Using Citi ThankYou for same day travel
It's surprisingly difficult to use Citi ThankYou points for same day travel.
1. The online booking engine will only let you book flights for the following day.
2. The call center is not 24 hours. (Closes pretty early for a Californian.)
3. Most of their travel partners are not instant (in my case, the short-haul flight was available for 6,800 TYP on AA or 8,000 Qantas points).
4. They CANNOT book flights within four hours of departure.
It was 11 p.m. in California and I wanted to take a 7 a.m. flight the next day. Couldn't book online. Couldn't call. Couldn't transfer instantly to a oneworld partner. Couldn't wait until morning.
I thought using my TYP would be impossible!
However, I do have a pro tip:
While the call center is not 24 hours, some regular customer service reps are trained on flight bookings. If you push back hard enough, they will find a rep for you who can book your flight.