Citi ThankYou Rewards Overview: How To Earn, Redeem and Value Points

If you’re looking to maximize your credit card rewards for travel, I always recommend doing what you can to collect transferable points currencies. These points currencies protect you from the risk of devaluation in one particular airline or hotel loyalty program, not to mention you can often rack up points at a faster pace with these kinds of programs.

Among the transferable points currencies, people seem to be largely focused on Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, both of which are great. However, I think the Citi ThankYou program is often overlooked.

Citi ThankYou is a popular transferable points currency. There are several excellent cards earning Citi ThankYou points, so these rewards are pretty easy to accrue, and there are great uses of them.

Link: Learn more about the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card, Citi Strata Premier® Card, Citi Strata℠ Card, or Citi Double Cash® Card

Citi ThankYou points are easy to earn

One reason to consider getting involved in the Citi ThankYou ecosystem is the excellent portfolio of cards that have big welcome bonuses, and best of all, eligibility isn’t mutually exclusive. In particular, the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card and Citi Strata Premier® Card are the two premium cards in the portfolio that will allow you to unlock the most value with your points.

There are several credit cards that earn Citi ThankYou points. In general, you’ll want to get one of the two Citi ThankYou “hub” cards, if possible, as these allow you to maximize the value of all your Citi ThankYou points:

• The $595 annual fee Citi Strata Elite offers a variety of benefits and credits that can help justify the annual fee, including an up to $300 annual hotel credit, an up to $200 annual Splurge credit, and an up to $200 annual Blacklane credit, a Priority Pass membership, and four annual Admirals Club 24-hour passes
• The $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier offers a great rewards structure and perks, including 3x points on dining, gas, groceries, airfare, and hotels, plus a $100 annual hotel credit

Both cards are compelling, so it’s just a function of whether you value the credits and benefits of the Citi Strata Elite, or the return on spending of the Citi Strata Premier. Or if you can’t decide, you can always pick up both cards, to maximize the points you earn, as there are lots of great uses of Citi ThankYou points.

Beyond that, I’d recommend getting one or more no annual fee Citi ThankYou “booster” cards, which can help you maximize your points:

• The no annual fee Citi Strata℠ Card offers 3x points on supermarkets, select transit, gas stations & EV charging, and self-select categories, and 2x points on restaurants
• The no annual fee Citi Double Cash® Card offers 1x points when you make a purchase and 1x points when you pay for that purchase, making it one of the best cards for everyday spending

Between those cards, Citi ThankYou points should rack up pretty quickly.

Earn 2x points on everyday spending

In general I think it makes sense to use points currencies where you can earn the most points per dollar spent, and the good news is that there are several cards that can help you maximize your Citi ThankYou points.

When it comes to being able to maximize your points for everyday, non-bonused spending, one compelling option is to also get the no annual fee Citi Double Cash® Card. The card offers 1x ThankYou points when you make a purchase, and 1x ThankYou points when you pay for that purchase. In other words, after making a purchase and paying your bill, you’ll have earned two ThankYou points for each dollar spent.

If you have the Citi Double Cash in conjunction with one of the cards earning premium Citi ThankYou points — the Citi Strata Elite or Citi Strata Premier — then all rewards can be moved to the airline and hotel partners at the best possible ratio.

How much Citi ThankYou points are worth

Based on my methodology of valuing points currencies, I value Citi ThankYou points at 1.7 cents each. For that matter, that’s how much I value all major transferable points currencies. There’s no science to that, but rather I think it’s a fair but conservative valuation for how much value you could get if you’re maximizing your rewards.

How you can redeem Citi ThankYou points

Let’s take a brief look at how you can redeem Citi ThankYou points, and then we’ll talk about how you should redeem points to maximize value.

There are various other ways to redeem Citi ThankYou points, though they generally offer around 0.75-1.0 cents of value per point. Among other things, you can redeem Citi ThankYou points in the following ways:

• Toward the cost of a flight through the Citi Travel portal
• Toward a statement credit, direct deposit, or check
• Toward a gift card with a variety of retailers
• Toward shopping directly with popular retailers, ranging from Amazon to Best Buy

This isn’t how I’d recommend using your points, since that’s not really a way to maximize rewards.

