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- Citi ThankYou points are valuable because the program partners with 16 airlines and 2 hotel chains.
- It recently added Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards as transfer partners.
- Other partners include JetBlue, Air France-KLM, Singapore Airlines, and Cathay Pacific.
- Read Insider’s guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.
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Earning transferable points with rewards credit cards is one of the best strategies you can use to maximize returns on your spending. Programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards are popular with award travelers, in part because their transfer partners include numerous domestic airlines and popular hotel chains.
The Citi ThankYou Rewards program is a bit of an underdog in this regard, with usually just one domestic carrier (JetBlue) among airline transfer options. American Airlines was a temporary partner, but that promotion expired on November 13, 2021.
Despite having few domestic airline options, you can still squeeze excellent value from the program — in fact, some of Citi’s international airline transfer partners offer lucrative sweet spots that allow you to book award flights for far less than other frequent flyer programs charge.
In addition, the program recently added Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards to its partner roster, marking the first hotel transfer options since Hilton left the program in 2017.
That’s on top of the numerous other ways to use your rewards points, like booking travel directly through the Citi travel portal, paying your student loan or mortgage, or cashing in rewards for gift cards and merchandise. These options are available to any ThankYou Rewards cardholder, but to unlock the ability to transfer points to all of Citi’s airline partners, you’ll need to have the
For most of these partners, the transfer ratio is 1:1, with transfers in 1,000-point increments. The only exceptions are JetBlue, Choice, and Wyndham, which are the only transfer partners available (along with Sears Shop Your Way rewards) if you don’t have a
It’s important to note that ThankYou points transfers are one-way and nonrefundable — once you move ThankYou points to a partner, you can not transfer them back to ThankYou Rewards.
How to earn Citi ThankYou points
You can earn Citi ThankYou points through welcome bonuses and spending on a variety of different Citi credit cards, including:
Citi Premier® Card — Earn60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening . You’ll earn 3x points on air travel, gas stations, restaurants, supermarkets, and hotels, and 1 point per dollar on everything else. Here’s our Citi Premier review.Citi Prestige® Card — Not available to new applicants. Current cardholders earn earn 5x points on restaurants and air travel, 3x points on cruises and hotels, and 1 point per dollar on everything else. Read our Citi Prestige review.Citi Custom Cash℠ Card — EarnCiti Custom Cash℠ Card . Cardholders earn 5% cash back on up to $500 in purchases in the eligible category they spend the most in each billing cycle (then 1%), and 1% on all other purchases. Here’s our Citi Custom Cash card review.Citi Rewards+® Card — Earn 15,000 ThankYou points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. You’ll earn 2x points at restaurants and gas stations on the first $6,000 spent per year (then 1x) and 1 point per dollar on everything else. Plus, all purchases are rounded up to the nearest 10 points.Citi® Double Cash Card — While this is technically a cash-back card, you can convert your rewards to Citi ThankYou points at a rate of 1 cent to 1 ThankYou point. You’ll earn 2% cash back on all purchases (1% when you buy, and 1% when you pay). Find out more in our Citi Double Cash review.- Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card — No longer available to new applicants. Current cardholders earn 2x points on dining and entertainment, and 1 point per dollar on everything else.
Remember, you can only access all of Citi’s transfer partners if you have the
The best Citi ThankYou airline transfer partners
As with most transferable points programs, there are definitely some partners that are better than others. Depending on the partner and how you redeem your points, the value you get from your transfer can vary significantly.
Here’s a look at the best Citi airline transfer partners.
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
It may seem strange that one of the best uses of Citi ThankYou points is transferring to a European airline that most people are likely never to fly. But the real value of Turkish Airlines miles lies in using the Miles & Smiles frequent flyer program to book award flights on its Star Alliance partners.
For example, the Miles & Smiles partner award chart requires only 7,500 Turkish miles for an economy-class flight anywhere within the US, including Hawaii, on Star Alliance partner United Airlines. If you booked the exact same flight through the United MileagePlus frequently flyer program, you’d pay 22,500 United miles.
Using the Miles & Smiles program does take a bit of patience as its online booking site can be hard to navigate, but cheap award prices like these can make it worth the extra effort.
