With a wide range of switch companions, Citi ThankYou factors are a few of the most beneficial transferable factors on the market. You possibly can leverage these switch companions to e-book the whole lot from low-cost home flights to high-end worldwide first-class tickets with minimal out-of-pocket price.
On this information, I will present you a few of my favourite makes use of of (roughly) 80,000 ThankYou factors — the present sign-up bonus on the Citi Premier® Card. Proper now, you’ll be able to earn 80,000 ThankYou factors after spending $4,000 on qualifying purchases on the cardboard throughout the first three months of opening your account.
So, let’s take a better have a look at Citi’s checklist of switch companions and how one can leverage them to e-book high-value award tickets.
Maximizing Citi ThankYou factors
Here is a have a look at Citi’s switch companions, which all have 1:1 switch ratios (that means 1,000 ThankYou factors equal 1,000 airline miles), besides the place famous:
- Aeromexico Membership Premier.
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
- Avianca LifeMiles.
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
- Alternative Privileges (1:2 or 1:1.5 for non-premium playing cards).
- Emirates Skywards.
- Etihad Visitor.
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands.
- JetBlue TrueBlue (5:4 for non-premium playing cards).
- Qantas Frequent Flyer.
- Qatar Privilege Membership.
- Singapore KrisFlyer.
- Thai Royal Orchid Plus.
- Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles.
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership.
- Wyndham Rewards (1:0.8 for non-premium playing cards).
In the event you’re questioning the worth of a few of these companions, you’re not alone, as solely a handful present high-value redemptions. Whereas the checklist beneath is not exhaustive, it demonstrates the facility of a handful of those applications. Use them as inspiration to your personal award journey, even should you’re not within the locations or flights we define beneath.
Associated: The final word information to Citi ThankYou Rewards
Flights to India through Istanbul in Turkish Airways enterprise class
Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles is a TPG employees favourite. When there’s business-class saver area obtainable, you’ll be able to journey from the USA to Istanbul for simply 45,000 miles one-way. However we consider that the true candy spot of this system is redeeming miles from the USA to South Asia — which will be finished for simply 52,500 miles. This consists of itineraries to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Flights from the U.S. to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia and Indonesia price 67,500 miles.
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In the event you determine to journey on Turkish Airways in enterprise class, attempt to discover a flight operated on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner or Airbus A350. These two planes characteristic the airline’s newer 1-2-1 enterprise class versus the outgoing 2-3-2 or 2-2-2 enterprise class discovered on its Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s.
The one draw back to this award is the method to truly e-book it. Turkish’s web site is not essentially the most user-friendly, and there are some hoops you must bounce via to e-book awards for different vacationers. Try our full information to Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles for extra info.
Flying United enterprise class from the US mainland to Hawaii
Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles can be a incredible possibility for home United itineraries, notably on flights to Hawaii. Miles&Smiles slots Hawaii in the identical area as the USA, that means you could journey for a similar variety of miles on a flight from the East Coast to Hawaii as a brief skip from Newark to Washington, D.C., as an example. Economic system-class tickets are 7,500 miles, whereas enterprise class tickets are 12,500 miles one-way.
Lengthy-haul nonstop flights from the East Coast to Honolulu are tough to e-book utilizing Star Alliance accomplice applications. You possibly can set ExpertFlyer notifications for the “X” (Star Alliance financial system saver) and “I” (Star Alliance enterprise saver) fare courses. That means, if a seat will get launched, you’ll be able to rapidly e-book it utilizing Turkish Airways miles. (ExpertFlyer is owned by TPG’s dad or mum firm, Purple Ventures.)
United typically flies its Boeing 767-400ER on long-haul flights from Dulles Worldwide Airport (IAD) and Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR) to Daniel Okay. Inouye Worldwide Airport (HNL). Sadly, most of those planes have but to obtain their Polaris retrofit, however United has confirmed that they are going to be refurbished within the coming months.
Flights from the West Coast to Tokyo with ANA
ANA’s new enterprise class is among the finest within the skies, and for simply 90,000 or 95,000 miles round-trip, you’ll be able to journey to Japan on round-trip West Coast or East Coast itineraries, respectively. One-way tickets price half this, bringing the fee right down to 45,000 and 47,500 miles from the West Coast and East Coast, respectively.
You will discover award availability on a Star Alliance search engine. I discover united.com to be the best one to make use of.
