Less than 24 hours after first publishing a (lousy) switch from the 1,200 worldwide airport lounges on offer under the Priority Pass program to a selection of just 84 lounges under DragonPass for their PremierMiles Visa customers, Citi have apparently backtracked on the decision.
In the last hour the landing page for the Citi PremierMiles Visa card has reverted to the former Priority Pass deal, with references to DragonPass now removed.
The terms and conditions of the (apparently abandoned) DragonPass offer still exist on the Citi site (Edit: 12th August – now removed), as does the dedicated landing page relating to it (Edit: 12th August – also now removed), however nothing on the PremierMiles Visa homepage links to these details anymore.
The offer is now apparently back to Priority Pass again:
Conditions for the Priority Pass are the same as they were previously:
- Complimentary access to hundreds of Priority Pass™ airport lounges* twice a year
- VIP lounge privileges – access to phones, fax machines, Internet, conference rooms
For list of lounges and available benefits, visit www.prioritypass.com.
*Priority Pass membership is on application basis and is reserved for the Principal cardmember only, limited to 2 complimentary visits per calendar year. Every accompanying guest will be considered as 1 visit. Thereafter, US$27 per person per visit (or at the prevailing rate) will be charged to the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card account.
It could be temporary
It would be unusual for Citi to backtrack so quickly on a new offer, even despite the clearly negative customer reaction to the change. They had presumably already signed a contract with DragonPass, so one possibility is that they may have had to extend the Priority Pass arrangement for Citi PremierMiles Visa customers temporarily due to a technical glitch.
The registration process via the Citi Mobile App for your DragonPass account, which would allow you to use your complimentary lounge visits, didn’t work for me. This issue seemed common with other readers also reporting the same problem.
The registration method has now been removed altogether from the Citi Mobile app, with a link to the registration form for Priority Pass restored to their site.
If a solution to the issue preventing you from linking your PremierMiles account with a new DragonPass account couldn’t be found quickly (or potentially over the weekend) then Citi may have had no choice but to withdraw the offer for now.
We have reached out to Citi for a response on what’s happening.
Edit 12th August: We received two responses from Citi to our queries relating to this matter. The first, at 11.45am stated:
“We apologize for any confusion it has caused. We wish to advise that there is no change to your airport lounge access for now. You will continue to be served by Priority Pass. Should there be any updates, the bank will inform you via email and statement
message.”
The second, at 1.15pm stated:
“We wish to inform you that Priority Pass will cease as of 1 September
2018 and will be replaced with DragonPass. With your DragonPass e-card,
you have access to 2 complimentary visits for Citi PremierMiles Visa and
Citi PremierMiles Amex primary cardholders, every DragonPass membership
year.”
It seems as though they don’t even know themselves what’s happening. In the second email it even states the PremierMiles Amex card will be lumped in with the switch to DragonPass too, even though that was never stated on the site when the DragonPass changes were initially announced there.
Furthermore the terms and conditions document for the DragonPass deal and the dedicated landing page for it (both linked to earlier in this article) have now been removed from the Citi website.
It’s now totally unclear what’s going on. We have asked them again!
(Cover Image: Priority Pass)
Thanks for checking!