nittfan

Hello. I am considering two credit cards. One would be this Citi TY card which is now offering 80,000 sign on points.
(The other card is the Citi Platinum Select which offers 50,000 bonus award miles, but I do not quality for the bonus miles for this one until Nov. 2022).


Anyway, I am intrested in this TY card for the sole purpose of transferring to airline miles.
My desired flight itinerary is PHL to CNX. (although I would also consider departure from several other East Coast airports such as BWI, Dulles, etc. I do not like to fly from JFK, LGA or Newark unless I absolutely have to!)

I am finding it challenging and confusing to do advanced research to see if I can indeed, use these 80,000 miles effectively to travel this itinerary.

I am hoping that one of your kind readers could offer some advice? I am obviously not a frequent world traveler, nor am I a business traveler, so I am not as skilled in searching as many of you are. I am not asking you to research the routes/booking for me! But I am not seeing many Citi TY card airline partners that fly this route?

Would you recommend this card if you were attempting to use it for the itinerary I have listed?

I have 280,000 miles in AAdvantage, but I may find it difficult to use these miles to fly to CNX. I am pretty sure I need to call AA to do this anyway. (Sorry, I digress ......).

Thank you for any constructive advice you may lend to me.

mia

I have revised the thread title to directly reflect the question.

Must you fly to DMK rather than to BKK?

guv1976

There are no nonstop flights to Asia from PHL. A one-stop routing via FRA to BKK is possible, utilizing Lufthansa or Lufthansa and Thai.

If the OP is looking at an Economy Class redemption, transferring TYP to Avianca LifeMiles is a possibility. Caveat: dealing with LifeMiles can be challenging, but LM does not assess any carrier surcharges on its award redemptions. The LifeMiles award table indicates that Northeast USA to Thailand costs 39,000 miles one way in Economy.

nittfan

I'm sorry. I screwed up! I have edited my post to change the arrival airport to CNX. I will be going on a tour with Road Scholars. I would like to use my own airmiles for flight arrangements if possible. I have contacted RS to verify that they fly into CNX. The return will be from HKT.

I am awaiting a reply from RS, but it is taking an extended period of time to receive clarification of their flight itinerary for this tour. When I called them last week they told me that due to problems in the airline industry (pilot shortages, etc.) they were not releasing flight arrangements until approx. 2 months before the tour date.

guv1976

When do you plan to travel? QR flies PHL-DOH, and also offers seasonal DOH-CNX service, so you could potentially have a single-connection option with QR. (QR also flies HKT-DOH.)

nittfan

The tour begins ("in flight") Jan. 6th.

36902BRF

If you don't even have the cards yet then you have left this a bit late even more so if you are waiting until November 2022 for a second bonus. You have to apply for the card, do the spend and wait for the points to post at statement cut before you can book anything. The one thing you may have going for you is early January is probably not a high demand travel time. Also having a specific relatively hard dates to travel for your tour and seemingly some strong-ish routing preferences further complicates matters some.

nittfan

I was going to try to delete my question / this entire thread, but do not see an option to do so.

I think what I am going to do is go with the airfare that the tour company (Road Scholars) puts together, with the exception of a return to PHL. The tour involves 2 more flights within Thailand and if I purchase my airfair thru RS, all transfers are included.

I may extend my stay 2 or 3 days beyond the conclusion of the actual tour and book my return independently. So that would give me more time to utilize miles.

TY all for your tolerance of this convoluted question/thread!!

nittfan

Yes, everything considered - it would be a bit of a rush to expect the TY points to post. The spend requirement would not be a problem. I have ordered a hot-tub and the company does take credit cards for purchase. So, the spend requirement would be met quickly. TY.

mia

Correct, you cannot delete a thread because the discussion may be of value to others.

guv1976

If you are planning to fly home from HKT, there are several TYP partners that fly from HKT to the Northeast U.S. (via a connecting city). QR serves PHL and IAD; EY and TK serve IAD.

Your challenge will be to determine which -- if any -- of these carriers has award seats available when you want to travel, and, if there is more than one, which one is the cheapest in terms of TYP and cash co-pay. Depending on the situation with Cathay Pacific and HKG, you might ultimately be able to use your AA miles for HKT-HKG-U.S. Gateway on CX, with a connecting flight on AA. If available, that could very well be the least expensive option, but would require at least three flights.

Good luck!

nittfan

OK - - I understand.

nittfan

Thank you for your input. It is appreciated!