Citi ThankYou Rewards transfer partners

Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to airline and hotel partners. The program has the partners below, including 15 airlines and four hotel groups, and most (but not all) transfer at a 1:1 ratio.

Let me emphasize that the transfer partners and ratios in the table below assume that you have the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card and/or Citi Strata Premier® Card. If you have either of those cards, then you can transfer all your points at the best possible ratio.

If you exclusively have no annual fee cards, then the transfer ratios aren’t the same, and you don’t quite have access to the same partners (like American AAdvantage).

Transfer Partners	Transfer Ratio
Air France-KLM Flying Blue	1000 : 1000
American AAdvantage	1000 : 1000
Avianca Lifemiles	1000 : 1000
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	1000 : 1000
Emirates Skywards	1000 : 800
Etihad Guest	1000 : 1000
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands	1000 : 1000
JAL Mileage Bank	1000: 1000
JetBlue TrueBlue	1000 : 1000
Qantas Frequent Flyer	1000 : 1000
Qatar Airways Privilege Club	1000 : 1000
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	1000 : 1000
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus	1000 : 1000
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles	1000 : 1000
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	1000 : 1000
ALL Accor	1000 : 500
Choice Privileges	1000 : 1,500
Leading Hotels of the World	1000 : 200
Preferred Hotels & Resorts I Prefer	1000 : 2000
Wyndham Rewards	1000 : 1000

Overlapping Citi ThankYou points transfer partners

Some people might think “I already earn Amex and Chase points, and also earning Citi points complicates things too much.” If that’s how you view things, there’s some good news — Citi has several transfer partners in common with other currencies, including those of Amex, Capital One, and Chase.

So whether it’s Air France-KLM Flying Club, or Qatar Airways Privilege Club, or Singapore KrisFlyer, or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, there are really great opportunities to pool the points earned with Citi ThankYou with those earned on other cards.

The reason this matters is because it makes it easy to redeem these points toward a common redemption, even if you don’t build up that huge of a points balance with Citi ThankYou. So while I generally don’t recommend over diversifying your points, the exception is for transferable points currencies with overlapping partners, where there’s little downside to doing so.

Unique Citi ThankYou transfer partners

Just as some people might appreciate the overlap between transfer partners of Amex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi, I also think there’s value in pointing out the unique transfer partners that Citi has. The reason transferable points are so valuable is because of the variety of redemptions that are possible, and the more unique partners there are, the more redemption opportunities and sweet spots there are.

Beyond American AAdvantage, there are some other unique Citi ThankYou transfer partners that are worth calling out:

• Citi ThankYou points can be converted into Choice Privileges points at a 1:2 ratio, which could be a great deal for hotel redemptions
• Citi ThankYou points can be moved to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands at a 1:1 ratio, which is the best way to redeem points for EVA Air business class (which is a phenomenal product)
• Citi ThankYou points can be converted into Turkish Miles&Smiles miles at a 1:1 ratio, which opens up some great redemption opportunities for travel to & from Istanbul

Valuable transfer bonuses with partners

We sometimes see transferable points currencies offer transfer bonuses, and the Citi ThankYou program is one of the most aggressive when it comes to offering these. The idea is that you can transfer Citi ThankYou points to a large variety of airline and hotel partners, and often you get a better ratio than usual, but only for a limited time.

If you can take advantage of transfer bonuses strategically, you can stretch your points even further. We often see transfer bonuses to programs like Air France-KLM Flying Club, Avianca Lifemiles, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and more. I’d argue there’s big value to taking advantage of those when they’re available.

How to transfer Citi ThankYou points to airline & hotel partners

The process of transferring Citi ThankYou points to partner loyalty programs is easy. To start, just log into your Citi ThankYou account. Make sure you’re logged in under an account that gets you full access to Citi ThankYou partners at the best redemption rates, including on cards like the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card or Citi Strata Premier® Card.

Once you log into your account, click on “More Ways to Redeem,” and then “Points Transfer.”

Once you click that, you’ll be on the page that shows all the Citi ThankYou transfer partners. Just select the partner you want to transfer points to, by clicking “Continue.”

