citi prestige travel partners

Introduction to Citi Transfer Partners

List of citi transfer partners, how to transfer citi points.

• How to earn Citi ThankYou points

Citi Transfer Partners: Airlines, Hotels, and More

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The information for the following product(s) has been collected independently by Business Insider: Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, Citi Prestige® Card, Citi Rewards+® Card, Citi® Double Cash Card, Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, AT&T Points Plus® Card. The details for these products have not been reviewed or provided by the issuer.

• Citi ThankYou points are valuable because the program partners with 14 airlines and 3 hotel chains.
• Citi's hotel partner programs are Choice Privileges, Wyndham Rewards, and Accor Live Limitless.
• Other partners include JetBlue, Air France-KLM, Singapore Airlines, and Cathay Pacific.

Overview of Citi Points Transfer

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. 

Benefits of Transferring Citi Points

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.

Best Airline Transfer Partners

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 requires only 10,500 Turkish miles for an economy-class flight anywhere within the US, including Hawaii, on Star Alliance partner United Airlines. If you booked the exact same flight through the United MileagePlus frequently flyer program, you'd pay 25,000 United miles.

Using the Miles & Smiles program does take a bit of patience as its online booking site can be hard to navigate, but cheap award prices like these can make it worth the extra effort. 

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Air France and KLM share the Flying Blue frequent flyer program, and one of the best uses of Flying Blue miles is its recurring promo rewards. Each month, Flying Blue publishes a list of routes with a 25 to 50% discount on mileage costs. This can be a great way to stretch the value of your ThankYou points.

Rates for a one-way economy flight from the US to Europe range from about 15,000 to 30,000 Flying Blue miles. The number of miles required varies quite a bit depending on the date and if the route is on a monthly promo award. Keep in mind Flying Blue adds more taxes and fees than other programs, so you'll have to weigh the savings in miles and the increased cash cost.

Because it's a transfer partner of all of the major transferable rewards currencies, Flying Blue is a great place to combine points balances from different programs.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Singapore Airlines is also a member of the Star Alliance, which means that you can use KrisFlyer miles to book travel on partner airlines like United, Air Canada, and Lufthansa.

In fact, using Singapore Airlines is also cheaper than using United's own miles for flights anywhere in the continental US to Hawaii. Singapore also has a non-alliance partnership with Alaska Airlines, and you can use as few as 11,500 KrisFlyer miles to get to Hawaii as well. 

For luxury aficionados, Singapore Airlines also flies the ultra-premium Singapore Suites first class on certain routes. Singapore rarely opens up award seats in Suites Class to partner airlines, so transferring to KrisFlyer is often the only way to book these bucket-list awards.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Although Virgin Atlantic is headquartered in the UK, its mileage program offers a fair amount of value for US travelers. You'll often get the best deal from Virgin Atlantic miles when you book award flights on its SkyTeam partners, like Delta.

Because Delta no longer publishes an award chart, the cost of a flight in Delta SkyMiles can vary wildly depending on the route, date, and number of stops. Before you book an award flight using your Delta miles, it pays to check with Virgin Atlantic. It is quite common that the exact same Delta flight will cost fewer miles if you book with Flying Club miles.

Avianca LifeMiles

Avianca is also a member of the Star Alliance, which means that you can use its miles to book partners like United, Lufthansa, and Ethiopian Airlines. Avianca's award chart divides the US into three separate regions, with flights within a region requiring only 7,500 Avianca Lifemiles to book. Some US airline frequent flyer programs would charge 12,500 miles or more for the exact same flights.

Avianca also offers regular promotions that offer huge (150% or more) bonuses on buying or transferring LifeMiles. This can make it easy to top off your balance if you just need a few more miles to book your next trip.

Good Citi Airline Transfer Partners

Some Citi airline transfer partners can provide decent value, but only in certain situations.

Etihad Guest

Etihad is not a member of any airline alliance but has a number of non-alliance partnerships that can provide good value for your Citi ThankYou points. These include Czech Airways (Prague to Seoul in business class for 25,610 Etihad Guest miles) and Royal Air Maroc (New York-JFK to Casablanca for 22,000 miles in economy or 44,000 miles in business class).

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Cathay Pacific is a member of the Oneworld alliance and has a distance-based award chart. The number of miles you need will depend on whether you are flying only Cathay Pacific or if you are flying one of its Oneworld partners, like American Airlines or British Airways. A flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific is only 27,000 miles in economy or 84,000 miles in business class.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

Like Cathay Pacific, Qantas is also a member of the Oneworld alliance and also has a distance-based award chart. The best value for using Qantas miles is on short flights under 600 flown miles on either Qantas or Oneworld partners like American Airlines. These short flights can be had for only 8,000 Qantas miles.

JetBlue TrueBlue

The number of points required for a JetBlue award flight is directly tied to the cash price of a ticket, so it's hard to get outsized value from your TrueBlue points. Still, it is possible to save points by transferring your Citi ThankYou points to JetBlue instead of using them directly to book a paid flight through the Citi portal.

Remember that JetBlue is the only Citi airline transfer partner that you can use without having the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or Citi Prestige® Card (though at a lesser ratio of 1,000 ThankYou points to 800 JetBlue points).

Citi Airline Transfer Partners That Aren't Great Value

The rest of the Citi ThankYou airline transfer partners are generally not worth considering, except for extremely niche redemptions.

Aeromexico Club Premier

Aeromexico uses kilometers instead of miles, so its award chart is generally inflated by 1.6x compared to other programs. While other bank program points, such as Amex Membership Rewards , transfer to Aeromexico at a rate of 1:1.6, Citi transfers at only 1:1. 

Eva Air Infinity MileageLands

The award chart for Eva Air Infinity MileageLands is not spectacular when compared to most other airline programs, and you'll generally find better value elsewhere. Eva Air does have some generous stopover allowances, though you can't book stopovers online — instead, you'll need to call the airline directly.

Emirates Skywards

While Emirates first-class cabins are among the best in the world, it's best to use partner miles to book these awards. While Emirates recently reduced the astronomical fuel surcharges they charge on Skywards award tickets, there are other mileage programs that offer better value.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Like fellow Gulf carrier Emirates, Qatar has a great premium cabin flight experience that is best booked with partner miles. In Qatar's case, rather than transferring Citi ThankYou points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club, it's better to use American Airlines AAdvantage miles to fly on Qatar Airways.

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus

Thai Airways is currently in the middle of bankruptcy, spurred on at least in part by the limited travel demand due to the pandemic. And while bankruptcy does not mean that your Royal Orchid Plus miles would all of a sudden become worthless, it does give you one more reason to avoid transferring your ThankYou points here.

Hotel Partners

It's possible to get decent value from Citi's hotel partners, Choice, Wyndham, and Accor, but because many of their brands are budget-friendly, you might be better off saving your points and paying cash instead. It's also possible to redeem Citi ThankYou points at a rate of 1 cent apiece for stays at these chains by booking through the Citi Travel Portal.

Accor Live Limitless (ALL)

Citi's newest transfer partner is Accor Live Limitless (ALL), which comprises 45 brands across over 5,000 properties worldwide. Accor hotels include Fairmont, Raffles, Sofitel, SLS, and Swisshotel, but most of its properties are located outside the US, making this a better deal for international travelers.

This transfer option is only available to Citi Premier and Prestige cardholders, with a transfer ratio of 2:1 (2 Citi points equals 1 Accor point). Accor doesn't have an award chart; instead, you can redeem points in 2,000-point increments toward a stay discount, where 2,000 points equal 40 euros off your bill. That makes Accor points worth just over 2 cents each, but since there's a 2:1 transfer ratio from Citi, you'll only get a value of just over 1 cent per Citi point (depending on the current exchange rate).

Choice Privileges

The loyalty program of Choice Hotels, Choice Privileges includes brands like Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, Cambria, and Ascend Collection hotels. Award prices start at 8,000 points per night and go up to 35,000 points per night, with a few exceptions. Rates also vary depending on the season and even the day of the week you stay.

If you have the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or Citi Prestige® Card, the transfer ratio is 1:2 (1 ThankYou point equals 2 Choice points), with transfers in 1,000-point increments. The no-annual-fee Citi Rewards+® Card and Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card have a transfer ratio of 1:1.5 (1 ThankYou points equals 1.5 Choice points), with transfers also in 1,000-point increments. And if you have the Citi® Double Cash Card , you also have the ability to transfer to Choice at a 1:1.5 ratio.

Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Rewards includes familiar brands like Super 8, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, and Travelodge — as well as over 40,000 vacation rentals through its partnership with Vacasa.

With the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or Citi Prestige® Card, you'll get a 1:1 transfer ratio to Wyndham. Otherwise, with the Citi Rewards+® Card, Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card, and Citi® Double Cash Card, the ratio is 5:4 (1,000 Citi ThankYou points = 800 Wyndham points). 

Wyndham's award structure is simple — you'll pay 7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 points for an award night, depending on the property. With Vacasa vacation rentals, you'll pay these fixed points rates per listed bedroom. 

