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Answers (7)

Citi Thank you Points

Citi Thank you Points

  1. Agnes Kumala New Member

    Hello,
    I just recently closed my Citi Thank you credit card and I was told that I have to use my miles in 60 days upon closing. I would like to transfer my thank you points to Travel partners and among the choices are: SQ, Asiamiles, Eva Air, Etihad, Qatar, Qantas, Etc. I am not sure which airlines will have best programs and availability and at the same time not using too many miles in each travel. Can you please advise?

    Thanks!

  2. MarkS Member

    My choice would be Singapore (in fact that’s where I did what you have to do). Their program is transparent, Singapore flights have good availability, you can also get all *A flights and that reward chart is reasonable. They do have surcharges but with SQ they aren’t crazy like BA’s fees. The downside is the 3 year time limit to use them. This can be extended by 6 months for a fee and then you have another year to use the ticket. Also SQ’s cancel fees are very reasonable and I’ve found the agents great to deal with. The 85% SQ fee makes Singapore flights great deals.

    The other choices, Asiamiles is a good program. But you face fees with all other carriers if you don’t fly CX. I don’t like the higher one way fare with AsiaMiles either. If you are going to travel to Asia then this might be your best choice. Cathay departs from more US cities than Singapore.

    Eva Air’s program isn’t very transparent and somewhat costly. Etihad, Qatar and Qantas are generally very expensive. Etihad you only have 2 years to use the points or they are gone. Some people like Flying Blue, I find the program to be too expensive.

    Of course much of this depends on where you want to use your miles. If you are in a city that a specific airlines departs from that should be your focus, unless you don’t mind paying for a positioning flight. Good luck!

  3. Anonymous Guest

    Hi [USER=2430]@Agnes Kumala[/USER], and welcome! Do you have any travel you’re hoping to do in the next year? That would help us to guide you.

    In general I agree with [USER=2121]@MarkS[/USER] about Singapore being the best option, but there are some specific cases where FlyingBlue or Etihad could make some sense.

  4. Agnes Kumala New Member

    [QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 22224, member: 7″]Hi [USER=2430]@Agnes Kumala[/USER], and welcome! Do you have any travel you’re hoping to do in the next year? That would help us to guide you.

    In general I agree with [USER=2121]@MarkS[/USER] about Singapore being the best option, but there are some specific cases where FlyingBlue or Etihad could make some sense.[/QUOTE]

    Hello [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] the problem is I really dont have any specific destination right now. So I am just looking to see which one will have more flexibility but I will be more likely to use it in the future to fly around Asia. If I am comparing SQ Krisflyer and Thai Airways, which one will be better?

  5. Agnes Kumala New Member

    [QUOTE=”MarkS, post: 22216, member: 2121″]My choice would be Singapore (in fact that’s where I did what you have to do). Their program is transparent, Singapore flights have good availability, you can also get all *A flights and that reward chart is reasonable. They do have surcharges but with SQ they aren’t crazy like BA’s fees. The downside is the 3 year time limit to use them. This can be extended by 6 months for a fee and then you have another year to use the ticket. Also SQ’s cancel fees are very reasonable and I’ve found the agents great to deal with. The 85% SQ fee makes Singapore flights great deals.

    The other choices, Asiamiles is a good program. But you face fees with all other carriers if you don’t fly CX. I don’t like the higher one way fare with AsiaMiles either. If you are going to travel to Asia then this might be your best choice. Cathay departs from more US cities than Singapore.

    Eva Air’s program isn’t very transparent and somewhat costly. Etihad, Qatar and Qantas are generally very expensive. Etihad you only have 2 years to use the points or they are gone. Some people like Flying Blue, I find the program to be too expensive.

    Of course much of this depends on where you want to use your miles. If you are in a city that a specific airlines departs from that should be your focus, unless you don’t mind paying for a positioning flight. Good luck![/QUOTE]

    Thanks Mark! Have you try Thai Airways program yet? How is that compared with SQ?

  6. MarkS Member

    Hi Agnes. I have looked at Thai but haven’t done an in-depth analysis mostly because they don’t fly to the US. A couple things I noted, their one-way awards are more than 50% of the R/T award. I remember looking at Bangkok to Melbourne, I think it was 100K in business. United was 60K. I also am not impressed with their technology, just changing a seat on their website was an adventure.

    You know of course you can fly Thai with SQ points. The agents with SQ are great. I’ve never had an issue with them booking an award or finding something that I wanted. I’ve never dealt with Thai. Plus if you do fly SQ you get the 15% discount. If I get a chance i’ll take a better look at it, but for parking points I’d fell a whole lot more comfortable with SQ.

    (Closer look)
    Some Asia examples:
    Bangkok to Taipei on Thai Y35K, J55K
    Singapore to Taipei on SQ Y30K, J55K minus 15%
    Bangkok to Tokyo on Thai Y45K, J75K
    Singapore to Tokyo on SQ Y45K, J80K minus 15%

    Thai’s change / cancel fees are significantly higher than SQ
    Both have Star Alliance charts a little more expensive than their own
    Thai’s routing rules seem to be a little more strict, like you must take the first connection out
    Both allow stopovers
    Both have 3 year point expirations

    One last point, in the future if you get points with another card, like AMEX or Chase you can transfer to SQ while with Thai you are limited to Citi and SPG.

    For me, there is no decision here. Good luck!

  7. Anonymous Guest

    The Thai program is awful, I really wouldn’t recommend it in comparison to Singapore, especially as the SQ program is so much easier to use!

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