On the next page you’ll see a slider where you can select how many points you want to transfer, in increments of 1,000 points. You’ll also have to enter your loyalty program number. The name on the loyalty program account is already pre-populated with the name on the primary Citi ThankYou account. You can also choose to save your loyalty account number for future transfers, so you don’t have to enter it each time.

Note that you can only directly transfer points to a partner loyalty account belonging to the primary cardmember, so you can’t directly transfer your Citi ThankYou points to someone else’s American AAdvantage account, for example.

Note that you can transfer points between your various card accounts instantly and for free, though we’ll cover that a bit later. If you’re trying to transfer points to a partner loyalty program, you’ll want to do so from the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card or Citi Strata Premier® Card. You can easily transfer points from excellent no annual fee complements, like the Citi Strata℠ Card or Citi Double Cash® Card.

From there you just have to confirm the transaction, and then it should immediately start to process.

How long do Citi ThankYou points transfers take?

Below is a chart with how long it typically takes to transfer ThankYou points to airline and hotel partners.

Citi ThankYou Transfer Partner	Transfer Time
Aeroméxico Club Premier	Instant
Air France-KLM Flying Blue	Instant
American AAdvantage	Instant
Avianca Lifemiles	Instant
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	Instant
Emirates Skywards	Instant
Etihad Guest	Instant
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands	~ 1-2 days
JetBlue TrueBlue	Instant
Qantas Frequent Flyer	Instant
Qatar Airways Privilege Club	~ 1-2 days
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	~ 12-24 hours
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus	~ 3-6 days
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles	Instant
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	Instant
Accor Live Limitless	Instant
Choice Privileges	Instant
LHW Leaders Club	Instant
Preferred Hotels & Resorts I Prefer	Instant
Wyndham Rewards	Instant

As you can see, points transfers to most ThankYou partners are instant, while point transfers to the other partners take anywhere from hours to days. I always appreciate when people have data points on recent points transfer times. I’ve tried to keep the list updated based on feedback, but over time we do see more and more partners offer instant transfers.

Keep in mind that there are some factors that can cause points to not move over as expected, so don’t be surprised if that happens once in a while.

How to combine Citi ThankYou points between accounts

If you have multiple cards earning Citi ThankYou points, combining the points online is easy. This allows you to redeem all the points you earn with whatever the best redemption options are (for example, you need a premium card to transfer to most Citi ThankYou partners at the best ratio possible).

For all practical purposes, if you want to move your points to travel partners, you’ll want points to be with the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card or Citi Strata Premier® Card.

To combine accounts, log into your Citi account, and then scroll over the dropdown at the top that has your name and ThankYou account balance. Then go to the “My Citi Accounts” section.

On the next page you’ll want to click “Combine My Accounts.”

Then you’ll easily be able to link any ThankYou accounts that you have under one online log-in.

If for whatever reason you don’t see all your cards under the same Citi ThankYou account listed, you may have to call up Citi ThankYou customer service, and they can manually link accounts.

There’s one important thing to be aware of. If you close a Citi ThankYou card, the points for the account you closed down will automatically expire after 60 days. This applies even if you still have another Citi ThankYou card open.

So be sure you remember this, or else your points could be forfeited. You can easily avoid this by just transferring the points to an airline or hotel partner, as the points follow that program’s expiration policy once transferred.

This 60 day rule can be rather frustrating, since Amex, Capital One, and Chase, aren’t so restrictive regarding combining points.

Can you transfer Citi ThankYou points to someone else’s Citi account?

There are pros and cons to each of the major transferable points currencies when it comes to the ability to transfer points to others. The Citi ThankYou program has generous rules surrounding transferring points to non-family and non-household members.

Citi lets one transfer ThankYou points to anyone else’s ThankYou account, regardless of whether they’re related, live at the same address, etc. However, there are a few restrictions to be aware of:

• Shared points expire 90 days after they’re received, so you can’t “hoard” someone else’s points in your ThankYou account
• The recipient of shared points can’t share those same points with another member
• You can share at most 100,000 points per calendar year, and can have at most 100,000 points shared with you per calendar year

While there are some restrictions, this is an area where Citi ThankYou is more generous than other programs.

