As I first wrote about in late June, the US Citi ThankYou program is offering a 25% bonus when you convert points into Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles by July 20, 2019. This post is a reminder of that, as you just have until tomorrow to take advantage of this promotion, if interested.
Points ordinarily convert at a 1:1 ratio, though during this promotion you can convert 1,000 Citi points into 1,250 Flying Blue miles.
There’s no limit to how often you can take advantage of this promotion, and the bonus is hard coded into the transfer ratio, meaning that you can earn the bonus on multiple transactions.
Citi ThankYou has been doing an awesome job with offering transfer bonuses lately. We saw a 30% transfer bonus from Citi to Air France-KLM Flying Blue last summer, and a few weeks ago we saw a 30% transfer bonus from Citi to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club end.
Should you transfer Citi points to Flying Blue?
Flying Blue nowadays has dynamic award pricing and roughly distance based award pricing. While I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorite frequent flyer programs, it is one that I get quite a bit of use out of.
In addition to the great value that can be had through Flying Blue Promo Awards, Flying Blue also has the advantage of having access to more award seats for travel on Air France and KLM metal.
In other words, they make more award seats available to members of their own program than to members of partner programs. So even when their pricing isn’t the best, there are situations where it could make sense to book through them.
Redeem miles for KLM’s 787 business class
Over the past several months I’ve transferred hundreds of thousands of points to Flying Blue without a transfer bonus. To give a sense of some of the tickets I’ve booked:
- I redeemed 52,000 Flying Blue miles for a one-way Air France business class ticket from Miami to Paris (plus carrier imposed surcharges)
- I redeemed 72,000 Flying Blue miles for a one-way Air Europa business class ticket from London to Madrid to Miami (without carrier imposed surcharges)
- I redeemed 85,000 Flying Blue miles for a one-way Air France business class ticket from Miami to Paris to Male (plus carrier imposed surcharges)
- I redeemed 97,500 Flying Blue miles for a one-way Air France and Middle East Airlines business class ticket from Detroit to Paris to Beirut (plus carrier imposed surcharges)
Redeem miles for Air France’s 777 business class
So I’ve actually just gone ahead and speculatively transferred 200,000 ThankYou points to Flying Blue, which got me 250,000 Flying Blue miles. I’m sure I’ll get around to using them, and the points posted instantly.
Want ThankYou points? Don’t forget about this great offer
If you want to earn ThankYou points, don’t forget that the Citi Premier℠ Card is offering a big 60,000 point welcome bonus after spending $4,000 within the first three months of account opening.
This is one of the most rewarding Citi credit card for everyday spend, as it offers:
- 3x points on travel, including gas stations
- 2x points on dining & entertainment
- 1x points on all other purchases
So if you are looking for ThankYou points, the Citi Premier℠ Card is tough to beat.
Bottom line
There’s potentially a ton of value to be had from this promotion. That’s true regardless of whether you’re trying to redeem directly on Air France or KLM, or whether you’re trying to redeem on a SkyTeam partner, where a 25% bonus could represent an excellent value.
In this particular case I did speculatively transfer points, given that I’ll almost certainly be using these miles soon. For example, I want to book an award ticket on Air Mauritius, I want to take Air France’s “island hopper” from Miami, and more.
If you haven’t yet transferred points but are considering it, you have until tomorrow to do so.
Do you plan on transferring Citi points to Flying Blue with a 25% bonus?
Don’t they have a draconian expiration policy? Not as bad as SQs perhaps, but if you don’t credit a revenue flight to flying blue, you will lose the points after 24 months.
I like the program but it requires vigilance.