Other Rewards Programs

In addition to airline and hotel transfer partners, Citi ThankYou has one retail transfer partner. 

Sears Shop Your Way

You can transfer your Citi ThankYou points to Sears Shop Your Way points at a rate of 1:10. Shop Your Way points are worth 0.1 cents each, and Sears does sell some third-party gift cards that you can buy with Shop Your Way points.

This would allow you to effectively redeem your Citi ThankYou points for 1 cent per point for gift cards (or other merchandise) available for purchase at Sears. Unless you already have Sears Shop Your Way points and need to top off your account for a redemption, it's easier to redeem Citi ThankYou points directly for gift cards through the ThankYou portal.

Transferring your Citi ThankYou points is a fairly straightforward process. Once you log into your account at thankyou.com, find "More Ways To Redeem" in the top header, then choose "Points Transfer." Or, select "Transfer & Share" in the main menu under "See everything that can be done with ThankYou Points."

After you've selected "Points Transfer," you'll then see a list of Citi transfer partner options available to you. It's important to note that the first and last names on your ThankYou account and the account you're transferring to must match in order to be able to transfer.

Earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com. Earn 3X points per $1 on air travel and other hotel purchases, at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations and EV charging stations. Earn 1X point per $1 on all other purchases.

21.24% - 29.24% variable

Earn 75,000 bonus points

Good to Excellent

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Earn 3x points on most travel, restaurants, gas/EV charging, and supermarkets
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Earn 10x points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions booked via Citi Travel
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. $100 annual hotel credit on a single stay of $500 or more
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. No foreign transaction fees
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Trip delay/interruption benefits and lost/damaged baggage coverage
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Has an annual fee
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Citi Travel rates often are higher than retail cost of travel

For most of these partners, the transfer ratio is 1:1, with transfers in 1,000-point increments. The only exception for Citi Premier and Prestige cardholders is Accor (2:1). For other cardholders, JetBlue, Choice, and Wyndham, which are the only transfer partners available (along with Sears Shop Your Way rewards) if you don't have a Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or Citi Prestige® Card have transfer ratios and availability that vary depending on the card you have.

It's important to note that ThankYou points transfers are one-way and nonrefundable — once you move ThankYou points to a partner, you can not transfer them back to ThankYou Rewards.

How to Earn Citi ThankYou points

You can earn Citi ThankYou points through welcome bonuses and spending on a variety of different Citi credit cards , including:

Remember, you can only access all of Citi's transfer partners if you have the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or Citi Prestige® Card. If you have multiple Citi ThankYou credit cards, you can combine your points into one ThankYou account.

Citi points can be transferred to a variety of airline and hotel partners, but not all airlines or hotels are partners. It's important to check the current list of Citi transfer partners for available options.

Transfer times vary by partner. While some transfers are instant, others may take several days to process. It's advisable to plan ahead if you need to use transferred points for specific bookings.

Once transferred, points are subject to the expiration policies of the partner program. This means they could expire if not used within the timeframe set by the partner.

Generally, there are no fees for transferring points from Citi to its partners, but it's always best to confirm any potential costs directly with Citi before making a transfer.

The best use of transferred points varies depending on personal travel preferences, the specific transfer partner, and the value of flights or hotel stays. Comparing redemption options can help maximize value.

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards .

Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.

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Citi Prestige Review: Applications Halted; Existing Customers Still Benefit

What’s on This Page

The bottom line, pros and cons, detailed review, compare to other cards, benefits and perks, drawbacks and considerations.

If you already have the card, its blend of rewards and perks may be well-suited to your travel needs. The fourth-night-free hotel benefit is sweet; the list of transfer partners, not so much.

Rewards rate

1 point per Dollar

Bonus offer

Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening*

Ongoing APR

APR: 16.74%-24.74% Variable APR

Penalty APR: Up to 29.99%, Variable

Cash Advance APR: 26.24%, Variable

Balance transfer fee

Foreign transaction fee

• 40,000 ThankYou® Points are redeemable for $500 in airfare on any airline, anytime with no blackout dates or $400 in gift cards
• $250 Air Travel Credit each year, and receive a statement credit, up to $100 every 5 years, as reimbursement for your application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
• 4th night hotel benefit for any hotel stay at hotels booked through the Citi Prestige® Concierge
• Transfer points to a variety of travel loyalty programs from airlines to hotels
• Earn 3X Points on Air Travel & Hotels
• Earn 2X Points on Dining Out & Entertainment
• Earn 1X Points on All Other Purchases

Bonus categories

Luxury perks

Has annual fee

Requires excellent credit

» This card is no longer available

The Citi Prestige® Card is no longer accepting applications. See our best travel credit cards and best premium credit cards for other options. Below is our review from when the card was still available.

As of summer 2021, the $495 -annual-fee Citi Prestige® Card was phasing out the acceptance of new applications .

But existing cardholders still get a lot in return for that pricey annual fee.

The card offers generous bonus rewards in major travel categories and several perks, including an annual $250 travel credit, a fourth-night-free benefit on hotel stays, a Global Entry or TSA Precheck credit of up to $100 every five years, airport lounge access via a Priority Pass Select membership, and multiple airline transfer partners, which could let you wring even more value out of your earnings.

If you're able to maximize that fourth-night-free benefit, and you do a lot of spending on airfare and via travel agencies, the Citi Prestige® Card will fit your travel needs like a glove.

But other players in the premium travel card field offer more extensive lounge access, fancier travel benefits and more domestic airline transfer partners. And you may find those perks are ultimately worth more to you. For current offers, check out NerdWallet's list of best credit cards to have .

Citi Prestige® Card : Basics

Card type: Travel .

Annual fee: $495 .

Interest rate: The ongoing APR is 16.74%-24.74% Variable APR .

Foreign transaction fees: None.

5 ThankYou points per dollar on purchases at airlines and travel agencies.

5 ThankYou points per dollar on purchase at restaurants, including cafes, bars, lounges and fast food.

3 ThankYou points per dollar on purchases at hotels and cruise lines.

1 ThankYou point for each dollar spent on all other purchases.

Earnings expire after three years to the day in which they were earned.

Redemption options:

Redeem for travel, cash back, gift card purchases, bill payments and more. All points are worth 1 cent each, regardless of which option you choose.

Transfer to one of Citi's partner airlines. Through strategic redemptions, you can potentially get more value out of your points this way. If you don't plan on traveling internationally, though, this option is somewhat limited. JetBlue is the only domestic carrier you can transfer points to.

Aeromexico (1:1 ratio).

Air France/KLM (1:1 ratio).

Asia Miles (1:1 ratio).

Avianca (1:1 ratio).

Emirates (1:1 ratio).

Etihad (1:1 ratio).

Eva Air (1:1 ratio).

JetBlue (1:1 or 1:0.8 ratio, depending on which card you have).

Qantas (1:1 ratio).

Qatar Airways (1:1 ratio).

Singapore Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Thai Airways (1:1 ratio).

Turkish Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Virgin Atlantic (1:1 ratio).

Accor Live Limitless (2:1 ratio).

Choice Hotels (1:2 or 1:1.5 ratio, depending on which card you have).

The Leading Hotels of the World (5:1 ratio).

Wyndham (1:1 ratio or 1:0.8 ratio, depending on which card you have).

Shop Your Way (1:10 ratio).

Other benefits:

Complimentary fourth-hotel-night-free benefit: Get the fourth night free when booking four consecutive nights or more at any hotel through Citi ThankYou.

$250 travel credit every calendar year: This can cover travel purchases including airfare, hotel stays and car rentals, to name a few.

Priority Pass Select m embership : Get complimentary access to Priority Pass lounges.

Global Entry or TSA Precheck credit: This covers your application fee for a Global Entry or TSA Precheck application if you pay with your card.

The Citi Prestige® Card is the top-tier option when it comes to Citi's rewards cards. With an annual fee of $95 , the Citi Premier® Card is the mid-tier option, and the Citi Rewards+® Card is more budget-minded with an annual fee of $0 and lower ongoing rewards than its sibling cards. (Editor's note: In 2024, Citi replaced the Citi Premier® Card with the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card .)

Rich ongoing rewards

Offering 5 points per dollar spent on airlines, travel agencies and restaurants, the Citi Prestige® Card soars past what most other cards can earn in these categories. If you're spending a bundle on travel and dining, this premium rewards rate could make the card worth getting. Spending on hotels and cruises will also earn you a respectable 3 points per dollar, which is on a par with what several other top-notch travel cards offer.

A $250 travel credit

The $250 annual travel credit on the Citi Prestige® Card can ease the sting of the card's high annual fee. Citi's definition of travel is broad and includes less-considered ways of getting around, including taxis, subways, parking lots and tolls. If you ever leave your house, you'll likely find a way to use up that credit and effectively bring the net cost of owning the card down to $245.

Through Dec. 31, 2022, the annual travel credit will cover more than just travel. Restaurant purchases (including takeout) and supermarket purchases will also trigger the travel credit.

