Citibank Price Match Guarantee

[oz_mark]

Unbelivable. Like what is the point and whom would want to collect points in 2 different programs (Citi and Qantas) for the same end product (since its a PM with Qantas) and have them just sitting in their Qantas account incase you need to provide Citi with a screenshot for a trip?

Surely they haven't thought this through if they wish people to spend exclusively on the Citi card. Luckily I have access to someone with a lot of points with QFF that could provide me a screenshot but that just seems a superfluous requirement.

What they want is proof that Qantas were willing to provide you the flight you are claiming. As per the T&C's

3. To show us a recent award flight offer available to you in the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program you will need to email/fax us a printout of a screenshot from the relevant page from the Qantas Australia website of the award availability to you which clearly shows: date you sourced the quote, flight numbers; airline; dates of travel; total number of points and if the relevant offer allows you to pay with a combination of Qantas Frequent Flyer points and dollar payment, the amount of the dollar payment; number of adult and child passengers; class of travel; and quantity of baggage included. To contact us phone 1300 144 920. This offer is available for bookings made through the Citibank Travel Program call centre and claims cannot be made for online bookings.

If Qantas are not willing to sell you the fare for the points, then Citibank don't have anything to match!

 

[NDiddy]

Quick update guys - They finally accepted the screen shot (thanks again anchew) and within the next 7 days the $320 should be credited back to the cc with 32,000CR points deducted.

 

[Flight777]

Does anyone know how a cancellation refund would be issued if I booked a Qantas flight via the price match guarantee. Would the refund be:

1. A points refund back to my account?

2. A Cash refund?

3. A Cash credit?

Many Thanks.

 

[Spizz]

You may need to contact them directly for an answer as it isn't mentioned in the T&C (well not that I can see).

 

[oz_mark]

You may need to contact them directly for an answer as it isn't mentioned in the T&C (well not that I can see).

I guess amongst other things, it would depend on the fare rules of the fare that was actually booked. But the definitive answer would come from giving them a call.

 

[wafliron]

Well what a pain in the a55 exercise this is turning out to be. So after anchew sent me the screen shot I forwarded on to Pinpoint just before heading to bed. Got a few missed calls at lunch time when they said they would call but couldn't get to it. They called again at 6.30 and Pete the CSR said that they could process the claim........BUT they need the screenshot with the date/time on the comp (which was not on the screenshot).

Was the date/time that the printout was made not shown in the footer of the printout? That's normal behaviour when you print from most web browsers. Or was it shown, but wasn't sufficient proof for them?

ZOMFGROFLCOPTER - I nearly ripped this guy a new one. He said that in order for Citibank to refund the cash component that they charge on your cc with points they need the date/time on the comp. So we went ahead with the booking and I've just emailed anchew to see if he can help me out again. Seriously thinking this was really not worth the pain. Anyway got the PNR and all is booked but the points won't get deducted and I'll get charged the full cash component which was $320 (32,000 point equivalent) + 136.48 + 2%. So have emailed anchew (which I feel so bad about since he was so kind to help me out) and hoping this experience just ends.

Seems weird that they let you go ahead with the booking without them being 100% satisfied that the "QFF have offered you this flight" requirements had been met... I wonder why they did that? It actually wouldn't be too bad an outcome if they just charged you the 1c/point dollar cost and never refunded this / charged the points - would still represent a pretty big saving over what the fare would normally cost you (and a massive saving in other cases - e.g. the Aus-USA trip I price matched was charged at ~$3,500 before the refund, compared to a commercial value of over $16k). Not suggesting we should be aiming for this, but interesting to think about none-the-less

Now here's the kicker for all involved. I questioned him about why they need to see the review screen with taxes specifically pointed out the irony in having to have the required points in both QFF and Citibank. Turns out they expect the people who take advantage of the PM to have not only a QFF account but the points as well. Sigh* So I try explaining how pointless this was and I think he understood where I was coming from but was unable to provide a good answer.

This is just bizarre. The cynic in me wonders if the PMG was only ever really intended as a marketing tool, with this requirement ensuring they don't have to actually make good on it very often. Or, as others have suggested, it was costing them too much money and this is their way of curbing the expense. I just can't think of any other reason why they'd have such an unworkable rule in place, given that you can prove that a flight was offered to you via QFF, including the points and the taxes / surcharges cost (albeit in a round-about way), without having to have the required QFF points in your account.

Unbelivable. Like what is the point and whom would want to collect points in 2 different programs (Citi and Qantas) for the same end product (since its a PM with Qantas) and have them just sitting in their Qantas account incase you need to provide Citi with a screenshot for a trip?

