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
Jan 16, 2023, 12:11 am
#691
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: Virgin Atlantic Silver, IHG Diamond, Bonvoy Gold, Hilton Diamond, AA Platinum Pro
Posts: 1,386
Sure, no trip insurance, but that really depends on your travel patterns.
The Rewards+ gives you a 10% uplift for the first 100K points redeemed each year, whether it be for cash or as transfer.
For me personally, it has been a bonanza, and the Prestige is the last card I would ever consider canceling.
Jan 16, 2023, 1:27 am
#692
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
And Eastern Traveler originally asked to debate how to value TYP in travel redemptions.
Jan 16, 2023, 5:18 am
#693
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ATL, BHM, DUB, County Wexford
Programs: DL DM, AA ExPlt, Diamond HH, HY, BW, & Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 4,863
How do you figure? The card gets 5X on flights and all OTAs/travel agencies, which is an exceedingly wide swath of merchants in the travel sphere. You are not confined to the issuer's proprietary portal for the 5-10X bonus, as opposed to Amex, Chase, and Capital1.
Sure, no trip insurance, but that really depends on your travel patterns.
The Rewards+ gives you a 10% uplift for the first 100K points redeemed each year, whether it be for cash or as transfer.
For me personally, it has been a bonanza, and the Prestige is the last card I would ever consider canceling.
Sure, no trip insurance, but that really depends on your travel patterns.
The Rewards+ gives you a 10% uplift for the first 100K points redeemed each year, whether it be for cash or as transfer.
For me personally, it has been a bonanza, and the Prestige is the last card I would ever consider canceling.
Jan 16, 2023, 6:17 am
#694
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: Virgin Atlantic Silver, IHG Diamond, Bonvoy Gold, Hilton Diamond, AA Platinum Pro
Posts: 1,386
"It's complicated"
For me, the ceiling is whatever price you could pay to directly purchase the number of points transferred to the desired program (i.e. if I'm transferring to Turkish, for example, the value of TYP cannot exceed whatever the cost would be to buy the same number of points from Turkish Air).
So we've established a maximum. The minimum is 1 cent (default cash out rate), or 1.1 cents if I haven't used 100K points yet in the calendar year.
Now we've established a minimum/floor.
In between, would be whatever the cash value of the desired booking is, less the value of points you would have earned from charging your credit card and through the frequent flyer program, less taxes/fees paid on top of the points redemption.
So assuming you are a logical person, whatever you are using the points on has to be worth more than one cent a point and presumably falls squarely within the 1.5-2.5 cents/point range.
For me, the ceiling is whatever price you could pay to directly purchase the number of points transferred to the desired program (i.e. if I'm transferring to Turkish, for example, the value of TYP cannot exceed whatever the cost would be to buy the same number of points from Turkish Air).
So we've established a maximum. The minimum is 1 cent (default cash out rate), or 1.1 cents if I haven't used 100K points yet in the calendar year.
Now we've established a minimum/floor.
In between, would be whatever the cash value of the desired booking is, less the value of points you would have earned from charging your credit card and through the frequent flyer program, less taxes/fees paid on top of the points redemption.
So assuming you are a logical person, whatever you are using the points on has to be worth more than one cent a point and presumably falls squarely within the 1.5-2.5 cents/point range.
Jan 16, 2023, 3:00 pm
#695
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
Let's try an example with another commodity. I'm expecting big Agro business to move into my county, and exchanged $100 for a pile of manure in anticipation of that event. But big Agro cancelled their plans, and won't need fertilizer after all. Should I continue to insist that my pile of manure is as good as $100?
Jan 16, 2023, 4:13 pm
#696
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ATL, BHM, DUB, County Wexford
Programs: DL DM, AA ExPlt, Diamond HH, HY, BW, & Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 4,863
The nice thing about the bank points programs is that they are always worth a penny if you can cash out to statement credit or gift card. Getting to 1.5 with C1, USB, or TYP is difficult for me. Especially considering the exchange partners.
Jan 16, 2023, 8:06 pm
#697
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
Not always -- there are elaborate rules to prevent point expiration, forfeiture, and other "calamities". It's not hard, but one can't leave them unattended and assume they'll always have the originally promised value.
Jan 17, 2023, 8:03 am
#698
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ATL, BHM, DUB, County Wexford
Programs: DL DM, AA ExPlt, Diamond HH, HY, BW, & Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 4,863
Good point, but compared to hotel and airline forever shrinking values....
Feb 8, 2023, 8:33 am
#703
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,257
on Eva Infinity Mileageland account website, once logged in and FF account verified, name will appear as "Langman Peter" because Langman is english family name and Peter is english given name.
and if my name on credit card points transfer website appears as "Peter Langman", will i have problems getting the TYP points transferred successfully?
thanks for any insights
Feb 9, 2023, 10:30 pm
#704
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 37
I've just finished getting the bonus points on my Premier card. I am wondering what would be the best ways to spend those points for a trip to southeast asia (Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam) next year? What airlines do you suggest to transfer points to? Thank you!
Feb 9, 2023, 10:42 pm
#705
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: TPE, SFO, PAE
Posts: 862
can you confirm if the following is the case for Eva FF account?
on Eva Infinity Mileageland account website, once logged in and FF account verified, name will appear as "Langman Peter" because Langman is english family name and Peter is english given name.
and if my name on credit card points transfer website appears as "Peter Langman", will i have problems getting the TYP points transferred successfully?
thanks for any insights
on Eva Infinity Mileageland account website, once logged in and FF account verified, name will appear as "Langman Peter" because Langman is english family name and Peter is english given name.
and if my name on credit card points transfer website appears as "Peter Langman", will i have problems getting the TYP points transferred successfully?
thanks for any insights