Complimentary fourth night hotel stay

This is one of the more valuable perks of owning the Citi Prestige® Card . Anytime you book a hotel stay of four nights or more through the Citi travel portal through a paid booking, an award booking or a combination of the two, you'll get night four on the house — whether it's an inexpensive room or a presidential suite. It should be noted, however, that this once-unlimited feature was capped at two times a year as of Sept. 1, 2019. Even so, if you take advantage, that, combined with the annual $250 travel credit, you'll probably get more than your money's worth out of the card.

Lounge access and TSA Precheck or Global Entry credit

The Citi Prestige® Card comes with Priority Pass Select membership, which gets you complimentary access to lounges in the Priority Pass network around the world. Waiting for your flight in one of those lounges instead of by a busy boarding gate might make your next airport experience a little more pleasant.

Another useful benefit: Every five years, the card offers a credit to cover the cost of your application fee for TSA Precheck (worth $85) or Global Entry (worth $100). If you qualify for one of these programs, you could get through airport security a little faster.

» MORE: Citi credit cards mobile app review

If $495 is too much for your taste, consider this popular travel card. You earn 2 miles per dollar spent on most purchases. Miles can be redeemed for any travel purchase. There's a great sign-up bonus and a handful of nice perks. Annual fee: $95 .

Looking For Something Else?

Methodology.

NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.

About the author

Robin Saks Frankel

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Citi ThankYou Rewards Transfer Partners and How To Use Them [2024]

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Table of Contents

Earning thankyou points, citi airline and hotel transfer partners, how to transfer citi thankyou points, citi transfer bonuses, booking travel with the citi thankyou travel portal, other ways to use your points, combining thankyou points from different accounts, redeeming thankyou points, final thoughts.

We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our  Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.

Citi ThankYou Points sometimes don’t get the same press as Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, but don’t overlook them.

With a few credit cards to help you earn ThankYou Points and several airline partners that provide some amazing redemption opportunities, these are points everyone should consider!

In this post, we’ll review what transfer opportunities Citi ThankYou Points offer, how to make these transfers, and more. With this info in hand, you’ll be ready to see the world using your ThankYou Points.

Citi offers multiple cards that earn ThankYou Points, and each has category bonuses that allow you to earn points quicker. Make sure you check out the best ways to earn Citi ThankYou Points to get started on the right foot.

The Citi ThankYou Points program has 14 airline transfer partners and 3 hotel transfer partners . Make sure you check the transfer rate since not all transfers are done at a 1:1 ratio.

Keep in mind that these rates are for those who hold either the Citi Strata Premierr℠ Card or the Citi Prestige ® Card (no longer open to new applicants).

Holders of the Citi Double Cash ® Card , Citi ThankYou ® Preferred Card (no longer open to new applicants), Citi Rewards+ ® Card , and Sears Mastercard ® with ThankYou ® Rewards can transfer ThankYou Points to Choice Privileges at a 1:1.5 ratio and Wyndham Rewards and JetBlue TrueBlue at a 1:0.8 ratio.

Hot Tip: Use our transfer partner tool to see how many points you’ll get when you transfer your Citi ThankYou Points to partner hotels and airlines!

Once you have some ThankYou Points in your account, you’ll want to transfer these points to redeem them for free travel. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be ready to see the world.

Step 1: Starting at ThankYou.com , hover over the Travel menu option to trigger a dropdown menu. Select Points Transfer.

Step 2: Find your desired airline and select Transfer Now  to start the transfer process.

Step 3: Enter the number of miles you want to transfer. Add your frequent flyer number if you haven’t already attached it to your ThankYou Points account. Agree to the terms and conditions. Select Continue.

Step 4 : Confirm that the details of the transfer are correct and select Confirm  to complete the transfer.

Step 5:  Head over to the appropriate airline site to book your award flight.

Citi will sometimes offer a transfer bonus for a limited period of time. If you have a redemption in mind, this is the ideal time to transfer your points to get the most value.

If you’re booking economy flights, the Citi ThankYou travel portal  might be worth your consideration. Booking through Citi is not unlike booking directly with an airline. The difference is that you will see the cost in points (1 cent per point) in addition to the cash price.

Should You Transfer or Book With Citi?

When booking through the Citi ThankYou travel portal, you will earn airline miles on your flights . This serves as a kind of small rebate. However, award redemptions may cost more points in the Citi ThankYou travel portal than booking an award flight with the airline, so it’s important to compare when booking economy tickets .

While you can’t transfer ThankYou Points directly to American Airlines or United Airlines to book award tickets (for example), you can transfer to one of their respective Oneworld or Star Alliance partners and accomplish the same thing.

If SAAver level award space is available on American Airlines, you could transfer points to Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program to book the flight . If Saver Award space is available on United Airlines, you could transfer points to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program to book the United flight.

In both cases, the valuation of 1 cent per point when used in the Citi ThankYou travel portal makes transferring a better option even for these short economy flights. The United booking is closer, and booking with the Citi ThankYou travel portal still might be a good move.

The best choice depends on which airline you would credit points to for the flights and any status with the airline. Make sure you compare your award booking options with the Citi ThankYou travel portal prices to ensure you are getting the most value out of your points. There’s no need to throw away extra ThankYou Points!

Bottom Line:  Most of the time, transferring ThankYou Points to an airline partner is the best way to go. Just make sure it’s a 1:1 transfer ratio.

Citi ThankYou Points can be redeemed for gift cards to merchants including Starbucks, Home Depot , and Macy’s , or for items such as luggage and cameras .

While there are plenty of these options to use your points, none of them provide a good value. Stick with flight redemptions if you really want to get the most value from your points.

If you have both the Citi Prestige card and the Citi Strata Premier card, you can link the accounts so you have access to all of your ThankYou Points in one place. This can make earning the points for your next award flight much easier.

The downside is that once linked, canceling one of the cards will cause the points earned on that card to have an expiration date. Additionally, once linked, your accounts cannot be unlinked.

There is an option to combine accounts online, but you may find the site has trouble processing the request. The easiest way to combine accounts is to call 800-THANK-YOU (800-842-6596).

You can also transfer points to other ThankYou Points accounts. Unlike American Express Membership Rewards, which can be transferred to your authorized user’s frequent flyer accounts, Citi allows you to transfer directly to ThankYou Points accounts.

These shared points expire within 90 days, so they need to be transferred to an airline partner or used in the Citi ThankYou travel portal within that timeframe. Even with the time limit, this is a great way to help friends and family complete a booking.

Using your ThankYou Points for travel is clearly the best way to extract value from your points. With 14 airline transfer partners, you have plenty of choices when it comes time to redeem points for an amazing flight. To make the process a bit easier, we’ve compiled a list of the best ways to redeem your ThankYou Points .

Occasionally, Citi will run promotions that provide transfer bonuses between 10% and 30%. These are great opportunities to save some points when transferring points to complete an award booking.

Citi ThankYou Rewards might not be the most talked about transferable points program, but these points can help you book some fantastic travel experiences. Once you know a few ways to earn and redeem your points, you’ll be ready to fly across the world.

The information for the Citi Prestige ® Card,  Citi ThankYou ® Preferred Card, and Sears Mastercard ® with ThankYou ® Rewards has been collected independently by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. 

The information for the Citi Prestige ® Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Citi Double Cash ®  Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information for the Citi ThankYou ® Preferred Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Citi Rewards+ ® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What airlines can citi thankyou points be used for.

There are 14 airline partners that you’re able to transfer your Citi ThankYou Points to. Refer to our table in the post for the most up-to-date transfer partners!

Can you transfer Citi ThankYou Points to another person?

Yes, but you can only share a total of 100,000 ThankYou Points in a calendar year, and shared points are only valid for 90 days from the date they are received.

Can you transfer points from an airline to Citi ThankYou Points?

You cannot transfer miles or points from an airline to Citi ThankYou Points. You also cannot get back any ThankYou Points that you have already transferred to an airline partner. All transfers are final.

Do Citi ThankYou Points expire?

Your Citi ThankYou Points will not expire as long as your account remains open and in good standing. However, if you transfer points to someone else, those points will expire in 90 days.

How much are Citi ThankYou pPoints worth?

Generally, your ThankYou Points will be worth 1 cent when redeeming them through the ThankYou travel portal or 2+ cents for redemptions made through transfer partners.

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About Spencer Howard

Always a fan of flying, it was only natural that Spencer was drawn to finding a way to improve the travel experience.

Like many, he started this journey searching for cheap flights to take him around the world. This was fun for a while, but Spencer was intrigued by the idea of flying in business and first class!

Throwing himself into what became an extensive research project, Spencer spent 3-4 hours per night learning everything he could about frequent flyer miles over the course of several months (he thinks this is normal). He runs Straight to the Points, an award-seat alert platform.

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CITI TRAVEL with Booking.com

Introducing citi travel℠: your first stop to your next destination.

Earn ThankYou ® Points when you pay for part, or all, of your trip with your eligible Citi Card through the Citi Travel portal. Plus, you can redeem your points towards even more adventures through the Citi Travel portal. With customizable options and booking right from your Citi Mobile ® App for eligible cardholders, the way to go is now way easier.

