Don’t sleep on Citi ThankYou points. You can redeem them for some of the world’s best business- and first-class seats by transferring points to Citi’s 19 airline and hotel loyalty programs, including reader favorites Air France-KLM Flying Blue and Avianca LifeMiles.
Whether you already have a stash of ThankYou points or are just about to open your first Citi credit card, it’s important to know all the ways to earn ThankYou points and the best ways to redeem them. Here’s everything you need to know about Citi ThankYou.
Citi ThankYou might not be as well-known as Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards points, but it’s a program worth knowing. Here are a few of its key features:
I’ve been earning and redeeming with ThankYou since 2016, and these points have funded many of my favorite vacations.
You can earn Citi ThankYou points when spending on select Citi credit cards. However, only one Citi card — the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card — lets you transfer your points to all 19 of Citi’s travel partners. You can, however, earn points with other Citi cards and move the points to your Strata Premier.
Here are the Citi cards earning ThankYou points:
I have two Citi ThankYou cards in my wallet: the Strata Premier and the Double Cash. When I want to stock up on ThankYou points, I use the Strata Premier for travel, EV charging, dining and groceries to earn 3 points per dollar. Then, I put the rest of my regular spending on the Double Cash to earn 2% cash back — which can be transferred to ThankYou points — on all other purchases.
Doing this ensures I never get fewer than two points per dollar on my everyday spending. So, if you can manage two credit cards, consider doing the same. It’ll speed up how many points you earn and put you closer to your next big redemption.
Citi ThankYou Rewards is a transferable points program, so you have options for redeeming your rewards. You’ll typically get the best value from your points when you redeem them for travel through Citi’s transfer partners, but you can also choose to redeem them for statement credits, gift cards and more.
As mentioned, if you have a Citi Strata Premier or a discontinued Citi ThankYou card with an annual fee, you can transfer your points to all of Citi’s airline and hotel transfer partners.
Here’s the full list of 15 airline transfer partners:
You can also transfer to four hotel loyalty programs:
If you only have a Citi card with no annual fee, you can transfer your points to the following loyalty programs at lower transfer rates:
Citi Travel is an online travel agency powered by Booking.com. You can redeem Citi ThankYou points for hotels, flights, rental cars and other travel at a fixed rate of 1 cent per point. This isn’t the worst value, but you can often do better when booking travel through a transfer partner.
Other ways to redeem your Citi ThankYou points include:
Given these low redemption rates, we recommend avoiding these redemptions.
With 19 transfer partners, it’s not hard to redeem Citi ThankYou points for flights to your dream destination. But some transfer partner redemptions will yield better value than others — here are a few team favorites:
Check out our list of the best ways to redeem ThankYou points for more information.
Citi ThankYou Rewards points are the underdog of the transferable points world. It has fewer credit cards than rival programs, and its transfer partners are more obscure. However, there’s still immense value to be found if you know how to redeem your points properly.
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