How to Transfer Citi Thank You Points to Transfer Partners

Citi ThankYou Points tend to fly under the radar in the points and miles community. Especially when competing with Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, but they have a surprising number of transfer partners that can help you maximize their value.

Citi has a total of 16 airline transfer partners and two hotel transfer partners available. Many of the airline partners, like Avianca, Singapore Krisflyer and Etihad, are great, especially if you’re looking to fly luxuriously in business or first class.

If you have Citi ThankYou Points that are burning a hole in your pocket and you’re looking to learn how to maximize their value and transfer them to Citi’s partners, you’ve come to the right place.

Citi Cards That Provide Access to Transfer Partners

In order to have access to Citi’s many transfer partners, you first need to have one of Citi’s premium credit cards, the Citi Premier® Card or the Citi Prestige Card.

If you have a Citi Rewards+® Card, a Citi Rewards+ Student Card, or an AT&T Access Card from Citi in addition to one of the premium cards, you’ll also be able to transfer your points to either the Citi Premier or Citi Prestige and use the combined value with any of Citi’s transfer partners.

Without either of the premium cards, the points you earn are only worth one cent apiece when you redeem for travel and you can’t take advantage of the transfer partners.

Transferring ThankYou Points to a Loyalty Program Account

There are strict limitations when it comes to transferring. You can only transfer your ThankYou Points to your own loyalty program account. Both the first and last names on the Citi ThankYou Rewards account and the loyalty program account must match exactly. However, if you’re looking for a way around this, Citi has a point-sharing feature that allows you to share up to 100,000 points per calendar year with anyone with a Citi ThankYou Rewards account.

The person you share your points with could then transfer them to their own loyalty program account but they would have to act quickly on this as the shared Citi ThankYou Points expire within 90 days of when they are shared.

A Breakdown of the Transfer Process

To start the process, you’ll first want to navigate to the Citi ThankYou website, ThankYou.com, and log in to your account. Once you’re logged in, click on the “More Ways To Redeem” button followed by the “Points Transfer” link.

Once the new page loads, scroll down to view the transfer partners and rates. You can filter the partners by airline, hotel or retail. Our focus today will be largely on airline and hotel partners as the retail partners won’t provide high value for your points.

When you filter, you’ll be able to see the below 16 airline partners and two hotel partners.

Airline Partners

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca LifeMiles
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
• InterMiles
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotel Partners

• Choice Privileges
• Wyndham Rewards®

Once you choose the partner you want to transfer points to, click the continue button next to the partner. Next, you’ll enter the number of points you want to transfer in increments of 1,000 ThankYou Points.

Once you choose the partner you want to transfer points to, click the continue button next to the partner. Next, you’ll enter the number of points you want to transfer in increments of 1,000 ThankYou Points.

You’ll then need to enter your member number for the airline or hotel loyalty program you are transferring to. Again, the name associated with the member number needs to match the name on the Citi ThankYou Rewards account.

Lastly, you’ll review the transfer and make sure it’s correct before finalizing and confirming your transfer.

Now, you’ve officially transferred your Citi ThankYou Points to a hotel or airline partner!

Common Questions About Citi Thankyou Points Transfers

If you still have questions after reading through the step-by-step process, you’re not alone. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about point transfers with Citi.

How Long Will It Take My Points to Transfer?

With most of Citi’s partners, your points will transfer instantly, although there are some partners that can take between 2-7 days to complete the transfer.

What is Citi’s Best Transfer Partner?

Like most transfer partners across other flexible point currencies, each airline has its sweet spots.

Avianca LifeMiles can be a great program to transfer to for inexpensive (think as low as 7,500 miles one way) short domestic flights. Avianca is also a transfer partner of American Express and Capital One so if you have points spread across these three programs you can quickly pool them together in your Avianca LifeMiles account for a first class trip to Europe on Star Alliance partner, Lufthansa.

Having Singapore Krisflyer as a transfer partner is incredible for booking the top notch Singapore Suites. Depending on your route, you can find award availability for as low as 86,000 miles one way in the suites.

Etihad offers a variety of unique routes for great value by transferring your ThankYou points. One-way business class fares can be found for 44,000 points.

Ultimately, the best transfer partner will be determined by your needs and your values. Are you looking for the most value out of your points or are you okay getting a little less value if it means you get to avoid the red eye flight?

Should I Transfer My ThankYou Points to a Hotel Partner?

Citi’s hotel partners, Wyndham Rewards and Choice Privileges, are less front and center than some of the other hotel brands like Marriott, Hyatt or Hilton, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth your time.

Wyndham actually has a very simple award chart that consists of three tiers, 7,500 points per night, 15,000 points per night and 30,000 points per night.

At even the lowest tier of 7,500 per night, you can stay in a TRYP by Wyndham hotel with a rooftop pool in downtown Panama City. For 15,000 points per night you can redeem free nights at many of Wyndham’s vacation club properties that often come equipped with full kitchens and laundry facilities. For 30,000 points per night, you could find yourself at the Wyndham Grand Algarve in Portugal with multiple pools and a quick walk to the beach.

Choice Privileges doesn’t have a set award chart, but typically a reward night will cost between 6,000 and 35,000 points per night; however, there are some regions and luxury hotels that are priced much higher.

One unique part of the Choice Privileges award booking process is that you can only redeem points for your room within 100 days of your stay, so in order to get the best value it’s best to book at the very beginning of that window. Some Choice Hotel sweet spots include all inclusive resorts in the Dominican Republic for 25,000 points per night and rooms in New York City during peak timing for 16,000 points per night.

If you’re starting to notice a theme here it’s that you should never ignore the lesser-known brands because they just might surprise you with some impressive deals. As always, evaluate your needs and hotel choices, but transferring to these hotel partners could end up being well worth your while.

Can You Combine ThankYou Points From Different Citi Cards?

Yes, if you have a Citi Rewards+ Card, a Citi Rewards+ Student Card, or an AT&T Access Card on top of one of Citi’s premium cards, you have the ability to transfer the points earned on the Rewards+ cards to the higher end cards to get more value out of your points.

Are Point Transfers Cancellable or Reversible?

No, once you confirm a point transfer to a loyalty program they can’t be converted back to ThankYou points even if they have not arrived in your loyalty program account yet.

Is There a Maximum Number of ThankYou Points I Can Transfer?

Yes, the maximum amount of ThankYou points you can transfer is 500,000 per year.

Is There a Limit to the Number of Times I Can Transfer ThankYou Points?

For most of Citi’s transfer partners, there is no limit to the number of times you can transfer ThankYou Points to partners. The only exceptions are Qantas and Virgin Atlantic. For both of these, there is a limit of one transfer per 24 hour period.

ThankYou Point Redemptions to Avoid

While you can find great value with Citi ThankYou Points, there are also some iffy ways to redeem them that won’t get you nearly the value you should.

Using the “Shop Your Way” feature or redeeming for statement credits will guarantee a value of less than 1 cent per point, so it’s best to avoid these redemption options.

Similar to Chase and American Express, Citi also has a travel portal that you can use to book award travel. Unfortunately, Citi has a flat rate of 1 cent per point when redeemed using their travel portal, so this will almost never be your best option when looking to redeem your ThankYou Points.

Final Thoughts

The Citi ThankYou Rewards program isn’t as widely used as Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards, but it can be used for some amazing redemptions when maximizing the available transfer partners. While there are definitely some redemption options to avoid, as long as you’re focused on the transfer partners that fit your travel needs you can make great use of a rewards program that’s often undervalued by many travelers.