Earn More ThankYou ® Points on Select Bookings Through the Citi Travel portal

10x the fun with citi strata premier℠.

Earn a total of 10x ThankYou ® Points on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. 1

5X the Fun with Rewards+ ®

Earn a total of 5x ThankYou ® Points on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. Offer expires December 31, 2025. 2

More Points, More Fun with Double Cash ®

Earn a total of 5 ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. Offers expires December 31, 2024. 3

Offer provides 3 additional points on top of the 1 point per dollar on purchases and 1 point per dollar for payments on purchases

Earn More Points with Custom Cash ®

Earn an unlimited additional 4 ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. Offers expires June 30, 2025. 4

Additional Citi Travel Portal Benefits

The citi travel portal offers perks to make your travel booking experience easier and more convenient., access to over 1.4 million hotel and resort options, competitive prices when booking flights, hotels, cars and attractions, 24/7 customer service support for your booking needs.

ThankYou ® Cards Make Every Day More Rewarding

It's easy to earn ThankYou ® Points with Citi credit cards. Find the one that helps you earn the most on your daily spending.

Citi Travel: Frequently Asked Questions

What is the citi travel portal.

Citi Travel is a travel booking portal that gives eligible Citi card members access to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and attractions at competitive prices, along with 24/7 customer support. Additionally, when you book through the Citi Travel portal using ThankYou ® rewards cards, you can earn ThankYou ® points on your travel spending which can then be redeemed to be used on your next journey.

How do I book through the Citi Travel portal?

To book through the Citi Travel portal:

• Login into your Citi Mobile App or directly into the Citi Travel portal using your Citi Online User ID and password.
• After that, search for the flights, hotels, car rentals or attractions you want to book and enter the necessary information (such as number of guests or passengers, travel dates, etc.)
• Confirm your booking and choose whether you want to pay with card, points, or a combination of these purchase options.ns.

Can I use any Citi ® card to book through Citi Travel?

All Citi ThankYou ® Rewards Credit Cards

Citi Travel℠ is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with Booking.com.

1 You will earn 10 ThankYou Points for each $1 spent on hotels, car rentals, and attractions when you use your Citi Strata Premier Card to book them through the Citi Travel site via CitiTravel.com or 1-833-737-1288 (TTY: 711). For bookings made with a combination of points and your Citi Strata Premier Card, only the portion paid with your card will earn points. Points are not earned on cancelled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with Booking.com.

2 Earn a total of 5 ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel℠ portal on cititravel.com or by calling 1-833-737-1288 and saying "Travel". Offer is valid through 11:59 PM 12/31/2025. You earn 1 ThankYou ® Point per $1 spent on the Citi Travel portal bookings. You will earn an additional 4 bonus ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel portal or by calling 1-833-737-1288 through 11:59 PM 12/31/2025. The booking must post to your account during the promotional period to qualify. This offer may overlap with other special offers in which you are currently enrolled. You must use your Citi Rewards+ ® Card registered at the Citi Travel portal to earn the bonus points . For bookings made with a combination of points and your Citi Rewards+ ® Card, only the portion paid with your card will earn points. Bonus points will take up to 3 billing cycles to post to your account. To qualify for this offer, this account must be open and current. Points will not be earned on canceled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with booking.com.

3 Earn a total of 5 ThankYou Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental, and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel℠ portal on cititravel.com or by calling 1-833-737-1288 and saying "Travel". Offer is valid through 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) 12/31/2024. You earn 1 ThankYou Point per $1 spent on the Citi Travel portal bookings and an additional 1 ThankYou Point per $1 paid on Eligible Payments (as defined in the Citi ThankYou ® Rewards Terms and Conditions for Citi Double Cash ® Card Accounts) made to your Citi Double Cash card account. You will earn an additional 3 bonus ThankYou Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental, and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel portal or by calling 1-833-737-1288 through 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) 12/31/2024. The booking must post to your account during the promotional period to qualify. This offer may overlap with other special offers in which you are currently enrolled. You must use your Citi Double Cash Card registered at the Citi Travel portal to earn the bonus points . For bookings made with a combination of points and your eligible Citi Double Cash card, only the portion paid with your card will earn the additional points. Bonus points may take one or two billing cycles to post to your account. To qualify for this offer, this account must be open and current. Points will not be earned on canceled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with booking.com.

4 Earn an additional 4 Thank You Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental, and attractions excluding air travel through the Citi Travel℠ portal or by calling 1-833-737-1288 (TTY: 711). Offer is valid through 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) 6/30/2025. The booking must post to your account during the promotional period to qualify. This offer may overlap with other special offers in which you are currently enrolled. You must use your Citi Custom Cash ® Card registered at the Citi Travel portal to earn the bonus points . For bookings made with a combination of points and your eligible Citi card, only the portion paid with your card will earn the additional points. Bonus points may take one or two billing cycles to post to your account. To qualify for this offer, this account must be open and current. Points will not be earned on canceled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with booking.com.

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Best Use of Citi ThankYou Points for Flights to Europe

There are two ways to use your Citi ThankYou points to fly to Europe: booking your ticket with the Citi Travel Center and transferring ThankYou points to one of the Citi partner airline programs. If you want to maximize the value of your hard-earned Citi ThankYou points , the approach your take might depend on several factors.

Considerations include:

• The type of Citi credit card you have
• Desired airline
• Hub or city you’re flying from
• Class of service
• Award flight availability
• Price of a corresponding cash ticket

When You Are Better Off Using the Citi Travel Center

You can only transfer points to an airline program with one of the Citi premium ThankYou cards – Citi Prestige and Citi Premier . Both of them offer additional benefit for using the Citi Travel Center. If you are a Citi Prestige cardholder, you can redeem points at 1:1.6 ratio on American Airlines.

This is a huge benefit and an excellent reason to redeem your points at the Citi Travel Center. For example, you can use 50,000 points to buy an $800 ticket. If you are looking for an economy class redemption on American Airlines that’s a great bargain. It is possible for you to save a few points by transferring to the AAdvantage program , but the simplicity of booking can’t be beat.

If you are a Citi Prestige cardholder, but want to fly on another airline, you can redeem your points at 1: 1.33 ratio. In this case the same 50,000 TY points will buy you a $665 ticket. And finally, if you don’t have a Citi Prestige card, but you are a Citi Premier cardholder, you can redeem points at 1:1.25 ratio for any airline. That means the same 50,000 TU points are good for a $625 ticket.

When You Are Better Off Transferring to Airlines

While Citi ThankYou has 12 airlines programs you can transfer you points to, not all of them offer particularly good deals to travel to Europe. Some of them have high mileage redemption rates, some make redemptions a bit complicated, while others hit you with excessive fuel surcharges. There are three partners you should consider if you want to optimize your ThankYou points.

• Etihad Guest
• Flying Blue
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Use Etihad to Fly to Europe

Using Etihad Guest Miles for redeeming award flights on American Airlines will feel as if you are transported back in time. Etihad uses a pre-devaluation AA award chart featuring levels you can’t get any longer with AA’s own AAdvantage miles.

A flight between the U.S. and Europe will only cost you 40,000 miles per roundtrip if you fly between October 15 and May 15. If you would like to go to Europe during this time and there is availability (you need to check the AA web site first), this is one situation where you might want to transfer points rather than book via the Travel Center. Depending on the credit card you hold, 40,000 points can buy you either a $500 ticket (with Citi Premier) or $640 ticket (with Citi Prestige). So if the cash price of your flight is higher, transferring points is a better option.

Remember that Etihad allows you to book an award flight on AA metal only.

If you are looking into getting a premium-class ticket, you’ll almost always will be better off by transferring points, as the cash price of business or first class tickets is usually very high. For example, an AA roundtrip flight in business between New York and Paris can cost around $3,000. If you were to buy this ticket with Citi ThankYou points via the Citi Travel Center, it would cost you at least around 180,000 points (and more if you are not a Citi Prestige cardholder). However, if you transfer your points to Etihad Guest to book your AA flight, you will only pay 100,000 miles.

However, the very best value for Europe can be had with another Etihad partner, Brussels Airlines. Brussels has an unbelievably generous rate on Etihad for flights between New York and the Belgian capital: 21,972 for economy and 36,620 miles for business, per roundtrip. There is absolutely no way to get anything close to these values with any frequent flyer programs in the world.

Don’t worry if Brussels is not your final destination. The Brussels award levels on Etihad are so low that you can easily add other segments and still keep ahead of the game. The cheapest add-on is to Paris for 1,550, and the most expensive is to Moscow for 13,960 miles. Both are for roundtrip flights. That means that even the most expensive roundtrip flight between New York and Europe in business class on Brussels Airlines costs less than 51,000 miles.

Right now, there is a 25% bonus for transferring ThankYou points to Etihad, which is valid until July 31. Consider taking advantage of this promotion if you intend to use the points for flights on American, Brussels or Flying Blue.

Use Flying Blue to Fly to Europe

Flying Blue is a frequent flyer program of Air France, KLM and other airlines, and as a member of SkyTeam it gives you access to Delta flights as well.

