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 27, 2015, 9:32 pm
#226
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Gold, Club Carlson Gold, National EE, *G
Posts: 470
I didn't see this in the WIKI (not explicitly), but can anyone confirm whether Thank You points earned from a new checking account bonus (like opening a gold account) can be transferred if you have a premium card?
Apr 28, 2015, 9:31 am
#227
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
Apr 28, 2015, 9:53 am
#228
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
As for QF, 288K LAX/SYD R/T FC seems quite steep to me. I wasn't aware JFK/LHR was only 106K R/T in J, as that's not a routing I think of for QF.
Hard to say what DL charges, now that they no longer even have an award chart. But it's not a serious FF program IMO. A good airline to fly, but a sick joke of a FF program. The absurdly high miles required for an award is just the beginning of their deficiencies.
Apr 28, 2015, 9:56 am
#229
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
Apr 28, 2015, 10:18 am
#230
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AS, US, Hilton, BA, DL, SPG, AA, VS
Posts: 1,628
If you look around on the blogs, you can find a screenshot of the DL award chart. And while I agree that DL is not the best FF program, it can be useful for certain people in certain situations.
Apr 29, 2015, 10:56 am
#231
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
From VFTW:
"As a Delta spokesman explained":
"We did remove Award charts today. Delta’s expanded search capabilities and calendar at delta.com offer more flexible and accurate view of Award prices."
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....ation-loyalty/
So now you are at the mercy of Delta's dysfunctional computer booking system. And if it prices way out of line with the former award chart, too bad. You can't dispute anything, since there is no award chart now to use for comparison.
Not sure it's still happening, since I don't bother with Delta, but VFRW posted a couple of months ago that Delta was actually charging Elite members more for awards than ordinary members.
If you had no status at all, an award was pricing out at 12,500 miles, but if your were logged in as a Diamond member, it was pricing out at 17,500 miles.
"Delta Currently Charging Elite Members Extra Miles to Book Award Tickets That Everyone Else Can Get for Less"
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....-get-for-less/
Apr 29, 2015, 11:54 am
#232
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Note that Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles can be redeemed for travel on flights operated by Delta, and Virgin Atlantic does publish an award chart:
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/us/en...air-lines.html
I do not know if/when fuel fees apply, but I suspect we can find a thread in the Delta or Virgin Atlantic forum.
Also, Virgin Atlantic's mileage expiration policy acts a little differently that I expected. Any activity can extend the life the account by three years, and if you redeem for a flight the account is extend to three years after the date of the flight, rather than the date of the redemption. For example, I have booked a trip in February 2016, and the account expiration is now February 2019.
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/us/en...air-lines.html
I do not know if/when fuel fees apply, but I suspect we can find a thread in the Delta or Virgin Atlantic forum.
Also, Virgin Atlantic's mileage expiration policy acts a little differently that I expected. Any activity can extend the life the account by three years, and if you redeem for a flight the account is extend to three years after the date of the flight, rather than the date of the redemption. For example, I have booked a trip in February 2016, and the account expiration is now February 2019.
Apr 29, 2015, 12:26 pm
#234
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
There is no benefit to transferring TYP-VS-HH, the end result is identical to transferring TYP-HH directly, and it takes longer.
There may be a benefit transferring TYP-VS-IHG if you really need IHG points.
There may be a benefit transferring TYP-VS-IHG if you really need IHG points.
May 6, 2015, 1:00 am
#236
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,528
(I came here wondering if this was an error, as I didn't want to transfer those points.)
Unrelated - do miles no longer expire? I can't find expiration dates online.
Last edited by nall; May 6, 2015 at 1:15 am
Jun 6, 2015, 9:00 am
#239
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 116
Jun 13, 2015, 9:18 am
#240
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 116
So the 50k transfer to VS finally showed up on 6/11. 7 days for that one :P