Citi Thankyou Rewards Guide
By Aaron Anderson
Overview
Let’s dive into the Citi ThankYou Rewards program…it’ll be fun. The reason why? Because you’ll learn how to travel for FREE using Citi ThankYou points. For example, I used my Citi ThankYou points last year to fly my family to Oahu. I flew myself, my wife, our three children (at the time) and my in-laws all for FREE. And that’s because I booked using the Citi Thank You travel portal. I saved an additional 25% (this benefit ends on April 10, 2021) in value by holding the Citi Premier credit card as well. How awesome is that?
First off, I just want to explain something. Each program gives their points currency a unique name. American Express calls their points American Express “Membership Rewards.” Chase calls their points Chase “Ultimate Rewards.” And Citi calls their points Citi “ThankYou” points. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk points and travel: the good stuff.
Just like American Express and Chase, Citi has 3 main ways to redeem your Thank You points:
- Redeem for cash or gifts.
- Redeem through the Citi ThankYou Travel Center.
- Transfer Citi ThankYou points to different travel partners (only allowed to transfer Thank You points if you hold either the Citi Prestige or Citi Premier card).
To be able to transfer your points to most airline partners, you have to hold a premium Citi ThankYou card: either the Citi Prestige card or the Citi Premier card. If you have the Citi Rewards+ card, the Citi Rewards+ Student Card, or the AT&T Access card from Citi, you will be earning “Basic” ThankYou points from Citi. You are more limited with basic points and you can really only transfer basic points to one airline directly and that is JetBlue at a ratio of 4:5. BUT if you have earned lots of “basic” ThankYou points and you also hold either the Citi Premier card or the Citi Prestige card, you can combine the points into your Prestige or Premier account. Once you have combined the points into a premium account, you can transfer those points to any of Citi’s airline partners.
Citi also offers co-branded credit cards with American Airlines and Costco, but for the purpose of the article, we are just sticking to Citi cards that earn you Thank You points.
Redeem for cash, gifts, or gift cards
Whatever Citi card you hold, you can redeem your ThankYou points for 0.5 cents for cash back. It’s really not that attractive when you compare it to other options. Redeeming your points for shopping doesn’t get you much better value either. If you want to redeem your Citi ThankYou points for shopping, I would suggest buying gift cards instead. You can redeem points for gift cards at 1 cent per point and use those gift cards for shopping. This will get you a lot better value rather than shopping through Citi’s shopping portal or redeeming for cash. Redeeming Citi ThankYou points for gift cards can be a good option if you don’t want to travel. If you have 50,000 Citi ThankYou points, you can redeem for a total of $500 in gift cards. Not too shabby.
Redeem through citi travel center
You can redeem your points across the board for travel through the Citi ThankYou Travel Center at a rate of 1 cent per point—with any card. The one exception at the moment, is if you hold the Citi Premier credit card. If you hold the Citi Premier card, you can redeem your ThankYou points with a 25% bonus (ends April 10, 2021) through the ThankYou Travel Center. I don’t know about you, but if I can get 25% more value, then I’m going for it. The 25% bonus means that instead of redeeming travel at the normal rate of 1 cent per point (which is what you’ll get with any other Citi card), you can redeem at a rate of 1.25 cents per point. Not bad. The Citi Premier card has a similar redemption rate to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card.
Transfer To travel partners
This is where it always gets good. This is where you can redeem for maximum value. So hang on and enjoy…
As stated above, to be able to transfer your points to most partner programs, you need to hold either the Citi Prestige or Citi Premier cards. AND if you have earned points with a lower tier card, you can combine those points with points earned from your Prestige or Premier cards—as long as you hold at least one of those cards. Citi’s transfer partners only consist of airline partners. There are no hotel partners anymore after Hilton left Citi for Amex. In some cases, this can be good. This makes it simpler. And I’ve always said that the best way to gain maximum value with points or miles is to book international flights in first or business class. Here is the list of Citi’s 15 different airline transfer partners:
- Aeromexico
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Avianca
- Cathay Pacific
- Etihad
- EVA Air
- Jet Airways
- JetBlue
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas
- Qatar
- Singapore Airlines
- Thai Airways
- Turkish Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
My son patiently waiting to get on the plane. We booked our flights to Oahu using Citi ThankYou points
Jill and I flying Etihad Business Class
You have a lot of options…and good options at that! Here are some examples of putting your Citi ThankYou points to use by transferring to travel (airline) partners:
Transfer 100,000 points to Etihad Guest for round-trip business-class flights to Europe. These flights are operated on American Airlines (AA and Etihad are codeshare partners).
