Citi Improving Its Thank You Points Program With a New Transfer Partner!

by Gary Leff

I receive compensation for many links on this blog. You don’t have to use these links, but I am grateful to you if you do. American Express, Citibank, Chase, and other banks are advertising partners of this site. I do not write about all credit cards that are available — instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same).

Citibank emailed yesterday to share that they’ve added Air France KLM’s Flying Blue as a points transfer partner in their Thank You program.

Thank You Premier and Prestige cardmembers can now transfer points to:

  • Air France-KLM
  • Asia Miles
  • Etihad Airways Guest
  • EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
  • Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles
  • Hilton HHonorsTM
  • Malaysia Airlines Enrich
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus

Of these, Singapore Airlines has the broadest and best uses. You can now transfer points from Chase, Starwood, American Express, and Citi over to Singapore. And that’s a really great option.

Air France’s Flying Blue does come with some benefits as a transfer partner.

  • It’s also a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, so it’s another place you can combine both Amex and Citi points.
  • Air France award availability is really good, as long as you aren’t trying to book using Delta miles.
  • Air France regularly runs discounted promo awards.
  • They have most of their partner airlines online for award booking, though the website isn’t always perfectly functional.

On the other hand, they add fuel surcharges to awards. Their call centers are frustrating. And their award chart is no longer that cheap.

To me the best thing about this move is what it says about the Citi Thank You Points program — they aren’t done. They aren’t resting on their laurels. They are actively adding partners. And that’s a good thing, it suggests that the points may be getting more valuable rather than less. (And you can transfer the points to anyone you wish.)

The best current offer for a bunch of Thank You points as a signup bonus is for the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card

Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of any advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Thanks for this update, Gary. The Thank You card is looking all the better as a spending alternative to Chase Ultimate Rewards, which only offers two points per dining dollar and next year is reducing its airline/hotel values from two to one point per dollar.

  2. @steve – Chase is only getting rid of the extra point for booking through their portal — not the double points on travel.

    Cheers,
    Gary

  3. I’m a Citi Thank You Preferred Mastercard holder. Tried to transfer points but got this message:

    Please note that only Citi ThankYou members with a Citi ThankYou® Premier Card, Citi Prestige® Card and Citi Chairman Card are eligible for Points Transfer.

  4. “Air France award availability is really good, as long as you aren’t trying to book using Delta miles”
    Or using Aeromexico Club Premier miles. The other day a phone agent mentioned to me that Flying Blue hadn’t opened up any transatlantic award space to Club Premier in any class of service for over a year. At 40k one-way between US and Europe in business class (plus fuel surcharges), this was otherwise a good alternative to a Flying Blue’s redemption rates for Amex points. Seems like an interesting side battle in the SkyTeam partner feuds. Flying Blue flights between other regions seem available to Club Premier though, as far as I can tell.

  5. Hi Gary, what do you think this portends for Citi adding AA as a transfer partner? Seems like it would only be a matter of time, given how tight the Citi/AA partnership is, although do you think the AA/US merger integration mean this is something we’ll see a bit further down the road once AA/US are fully-integrate? Also, do you really have to wait a year to get the 30K for spending another $3K? Can you just put $5K on the card right away and get the full 50K points? Seems like a weird way to incentivize new customers…basically just inviting them to stash the card away for a year.

  7. @Nic – the points are more valuable than at any time since 2009, since they now transfer to miles.

    They are not nearly as good as back when I used to be able to earn a 36% rate of return on gas and groceries with the Drivers Edge card. And even THAT was a devaluation compared to the grand old days.

    But in what way is introducing the ability to transfer points, which they did not offer before, “getting worse”..?

  9. Is it true that Citi Premier is changing the 3x from Dining/Entertainment down to 2x and Travel from 2x up to 3x?

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