Reposting this because people are finally reporting receiving e-mails about this benefit. Travel with Grant provided me with the picture now in this post. Originally Published on: Apr 21, 2015 @ 18:09
Citi are continuing to improve their credit card offerings. They have just added the following benefits:
- Citi Executive / AAdvantage card can now receive a statement credit of up to $100 once every five years as a reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
- Citi Prestige already offers a statement credit of up to $100 once every five years for Global Entry, they have now added TSA PreCheck as an option as well
These benefits can only be used for the primary cardholder (e.g no using them for a spouse or secondary card holder). Recently Citi increased the sign up bonus to 50,000 ThankYou on the Prestige card (and there is a 60,000 in branch offer as well).
It’s always good to see benefits added to cards, unfortunately Global Entry/TSA PreCheck is an extremely common benefit already so a lot of cardholders will already have these. I would’ve preferred to see something like an inflight WiFi benefit or something a bit different from the norm. That being said I’m definitely not complaining when they add a benefit without taking anything way.
SO and I both applied for GE about 2 weeks ago. I paid with my Prestige and she paid with her Citi Executive.
Her statement arrived by mail last night (she’s somewhat of a luddite) and the GE reimbursement credit was on there, plain as day. I was surprised it turned around so quickly.
Very pleased Citi has upped their offerings and their game. 🙂
Agreement on the logic but not in practice. I can apply for Pre Check on Monday, go to the processing to pay the fee and and prints and have my KTN by Friday of the same week. This actually happeneed for me and my spuose. Can you say the same for GE? Granted, I don’t travel international much so Pre Check is much easier for domestic travelers.
Global Entry: $100.00 includes TSA Precheck (good for 5 years)
TSA Precheck; $85.00 (good for 5 years)
Since AA is giving a $100 statement credit every 5 years, it seems obvious to go for the Global Entry.
Love this website William. Keep up the good work.
You say above that Global Entry/TSA Precheck is an ‘extremely common’ benefit already. What other cards give this benefit? (I’m aware of Ameriprise Amex Platinum)
Thanks!
How is the benefit limited to the primary cardholder in practice? If the card is used to pay a fee to PreCheck or to Global Entry, I don’t think the name of the applicant to the program will appear :/ any way. So, could the card just be used to pay the application fee for a spouse without Citi ever knowing the difference?
I have no idea how it’s limited in practice, I know with other cards they say it’s for the primary cardholder only but it can be used for anyone. It’s possible that Citi have a deal to pass back that information with GE/TSA but I highly doubt it. Main problem is that it’s only once every five years.
What is your source for the $100 Global Entry benefit on the Citi Executive Card? You and TPG have mentioned it the past 30 hours, but I can’t find anything else on it…
I spoke to Citibank directly regarding this change and they were able to confirm it’s real and active for all current and new customers. Not sure why the marketing materials haven’t been updated or why existing customers haven’t been notified. I suspect that’ll happen over the next couple of days – they might have wanted to spread the positive news over a few days.