So you can book J with Citi points via the PMG and then submit your J->F upgrade request with QFF points ;-)

Surely they haven't thought this through if they wish people to spend exclusively on the Citi card. Luckily I have access to someone with a lot of points with QFF that could provide me a screenshot but that just seems a superfluous requirement.

The potential problem here is that you're technically not meeting the conditions of the offer - the screenshot you're sending through does not demonstrate that you have been offered the flight by QFF, but rather than your friend with lots of points has been offered the flight. I doubt this would cause an issue in practice, but it'd be nice not to have to bend the rules just to be able to make reasonable use of the service they're offering.

What they want is proof that Qantas were willing to provide you the flight you are claiming. As per the T&C's

But you can do this (provide proof that QF are willing to provide the flight that you're claiming) without having to get all the way to the "review booking" page - the prior pages showing available flight options and total points cost (down the bottom, once flight(s) have been selected) are enough to demonstrate that a flight is on offer. You can even show the taxes and surcharges cost in a round-about way on these earlier pages (by viewing the source code of the page). What Citi are asking for with a screenshot of the "review booking" page doesn't add any additional data that you can't get from the earlier pages AFAICS.

Does anyone know how a cancellation refund would be issued if I booked a Qantas flight via the price match guarantee.

I've been wondering this too. Assuming the ticket is booked into a cancellable booking class then you'd logically expect a cash refund would happen, as from QF's point of view PMG tickets are commercial fares not award bookings. Whether QF would pay this directly to you or whether they'd pay it to Pinpoint (Citi Travel) - and what Pinpoint would do with it - are an unknown though. If QF paid the refund directly to you then you could hypothetically use the PMG to turn your CitiRewards points into a lot of cash, given you'd get the full commercial value of your booking in return for your points (e.g. over $16,000 for ~210k CR points in the case of my recent Aus-USA and vv QF J PMG booking). I'm not suggesting this is a good idea to try for - definitely against the spirit of the PMG - but it would be nice way to burn points...

Can someone ask Citi Travel about cancellations and refunds next time someone speaks to them? I will ask next time I speak to them if no one has posted an answer before then.

---

Given all the "bad press" about the PMG in recent posts, I thought I'd at least say something positive about it: once you jump through all the hoops and get a fare price-matched, it really is a good offer. I just got back from my MEL-xSYD-LAX;DFW-xBNE-MEL trip that was converted from a QF award ticket into a QF commercial ticket using the PMG. It cost me a little more in $$, but in return I earned ~950 SCs (via DSC promotion), ~40k QFF points and was able to successfully upgrade the SYD-LAX leg from J to F

 

[WA flyer]

Looks like they're moving the goal posts already.
I just booked a "price matched" Perth to Alice return with a stop in Ayers Rock on the way back.
About 10 minutes later the rep called back to say "her manager asked her to call me to say that in future they will only allow direct flights".
i guess I could just book the flights separately, although this will be more time consuming for all parties!

 

[wafliron]

Looks like they're moving the goal posts already.
I just booked a "price matched" Perth to Alice return with a stop in Ayers Rock on the way back.
About 10 minutes later the rep called back to say "her manager asked her to call me to say that in future they will only allow direct flights".
i guess I could just book the flights separately, although this will be more time consuming for all parties!

Was this a genuine stopover - e.g. stop in Ayer's Rock for >24 hours? Or was it a transit (<24 hours) after QF's search engine offered you a non-direct return option (either designed to get a "free" <24 stopover, or for extra SCs)?

 

[greenfrog86]

Sounds a whole lot like a classic, classic, classic Citibank offering with associated dumb, dumb, dumb processes...

'Oh lets offer something that might make us look like we're offering something good, however only those people willing to spend hours on forums, in front of the Qantas website and on the phone to us will be able to get any benefit out of it...'

I seriously wonder what kind of muppets build the processes and procedures at Citi - I think Carol Beer from Little Britain would have better luck putting these requests through her computer...

 

[beardoc]

Sounds a whole lot like a classic, classic, classic Citibank offering with associated dumb, dumb, dumb processes...

'Oh lets offer something that might make us look like we're offering something good, however only those people willing to spend hours on forums, in front of the Qantas website and on the phone to us will be able to get any benefit out of it...'

I seriously wonder what kind of muppets build the processes and procedures at Citi - I think Carol Beer from Little Britain would have better luck putting these requests through her computer...

It strikes me that they get marketing people to propose these "features" but then don't realise the complexities of actually offering those features at all.

 

[WA flyer]

Was this a genuine stopover - e.g. stop in Ayer's Rock for >24 hours? Or was it a transit (<24 hours) after QF's search engine offered you a non-direct return option (either designed to get a "free" <24 stopover, or for extra SCs)?

Stopover for about 24 hours, although there are some flights which have an enforced 24 hour transit which pretty much is the same other than slight price difference.

