Citi Thank You Rewards are earned in a variety of ways. Once you have earned the points, how do you then use the points for free travel? The options are listed below.
1. Transfer points to airlines
You can transfer your Citi Thank You points to participating travel loyalty programs you are enrolled in if you have a Citi Strata Premier card or a Citi ThankYou Prestige card. Click here to see the complete list of programs. I used my Citi ThankYou points for the first time when I transferred them to Singapore Airlines as I have a Citi ThankYou Strata card.
Note, if you have a Citi Rewards+ Card, a Citi ThankYou Preferred card or ThankYou points converted from Citi Double Cash cash rewards, you can transfer your ThankYou Points to one Partner, JetBlue TrueBlue.
2. Redeem your points through Citi’s Travel Center
Citi has an online travel booking tool available where you can redeem your points for travel. You can redeem for flights, hotels, cars, travel packages and activities. Also if you are short on points, you can use your Citi Card and your ThankYou Points together to pay and redeem for all travel available through the online booking tool. The redemption rate depends on the type of Citi card you have. Below are the redemption rates for each card
Citi ThankYou Prestige Card and the Citi ThankYou Strata Card and the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card -one Citi ThankYou point equals $0.01 incremental value on travel. For example, a $500 travel purchase, will cost you 50,000 ThankYou points.
Click here to see how Citi compares to other banks when using points to book travel.
Is it better to transfer or redeem Citi ThankYou points?
It depends? I always start out by going to the website of the airline/hotel, etc and seeing how many points are required for a free night or flight. If I feel the point redemption is too high, or if I do not have enough points to transfer to the partner, I may go to the online booking tool and book travel, paying with my my points there. Usually the online booking tool offers the same rates as the rates offered by the airlines, hotels, etc. Also when booking the travel through the online booking tool, your travel counts as a paid fare, so you’ll also earn frequent flyer miles or rewards points on the purchase.
However, if I will use less points by transferring them to the partner and booking my travel through the partner’s program, then I will transfer my points to the applicable program, having taken into consideration that I will not be earning miles or points on this non-paid fare. Note however, the case is likely different with hotel points. When you book hotels through American Express Travel, it is like booking the stay through an online travel agency. You will most likely not earn the hotel loyalty points.
It comes down to the fact that you need to do the research. But in any event, you have flexible options when using Citi ThankYou points to book free travel!
4. Learn more about using Citi ThankYou points
Learn about earning Citi ThankYou Points here