The Flying Blue award chart doesn’t offer phenomenal values between the U.S. and Europe, but there are a few sweet spots . First, economy awards cost 50,000 miles per roundtrip rather than 60,000 with the U.S. carriers. Second, the Flying Blue chart places Israel in Europe (other programs put it in the Middle East, which means more expensive redemptions). That means you can fly to Israel for 50,000 miles in economy and 125,000 miles in business per roundtrip.

Third, Flying Blue often has amazing 25%-50% off promos between certain city pairs in Europe and the U.S.

Note, however, that most Flying Blue airlines add fuel surcharges, although there aren’t any fuel surcharges for Delta.

Use Virgin Atlantic Miles to Fly to Europe

Virgin Atlantic has great award redemption values for flights between the U.S. (especially Eastern U.S.) and Europe in both classes, economy and business, although outrageous Heathrow Airport fees and fuel surcharges in Upper Class make business class TY redemptions on Virgin a less attractive option.

Still, you can book a roundtrip flight for 35,000 miles and a one-way flight for 17,500 miles. If you are using Virgin miles to fly to London, but return from another, less expensive airport, for example Madrid, you will save loads of cash. What’s even more interesting is that a one-way premium economy award flight between the Eastern U.S. and London costs only 27,500 miles. Considering that a typical U.S. airline award rate in economy between the U.S. and Europe is 30,000 miles, this is a terrific value.

There are other transferring options to use ThankYou points for flights to Europe, but the ones we’ve mentioned can get you a really good bang for your points. And there’s still time to book a trip this summer!

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

UGC Disclosure: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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Review: Citi Prestige Card

While some of its benefits have been chipped away, the Citi Prestige Card remains one of the more competitive cards in the $120K segment.

Here’s The MileLion’s review of the Citi Prestige Card, Citibank’s second most exclusive credit card (after the invite-only Citi ULTIMA ).

Even though this card has been discontinued elsewhere, it’s still going strong in Singapore, rewarding cardholders with travel benefits, gourmet promotions, and various lifestyle offers. But with a non-waivable annual fee of S$540, a Citi Prestige Card is certainly going to make a dent in your wallet. 

Here’s a detailed look at what’s in store for cardholders who take the plunge.

Overview: Citi Prestige Card

Let’s start this review by looking at the key features of the Citi Prestige Card. 

The Citi Prestige comes in metal cardstock, but it’s actually one of the lightest metal cards on the market. In fact, it’s more of a hybrid, weighing in at 8 grams, just a hair over the standard plastic card’s 5 grams.

How much must I earn to qualify for a Citi Prestige?

The Citi Prestige has a S$120,000 p.a. income requirement, although it is also available to Citigold customers (min AUM: S$250K) who earn at least S$30,000 p.a.

If you don’t meet the income criteria, it may be possible to get the Citi Prestige as a secured credit card, with a deposit of at least S$15,000. Visit a Citi branch to make enquiries. 

How much is the Citi Prestige Card’s annual fee? 

The Citi Prestige has an annual fee of S$540,  which will increase to S$545 from 1 January 2024 due to the increase in GST from 8% to 9%. Supplementary cards are free for life.

Annual fee waivers are not available for the Citi Prestige, so don’t even think about asking (Citigold has run acquisition promotions which waive the first year’s fee, but there’s nothing going on now to my knowledge).

Cardholders receive 25,000 miles for paying the annual fee each year, which works out to about 2.16 cents per mile. That’s a relatively high cost to pay, but remember, we need to look at the benefits in totality. 

What sign-up bonus or gifts are available?

The Citi Prestige is currently offering 71,000 bonus miles for cardholders who apply online for a Citi Prestige Card   and receive approval within 30 days of application. 

Cardholders will earn:

• 25,000 miles for paying the S$540 annual fee 
• 23,000 miles for spending S$1,000 in local currency
• 23,000 miles for spending S$1,000 in foreign currency

The minimum spend for local and foreign currency must be met by the end of the second calendar month following the month of approval. For example, those approved from 1-31 August 2023 have until 31 October 2023 to meet the minimum spend. Depending on when your approval comes in, you have anywhere from 2-3 months to meet the minimum spend.

This offer is open to individuals who have not cancelled a Citi Prestige Card in the 12 months  prior to application. Existing Citi principal cardholders are eligible.

The full details can be found below:

Extended: Citi Prestige Card 71,000 miles sign-up bonus

How many miles do I earn?

Sgd/fcy spend.

Citi Prestige members earn:

• 3.25 ThankYou points for every S$1 spent in Singapore Dollars
• 5 ThankYou points for every S$1 spent in foreign currency (FCY)

5 ThankYou points are worth 2 airline miles, so that’s an equivalent earn rate of 1.3 mpd for local spend, and 2.0 mpd for FCY spend.

Truth be told, these earn rates could certainly be much better. In terms of miles earning potential, the Citi Prestige Card ranks towards the bottom of the $120K pack.

However, the picture changes if you look at the base earn rates, without minimum spend requirements. In that case, the Citi Prestige ranks more respectably- and perhaps slightly better, once you factor in its rounding policy (see below).

When are ThankYou points credited?

ThankYou points are credited when your transaction posts, which generally takes 1-3 working days. 

How are ThankYou points calculated?

Here’s how you can work out the ThankYou points earned on your Citi Prestige Card. 

Unlike some cards which award points for every S$5 spent (such as the OCBC VOYAGE and UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card ), the Citi Prestige awards points for every S$1 spent. 

This means you lose fewer points through rounding, which can make a big difference on smaller transactions. For example, the Citi Prestige Card can outperform the ostensibly higher-earning UOB Visa Infinite Metal on certain transactions, as illustrated below.

If you’re an Excel geek, here’s the formulas you need to calculate points: 

For the full list of formulas that banks use to calculate credit card points, do refer to these articles:

• General Spending Cards
• Specialised Spending Cards

What transactions aren’t eligible for ThankYou points?

A full list of ineligible transactions to earn ThankYou points can be found in the Citi rewards T&Cs.

I’ve highlighted a few noteworthy categories below:

• Educational Institutions (MCC 8211-8299)
• Donations (MCC 8398)
• Government Services (MCC 9000-9999)
• Insurance (MCC 6300)
• Professional Services and Membership Organizations (MCC 8651-8661)
• Quasi cash transactions (MCC 6529-6540)
• Real Estate Agents and Managers (MCC 6513)
• Top-ups to prepaid accounts like YouTrip and GrabPay
• Utilities payments (MCC 4900)

For avoidance of doubt, the Citi Prestige Card still earns points for CardUp and hospital spend.

What do I need to know about ThankYou points?

ThankYou points earned on the Citi Prestige Card do not expire.

Citibank has a policy of not pooling points across cards .

If you have 12,000 ThankYou points on the Citi Prestige Card and 30,000 ThankYou points on the Citi Rewards Mastercard, you will have to pay two separate conversion fees. This also means that you’ll need to transfer all your points out before cancelling the card, or else forfeit them.

Transfer Partners & Fee

Citibank has the widest variety of transfer partners in Singapore, with 11 airline and hotel programmes to choose from. This gives you access to some great sweet spots, like with British Airways Executive Club , Etihad Guest , and Turkish Miles&Smiles.

More importantly, all three airline alliances are represented: Star (KrisFlyer, EVA, THAI, Turkish), oneworld (Asia Miles, BA, Qantas, Qatar), and SkyTeam (Flying Blue). This means your points are intrinsically more valuable, since you’re hedged against any one particular programme carrying out a devaluation. 

Points transfer at a 5:2 ratio, with a minimum transfer block of 10,000 miles. 

An admin fee of S$27 applies to all transfers.

Transfer Times

Citibank tells customers that points transfers will take 14 business days, but in reality it’s usually 24-48 hours for KrisFlyer, or 2-4 working days for other programmes.

If you need your points credited instantly, you can move them via Kris+ at a rate of 10,000 TY points = 3,400 KrisPay miles. KrisPay miles can then be instantly converted to KrisFlyer miles at a 1:1 ratio. 

There are pros and cons to this:

• Minimum conversion block is reduced to 10,000 TY points, versus 25,000 TY points if converting via Citibank’s rewards portal
• Transfers from Citi to Kris+ and Kris+ to KrisFlyer are instant
• Those 10,000 TY points would normally be worth 4,000 KrisFlyer miles, so a 15% haircut is incurred

Should you choose to take this option, do note that it’s a two-step process. The first transfer is from Citi to Kris+, the second is from Kris+ to KrisFlyer. A big button will pop up after the first step prompting you to take the second.

If you do not convert within seven days, or spend any of the transferred miles, the balance will be “stuck” in Kris+, where they expire after six months, and are worth a mere 0.67 cents apiece.

Other card perks

4th night free on hotel stays.

One of the biggest draws of the  Citi Prestige is the 4th Night Free benefit, which allows cardholders to stay four nights at a hotel for the cost of three.

