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
Aug 26, 2019, 5:25 pm
#616
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Westchester Co, NY or Rio Grande Valley, TX or ???
Programs: BAEC G, WN A-, Hyatt G, HH G, MAR T, Hz PC, was [UA2P, FL A+Elite, BD G]
Posts: 2,276
SQ datapoint: Requested transfer to SQ Sunday late morning EDT (so late Monday evening in Singapore); transfer complete early Monday afternoon EDT. That's just over one business day (~27 hours).
Sep 13, 2019, 2:40 am
#617
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVP100K, Hilton Diamond, IHG Gold
Posts: 3,215
As someone who has run out of Chase and Amex opportunities I can say that Virgin Atlantic is really a great partner not to be over looked for transfers. I was unfamiliar with their program but it’s pretty seamless, they have some good deals to Asia, and the upper class redemptions to the UK are not bad either.
The fuel charges suck, but $600 for upper class is still a good deal to me.
The fuel charges suck, but $600 for upper class is still a good deal to me.
Nov 15, 2019, 7:26 pm
#618
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 354
Turkish miles
Hi I want to transfer my TYP to Turkish miles, but I was wondering if you need to include the letters TK in the Turkish account number or if I only need to include numbers in the TYP transfer request? Don't wanna get my TYP lost.
Nov 16, 2019, 8:22 am
#619
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
Per Doctor of Credit and a thread in the Etihad forum, Etihad just changed from hard expiry to soft expiry, so that now becomes a safer place to transfer if you're not absolutely sure when you will be able to redeem everything you transferred. (I also updated the MilesBuzz expiry thread wiki to show this.)
Last edited by sdsearch; Nov 16, 2019 at 10:09 am Reason: added link to FT thread
Feb 16, 2020, 2:04 am
#622
Join Date: Jul 2005
Programs: DL Diamond, TK Elite+, HHonors Gold, FB, UA, AA
Posts: 230
Hi everyone - About how often does Citi has these "specials" where there is there is a % bonus on transferred points to airlines? Last time I remembered that they did this with Turkish. Do they do it with Flying Blue occasionally also?
Feb 16, 2020, 4:32 am
#623
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,961
Yes: Flying Blue 30% Transfer Bonus- thru 8/29/2018
There is currently a 25% bonus to Qantas, ending 2.22.2020
There is currently a 25% bonus to Qantas, ending 2.22.2020
Feb 17, 2020, 11:34 pm
#625
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: BNA
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Bonvoy Plat, HHonors Diamond, DL Gold
Posts: 383
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/a-com...sfer-bonuses/#
I cannot attest to the accuracy or how current the list may be, however it is the best summary of Citi ThankYou transfer bonuses that I have encountered. For historical purposes, it should be a helpful resource.
Feb 18, 2020, 2:12 am
#626
Join Date: Jul 2005
Programs: DL Diamond, TK Elite+, HHonors Gold, FB, UA, AA
Posts: 230
FYI, Doctor of Credit has compiled a list of Citi ThankYou transfer bonuses.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/a-com...sfer-bonuses/#
I cannot attest to the accuracy or how current the list may be, however it is the best summary of Citi ThankYou transfer bonuses that I have encountered. For historical purposes, it should be a helpful resource.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/a-com...sfer-bonuses/#
I cannot attest to the accuracy or how current the list may be, however it is the best summary of Citi ThankYou transfer bonuses that I have encountered. For historical purposes, it should be a helpful resource.
Nov 18, 2020, 10:11 am
#628
Join Date: Sep 2017
Programs: WN A-list., Marriott Plat, National EX, UA Silver
Posts: 289
I have transferred my Citi points to Turkish and it has been 7 days. I called Citi for help and they were clueless. They said they can't even start look into it until 14 days pass. Is anyone else experiencing problems?
Last edited by flyguy6; Nov 18, 2020 at 5:46 pm
Nov 30, 2020, 9:41 pm
#629
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: LAX
Programs: AA Plat, UA Gold
Posts: 609
I'm also about to finally close my prestige account after many years and looking for advice on where to park miles before I close it. I was going to do it last year and cleared out my TY points to lifemiles, but somehow was never charged the increased annual fee.
I'm a UA flyer and SF based so lifemiles would be easy but i already have a TON of miles and with avianca's bk, I don't want to put more. I don't have a ton of TY points ~90k, but was debating between flying blue and virgin atlantic flying club?
any thoughts?
I'm a UA flyer and SF based so lifemiles would be easy but i already have a TON of miles and with avianca's bk, I don't want to put more. I don't have a ton of TY points ~90k, but was debating between flying blue and virgin atlantic flying club?
any thoughts?
Dec 1, 2020, 7:49 am
#630
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Varies :-)
Programs: AS; AA; UA; DL; VS; BA; Nat'l Emer. Exec.; AGR
Posts: 2,250
I've no idea what your travel destination patterns are, but I've liked some VS partner short-haul redemption options in recent travels. :-) And HKG<>LHR in premium economy was handy for a round-the-world trip I did a while back.