Aug 5, 2014, 12:17 pm
Last edit by: mia
Q. Can I transfer Thank You points to airline programs?
A. Yes, but only from a TYP account tied to one of the following premium (fee-based) Citi cards:
Exception: Citi Preferred or Rewards+ cardholders can transfer to JetBlue at a less favorable rate (1000:500). They cannot transfer to other airline or hotel programs except as explained in the next paragraph .
Points earned through other cards -- such as the Citi Preferred or Rewards+ -- are eligible for transfer to airline programs, provided you also hold one of the premium cards listed above.
ThankYou Points earned through banking and customer service adjustments are called Taxable Points. Citi reports them as taxable when they are redeemed, not when they are earned. Citi does not allow Taxable Points to be Shared or Transferred, because they cannot determine a monetary value for those redemptions. However, the IT implementation of this policy may be imperfect. In 2015 one member was able to Transfer points earned through banking shortly after combining two ThankYou Rewards accounts. See posts 207-210, but no one has replicated this success.
Q. Which airline programs can I transfer TYP into?
A. TYP may be transferred 1:1 to these airline programs:
OneWorld
SkyTeam
Star Alliance
Independent
and to these hotel programs:
and to this retail program:
Q: After I transfer, when will my miles expire at that airline/hotel program? Is there anything I can do to avoid expiration there?
The Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire wiki now lists all of the above Citi TYP airline/hotel transfer partners and their respective expiration policies.
Q. Are transfers instant?
A. Not necessarily. Although Citi's FAQ states that it may take up to fourteen days for the ThankYou Points to post to your participating travel loyalty program member account, anecdotal evidence suggests that many transfer times will be much shorter. A summary:
Q. Can I transfer to another person's airline or hotel program account?
A. Per the Citi FAQ,
We do not have many reports describing how strictly this rule is applied/enforced, nor any reports on workarounds. One FTer, in his first post ever, claimed success in transfering TYP to another person's Etihad (EY) account.
Keep in mind that TYP may be freely Shared with another TYP member's account (with the points expiring 90 days after transfer). If the recipient member has a transfer-eligible card (as described above), s/he can Transfer points to airline or hotel partners.
A. Yes, but only from a TYP account tied to one of the following premium (fee-based) Citi cards:
- Premier
- Prestige
- Chairman
Exception: Citi Preferred or Rewards+ cardholders can transfer to JetBlue at a less favorable rate (1000:500). They cannot transfer to other airline or hotel programs except as explained in the next paragraph .
Points earned through other cards -- such as the Citi Preferred or Rewards+ -- are eligible for transfer to airline programs, provided you also hold one of the premium cards listed above.
ThankYou Points earned through banking and customer service adjustments are called Taxable Points. Citi reports them as taxable when they are redeemed, not when they are earned. Citi does not allow Taxable Points to be Shared or Transferred, because they cannot determine a monetary value for those redemptions. However, the IT implementation of this policy may be imperfect. In 2015 one member was able to Transfer points earned through banking shortly after combining two ThankYou Rewards accounts. See posts 207-210, but no one has replicated this success.
Q. Which airline programs can I transfer TYP into?
A. TYP may be transferred 1:1 to these airline programs:
OneWorld
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (CX)
- Malaysia Airlines Enrich (MH)
- Qantas Frequent Flyer (QF)
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club (QR)
SkyTeam
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Flying Blue: Air France (AF), KLM (KL) and others
- Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles (GA)
- Virgin Atlantic (VS)
Star Alliance
- Avianca LifeMiles (AV)
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands (BR)
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (SQ)
- Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus (TG)
- Turkish Airlines (TK)
Independent
- Etihad Guest (EY)
- Emirates Skywards (EK)
- Jet Airways (9W)
- jetBlue (B6) (TYP 1000 = 800 B6)
and to these hotel programs:
- ALL - Accor Live Limitless ( TYP 1000 = 500 ALL)
- Choice Privileges (TYP 1000 = 2000 Choice)
- Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club (TYP 1000 = 200 LC)
- Wyndham Rewards
and to this retail program:
- Shop Your Way (Sears) (at ratio 1 TYP: 12 SYW)
Q: After I transfer, when will my miles expire at that airline/hotel program? Is there anything I can do to avoid expiration there?
The Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire wiki now lists all of the above Citi TYP airline/hotel transfer partners and their respective expiration policies.
Q. Are transfers instant?
A. Not necessarily. Although Citi's FAQ states that it may take up to fourteen days for the ThankYou Points to post to your participating travel loyalty program member account, anecdotal evidence suggests that many transfer times will be much shorter. A summary:
- AF/KL: As of March 2016, instant. (Was previously 1-5 days.)
- AM:
- AV: Instant to ~5 days - mixed reports: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi...r-partner.html
- B6: Instant
- BR: One business day in theory, but see post 417
- CX: One business day
- EY: Reports and discussion HERE.
- FB: less than 4 hours (11/16/17 after I added 00 to the front of my FB number) Make sure you have a 12 digit number or transfer will die.
- GA:
- MH: Two days
- QF: Two days (per post 273). Eight per post 368. 36 hours per post 440. 23 hours per post 512. Less than 24 hrs per post 547.
- QR: 2 days per post 418
- SQ: Variable--anywhere from two business days (per post #120) to 2.5-3 calendar days (per post 382) to next day per post 287
- TG:
- TK: Took 16-24 hours to transfer (12/28/17). No fees.
- VS: As of March 2016, instant. (Was previously done overnight: report 1; report 2).
Q. Can I transfer to another person's airline or hotel program account?
A. Per the Citi FAQ,
No. The first and last names on both the ThankYou Member Account and the participating travel loyalty program member's account must match in order to transfer points using the Points Transfer feature.