Here’s how it works: Citi Prestige Cardholders make a hotel booking through the Citi Prestige concierge of at least four nights. The average pre-tax rate of the first four nights will be refunded within two billing cycles (up to 90 days) from completion of full payment, which must be made at the time of booking.

In the example above, the cardholder receives a refund of S$118 (the average of S$100, S$130, S$160 and S$80). Since the refund is on the Citi side, elite credit and hotel points (if applicable) are earned on the full amount of spending.

A maximum of one free night can be enjoyed per stay, back to back stays will not be honoured. Back to back stays are defined as consecutive stays:

• In the same hotel, same city
• In a different hotel, in the same city

Consecutive stays are defined as any stay in which the check-in date is less than seven days from the previous check-out date. 

Only the principal cardholder is entitled to this benefit, and he/she must be staying at the hotel. The following stays are excluded:

• Full and half board room stays
• Single and multi-room suites
• Home & farm stays
• Serviced apartments
• Packaged stay and member rates, such as air and hotel, hotel and car rental, hotel and meals bundled promotions

This means the concierge will not let you book an all-suites or all-villa hotel, even though I believe that wasn’t the original intention of the exclusions.

Only prepaid rates that are available on the hotel’s website (excluding member’s rates) or Expedia can be booked.

As you can see, Citi has slapped a whole lot of restrictions on this benefit, so much so that existing cardholders complain it’s dying the death of a thousand cuts. You can still save money, sure, but you might drive yourself a little crazy trying to do it.

Complimentary airport limo

Once upon a time, spending just S$1,500 per quarter in foreign currency would unlock four free airport limo rides on the Citi Prestige Card. But in April 2019, Citi hiked the spending to S$20,000 per quarter while reducing the rides to two . That was an outrageous change, and the bank’s attempts to spin it as an “enhancement” didn’t help.

In February 2020, Citi walked back the changes somewhat. The minimum spend was reduced to S$12,000 per quarter, where it’s remained ever since.

Quarters are defined as:

• Q1: 1 Jan to 31 Mar
• Q2: 1 Apr to 30 Jun
• Q3: 1 Jul to 30 Sep
• Q4: 1 Oct to 31 Dec

For avoidance of doubt, Citi PayAll spending will count towards the S$12,000 qualifying spend, provided the 2.2% service fee is paid.

Rides must be booked in the same quarter they are earned, although the ride date can be outside the earning quarter. For example, on 3 May 2023 I charge S$12,000 in qualifying spend to my Citi Prestige Card. This earns me two complimentary limo rides, which I must  book  by 30 June 2023. The actual utilisation date can be beyond 30 June 2023.

Remember, limo rides are charged at the time of  booking  (not utilisation), so all that matters is the charge is reflected in the correct quarter.

Reimbursement for limo rides will take place in the following quarter. All bookings must be done via the Citi Prestige concierge at least 48 hours prior to pickup time. 

Unlimited complimentary lounge visits

Citi Prestige Cardholders enjoy unlimited lounge visits via Priority Pass, along with one guest. This benefit only applies to the principal cardholder; supplementary cardholders do not receive access.

As far as cards in the $120K segment go, this is pretty competitive.

Registration is required, and instructions can be found here.

Prestige Guest Chef Dining

Citi Prestige Cardholders receive periodic invitations to specially-curated dining experiences under the Prestige Guest Chef Dining programme.

These aren’t free, obviously, but can sometimes represent a small discount to the public price.

Buy cheap miles via Citi PayAll

While this isn’t unique to the Citi Prestige Card, one of the best perks of holding a Citibank card is access to Citi PayAll.

Citi Prestige Cardholders can pay various bills with their card and earn 1.3 mpd , in exchange for a 2.2% service fee.

23 different categories of payment are currently supported:

Here’s a simple example:

• Set up a S$10,000 insurance premium payment via Citi PayAll
• Citi PayAll will charge your Citi Prestige Card S$10,220 (S$10,000 + 2.2% admin fee)
• Citi Prestige Card will earn 13,000 miles (S$10,000 @ 1.3 mpd; no miles for admin fee)
• Cost per mile= 1.69 cents (S$220 admin fee / 13,000 miles)

Citi runs periodic promotions that upsize the miles or discount the admin fee. The most recent offer (which ended on 20 August 2023) boosted the earn rate to 2.2 mpd across most Citi cards including the Prestige, lowering the cost to 1 cent per mile. 

Citi PayAll transactions will count towards the minimum spend for welcome offers, limo spend and other promotions, provided the service fee is paid.

I’ve written a comprehensive guide to Citi PayAll, so be sure to check out the article below. 

Citi PayAll Complete Guide: How to pay bills and earn miles

Complimentary golf games

Citi Prestige Cardholders enjoy complimentary golf games at the following clubs. 

Cardholders enjoy complimentary green fee rounds at three local and three regional golf clubs per calendar year. The benefit can be used at the same club multiple times, e.g. they could book three rounds at Marina Bay Golf Course. 

Complimentary travel insurance

Citi Prestige Cardholders enjoy two different insurance travel insurance policies- one from Citibank, and one from Mastercard.

From Citibank

Citi Prestige Cardholders receive complimentary travel insurance when they charge their round-trip air ticket to their card. For avoidance of doubt, this includes situations where tickets are redeemed with miles, and the taxes/surcharges paid with the Citi Prestige Card.

However, the miles must be from one of Citi Singapore’s airline transfer partners. At the time of making a claim, you will need to show that the miles transferred from Citi are the same or more than the miles used to redeem the award ticket.

Cardholders are covered for up to S$5,000,000 for accidental death or dismemberment while traveling on a scheduled public conveyance, with S$50,000 coverage for medical expenses and S$100,000 for emergency medical evacuation.

Flight delays, baggage delays and lost baggage are also covered.

Coverage includes the cardholder, spouse, and up to three children. 

From Mastercard

On top of the protection provided by Citibank, Citi Prestige Cardholders also enjoy additional coverage from Mastercard by virtue of World Elite Mastercard status. Like Citibank, Mastercard coverage is activated when you use your card to pay for your airfare (or taxes on an award ticket).

This features US$500,000 coverage for accidental death, US$500,000 coverage for medical expenses, plus US$7,500 for trip cancellation or curtailment. 

Sands Lifestyle Prestige

Citi Prestige Cardholders can enjoy a complimentary upgrade to the Prestige tier of Sands Lifestyle, Marina Bay Sand’s loyalty programme.

Cardholders who sign up from 15 August to 30 November 2023 will enjoy a 12-month membership. They can renew their membership for a second 12-month period by spending at least S$5,000 within the initial 12-month period, failing which they will be downgraded to the Lifestyle tier. 

Cardholders who sign up from 1 December 2023 to 30 April 2024 will enjoy a 3-month membership. They can renew their membership for a second 9-month period by spending at least S$1,500 within the initial 3-month period, failing which they will be downgraded to the Lifestyle tier. 

Sands Lifestyle Prestige members enjoy perks such as:

• Up to 20% instant Resort Dollars at over 250 outlets
• 10% savings on hotel room rate
• Preferential earning of up to 10% instant Resort Dollars at selected restaurants
• $4 Resort Dollar parking (with same-day spend)
• Digital Light Canvas
• Sampan rides
• SkyPark Observation Deck 
• 1-for-1 ArtScience Museum exhibition tickets (up to four tickets per month)

The full list of perks can be found here.

To upgrade their status, Citi Prestige Cardholders must visit one of the following locations in person

• Lobby, Hotel Tower 1 Daily: 10am – 10.30pm
• The Shoppes, B1 (above Sampan Rides) Daily: 10am – 11pm
• The Shoppes, B2 (near Digital Light Canvas) Daily: 10am – 11pm

World Elite Mastercard benefits

As a World Elite Mastercard, Citi Prestige cardholders enjoy the following perks:

• Avis President’s Club status
• Complimentary fast-track to GHA Discovery Titanium status
• Complimentary 12-month HoteLux Elite Plus membership + US$200 in points
• US$20,000 annual purchase protection
• US$1,000 annual e-commerce purchase protection
• Held Tables for reservations at >600 dining venues worldwide
• Mastercard Priceless offers

For what it’s worth, I think the World Elite Mastercard perks are much better than their Visa Infinite counterparts. 

Terms & Conditions

• Citi Prestige Card Information Sheet
• Citi Prestige Card T&Cs

Summary Review: Citi Prestige Card

The Citi Prestige Card can certainly be useful to frequent travellers.

Those who stay in one place long enough to utilise the 4th night free benefit will find that a handful of bookings can help them recover the annual fee. Likewise, the unlimited lounge visits will be useful for the times you don’t fly First or Business Class, or if you just want to grab a meal at an airport restaurant (unlike AMEX cards, Citi does not exclude these “non-lounge experiences”). And since a guest is included, you can travel with a different person every time. 

Citi PayAll continues to be hands down the cheapest way of buying miles on the market, and given Citi’s wide range of transfer partners, you can expand your horizons beyond the usual KrisFlyer and Asia Miles options. PayAll spend also counts towards the complimentary airport limo rides, which can be the icing on the cake. 

