Compare the Features and Benefits of Citi Prestige and
United Club℠ Infinite Card

Although it has a hefty $495 annual fee, power users can find good rewards.

Citi Prestige Benefits

• Get the 4th night free on hotel bookings of 4 or more consecutive nights made through the Citi travel center – capped at 2x per calendar. Note that all bookings must be made online and will not qualify for most hotel loyalty program’s elite benefits or points earning. The Citi portal is now powered by Booking.com
• You will also get a $250 travel credit every calendar year (super easy to use and automatically applied against all travel charges) and Priority Pass airport lounge access, with full access to Priority Pass Experiences like airport dining.
• Cell phone protection: The Citi Prestige offers up to $1,000 per claim with up to 2 claims per year. Max is $1,500 in a 12-month period with a $50 deductible per claim.

Because of the high annual fee, if you won’t take advantage of the 4th night free benefit, the Citi Premier card is likely a better card for you if your goal is to earn Citi ThankYou points.

This card is no longer available to new applicants. There is not currently a replacement but one is rumored. 

The United Club Infinite Card is a surprisingly robust offering from United Airlines and Chase.

The primary reason to get this card is because you fly United enough that you would like to have United Club lounge access for all of your flights.

The average person will save $125 by gaining United Club access via this credit card than by buying it directly. Even United 1K members come out $25 ahead. Why would anyone buy United Club access directly when it’s cheaper to pay a lower annual fee on the credit card?

By the way, the exact same thing applies to the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite MasterCard® and as well as the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Credit Card. The Delta cards even offer American Express Centurion Lounge access when flying Delta, although they also have a limit on lounge visits per year.

You also have the ability to earn the most Premier Qualifying Points towards United elite status of any of the United credit cards. You’ll earn 25 Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) for every $500 you spend on purchases.

Now, sure, outside of 4X miles per dollar spent on United purchases, the earn rate on other categories aren’t particularly strong. But the card’s features and benefits that we’ve described above that come on top of the United Club lounge access are incredibly compelling.

To recap, those benefits include:

• United Club lounge access

• First and second free checked bags

• Receive 25% Back on United inflight and Club Premium Drink Purchases

• Earn up to 10,000 Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) (You’ll earn 25 Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) for every $500 you spend on purchases.)

• 10% Saver Award Flight Discount

• Expanded Award Availability

• Premier Upgrades on Award Tickets

• Premier Access including priority check in and priority boarding

• Return Protection for Items a Store Won’t Take Back + Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection

• Access to The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection

• Primary Car Rental CDW Insurance

• Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS Reimbursement as a Statement Credit

• IHG Platinum Status

• Top Tier Avis President’s Club status

That’s not all of the card features, but it sure is enough to see that the value you are getting for that annual fee is pretty amazing.