Discussing Citibank PM and Jet Privilege miles

So, you're sitting on a pile of miles. Or if you're like me, you're sitting on a large pile of JP miles and Citi PM miles (and a smaller pile of AI Flying Returns miles).

A few days back, I was chatting up with a friend (another points and miles enthusiast who, I hope, will co-author this blog sooner than later), and we were discussing the relative merits of, and problems with, the Citibank Premier Miles program and the Jet Privilege program. We spent an hour on this, and came up with some thoughts, strategies, and even some Eureka! moments.

So I thought I'd write about what we spoke, but I realised that we had covered a range of topics, so it wouldn't be practical to put it all together in one post. You'd get bored very quickly.

So I'd like to do a 3-part series on Citi PM and JP miles. I'm not covering Air India Flying Returns miles, for various reasons - but basically, it is a rather fledgling program in the sense that only recently did they get a credit card partner through whom one could earn miles. Given that this is a significant source of miles earning these days, I felt it wouldn't be fair to include them, though as I've written earlier, the AI-SBI card may well be one of the best around right now in India.

So, here's the plan:

Part 1 (this post) will cover earning opportunities
Part 2 will discuss the value of a Citi PM mile and of a JP mile
Part 3 will deal with redeeming those miles for air tickets

Earning miles


Citibank PM miles

Citi PM miles are earned for spends on the Citibank Premier Miles credit card. There isn't really another way to earn them, such as partner establishments. However, you can earn quite a number of Citi PM miles
  • up to 10,000 miles on first spend after signing up for the card. However, this is not available for cards that are issued complimentary
  • 10 miles per Rs 100 of airline spends, 4 miles per Rs 100 of other spends - not just on the PremierMiles portal, but on other specified travel portals too
  • limited-time bonuses like the 2x bonus on all spends, 50% bonus on all spends, etc
  • additional effective miles if you transfer to specific partners (these are usually special offers / deals for transfer of a bonus number of points to a partner program, and not specifically Citi PM miles)

JetPrivilege (JP) miles

On the other hand, JP miles earning opportunities are from
  • flying on Jet Airways (usually 75% of base miles on G class tickets, and 100% of base miles for all other fare buckets) or Jet Konnect (either 50% or 75% of base miles, depending on fare bucket)

  • bonus miles for business and first class passengers
  • tier bonus for elites (silver, gold, platinum)
  • flying on codeshare and partner airlines of Jet Airways
  • booking tickets online, through IVR on the telephone, and from your mobile phone 
  • web check ins
  • subscribing to and spending on co-branded credit cards (HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Amex)
  • bonuses for spending with a variety of other partners - go here and click through the tabs on the left for more info
In addition, the JP program allows both purchase of JP miles, as also transfer of miles from one member to another. Not so with Citi; in fact, neither of these options are available in the Citi PM program.

    Expiry of miles

    Citibank PM miles never expire. This is a big plus, if you're holding back on spending your miles, possibly for a special occasion or an aspiration holiday (say, first class to somewhere nice!). JP miles on the other hand, do expire, and validity is as follows:

    • miles earned generally - end of 13 quarters after earning of the miles (just a little over 3 years)
    • miles purchased - end of 13 quarters after earning of the miles (just a little over 3 years)
    • miles transferred from another JP member - usually 12 months, but they expire at the end of the quarter following the 12th month. Given how a "quarter" is defined (the unit of time, which comprises of a consecutive 3-month stretch. The standard 3-month periods determined as Quarters in the JetPrivilege programme are: Jan 1 - Mar 31; Apr 1 - Jun 30; Jul 1 - Sep 30 and Oct 1 - Dec 31), one should always attempt to transfer miles at the beginning of a quarter, which could then potentially extend the expiry by another 3 months.
    • there is no expiry of miles for JP Platinum members.

    Buying miles

    As I mentioned before, Citi PM doesn't allow you to buy miles to top up your kitty. However, JP miles can be purchased (at the rate of Rs 1.25 per mile for a minimum of 500 miles, and in further increments of 100 miles). Whether this price is right or not, is for another post in this series.

    Conclusion

    Overall, there are wider opportunities for earning JP miles, including transfer from other JP members, as well as buying top up miles (albeit at a rather steep price). However, as you will see in subsequent posts in this series, Citi PM miles have better spending latitude, ie, you have a wider variety of use, and unlike JP miles, Citi PM miles don't expire, ever.

    That about does it for this post. Do be sure to read the second and third parts of this series on Citibank PremierMiles and (v/s ???) JetPrivilege Miles.

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