However, the Citi Prestige Card is certainly weaker than it used to be a few years ago. The 4th night free benefit has become more and more frustrating to use, given the additional terms that Citi has slapped on, and there’s no more free Boingo inflight Wi-Fi or CDW coverage for rental cars.

All things considered, however, the Citi Prestige still offers the easiest path to annual fee recovery among cards in the $120K segment (especially once you factor in the 25,000 annual miles), and if the rarefied air of the ULTIMA is out of reach, this might be a good consolation prize. 

• card review
• citi prestige
• credit cards

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Dbs adds cardup and ipaymy to rewards exclusion list (update: exclusion removed), complete faqs: uob lady’s savings account, 59 comments.

Relationship bonus rates for Citigold are lower than non-Citigold?

i swapped them around. fixed!

Is the 4th night free applicable for stays in Singapore?

I don’t have personal experience, but reports in Citi Prestige Tele chat say yes

That’s new, will check it out thx Aaron

it does. i used before

Quite a sizeable chunk of points with KF, so any recommendations on transfer options for Citi? Or does it make sense to just renew and wait it out?

I can take the premium for $ per miles paid during renewal as storage maintenance fee for the points since they don’t expire. There’s the devaluation risk but I guess that’s a separate discussion since everyone is basically stuck in sg

yeah you could view it that way…although i still think it’s quite expensive storage.

How about the 3 free greenfees at SG golf clubs?

just read about this, seems to have been added on 20 august. no interest to me, but i’ll add something in the post for those who enjoy golf

These have been around for many years, it used to be three in SG plus three overseas. After the arrival of covid it actually got changed to six rounds in SG, as people could not travel overseas. Not sure whether it has reverted to 3+3 more recently. I’ve been able to secure two rounds this year at MBGC so far.

Thanks so much for the detailed review. I’ve been a member for one year now but this article was a nice recap for me. Due to the lost benefits under COVID situation I was thinking of canceling the membership but I somehow missed the renewal month so I’ll continue to be a member for another year. lol

One stupid question – is this card really metal? I thought the metal card feels heavier and colder but I don’t feel any difference from othe plastic cards…

thin metal glued to thin plastic. it comes apart with time. just like amex platinum card. plastic for paywave. metal cards like insignia and ultima don’t have plastic and are obviously heavier in the hand. some amusing articles actually compare card weights – older ritzcarlton card was the champ if I remember.

what met said- it’s a hybrid card. and one of the lightest metal cards on the market; there are some complaining about build quality.

Fantastic in-depth review! Just wondering, is the Singapore version of this card like the US where it is a metallic card?

yup! however the build quality isn’t great, and it’s only a few grams heavier than a pure plastic card

Hi Aaron, first time commenting here. I was actually looking at this after i saw the benefits you got from your GHA black membership that comes with a World Elite Mastercard (which this card is). With these World Elite Mastercard benefits (I only see 2 on the site, 1 of which is by invite only), do you think it will boost your rating or do you think it doesn’t move the needle much? (Specifically after your Capitol Kempinski Hotel glowing review :))

well i don’t think it’s possible to get GHA black anymore with world elite mastercard, which his why i didn’t mention it. the last successful data point posted was from january 2020, and the landing page is gone: https://www.discoveryloyalty.com/Discovery-Member-News/2018-09/You-re-Invited-To-Black-Status-with-DISCOVERY

if indeed gha black is still possible, then yes it does move the needle a bit. but as always it depends where you stay- some hotels like kempinski treat gha black well, others may not really care.

I attempted to cancel my card (near end Nov) as they would not waive the fees despite almost no opportunity to travel this year and potentially next year. The cancellation process is a nightmare – you have to wait for their retention team to call you, then they will repeat the same refusal to waive fees (ya I get the point) and then read an ultra long terms and conditions that you would indemnify them against any claims (like who will even bother??) and then take their own sweet time to remove the card (1-2 weeks) from your account. Make …  Read more »

I’m wondering if there is any regulation or requirement in T&C on how to cancel a card. If not, just inform them and keep a record, then say bye-bye

Has Boingo benefit been removed?

Seems to be the case. Verified eligibility on mastercard website, and result is negative.

where can I find the link to the Prestige Concierge to book travels/hotels? Tried google without success.

Yes, where is this website? Have applied for the card and it’s taking ages to come. Wrote in to Citi for the URL and they asked me to call the ‘Aspire hotline’ on the back of the card. It’s like some heavily guarded trade secret lol smh

Yes, call the Aspire Hotline number (Prestige cardholders can call 63386911). It’s a long wait though.

The 4th night free restrictions are an absolute killer

The 4th night free MUST NOT ONLY be a prepaid, non cancellable/refundable rate

But ALSO be a non discounted rate. Meaning if you book a hotel with an advanced booking discount, that rate is not eligible for the benefit even if the rate is entirely public

And booking through the so-called Travel Concierge is basically you going to the websites, doing your own research, and THEN going back to the Concierge to get them to book it for you.

Absolutely gawd awful benefit. Ridiculous.

Same thing for car rental – I asked how do they do it…they said they’d take my requests and go to 1 of 2 websites…i’d thought concierge means they’d go find the best value option….

Yeah agree. The difference in prices for member rates could reduce the savings by using the prestige to around 9%.

And the difficulty in calling the concierge…God makes me want to cancel the card

4NF can be refundable, there is no such restriction as long as it is fully prepaid.

That’s right – it just needs to be prepaid. Expedia has a paynow but refundable option – the concierge will typically use that option.

Thanks for the review ! Do agree the 4th night stay is a great way to recoup the AF but in all likelihood my travel profile means i will stay typically a few nights rather than an extended period of time. However, with the 48000 miles bonus offer, it seems quite enticing to get the card at just around approx. 1.1 cents/mile? Although in all likelihood may end up canceling the card just before renewal, with my current spends optimized around on 4 mile/dollar cards. Currently only holding a Citi PM card since 2008 (does that qualify as non-citigold relationship …  Read more »

4th night free only available for prepaid rates or some nonsense like that – for W Singapore, I couldn’t get the concierge to book the rooms through the Marriott website because no prepaid rate was available at that time, so they had to use some OTA.

Even though I got the 4th night free, I couldn’t get the nights to count towards status :/

Was pretty much done with the card after that.

How do the current sign up promotions fare in comparison to that 1-2 year back?

I need some advice here. I’m thinking of using this Citi Prestige as my “charge everything” Mastercard. I can use the Citi PayAll to pay for insurance, etc. Strangely, AIA only accepts Mastercard. And I will be earning 1.3 mpd, better nothing at all. PremierMiles earns 1.2 mpd. So I thought this is a better deal. I have a DBS Vantage that earns 1.5 mpd on Visa spends. Is this a good idea to maximise my mpd? Or should I go for other MasterCards? Thanks in advance.

If you are looking to maximise mpd dumping all your expenditure on these cards should be the last thing you ever do.

I use the Prestige card as my ‘charge when I don’t have a 4 MPD card’.

Sometimes saving time is worth more than optimizing for miles (I realize some will attack me for this heresy).

Also, Citi Prestige miles convert to Turkish and other programs that often have much lower mileage requirements than Krisflyer.

So while you might earn fewer miles per dollar, the miles you get are worth more IMO.

Joke of the day. Asked prestige concierge to book an intercontinental club room as was told because it comes with club lounge access hence it’s counted as a package stay.

Not going to renew the card for next year…

that is hilarious indeed. citi CSOs have never been known for competency, but this is special indeed.

Thanks for a great article and an amazing website overall! Does anyone know if the complimentary green fees extend to supplementary card holders?

Was wondering about the limo ride, if I hit the 12k spend in Dec but the payment is 30 Dec, do I get the 2 rides? It can’t be that they expect usage on 31 Dec if it can’t be carried over to next quarter or calendar year right?

Just realised the Kaligo special Earn ended lasg month. Should we expect renewal of that programme?

May I know when I pay the annual fee to renew for the 2nd year, do I get 25000 TY points? Or renewals don’t come with any points at all?

In my case, I received the 25,000 TY points during my renewal month in March 2024. To be fair, neither the Citi website nor this article mention anything about renewal miles / points, so perhaps this is only for legacy customers.

Hey Aaron! i’m looking for Milelion’s Verdict

will be updating this review in the next few months…stay tuned!

Would appreciate if its before promo period ser

For the 4th night free benefit, how is it booked at chain hotels? Can I ask the concierge to book at the official website and quote my membership number for the booking? Because, sometimes, the website offers members’ price and public price which is higher than members’. If the concierge can accommodate us by booking prepaid member’s prices, then that is still worth the trouble I think.

Can book through hotel website and may be able to link membership (works for IHG but other chains may leave it as a note), but can only book the public non-member rate.

Thanks for sharing the experience. Were you holding the phone line until the booking is finished?

Based on 11Sep’23 updated article, may I confirm if Citi PayAll enables one to receive miles when used for Income Tax payment? Thanks. (my apologies if I had missed it somewhere….)