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
Air France and KLM share the Flying Blue frequent flyer program, and one of the best uses of Flying Blue miles is its recurring promo rewards. Each month, Flying Blue publishes a list of routes with a 25 to 50% discount in mileage cost. This can be a great way to stretch the value of your ThankYou points.
Rates for a one-way economy flight from the US to Europe range from about 15,000 to 30,000 Flying Blue miles. The number of miles required varies quite a bit depending on the date and if the route is on a monthly promo award. Keep in mind Flying Blue adds more taxes and fees than other programs, so you’ll have to weigh the savings in miles and the increased cash cost.
Because it’s a transfer partner of all of the major transferable rewards currencies, Flying Blue is a great place to combine points balances from different programs.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Singapore Airlines is also a member of the Star Alliance, which means that you can use KrisFlyer miles to book travel on partner airlines like United, Air Canada, and Lufthansa.
In fact, using Singapore Airlines is also cheaper than using United’s own miles for flights anywhere in the continental US to Hawaii. Singapore also has a non-alliance partnership with Alaska Airlines, and you can use as few as 11,500 KrisFlyer miles to get to Hawaii as well.
For luxury aficionados, Singapore Airlines also flies the ultra-premium Singapore Suites first class on certain routes. Singapore rarely opens up award seats in Suites Class to partner airlines, so transferring to KrisFlyer is often the only way to book these bucket-list awards.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Although Virgin Atlantic is headquartered in the UK and isn’t a member of a major airline alliance, its mileage program offers a fair amount of value for US travelers. You’ll often get the best deal from Virgin Atlantic miles when you book award flights on its non-alliance partners, like Delta.
Because Delta no longer publishes an award chart, the cost of a flight in Delta SkyMiles can vary wildly depending on the route, date, and number of stops. Before you book an award flight using your Delta miles, it pays to check with Virgin Atlantic. It is quite common that the exact same Delta flight will cost fewer miles if you book with Flying Club miles.
Here’s an example — for a sample flight from Cincinnati to Paris, Delta is charging 58,000 SkyMiles:
Delta Air Lines
But Virgin Atlantic is only charging 42,500 Flying Club points for the exact same flight (over a 25% savings):
Virgin Atlantic
Avianca LifeMiles
Avianca is also a member of the Star Alliance, which means that you can use its miles to book partners like United, Lufthansa, and Ethiopian Airlines. Avianca’s award chart divides the US into three separate regions, with flights within a region requiring only 7,500 Avianca Lifemiles to book. Some US airline frequent flyer programs would charge 12,500 miles or more for the exact same flights.
Avianca also offers regular promotions that offer huge (150% or more) bonuses on buying or transferring LifeMiles. This can make it easy to top off your balance if you just need a few more miles to book your next trip.
Good Citi airline transfer partners
Some Citi airline transfer partners can provide decent value, but only in certain situations.
Etihad Guest
Etihad is not a member of any airline alliance but has a number of non-alliance partnerships that can provide good value for your Citi ThankYou points. These include Czech Airways (Prague to Seoul in business class for 25,610 Etihad Guest miles) and Royal Air Maroc (New York-JFK to Casablanca for 22,000 miles in economy or 44,000 miles in business class).
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Cathay Pacific is a member of the Oneworld alliance and has a distance-based award chart. The number of miles you need will depend on whether you are flying only Cathay Pacific or if you are flying one of their Oneworld partners, like American Airlines or British Airways. A flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong is only 30,000 Cathay Pacific miles in economy or 70,000 miles in business class.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Like Cathay Pacific, Qantas is also a member of the Oneworld alliance and also has a distance-based award chart. The best value for using Qantas miles is on short flights under 600 flown miles on either Qantas or Oneworld partners like American Airlines. These short flights can be had for only 8,000 Qantas miles.
JetBlue TrueBlue
The number of points required for a JetBlue award flight is directly tied to the cash price of a ticket, so it’s hard to get outsized value from your TrueBlue points. Still, it is possible to save points by transferring your Citi ThankYou points to JetBlue instead of using them directly to book a paid flight through the Citi portal.
Remember that JetBlue is the only Citi airline transfer partner that you can use without having the
Citi airline partners that aren’t great value
The rest of the Citi ThankYou airline transfer partners are generally not worth considering, except for extremely niche redemptions.
