mojomover

Here is the code which might help you if you are calling in to fill out the application - CED8.

Happy

I believe $1500 is the initial deposit, AND the balance to avoid monthly fee, unless you also open a E-Saving account to link with the Checking account.
The $1500 has nothing to do with the activities required to receive the 20K bonus. At least on the letter I received said you must make either one direct deposit, or 2 billpayments, each month for consecutive 6 months in order to receive the 20K bonus which would be posted within 120 days after the first qualifying activit(ies).

I haven't spent time to find out What is the definition of Direct Deposit - as on Citi's website, the Direct Deposit seems to refer to Direct Deposit from Payroll or Social Security. It does not say a word about an ACH transfer is qualified as a Direct Deposit.

mojomover

I am not sure if the paypal thingy would work but I have read on a lot of forums that it does.

But I do plan to enroll for the savings account anyways, and chose the 20,000 TY points over a similar offer for $200.

Negociant

Many thanks! Was able to call today and get my 20,000 points. Just need to pay a couple of small bills each month for 6 months. No need to go to B&M; can do by phone.

toomanywords

1. Redeemed July 2006.
2. Travel 12/29/06-1/8/07.
3. Itinerary: DCA-ORD-SIN, SIN-ORD-DCA on United V fare.
4. Points needed: 60,000
5. Price if purchased: $1672
6. TY points worth 2.7 cents per point.

Beckles

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like booking so far in advance is not a good idea unless you absolutely want a specific airline and can get the airline you want for sure in advance, if you had waited until say early December they would have likely been buying you a full Y-fare or darn close, making it much easier to upgrade the trip if you wanted to and earning you more status miles for the higher fare on some airlines.

anaggie

well that al depends on where you are flying to...and how hot of a demand there is and what class you require.....

Beckles

That's what I'm asking, I thought that stuff really did not matter too much, as long as there are some seats available they're on the hook to buy them for you as long as you call ahead two weeks in advance and stay over the Saturday night, or am I missing something?

As for "class required", I'd always prefer to have a ticket in a higher class than a lower class, whether or not I need it for a specific reason.

anaggie

Actuall the demand to SIN or anywhere in ASIA during XMAS time is pretty HOT....MY dad is trying to get upgrade from Y to J and he is PPS and even he is waitlisted....

I am planning a trip to BOM next Dec and am planning to call TY in March so that I can get the flight and routing I want....and there are J seats....

Happy

Since I cannot duplicate the 12/29 - 01/08 DCA/SIN trip with the 14 day advance rule, I use 01/12 and 01/22 and found AA/JL combo is $1,174 rt, and $1,466 get you the flight + 8 night hotel on Travelocity.

Using the exact date 12/29 - 01/08 amazingly found a JL fare of only $1929 - this is rather cheap considering this is day after tomorrow's flight! The UA flight is $2743 though.

psychtobe

the risk is that you don't get offered flights on your preferred airline. For me, it would defeat the purpose if I ended up in a full Y or similar on AA when I only have elite status with NW. If my flight is available, I usually take it even if it seems early.

Beckles

Intersting, do you know what fare class the JL flight was in for comparison? One thing to remember is that sometimes booking really far in advance is not the best way to get the cheapest fares, airlines charge more for the cheap tickets way in advance then lower prices only when travel dates become nearer (i.e., 3 months to 3 weeks in advance typically).

My point was that while the ticket toomanywords got was $1,672 it was only a V-class ticket, which is a pretty low fare class on United and I believe pretty much non-upgradeable, whereas it seems to me if they had waited until closer to their travel date to book that ticket for a peak travel time they may have scored a much higher fare-class ticket, one that is upgradeable. However, if they absolutely wanted to fly UA, then that may be the right move to get the seats on the airline you want when you can, no matter what fare class they are in.

If someone needs to fly a specific airline to get or maintain status, then that's the right move for them. Myself, if I were redeeming a coach award I'd rather take a higher fare class ticket that is upgradeable on almost any airline than fly a specific airline, I have enough slush miles in AMEX, Diners Club, and Starwood that I can make transfers to redeem for upgrades if I get an upgradeable ticket. If I wait until two weeks before travel to book, there's a good chance I would get a higher fare class ticket than if I book six months in advance I would think.

Anyway, I'm certainly not saying anyone's strategy is bad, I'm relatively new to this program and am just trying to plan ahead for when I want to redeem. I had originally intended on saving up for Business class awards to Europe and such, but now I'm wondering if I plan right if I can score Y/B class tickets in coach and just upgrade them at a much lower overall "cost" in points/miles in total. So if I wanted to go to London in June say, it seems like my best bet might be to wait until 15 days before and book coach tickets then, there's a good chance they will have to buy me higher fare class tickets that I can just use miles to upgrade, which is a better deal than the differential I'd have to pay in Thank You Points to just book Business tickets in the first place.

Happy

I think there is no single strategy how to best use TY pts as each person has his own needs and many factors need to be considered.

June to London I am not too sure you can get a coach seat 15 day in advance that would not go over the "unspoken" price ceiling TY network uses.

I do agree with you about booking far far in advance may not be a good strategy in many cases. Using a domestic flight example, I know a friend tried to plan a trip to Yellowstone in Thanksgiving period. She looked at the airfare about 60 days in advance - it costed upward of $600 and she thought that was too steep for a family of 5. A month later, the same routing dropped to $450ish. 3 weeks before Thanksgiving, it fell to $350 and she bought the tickets - she was about to give up the plan but just kept checking the airfares for curiosity sake and scored.

Of course taking such approach would be betting on seats are still available when travel dates approaching - there are always times seats are largely gone by the time desirable travel dates getting near, esp if it is long school holiday time.

I did not go into booking process to check the fare class on the JL / AA flights. You can do the same experiments on either Travelocity or Expedia and look up the fare classes. I imagine it would be a higher class than the lowest tier as the lowest tier(s) should be sold out by then.

MNAudiS4

Booked a trip to Athens from Minneapolis in May, They booked me in "B" on the way out and "M" on the way back, once the ticket was in my account, roughly 2 minutes after i called CITI, i called NWA and payed the extra 40 dollars to bump me up to B class the whole way. price of the ticket was 1378. I don't mind doing it earlier, bc i got NW/KLM and i will get the 150% Mileage bonus for the whole 11k miles.

IlliniDude

Couple questions about redeeming TY points for flights as I get ready to make my first splash...

1) How flexible are they in getting you on the airline you want? I'm looking at flights to Hawaii where the United flights are close to $900 and America West is the cheapest at $775. Any chance I could get the United flights?

2) Has anyone had luck booking flights to Maui with TY points? How long was your layover(s) and how many segments?

Thanks!