As soon as you discover your required ANA business-class route, name Virgin Atlantic and supply the flight particulars you discovered on-line. As soon as the consultant has confirmed that there is award area, you’ll be able to switch your ThankYou factors to Flying Membership whereas nonetheless on the cellphone. Our assessments point out that ThankYou factors to Flying Membership transfers are instantaneous.
Flights to Asia in EVA Air’s top-tier business-class product
If Ferragamo amenity kits, Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2006 glowing wine that retails for $160 and seats designed by BMW enchantment to you, look no additional than EVA’s Royal Laurel enterprise class. I attempted this product earlier this yr and it rapidly grew to become my favourite approach to get throughout the Pacific.
EVA has commonly scheduled passenger flights to Chicago’s O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD), Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX), New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK), San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO) and Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA).
The airline additionally flies to most main airports in East and Southeast Asia. In the event you e-book only a Seattle-to-Taiwan flight utilizing Avianca LifeMiles, it can set you again 85,000 miles. Making Taiwan Taoyuan Worldwide Airport (TPE) a fast layover and persevering with to Southeast Asia on a connecting flight will set you again an additional 5,000 extra miles. Whereas award availability is restricted, it’s best to discover award area should you e-book about 10 months out with versatile journey dates.
Certain, this is a bit more than 80,000 factors, but it surely must be comparatively straightforward to earn the distinction by assembly the Citi Premier’s minimal spending requirement. Bear in mind, the cardboard earns 3 factors per greenback on airfare, motels, gasoline, groceries and eating places.
Associated: Can’t discover award availability with Avianca LifeMiles? Don’t quit till you do that trick
Flights from the US to Frankfurt in Lufthansa top notch
With money fares beginning at $8,300 one-way, reserving Lufthansa’s top notch on miles is what TPG’s Zach Griff as soon as known as “the holy grail of award tickets.”
Lufthansa first-class passengers take pleasure in high-end four-course meals, seats that recline into 84-inch beds and, if touring on a Boeing 747, the chance to take a seat within the nostril of the airplane.
You possibly can e-book Lufthansa’s first-class award tickets on LifeMiles beginning 30 days earlier than the departure of your flight. As these are a few of the most coveted seats throughout the Atlantic, we advise setting award alerts on ExpertFlyer. That means, you will be notified by electronic mail when a seat turns into obtainable, permitting you to hopefully snag the seat earlier than it is taken.
Learn how to earn Citi ThankYou factors
As talked about within the introduction, the Citi Premier card continues to be providing its best-ever welcome bonus of 80,000 factors after you spend $4,000 within the first three months of opening your account. This is sufficient to e-book nearly the whole lot mentioned on this information as soon as you have met the spending requirement. Even higher, the cardboard has a wide range of spending classes that earn 3 factors per greenback, together with:
- Air journey.
- Accommodations.
- Eating places.
- Supermarkets.
- Gasoline stations.
This covers a great portion of the prices many people incur each day and makes your subsequent espresso run, grocery buy or gasoline fill-up a step nearer to your subsequent huge journey. Plus, all different purchases you placed on the cardboard earn 1 level per greenback spent. The cardboard additionally has no international transaction charges, so you will not pay extra once you make a purchase order overseas.
Associated: TPG’s full evaluate of the Citi Premier card
You can even pair the Citi Premier with the Citi® Double Money Card, which earns 1% money again once you make a purchase order and one other 1% money again once you make a fee. Nevertheless, this money again is awarded as ThankYou factors — with $0.01 equaling 1 level — you could merge with the factors earned together with your Citi Premier card. Therefore, you’ll be able to switch these factors to airline and lodge companions on the identical price because the Citi Premier.
Proper now, the Citi Double Money presents a welcome bonus of $200 money again after you spend $1,500 on purchases within the first six months of account opening. This equals 20,000 factors.
Associated: Learn how to get most worth out of your Citi Double Money ThankYou factors
Backside line
Transferable level currencies will be extremely priceless, due to their inherent flexibility. You possibly can wait to switch to companions till you’re able to e-book and even have the choice to redeem immediately for journey on a wide range of airways. Whereas we don’t worth Citi ThankYou factors as excessive as different transferable factors currencies, there are some terrific methods to redeem them for stable worth.
Extra reporting by Andrew Kunesh and Nick Ewen.
