Citi ThankYou® Points: What Are They Worth? | LendingTree (2024)

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The Citi ThankYou^® program might not get as much attention as its Amex and Chase counterparts, but if you know how to milk it, this rewards program can be just as lucrative.

While Citi lacks a partnership with a major U.S. airline, it does include a lengthy list of transfer partners in all three airline alliances, including Cathay Pacific and Flying Blue. By taking advantage of airline alliances, you can potentially fly anywhere in the world with one of Citi’s partner airlines and stretch your ThankYou points further.

Moreover with a great lineup of cards that offer generous sign-up bonuses and ongoing rewards, earning and using Citi ThankYou points has never been easier.

On average, Citi ThankYou points are worth about 1 cent each when redeemed for cash back, gift cards or flights through the Citi ThankYou portal. You can get even higher values (around 1.8 cents per point, by our estimates) by transferring points to a Citi Travel℠ partner, if you have a qualifying Citi card.

The value of cash back redemptions varies depending on the card. Citi Double Cash^® Card points, for example, are worth 1 cent each when redeemed for cash back. However, Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card points are worth only half a cent each for cash back redemptions.

Overall, the Citi ThankYou program offers excellent value to people who prefer to redeem their rewards for air travel. The average value offered by Citi ThankYou points is a little lower than what you’ll get from Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, but it’s on par with Amex Membership Rewards points and Capital One miles.

What really sets the Citi ThankYou program apart from other big rewards programs is its transfer partners. Not only does it boast a longer list of transfer partners than both Chase and Capital One, but Citi’s transfer partners also include all three of the major airline alliances, giving you ample redemption options when it comes to flying. If you decide you don’t want to redeem your points for travel, Citi ThankYou also offers a higher value on gift card redemptions than the other reward programs.

On the downside, Citi doesn’t offer a travel portal bonus and doesn’t include any major U.S. airlines in its list of transfer partners. This makes the program less valuable for those who prefer simpler travel rewards.

Citi offers three main credit cards that earn ThankYou points: a no-annual-fee card, a middle-of-the-road card and a premium card. The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card allows you to transfer your points to any of Citi’s airline partners, which significantly increases the value of your ThankYou points. If you have the Citi Custom Cash® Card or the Citi Double Cash® Card, then you could use the ThankYou points you earn from them to transfer to travel partners.

The sign-up bonuses on these credit cards are one of the best ways to accumulate lots of Citi ThankYou points in a short period of time. For lasting value, though, you’ll want to pay attention to the earning rate and pick a card that offers bonus points on categories where you spend the most. You’ll also want to make sure that your annual earnings outweigh the annual fee.

You’re not eligible for these sign-up bonuses if you’ve earned a sign-up bonus from these cards in the past 48 months.

Citi ThankYou points offer a lot of flexibility in how they can be used, but some redemption options offer a lot more value than others. Here are the most lucrative ways to use your Citi ThankYou points.

Citi ThankYou Travel

You can redeem your ThankYou points through the ThankYou travel center for flights, hotel stays, cruises and rental cars. The value you’ll get from these travel redemptions varies, although you’ll get 1 cent per point when you redeem for flights. Typically, you can get more value by transferring your ThankYou points to one of Citi’s transfer partners.

Transfer Citi ThankYou points

As long as you have the Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card, you can transfer your ThankYou points to more than a dozen airline loyalty programs at a 1:1 rate. You do have to transfer your points in 1,000-point increments.

While most of Citi’s transfer partners are airlines based outside of the U.S., many are part of an airline alliance, which means you get access to a large network of airlines when redeeming those miles. In fact, between all of Citi’s transfer partners, you have access to all three of the major airline alliances. In many cases, these airline miles are worth well over 1 cent each, so points transfer tends to be the most lucrative redemption option.

Citi ThankYou transfer partners

Citi has a couple of hotel partners as well.

Savvy traveler tip: If you own the Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card, you can transfer rewards that you earn to an outside loyalty program. This means you can get an even better return than the card’s already stellar rewards rate.

Gift cards and travel

You can also redeem your ThankYou points for gift cards from tons of major brands. These include chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Starbucks; clothing and department stores like Macy’s, Kohl’s and Saks Fifth Avenue; and entertainment and travel companies like Carnival Cruise Lines and Apple. While this won’t yield as much value as transferring your points, you’ll get around 1 cent per point, which is better than most rewards programs. It’s not a bad option if you can’t find a way to redeem your points for air travel.