15,000 point round-trip flights to Hawaii (from mainland USA) on United Airlines by transferring points to Turkish Airlines.
Booked our round-trip flights to Oahu using Citi ThankYou points.
Our little girl getting as much sleep as possible on the flight.
Can you tell I like airplane food?
Book using 110,000-120,000 points for a round-trip First Class flight from the U.S. to Japan on ANA by transferring to Virgin Atlantic. Or use 90,000-95,000 for Business Class seats. ANA Business Class seats are TOP NOTCH!
Just like with Chase or Amex points, you can transfer Citi ThankYou points to Singapore Airlines. A common redemption is to book flights to Hawaii from North American. You can book round-trip flights in economy for just 35,000 miles.
Fly Singapore suites from NYC to Frankfurt for only 86,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles. This ticket retails for $7,000!
Fly to the Middle East or North Africa from the US using Singapore KrisFlyer miles. Economy would cost 45,000 miles one way and Business Class would be 76,500 miles one way
Fly from San Francisco to Singapore in Business Class using 95,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles.
Book Virgin Atlantic round-trip Upper Class flights to Europe for 100,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles. Virgin Atlantic has a separate award chart with Singapore Airlines, which can save you miles! But, this does come with one little caveat: a round-trip flight is required.
There are many more examples, but these are just a few to get you started.
All of Citi’s airline partners transfer at a 1:1 ratio with a minimum transfer of 1,000 points. Transfers are near instantaneous with all partners except for:
EVA air (2 days)
Malaysia Airlines (2 days)
Qatar Airways (2 days)
Singapore Airlines (2 days)
Thai Airways (4 days)
Turkish Airlines (2 days)
Virgin Atlantic (2 days)
Earning Points
Alright now, how do we Earn Citi ThankYou points? Easy…credit card sign-up bonuses and spending. Let’s look at a few available offers that are available right now.
Citi Prestige
Bonus: You’ll receive 50,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first three months of having the card
Annual fee: $495
Yes, this card has a high annual fee. But, just like other cards that have high annual fees, there are plenty of benefits that help offset the fee.
Let’s start off by discussing the 4th night free benefit. This is HUGE and can save you hundreds of dollars a year. To take advantage of this benefit, your hotel needs to be booked through the Citi ThankYou Travel Center. You can pay for your hotel stay with either points or cash or a combination of the two to receive the 4th night free. BUT again, it must be booked through the ThankYou Travel Center or by calling 1-800-Thankyou. Here are some speicifics in regard to the 4th night free benefit:
- The rates you will be quoted exclude taxes and fees.
- The 4th night benefit does not include “back-to-back” stays. You are only allowed one free night per stay.
- If you have multiple rooms, you are only allowed to use the 4th night free benefit for one of the rooms.
- The 4th night free benefit is allowed twice per year.
Other annual benefits include a $250 travel credit, which is an automatic credit when you make travel purchases with the card. You receive a Priority Pass membership, which gives you access to over 1,300 lounges worldwide. You receive a full credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry (valued up to $100). This card also comes with cell phone protection that’ll cover you up to $1000 per claim. All you have to do is pay a $50 deductible. The protection coverage allows for $1,500 for the year. Aside from all of the perks you’re given just by having this card, you also get high earnings potential with certain categories.
Priority Pass Membership Cards
The Korean Air lounge at LAX is part of Priority Pass
Use your $250 travel credit for something like the Japan Rail Pass
Pros
- Large sign-up bonus of 50,000 points
- $250 travel credit each year. This is an automatic credit that you get for travel purchased on the card.