 

[wafliron]

Stopover for about 24 hours, although there are some flights which have an enforced 24 hour transit which pretty much is the same other than slight price difference.

I'd be interested to know if it was less than 24 hours or greater than 24 hours. If the former then I don't see this as an unreasonable new rule from Citi, assuming there are flights available without the transit - we might like Citi to help us do SC runs, but it seems a little outside the intention of their program If it's the latter... that seems odd, as stopovers are a completely normal (and reasonable!) part of flight itineraries.

 

[M@rcoPolo]

Questions for the Citibank price match guarantee gurus out there...

I want to send my parents from SYD to the USA late this year... I have enough QF frequent flyer points to get one classic award seat... but not two!
At the same time I have a slightly higher balance in my Citi rewards account... so what I was thinking is to get one ticket as QF rewards and ask Citi to match the same using Citi Rewards points (under a different name). I guess the main risk here is they won't be on the same flights!

Would Citi match at least the flight dates? If they come up with a different flight / airline is there a way to "negotiate" for a specific flight / airline, perhaps paying the difference in airfares?

 

[oz_mark]

I've always been offered the same flight! But they do state a comparable time, so I think it would be on the same date...

 

[wafliron]

Questions for the Citibank price match guarantee gurus out there...

I want to send my parents from SYD to the USA late this year... I have enough QF frequent flyer points to get one classic award seat... but not two!
At the same time I have a slightly higher balance in my Citi rewards account... so what I was thinking is to get one ticket as QF rewards and ask Citi to match the same using Citi Rewards points (under a different name). I guess the main risk here is they won't be on the same flights!

Yes, you're running the risk that they won't be on the same flights... it will also take a bit of juggling to get the two seats (assuming don't want to try and "bend the rules" of the PMG). I'd suggest you do something like:

1) Find appropriate award flights with two award seats available.

2) Ring QF and get them to put together an itinerary for one pax, asking them to hold it (IIRC you can hold for 24 hours).

3) Go online and get the screenshots required for the PMG - there should still be one award seat available.

4) Send said screenshots to Citi and perform the PMG.

5) Confirm / ticket the held itinerary with Qantas - you might need to do this before the PMG ticket is completed though, depending on how fast Citi Travel get back to you. Absolutely worst case is you have to cancel it for 5,000 points penalty though.

You might want to ring Citi and ask them to expedite the process - if you can get them to respond within 24 hours of step #2 you will know whether you can get them both on the same flight before you outlay any points of $$ and hence can make the most informed decision about how to proceed.

You might also want to check the PMG T&Cs to see if you can use it when the cardholder isn't travelling... QF allows you to redeem your QFF points for a family member, but I'm not sure about the Citi PMG.

Would Citi match at least the flight dates? If they come up with a different flight / airline is there a way to "negotiate" for a specific flight / airline, perhaps paying the difference in airfares?

You'd expect they'd at least match the dates - the PMG does say they will offer "equivalent flights", and flights on different dates hardly seem "equivalent".

Whether you'll get Qantas / the exact flight you want...no one can answer this for sure, you'll just have to try it - make sure you specifically request the same flight when you do though. In my case they've always been happy to match Qantas with Qantas (and exact same flights) upon request, but YMMV as all of my test PMG bookings and my one real PMG booking were some time ago, and in the interim there's been some noise in this thread that they may be tightening things up.

 

[M@rcoPolo]

You might also want to check the PMG T&Cs to see if you can use it when the cardholder isn't travelling... QF allows you to redeem your QFF points for a family member, but I'm not sure about the Citi PMG.

Well all I could find is this... https://www.takeflight.citibank.com.au/public/info.aspx?name=price_match_guarantee

No mention of such restrictions and the link to the "complete T&Cs" is dead - citibank.com.au/pmg

So typical Citibank isn't it? I guess I shall call them tomorrow to find out...

 

[M@rcoPolo]

FYI I called them today and they confirmed tickets can be issued in any name you like

 

[wafliron]

FYI I called them today and they confirmed tickets can be issued in any name you like

Excellent Was it literally "any name you like"? Or "any name Qantas would let you book" (i.e. friends and family)?

Weird the T&C page is dead too...

 

[civinod]

I tried to book on Friday through Citibank and found them a little pedantic regarding what they needed but persevered and presto Monday morning a phone call from them. Same flights on QF and same amount of Citibank points compared to QF points. So effectively got a J booking SYD-HKG return in J for $60,000 spend on the credit card.
All in all a very easy experience and top value.
Love to know how they do this.....
Will definitely use them again.

 

[wafliron]

I tried to book on Friday through Citibank and found them a little pedantic regarding what they needed but persevered

Would you mind sharing what info they asked for? Would be good to get a more recent data point on this.

Also, did you request identical flights? Or did they just offer them unprompted?