The best uses of Citi ThankYou points

Admittedly with each Citi ThankYou partner, some niche redemptions allow you to maximize value. However, I’d like to cover what I consider to be the most valuable transfer partners in terms of the general appeal. Keep in mind that we sometimes see transfer bonuses from Citi ThankYou, which can stretch your points even further, and make the math even better.

It’s important to understand that you’ll usually get the most value by redeeming your points for international flights, especially in first and business class. Also, if you’re new to redeeming points, check out my top 10 tips for redeeming points, so you can hopefully get the best value. Below are my favorite Citi ThankYou partners, in no particular order.

Transfer to American AAdvantage

I’d argue that among the “big three” US carriers, American AAdvantage has by far the best loyalty program, especially when it comes to redeeming miles.

The most exciting development with the Citi ThankYou ecosystem is that it’s now possible to transfer these rewards to American AAdvantage. The AAdvantage program has lots of sweet spots, both for travel on American, and for travel on partner airlines.

I’d argue that American is in a different league than Delta and United when it comes to offering valuable premium cabin award redemption opportunities. Since no other major program partners with AAdvantage in this way, you can’t overstate how valuable this is.

You can travel across the Atlantic for just 57,500 AAdvantage miles one-way in business class, which is a great deal. I also love the ability to redeem on Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, though you’ll generally find the best availability for flights not touching the United States. For example, you could redeem just 50,000 AAdvantage miles to fly Etihad’s amazing A380 first class from Abu Dhabi to Singapore.

Transfer to Air France-KLM Flying Blue

If you want to fly across the Atlantic in business class, Flying Blue is one of the most useful programs, as this is the key to unlocking Air France business class and KLM business class awards. Not only is this great if you’re looking to travel to Amsterdam and Paris, but the two airlines have extensive route networks throughout Europe and beyond. You can even add a stopover to an award at no extra cost.

You can generally expect that transatlantic business class awards will start at 60,000 miles one-way, with mild fuel surcharges (around $200 one-way). You can sometimes get even better pricing if you can book a Flying Blue Promo Rewards offer.

Transfer to Avianca Lifemiles

If you want to redeem your Citi ThankYou points for travel on a Star Alliance airline, Avianca Lifemiles is a good option. The program gives you access to all Star Alliance airlines without fuel surcharges, so this could be useful whether you’re looking to fly to Europe on Lufthansa, or fly to South America on Copa.

For example, a transatlantic business class award will generally start at 80,000 miles one-way, while a first class award to Japan starts at 120,000 miles one-way. You can also get award discounts and waived fees if you become a Lifemiles+ member.

Transfer to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

One big advantage of Citi ThankYou is that the program partners with EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, as no other transferable points currencies allow 1:1 transfers (Capital One also partners with EVA Air, but transfers are at a 2:1.5 ratio).

What makes this program great is that it’s the key to unlocking EVA Air business class awards. EVA Air releases more award availability to members of its own frequent flyer program than to members of partner frequent flyer programs, and there’s huge value in that.

You can redeem just 75,000-80,000 miles for a one-way EVA Air business class award across the Pacific, which is an excellent value, especially given the good availability.

Transfer to JetBlue TrueBlue

JetBlue TrueBlue is a revenue based currency when it comes to redemptions, at least for travel on JetBlue metal. If you transfer Citi points to JetBlue TrueBlue, you can generally expect that each TrueBlue point will get you around 1.4-1.5 cents toward the cost of a JetBlue economy ticket.

For example, take the below flight from New York to Tampa, which costs either $94 or 6,100 points plus $5.60 in taxes.

Another awesome perk of JetBlue TrueBlue is that partner redemptions are now possible, so you can redeem these points for travel in Qatar Airways business class, and that could be a good value. I consider Citi ThankYou to be the best program for JetBlue transfers, thanks to the 1:1 transfer ratio, plus lack of federal excise taxes being passed on to consumers.

