You Can Now Transfer Citi ThankYou Points to Airlines

You can now transfer Citi ThankYou points to certain airlines.

Citi ThankYou Transfer Partners

You can transfer Citi ThankYou points from the Citi ThankYou Premier, Citi Prestige and Citi Chairman cards to certain airlines and Hilton Hotels.

You can transfer Citi ThankYou points to:

• Hilton Hotels
• Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
• EVA Air
• Etihad Guest
• Flying Blue (Air France / KLM)
• Garuda Indonesia
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Singapore Airlines
• Thai Airways
• Virgin Atlantic

Citi ThankYou points transfer in a 1:1 ratio with airline miles, so for every 1,000 Citi ThankYou points, you get 1,000 participating partner airline miles.  However, you get 1,500 Hilton points for every 1,000 Citi ThankYou points you transfer to Hilton Hotels.

I’d pay ~0.4 to 0.5 cents per Hilton point, so I wouldn’t personally transfer Citi Thank You points to Hilton.  But this could be worth it for some folks.

For most folks, Singapore Airlines is the best airline transfer partner if you’re using Citi ThankYou points.  That’s because you can get good deals using Singapore Airlines miles to fly on United Airlines to Hawaii and flying Singapore Airlines to Europe.

You can make transfers in 1,000 Citi ThankYou point increments.  And Citi says it may take as many 14 days for your transfer to be completed.

ThankYou Points or Ultimate Rewards Points?

Although you can now transfer your Citi ThankYou points from the Citi ThankYou Premier, Citi Prestige and Citi Chairman cards to certain airlines and Hilton hotel, I wouldn’t give up your Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

You have a better choice of airline transfer partners when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to certain airlines and hotels.

So if your goal is First Class or Business Class tickets, you’re better off spending on the Chase Sapphire Preferred instead of the Citi ThankYou Premier, Citi Prestige and Citi Chairman cards.

That’s because you can transfer your points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred to airlines such as United Airlines and British Airways and to hotels such as Hyatt and Marriott.

Redeeming Citi ThankYou Points

However, I still like the option of using Citi Thank You points for flights through the Citi portal.

You get:

• 1.33 cents for 1 Thank You Point with the Citi Thank You Prestige
• 1.25 cents for 1 Thank You Point with the Citi Thank You Premier (or 1.6 cents per point for American Airlines or US Air flights)
• 1.0 cent for 1 Thank You Point for all other Thank You cards

if you redeem your Thank You Points through the Citi ThankYou Travel Center.

You can use these points to buy any airline tickets, just like paying cash.  So it gives you a lot of flexibility.

So redeeming CitiThankYou points for 1.25 cents towards airfare through the Citi Travel Center might make more sense.

You can transfer your Citi ThankYou points on www.thankyou.com.  Or you can call Citi ThankYou customer service at 800-842-5696.

Bottom Line

However, I wouldn’t transfer my Citi ThankYou points to Hilton points because they are worth more towards airline tickets.