Questions and Answers

What are thank you points? How are they used toward miles? Basically, which programs are better (Miles of Points)?

They are a transferable points currency offered by CitiBank’s cards. They are comparable to Chase’s Ultimate Rewards and Amex’s Membership Rewards.

You can redeem the points for cash back but if you have the Citi Premier and/or Prestige cards, you can transfer them to travel partners to redeem for flights and hotels.

You can also redeem directly for travel if you have either of the Premier and/or Prestige cards where each point is worth 1.25-1.6 cents each, depending on the airline you choose. Flights redeemed this way are considered paid flights, not award flights and will earn miles in your frequent flyer program of choice.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 19038, member: 29″]They are a transferable points currency offered by CitiBank’s cards. They are comparable to Chase’s Ultimate Rewards and Amex’s Membership Rewards.

You can redeem the points for cash back but if you have the Citi Premier and/or Prestige cards, you can transfer them to travel partners to redeem for flights and hotels.

You can also redeem directly for travel if you have either of the Premier and/or Prestige cards where each point is worth 1.25-1.6 cents each, depending on the airline you choose. Flights redeemed this way are considered paid flights, not award flights and will earn miles in your frequent flyer program of choice.[/QUOTE]
Thank you David. I’m still a little confused, but I have the basic premise.

I agree with Bob, the whole redeeming points/miles thing is very confusing for someone who has not done it yet. Most of the language tends to be pretty vague.

Do you get points that show up in your frequent flyer balance? Or do you have to pay for the tickets and then get a credit towards the purchase. For both of these steps (and any other ones) can anyone provide examples a with step by step process.

Thanks in advance!!!

[USER=2176]@Babaghanoush85[/USER] [USER=2067]@Bob P.[/USER] I recommend reading this post, which helps clarify the types of points there are. Feel free to post questions if there is still more you dont understand!

[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/types-miles-points/[/URL]

Thanks David.

Ok, how are flexible / transferable points redeemed? Let’s say I’ve got American Express rewards that I want to use on Hawaiian Airlines, does American Express transfer the points to my Hawaiian balance? Do I call them? Is there an online interface?

Ditto for the fixed value points. Do I book the ticket and then call the bank or will a credit be automatically given?

Thanks for your patience with all the questions.

There are many ways to redeem the Amex rewards. Assuming you have one of their premium rewards cards (Everyday, Everyday Preferred, Gold, Platinum, Centurion) you can transfer them to Hawiian Airlines. The number of miles you need for redeeming on Hawaiian can be found at: [URL]http://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2218/kw/award%20chart[/URL]

Just make sure that Hawaiian has award space on the date you need before making a transfer since you cannot transfer points back to AMEX.

But how to I initiate the transfer? Do I call them? Can it be done online?

Not sure I understand the award space. When I login to my Hawaiian Airlines account I can search for tickets by their required miles for purchase, and it’ll tell me for example this ticket will cost 40,000 miles.

So even if I have 60,000 miles in my account I may not be able to buy that ticket?

The transfer can be done online – [URL]https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/benefits/detail/transfer-points-to-travel-partners/premier-gold[/URL]

You would be able to buy the ticket in your example

Just a heads-up that when transferring points to a US-based airline, Amex charges a small fee based on the number of points you transfer.

Also, please don’t transfer points to Hawaiian. It’s a terrible value.

If you read over the post about types of miles and points, transferable/flexible points allow you to transfer them to travel partners. This can always be done online, though the phone works too.

Fixed-value points generally require you to either book through their online portal (Citi Thank You, Wells Fargo, Bank of America), or reimburse yourself once the charges post to your statement (CapOne, Barclaycard Arrival).

Does that help?