren’t honoring the deal for those who’ve already made a transfer, they have a lot to answer for. I’d recommend making a complaint with Citi/Etihad themselves, if that doesn’t get a satisfactory result then escalating to the BBB, state AG and even the CFPB might be the best course of action.
As somebody who didn’t transfer any points during this promotion, I’m still extremely disappointed. I was hoping this would be the start of transfer bonuses from Citi, following in American Express’ footsteps.
Image via Live From A Lounge
Hat tip to live from a lounge