Citi Transfer Partners: Airlines, Hotels, and More

19.07.2024 - 08:53 / insider.com

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Earning transferable points with rewards credit cards is one of the best strategies you can use to maximize returns on your spending. Programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards® and Amex Membership Rewards are popular with award travelers, in part because their transfer partners include numerous domestic airlines and popular hotel chains. 

The Citi ThankYou Rewards program is a bit of an underdog in this regard, with just one domestic carrier (JetBlue) among airline transfer options. 

Despite having few domestic airline options, you can still squeeze excellent value from the program — in fact, some of Citi's international airline transfer partners offer lucrative sweet spots that allow you to book award flights for far less than other frequent flyer programs charge.

In addition, the program added Choice Privileges, Wyndham Rewards, and most recently Accor Live Limitless (ALL) to its partner roster, marking the first hotel transfer options since Hilton left the program several years ago.

That's on top of the numerous other ways to use your rewards points, like booking travel directly through the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal or cashing in rewards for gift cards and merchandise. These options are available to any ThankYou Rewards cardholder, but to unlock the ability to transfer points to all of Citi's airline partners, you'll need to have the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or Citi Prestige® Card (no longer available to new applicants) in your wallet.

As with most transferable points programs, there are definitely some partners that are better than others. Depending on the partner and how you redeem your points, the value you get from your transfer can vary significantly.

Here's a look at the best Citi airline transfer partners.

Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles

It may seem strange that one of the best uses of Citi ThankYou points is transferring to a European airline that most people are likely never to fly. But the real value of Turkish Airlines miles lies in using the Miles & Smiles frequent flyer program to book award flights on its Star Alliance partners.

For example, the Miles & Smiles partner award chart