- 4th night free on any hotel stay (twice per year starting Sept. 1)
- Priority Pass membership
- Global Entry or TSA precheck application fee credit
- Cell phone protection. You are covered up to $1000 per claim and $1,500 for the year. You have to pay $50 for a deductible.
- No foreign transaction fees
- 5x points on purchases spent on air travel and dining
- 3x points on purchases spent on hotels and cruises
- 1x points on all other purchases
Cons
- High Annual fee
- Need to have excellent credit
Citi Premier
Bonus: You’ll earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on the card within the first three months of having the card.
Annual Fee: $95
If simplicity is what you’re looking for when booking travel, then this is the Citi card for you. You will get an additional 25% (ends April 10, 2021) in value when using your Citi ThankYou points to book travel through the ThankYou Travel Center. You’ll only get the 25% bonus value if you hold the Citi Premier card. For a mid-tier card, it has high earning potential with 3x points per dollar spent on travel and gas and 2x on dining and entertainment. Starting on August 23, 2020 A new perk is being added to this card: you will receive $100 credit on any hotel booking of $500 or more that is make through the Citi ThankYou Travel Center.
Pros:
- Low annual fee ($95)
- 25% more value by booking travel through ThankYou Travel Center (ends April 10,2021)
- Receive $100 credit on any hotel booking of $500 or more when booked through ThankYou Travel Center (starts on August 23, 2020)
- 3x points per dollar spent on travel, including gas
- 2x points per dollar spent on dining and entertainment.
- 1x points per dollar on all other spending
- Extended warranty benefit
- Purchase Protection (covered up to $10,000 per incident and up to $50,000 per year)
- no foreign transaction fees
Cons:
- Need to have excellent credit (720 or higher)
- Has an annual fee
- Is losing the 25% bonus next year
Citi Rewards+
Bonus: You will earn 15,000 Citi ThankYou points after you spend $1,000 on the card within the first three months of having the card.
Annual Fee: NONE
By having the Citi Rewards+ card, you will gain the most value by redeeming your points for gift cards because you can redeem at a rate of 1 cent per point. BUT if you hold either the Citi Prestige card or the Citi Premier card, you can transfer your earned points from the Citi Rewards+ card to either the Prestige or Premier card. Doing this now allows you to make your points worth more because you now have the ability to transfer your points to airlines travel partners. This card can be great for beginners because there is no annual fee and there is 0% introductory APR on balance transfers and purchases for the first 15 months. This card also has decent earnings potential at 2x points (for the first $6,000 spent, then it’s 1x points per dollar spent) per dollar spent at gas stations and grocery stores. All other purchases are 1x the points per dollar spent.
Pros:
- No annual fee
- 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases for the first 15 months
- 2x points per dollar spent at gas stations
- 2x points per dollar spent at grocery stores
- Earnings on all purchases are rounded up to the nearest 10 points.
- You’ll get 10% back on the first 100,000 points you redeem each year
Cons:
- Has 3% transaction fee
- Has low sign-up bonus (15,000 points)
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Citi ThankYou program is a solid program. You have options for cash back and gifts…or the better choice would be gift cards. You also have the option to redeem travel through the Citi ThankYou Travel Center, which allows you to book hotels, airfare, and rental cards. And, if you want to redeem for maximum value, you can transfer ThankYou points to airline partners.
One important thing to consider if you are looking to sign up for multiple Citi ThankYou cards, is you’ll want to first understand Citi’s application rules when earning a sign-up bonus. Basically, you can only receive a sign-up bonus on any card in the same card family (ThankYou points family), if you haven’t received the sign-up bonus or closed a card within the card family in the past 24 months. For example, I cancelled my Citi Premier card in August of 2019. So if I want to earn another sign-up bonus with Citi, I need to wait until August of 2021. If I hadn’t cancelled my card, I would have had to wait 24 months from the time I applied in order to qualify for the bonus.
Citi ThankYou points are very valuable, especially when transferring points to airline partners. However, they can be difficult to earn due to the sign up rules and restrictions. Be sure that if you do apply for a Citi card that earns you ThankYou points, that you have not earned the sign-up bonus from another Citi card or cancelled another Citi card within the past 24 months.
When you earn your points, start using them. The world is waiting for you.