Aeromexico Club Premier
Aeromexico uses kilometers instead of miles, so its award chart is generally inflated by 1.6x compared to other programs. While other bank program points, such as American Express Membership Rewards, transfer to Aeromexico at a rate of 1:1.6, Citi transfers at only 1:1.
Eva Air Infinity MileageLands
The award chart for Eva Air Infinity MileageLands is not spectacular when compared to most other airline programs, and you’ll generally find better value elsewhere. Eva Air does have some generous stopover allowances, though you can’t book stopovers online — instead, you’ll need to call the airline directly.
Emirates Skywards
While Emirates first-class cabins are among the best in the world, it’s best to use partner miles to book these awards. While Emirates recently reduced the astronomical fuel surcharges they charge on Skywards award tickets, there are other mileage programs that offer better value.
InterMiles (formerly JetPrivilege)
Jet Airways (which no longer operates) rebranded its loyalty program from JetPrivilege to InterMiles in late 2019, but there isn’t a lot of value here for most customers. You can redeem InterMiles for flights, hotels, or merchandise, but the vast majority of people will be better off saving their valuable ThankYou points for other redemptions.
Malaysia Airlines Enrich
Malaysia Airlines has devalued its frequent flyer program twice in recent years — once in 2015 and again in 2017. As such, it may not be the safest program to park your miles in, unless you already have Enrich miles and are looking to top off your account for a specific award.
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Like fellow Gulf carrier Emirates, Qatar has a great premium cabin flight experience that is best booked with partner miles. In Qatar’s case, rather than transferring Citi ThankYou points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club, it’s better to use American Airlines AAdvantage miles to fly on Qatar Airways.
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Thai Airways is currently in the middle of potential bankruptcy, spurred on at least in part by the limited travel demand due to COVID-19. And while bankruptcy does not mean that your Royal Orchid Plus miles would all of a sudden become worthless, it does give you one more reason to avoid transferring your ThankYou points here.
Citi ThankYou hotel partners
It’s possible to get decent value from Citi’s new hotel partners, Choice and Wyndham, but because many of their brands are budget-friendly, you might be better off saving your points and paying cash instead. It’s also possible to redeem Citi ThankYou points at a rate of 1 cent apiece for stays at these chains by booking through the Citi Travel Portal.
Read more: Guide to the best hotel credit cards
Choice Privileges
The loyalty program of Choice Hotels, Choice Privileges includes brands like Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, Cambria, and Ascend Collection hotels. Award prices start at 6,000 points per night and go up to 35,000 points per night, with a few exceptions. Rates also vary depending on the season and even the day of the week you stay.
If you have the
Wyndham Rewards
Wyndham Rewards is the newest addition to the Citi ThankYou program, and includes familiar brands like Super 8, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, and Travelodge — as well as over 40,000 vacation rentals through its partnership with Vacasa.
Read more: The 5 best credit card rewards programs for socially distant travel in 2021
With the
Wyndham’s award structure is simple — you’ll pay 7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 points for an award night, depending on the property. With Vacasa vacation rentals, you’ll pay 15,000 points per listed bedroom. For example, if you book a two-bedroom townhouse, you’ll pay 30,000 points per night.
Citi ThankYou points retail transfer partners
In addition to airline and hotel transfer partners, Citi ThankYou has one retail transfer partner.
Read more: The best Citi credit cards in 2021
Sears Shop Your Way
You can transfer your Citi ThankYou points to Sears Shop Your Way points at a rate of 1:10. Shop Your Way points are worth 0.1 cents each, and Sears does sell some third-party gift cards that you can buy with Shop Your Way points.
This would allow you to effectively redeem your Citi ThankYou points for 1 cent per point for gift cards (or other merchandise) available for purchase at Sears. Unless you already have Sears Shop Your Way points and need to top off your account for a redemption, it’s easier to redeem Citi ThankYou points directly for gift cards through the ThankYou portal.
How to transfer Citi ThankYou points
Transferring your Citi ThankYou points is a fairly straightforward process. Once you log into your account at thankyou.com, find “More Ways To Redeem” in the top header, then choose “Points Transfer.”
Citi
You’ll then see a list of Citi transfer partner options available to you. It’s important to note that the first and last names on your ThankYou account and the account you’re transferring to must match in order to be able to transfer.
Remember, transfers are only one-way (from ThankYou points to airlines). Once you’ve transferred Citi ThankYou points to a partner, you can’t move them back.
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