Keep in mind that TYP may be freely Shared with another TYP member's account (with the points expiring 90 days after transfer). If the recipient member has a transfer-eligible card (as described above), s/he can Transfer points to airline or hotel partners.
Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs): airline and hotel transfer partners
Apr 24, 2015, 7:39 am
#211
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Gold, Club Carlson Gold, National EE, *G
Posts: 470
I have edited the Wikipost to reflect the possibility that geclub1's experience was an exception, because the published rule has not changed. I speculate that when the two ThankYou Rewards accounts were merged the points which had been earned through banking were miscoded. We would need more examples to know if this is loophole which can be exploited, or a manual error.
Last edited by mia; Apr 24, 2015 at 7:47 am Reason: Combine consecutive replies
Apr 24, 2015, 7:48 am
#212
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Apr 24, 2015, 8:31 am
#214
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: OZ *G; HH Diamond;
Posts: 1,644
Did you apply for a Citi gold account which came with a TY bonus? The reason I ask is that I believe these bonuses have for quite a while allowed you to transfer out to a partner. Alternatively, are you saying that monthly TY points that are deposited into your account were also able to be transferred?
Last edited by mia; Apr 24, 2015 at 9:01 am Reason: Prune quotation
Apr 24, 2015, 8:38 am
#215
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Gold, Club Carlson Gold, National EE, *G
Posts: 470
Apr 24, 2015, 3:44 pm
#216
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
Discussion of transferring points to another person's ThankYou Rewards account has been exported to a new thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...p-account.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...p-account.html
Apr 25, 2015, 1:17 pm
#218
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Up In The Cloud
Programs: UA 1K MM; BA S, AA G; AS G; DL | SPG P50, M G, CC G, IHG P, HLT S | Hertz PC, Avis F
Posts: 682
Are there any useful thankyou point partners with friendly expiration policy (expires afer inactivity for a certain period of time)? IIRC, SQ miles expire 3 years after deposit, while AF miles expire 20 months after deposit unless one takes a Skyteam flight.
Apr 25, 2015, 2:30 pm
#219
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,475
GA I believe requires members to visit a GA office to ticket reservations.
Apr 25, 2015, 4:01 pm
#220
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AS, US, Hilton, BA, DL, SPG, AA, VS
Posts: 1,628
Depends how you define useful. If you can make QF work for you, you only need activity in your account every 18 months to keep your miles alive. Other than that (and Flying Blue, which you note above), they all have pretty harsh expiration policies.
Apr 25, 2015, 5:35 pm
#221
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Up In The Cloud
Programs: UA 1K MM; BA S, AA G; AS G; DL | SPG P50, M G, CC G, IHG P, HLT S | Hertz PC, Avis F
Posts: 682
Apr 25, 2015, 8:44 pm
#222
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AS, US, Hilton, BA, DL, SPG, AA, VS
Posts: 1,628
Also, in my earlier post, I forgot VS. Their expiration policy is that any activity will extend your miles. I think you need some kind of activity every 3 years, but I can't remember the exact time.
Apr 26, 2015, 9:18 am
#223
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
VS has very high fuel surcharges...
A 3 year expiration policy doesn't trouble me, as I'm a card carrying member of the Earn Them and Burn Them club. Holding miles/points for over 3 years is just asking to have them demolished by devaluation.
Last edited by Brugge; Apr 28, 2015 at 9:58 am
Apr 26, 2015, 10:24 am
#224
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
4.2.1 Once reward tickets are issued, you may amend your travel date, route or class of service prior to travel for an amendment fee of £30 for changes to international flights originating in the UK, US$50 for changes to international flights originating in the US or local currency equivalent of US$50 for changes to flights originating in any other region. Changes to domestic flights within the UK can be made for an amendment fee of £15. Where the reward is a companion ticket and the person travelling on the paying ticket changes his or her flight or class of travel, the companion ticket may be similarly amended for the same amendment fees, subject to availability of seats and the provisions of section 4.4 of these Flying Club Terms.
Once tickets for a Reward Booking are issued, no name changes are allowed. If for any reason a flight Reward is cancelled by the Member outside 24 hours of departure, 100% of the Miles will be re-credited to the Member’s account. A cancellation fee of £30 for changes to flights originating in the UK, US$50 for changes to flights originating in the US or local currency equivalent of US$50 for changes to flights originating in any other region will apply
If for any reason a flight Reward is cancelled by a member 24 hours prior departure, no Miles will be refunded and a £30 administration fee will be charged to process the refund of any taxes, charges/sur-charges. Once travel has commenced Miles cannot be refunded. Except as expressly stated in these Flying Club Terms, Miles are not refundable and changes or revalidation are not permitted in case of no-show.
Once tickets for a Reward Booking are issued, no name changes are allowed. If for any reason a flight Reward is cancelled by the Member outside 24 hours of departure, 100% of the Miles will be re-credited to the Member’s account. A cancellation fee of £30 for changes to flights originating in the UK, US$50 for changes to flights originating in the US or local currency equivalent of US$50 for changes to flights originating in any other region will apply
If for any reason a flight Reward is cancelled by a member 24 hours prior departure, no Miles will be refunded and a £30 administration fee will be charged to process the refund of any taxes, charges/sur-charges. Once travel has commenced Miles cannot be refunded. Except as expressly stated in these Flying Club Terms, Miles are not refundable and changes or revalidation are not permitted in case of no-show.
Apr 26, 2015, 12:15 pm
#225
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AS, US, Hilton, BA, DL, SPG, AA, VS
Posts: 1,628