Citi Prestige reduces limo spending requirement from S$20K to S$12K

A 40% reduction in the minimum spending to unlock airport transfers, but it's still way above the competition.

Citibank has been quietly making some tweaks to the T&Cs of the Citi Prestige card. We already know that there’ll be some upcoming negative changes to the 4th Night Free benefit (tl;dr: more restrictions on qualifying stays, bookings must be prepaid), but it seems the limo benefit is changing too, and thankfully for the better.

A few days ago, sharp-eyed members of the Citi Prestige Telegram group spotted that the wording for the limo benefit had been modified. However, there was some confusion because the terms contradicted each other- one section said that the minimum spend had been reduced to S$12K. Another section quoted the usual S$20K.

  • “Qualifying Entitlements” refers to the 02 (two) complimentary limousine transfers per quarter that are given to Cardmembers who meet the minimum spend criteria of S$12,000 in that quarter.
  • A “Qualifying Charge” is defined as accumulated retail transactions of a minimum sum of S$20,000 in to the Citi Prestige card account within each quarter.

Which was it? No one dared to hope, but thankfully Citi has cleared things up in an new version.

Minimum spend for limo lowered to S$12K per quarter

Effective immediately, Citi has cut the spending requirement for airport transfers by 40%, from S$20K to S$12K per quarter.

  • “Qualifying Entitlements” refers to the 02 (two) complimentary limousine transfers per quarter that are given to Cardmembers who meet the minimum spend criteria of S$12,000 in that quarter.
  • A “Qualifying Charge” is defined as accumulated retail transactions of a minimum sum of S$12,000 in to the Citi Prestige card account within each quarter.

Before we get all starry-eyed over this, let’s remember that in April 2019, Citi hiked the limo spending requirement dramatically. It used to take just S$1.5K of foreign currency spend in a quarter to unlock four rides. After the nerf, it took S$20K spend to unlock two rides- a 13X hike in spending, with a 50% cut in allowance. So while S$12K is certainly better than S$20K, it’s a far cry from what things used to be.

I’m assuming this change applies retroactively, in that qualification for Jan-Mar 2020 will now follow the reduced threshold. If in doubt, you’ll want to check directly with Citi customer service.

Do remember that you can use Citi PayAll to meet the minimum spending, which may be useful for those of you with rental, education, condo fees, taxes or electricity bills to pay. Citi now states this explicitly in the T&C, which hopefully puts an end to all doubts.

How does this compare to other cards?

I recently updated the article comparing airport limo benefits among cards in Singapore. Of the five cards that offer this perk, the Citi Prestige still has the highest spending requirement.

Card Qualifying Spend (QS)Rides per QSMax Uses
UOB PRVI Miles AMEXS$1K FCY spend per quarter (excludes online)22 per quarter, 8 per year
Citi PrestigeS$12K spend per quarter22 per quarter, 8 per year
HSBC Visa Infinite S$2K spend per month1 (2 free per year, 4 free for HSBC Premier customers)24 per year (includes free trips)
Maybank Visa Infinite S$3K spend per month28 per year
OCBC VOYAGES$3K spend per month (S$5K from 1 Jun 20)12 per month

A much better option for free limo rides is the UOB PRVI Miles AMEX, which requires just S$1K foreign currency spending per quarter to unlock two free rides.

Conclusion

I mentioned before that because of the astronomical spending requirement, the Citi Prestige to me for all intents and purposes doesn’t have a limo benefit. Even with this 40% reduction, my view on the matter hasn’t changed.

If you want to get a Citi Prestige for the unlimited lounge access, Boingo inflight Wi-Fi and 4th Night Free benefit, go right ahead- you’ll get good value. But you shouldn’t be factoring the limo into your decision, unless you’re regularly putting large amounts of spending on the card.

Citi’s reduced spending requirement for airport transfers is welcome, but it hardly reverses the damage done by the April 2019 devaluation.

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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Pat

How do we actually check how many limo rides have been earned? Is there anywhere where we can see a balance? Does it accumulate across the year if not used?

Wayne

Boingo in-flight WiFi has never worked for me on all of the flights that I have tried. It will always say that the maximum number of users has been reached even when I have logged out on all of my other devices. Has anyone successfully managed to use Boingo in-flight?

Dave

Yes, on about 20 flights over the last 6 months. SQ, TR, LH.

I’m only facing the error you mentioned when trying to login on phone and laptop at the same time.

Tom

I’ve got to say for me this puts the card back in the category of having a limo benefit again. Given PayAll is expressly included it should be far easier to hit the 12K for someone in the 120k+ income bracket.

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