Transfer to Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Citi ThankYou partners with Qatar Airways Privilege Club, though keep in mind that it’s possible to transfer rewards between the various “flavors” of Avios. So this is also a way to indirectly earn Avios with programs like British Airways Club, Iberia Club, Finnair Plus, and Aer Lingus AerClub, as each have their respective sweet spots.

Fortunately there are also lots of great uses of Avios with Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios. Not only is this one of the best way to redeem rewards for Qatar Airways business class, but Privilege Club also has all kinds of unique partnerships, with airlines ranging from JetBlue to RwandAir.

Transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Singapore Airlines restricts most of its first class and business class award space to members of its own KrisFlyer program. So while the airline is in the Star Alliance, don’t expect to be able to snag Singapore Airlines long haul premium cabin awards through most other programs.

Fortunately Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer has fair redemption rates, pretty good award availability in business class (and sometimes Suites and first class), and limited surcharges. For example, a one-way business class award on the world’s longest flight will cost you 111,500 miles, while a one-way business class award from New York to Frankfurt or Houston to Manchester will cost you 81,000 miles. You can get even more value by booking a Spontaneous Escapes ticket, which is a monthly discount on select awards.

Transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program can be useful for redemptions on Virgin Atlantic and partner airlines. On Virgin Atlantic, Flying Club has dynamic award pricing nowadays. The good news is that on the low end, redemption rates in business class are as cheap as they’ve ever been (of course that assumes you can find availability).

There are also some great partner redemption opportunities, including on SkyTeam airlines, and carriers like All Nippon Airways. I redeem through Flying Club with quite some frequency.

Transfer to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles

Turkish Airlines flies to more countries than any other airline in the world, and it’s also one of my all-around favorite airline brands. While Turkish Miles&Smiles isn’t as lucrative as it used to be, the program still offers some solid redemption values.

For example, a one-way Turkish Airlines business class award between the United States and Istanbul starts at 65,000 miles one-way, which is quite a good value. While there are surcharges on these awards, they’re quite mild.

Transfer to Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club

Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) is a collection of over 400 luxury properties, most of which are independent. So I think this is a pretty underrated transfer option, especially if you value luxury hotel stays. Citi ThankYou to Leaders Club points transfers are at a 5:1 ratio, and each Leaders Club point typically gets you around 8.0 cents toward the cost of a hotel stay.

This means you can redeem Citi ThankYou points for roughly 1.6 cents each toward the cost of a luxury hotel stay, which I’d consider to be a solid value.

Transfer to Choice Privileges

On the other end of the hotel spectrum, it’s possible to transfer Citi ThankYou points to Choice Privileges at a 1:2 ratio. It’s rare to see a transferable points currency offer good value redemptions for budget hotels, but there’s quite a bit of upside to be had here.

This is true whether you’re looking to redeem at one of Choice’s brands, or at a higher end property through Choice Privileges’ partnership with Preferred Hotels.

How not to redeem Citi ThankYou points

I tend to think that if you feel good about an award redemption then that should be enough. At the same time, I’d generally aim to get more than one cent of value per Citi ThankYou point, purely based on the other card ecosystems out there.

You’re typically going to get at most one cent of value per point if you redeem your Citi ThankYou rewards through the Citi ThankYou travel portal, or redeem them toward gift cards, statements credits, or purchases with retailers. Personally I’d try to avoid those redemptions, simply because there are better options if you’re looking to redeem your points as cash toward travel purchases, or are looking to earn cash back.

Citi ThankYou points FAQs

Bottom line

All too often people overlook the Citi ThankYou program, instead focusing on Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards. Personally, I think it’s worth getting involved in all three programs, especially given the overlap between transfer partners.

Citi ThankYou is a valuable transferable points currency, which I’ve been collecting for years. It’s hard to beat having the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card or Citi Strata Premier® Card in combination with the Citi Double Cash® Card, so that you can earn an excellent return on your spending.

Citi ThankYou points are a currency that I’d recommend collecting if you intend to transfer points to airline or hotel partners, as that’s the way to maximize value. You can unlock some amazing international first & business class redemptions with these points, with programs like Air France-KLM Flying Blue, American AAdvantage, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, and more.

To those who collect Citi ThankYou points, what are your favorite uses of the currency?