Citi Transfer Partners Overview
By John Ta - January 03, 2024
While Citi has closed its high end Prestige Card, there are still several ways to accumulate and use Citi ThankYou points amongst their 17 transfer partners.
Citi’s Transfer Partners
Citi has a total of 14 airline and 3 hotel transfer partners. Unlike AMEX, Chase, and Bilt, who have transfer partners with the largest domestic airlines, Citi does not, making Citi immediately less valuable for some individuals. However, Citi’s partners still open doors for incredible redemption opportunities when used properly.
BRAND
Airline Transfer Partner
Transfer Ratio
(Citi → Partner)
Transfer Time
Aeromexico
1:1
Usually instant
Air France/KLM Flying Blue
1:1
Usually instant
Avianca Airlines LifeMiles
1:1
Usually instant
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
1:1
Usually instant
Emirates
1:1
Usually instant
Etihad Airways
1:1
Usually instant
EVA Air
1:1
Up to a few days
JetBlue Airways
1:1
Usually instant
Qantas Airways
1:1
Usually instant
Qatar Airways
1:1
Up to a few days
Singapore Airlines
1:1
Up to a few days
Thai Airways
1:1
Usually instant
Turkish Airlines
1:1
Usually instant
Virgin Atlantic
1:1
Usually instant
BRAND
Hotel Transfer Partner
Transfer Ratio
(Citi → Partner)
Transfer Time
Accor
2:1
Usually instant
Choice
1:2
Usually instant
Wyndham
1:1
Up to a few days
What Card Do I Need To Transfer My Points?
While several Citi cards earn ThankYou points, not all of them earn/unlock transferable ThankYou points. To truly maximize the value of your ThankYou points, you need the Citi Premier Card, which is Citi’s version of the “Chase Sapphire Preferred.”
Without the Citi Premier, your ThankYou points cannot be transferred to travel partners, greatly limiting their value and use. These cards accumulate “limited” ThankYou points (as in, you need to have the Citi Premier to truly unlock their value):
Examples of High Value Transfer Partners
While some transfer partners shine, others are mostly worth ignoring. In this section, we’ll highlight some good and bad examples for you.
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
Citi is one of three partners with Turkish Airlines (the others being Bilt & Capital One). Notably, given Turkish’s award chart, Turkish award redemption sweet spots are enough for some to consider getting the card purely to gain Turkish miles.
One of the best sweet spot redemptions is flying to Hawaii from the contiguous North America for just 7,500 miles one-way in economy (or just 12,500 miles in business class) on United Airlines. Why not just book United award flights directly using United miles? Well, oftentimes, you’ll actually find that award charts can offer tremendous value in the right circumstances; in this case, booking via partner airline is actually better than booking direct. Here, Turkish considers Hawaii as part of the contiguous 48 states when pricing tickets, so even an east coast flight to Hawaii is a domestic ticket that costs 7,500 miles at the lowest.
Simply because award charts can offer tremendous value if the right conditions are met; sometimes, booking via a partner is better than booking direct. Turkish considers Hawaii as a part of the U.S. when pricing award tickets, so even an east coast flight to Hawaii is considered a “domestic” flight and is priced 7,500 miles at the lowest. United would likely price the same flight 3x or 4x more.
Examples of Low Value Transfer Partners
Aeromexico
Aeromexico is the flag carrier of Mexico and is a widely accessible transfer partner from major card issuers like American Express, Citi, and Capital One. However, using your Citi ThankYou points for Aeromexico is generally not advised.
For instance, this MEX to LAX flight runs $204.26 USD in economy paid with cash, but has a massive $134.23 USD tax/fee associated with it for the award redemption that already costs 18,000 Aeromexico Points (or 18,000 Citi ThankYou points). This implies that your Citi ThankYou points are only worth about 0.38 cents per point when used for an Aeromexico award redemption—horrendous when even a transfer to JetBlue can net you about 1.3 cents per point.
Despite the fact that Aeromexico also has an around the world ticket option, SkyTeam redemptions are expensive and its known to be difficult to even be able to book these around the world tickets successfully.
Conclusion
Citi points have become more difficult to come by, but there are still some fantastic uses for Citi ThankYou points. If any of the transfer partners fit your use cases, it may be worth taking these cards seriously so that you can book a trip in the future.