Citi offers a slew of other ways to redeem your ThankYou points, including online shopping with Citi’s partners, statement, paying bills with points and cash back. These redemption options might be tempting thanks to the high level of flexibility they offer, but unfortunately, they’re generally a bad value. You’ll only get 0.5 to 0.83 cents per point when you redeem your ThankYou points with these methods, versus the 1+ cent per point you can get by transferring points or redeeming them for gift cards or travel.

• Use points at partners: You can redeem $10 worth of your points at physical locations of CVS and Walmart. You can also use them to shop online on Amazon and PayPal.
• Direct deposit: You can get ThankYou points deposited as cash directly into your checking or savings account, whether or not it’s from Citi.
• Mail: Receive your ThankYou points, minimum $5, as a check in the mail.
• Cover recent purchases: If you make an eligible purchase, you can immediately use your points to pay it. You just select on the Citi app that you’d like to pay with points, and you’ll receive a statement credit for that purchase within two to three business days. Eligible categories include dining, grocery, gas, clothing, utility, drugstores and entertainment.
• Points sharing: Share your points with another ThankYou member to earn more rewards.
• Charitable contributions: Redeem at least 2,500 points, worth $25, to organizations like American Red Cross, UNICEF USA, World Central Kitchen and more.

Can Citi ThankYou points be redeemed for cash?
You can cash out your Citi ThankYou points by redeeming them for statement credits, cash rewards and online bill payments. You might not get as much value from these redemptions.

With more than 15 transfer partner options, it can be a challenge to figure out which airline and hotel partners offer the best redemption value for your Citi ThankYou points. Here are a few of the top redemption options:

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Home Country: Hong Kong
Major hubs: Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, among others
Airline alliance: oneworld alliance

Cathay Pacific offers tremendous value for travelers because the airline still uses a standard award chart for redemptions. This offers predictable pricing when booking award flights versus other airlines that use a dynamic award chart.

One-way business-class flights start at just 16,000 miles, which is an absolute steal. Prices are based on the distance of the flight and which cabin you are booking in. And you can book a “Round the World” business class flight that includes partner airlines for 280,000 miles or less with a maximum travel distance of 50,000 miles.

Flying Blue

Home Country: France (Air France); Netherlands (KLM)
Major hubs: Amsterdam-Schiphol, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, among others
Airline alliance: SkyTeam

Flying Blue is an excellent choice for redemptions for travelers who wish to fly to Europe from the U.S. You can redeem miles directly through Air France or KLM and any of its SkyTeam partners. What really sets this program apart is the regular promo rewards that Flying Blue offers. Award flights are up to 50% off and new promo reward tickets between a variety of city pairs are released on the first of every month.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Home Country: Singapore
Major hubs: Singapore, Bangkok, Hanoi, among others
Airline alliance: Star Alliance

Singapore Airlines reserves its long-haul business and first-class awards to Krisflyer members, which gives you ample opportunity to book an award flight by transferring ThankYou Points to this program. One of the best redemptions is booking one of the Singapore Suites, a truly luxurious premium flight experience. These awards start at 117,000 miles each way to destinations like Hong Kong, Taiwan and China from the West Coast.

Point transfers cannot be reversed or refunded, so you should make sure that your target loyalty program has award space available before you transfer your Citi points. It can take up to 14 days for your ThankYou Points to post to the receiving loyalty program. However, most transfers are much quicker and some are instantaneous. Here’s how to transfer your ThankYou Points to your preferred hotel or airline loyalty program.

1. Log in to your account at Citi.com, ThankYou.com or the Citi mobile app.
2. Choose which credit card to transfer from.
3. Select “Points Transfer.”
4. Determine the number of points to transfer.
5. Enter and confirm your hotel or airline loyalty number.
6. Accept terms and conditions and complete the transfer.

Kristen Grau

• Expertise: Credit cards, credit health, credit scoring
• Education: Florida Atlantic University

Kristen Grau is a staff writer at LendingTree, where she focuses on credit cards.

Before joining LendingTree in 2022, she wrote about small business taxes for an accounting firm in Orlando. She’s also covered personal finance and credit topics for the personal finance site Debt.com, as well as student finance topics for the education site BestColleges.com. Kristen loves to help people make financial decisions through content that’s empowering and easy to understand.

Kristen studied journalism at Florida Atlantic University.

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