Yes, only reason I have kept this card. Not renewing next year, will get the Rewards card which still gives access to Citi Payall at a lower cost (for the card)

I keep this card to pay rent and school fees on payall- the nice side benefit is the limo rides. The advantage of the Citi ones is that can be used from Changi and also get a maxicab- saves $60+ each time. They also do random spend promotions (I received a $400 restaurant voucher last month)

the insurance coverage is $5mil or $500k?

To confirm, i can use citi payall to pay for donations via giving.sg and this donation will qualify as a valid spending for the welcome gift of max of 71k miles?

Manage to utilised the 4th night free thrice recently due to my travel plans. A few things to take note: 1) You can ask Citi to book the hotel at no discount rate and your stay will be eligible for hotel membership status 2) You can ask Citi to get cheapest rate (about 5% price difference to booking.com) but then your stay will not be eligible for hotel membership status 3) When calling Citi for 4th night stay, it is better to confirm the hotel booking while on the call. DO not ask them to follow up via email for …  Read more »

Hello, grateful for any data points on whether the Marriott Bonvoy hotels will honor the membership status benefits (e.g Platinum benefits) when booking a hotel stay through Citi using the 4th Night free benefit?

Used the card for 12 months, here is the review. – redemption – best redemption offers will come from retailers, like Tangs, however, be prepared to receive pile of vouchers form Citi, which you have to tear up and sign, each voucher is 50$. If you do it for 1000$+ it takes some time. online redemption rates are extremely off. I had some sign up bonus to be charged, that was charged in time, no issues. usage of bonus points a bit of a hassle. – for lounge access, Citi usesi priority pass, which either gives you access to the …  Read more »

Aaron, the renewal of Prestige needs to be discussed in the context of PayAll promos becoming much worse and the availability of good hotel promos in APAC. It’s not enough to say that paying the annual fee gets you miles at 2.16 cpm because without PayAll, you are not going to get a lot more miles on Prestige and will have to think when you will get enough miles to redeem. The renewal bonus is in miles, but the other main benefit is 4N1F cashback. After the first year bonus miles, Prestige is a very complicated lifestyle and cashback card. …  Read more »

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Bankrate expert Garrett Yarbrough strives to make navigating credit cards and credit building smooth sailing for his readers. After regularly featuring his credit card, credit monitoring and identity theft analysis on NextAdvisor.com, he joined the CreditCards.com and Bankrate teams as a staff writer to develop product reviews and comprehensive credit card guides focused on cash back, credit scores and card offers.

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Bottom line

This no-annual-fee card features one of the strongest rewards rates available in key spending categories, although the monthly spending caps are somewhat low.

Citi Custom Cash® Card

Our writers, editors and industry experts score credit cards based on a variety of factors including card features, bonus offers and independent research. Credit card issuers have no say or influence on how we rate cards.

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

Intro offer

Earn $200 in cash back after you spend $1500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.

Rewards rate

Earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, 1% cash back thereafter. Special Travel Offer: Earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2025. Earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.

Regular APR

On This Page

• Current offer details

Citi Custom Cash Card pros and cons

• Reasons to get this card
• Reasons to skip this card
• Expert experience
• Citi Custom Cash Card vs. other cash back cards

Best cards to pair with the Citi Custom Cash Card

• Is this card worth getting?
• Rating methodology

Frequently asked questions

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Citi Custom Cash® Card Overview

Choosing a cash back card can be a tough call if you want the high-rate rewards of a rotating category card , the flexibility of custom categories and the simplicity of a flat-rate card. Thankfully, the Citi Custom Cash® Card provides all of the above.

Citi’s no-annual-fee credit card automatically earns cash back rewards on purchases in your top spending category each billing cycle from a list of 10 popular everyday categories.

That said, like other no-annual-fee Citi cards , the Custom Cash is light on extra features. You’ll need to pair it with another card, like a Citi premium card, to activate your rewards’ full potential.

• 5 percent cash back (on up to $500 each billing cycle, then 1 percent) on your top eligible spending category each billing cycle
• 4 percent cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2025

Expert Appraisal: Good See our expert analysis

Welcome offer

• 20,000 ThankYou Points — worth $200 in cash back — after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first six months

Expert Appraisal : Typical See our expert analysis

0% APR offer

• 0 percent on purchases for 15 months
• 0 percent on balance transfers for 15 months
• 19.24 percent to 29.24 percent variable ongoing APR

Expert Appraisal : Good See our expert analysis

Rates and fees

• No annual fee
• 3 percent foreign transaction fee

Expert Appraisal : Typical See our  expert analysis

Other cardholder perks

• World Elite Mastercard benefits

Expert Appraisal : Unimpressive See our expert analysis

The earning rate on your top eligible spending category per billing cycle is one of the highest available for a no-annual-fee card.

There’s no need to activate bonuses or keep track of spending, since the top rate is automatically applied each billing cycle to the highest category.

Its poolable rewards make it an excellent partner for the Citi Double Cash® Card .

The elevated bonus category has a relatively low spending ceiling which can reduce your earning potential if you spend heavily in one category or have authorized users sharing the account.

You might need to track your spending since you only earn elevated cash back in one category each billing cycle.

You won’t maximize this card’s value to the fullest if you don’t pair it with a premium Citi card.

Why you might want the Citi Custom Cash Card

The Citi Custom Cash Card is an excellent choice if you want to concentrate spending in a flexible high-spending category each billing cycle for maximum rewards. Plus, you can earn a welcome bonus with a reasonable return on the amount you're required to spend. It also has a solid intro APR period for both purchases and balance transfers.

You can also double your point value on earnings, giving you even more reason to use this card for everyday expenses like groceries or gas.

Welcome offer: Lengthy timeframe to earn bonus

New cardholders can earn $200 cash back after spending $1,500 in purchases in the first six months, which comes in the form of 20,000 ThankYou points.

Although the Citi Custom Cash card’s spending requirement may be difficult for some spenders, an offer worth $200 is on par with the sign-up bonuses on the most popular cash back cards and you get quite a bit of time to meet the spend requirement. 

However, the current $1,500 spending requirement is double the card’s previous offer and higher than competing no-annual-fee cash back cards.

Here’s how the Citi Custom Cash card’s bonus stacks up with competing rewards cards based on return on spend:

While the return on spend is on the lower end, you do get a considerable period of time to earn the bonus which can deter overspending.

Intro APR: Save on interest for the long run

Like many no-annual-fee cash back cards, the Citi Custom Cash offers a solid intro APR on new purchases and balance transfers — making it a great option if you need to transfer your balance to Citi .

Besides being an effective balance transfer card, the Citi Custom Cash doubles as a somewhat low-interest credit card thanks to its 19.24 percent to 29.24 percent variable ongoing APR. This interest rate is reasonable for a rewards card, with its low-end APR slightly below the current average interest rate .

Rewards: Earn elevated cash back within a wide variety of categories 

The Citi Custom Cash earns 5 percent cash back on up to $500 (then 1 percent back) of purchases in your top eligible spending category each billing cycle, plus unlimited 1 percent on all other purchases. The 10 eligible categories that earn you 5 percent rewards are:

• Restaurants (excluding third-party dining services)
• Gas stations
• Grocery stores
• Select travel
• Select transit
• Select streaming services
• Home improvement stores
• Fitness clubs
• Live entertainment

A pro tip to maximize your rewards is to pay for all your subscriptions or big expenses in a given category in a single billing cycle. For example, paying for all of your fitness club memberships in full in January, renewing your annual transit passes in February and booking all of your summer travel in March means you could earn more cash back on a wider variety of purchases across the year’s billing cycles. Additionally, through 6/30/2025 you can earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal.

Redemption options: The unique chance to almost double your point value

The Citi Custom Cash offers well-rounded redemption options. You can redeem ThankYou points for cash back in the form of a direct deposit, check or statement credit, but your points must equal at least $5 in cash back to redeem for a check. Alternatively, you can redeem your points for gift cards, booking travel through Citi or eligible purchases on Amazon via Shop with Points .

Since you earn ThankYou points instead of automatic cash back, your point value varies depending on the redemption choice. The Custom Cash card’s cash back redemption options will get you a value of 1 cent per point. You’ll also get 1 cent per point for gift card redemptions and travel bookings through Citi.

But if you pool points with other Citi cards, Bankrate’s latest point valuation estimates that your points may be worth around 1.6 cents each on average through certain Citi airline or hotel transfer partners. This estimation means transferring your 20,000-point sign-up bonus to the right transfer partner could increase its value to about $320.

Rates and fees: No annual fee means no yearly cost

While the rates and fees on this card are typical, there's no cost to carrying this card since there's no annual fee. With no yearly cost, an annual fee won't eat into any rewards you might earn either. 

Why you might want a different cash back card

The Citi Custom Cash Card offers several fantastic advantages, but if you value a card with a diverse set of benefits, this card's short list of perks will disappoint you. Also, if you value earning high rewards in more than one category at a time, this card isn’t the right choice for you.

Cardholder perks: Doesn’t stand out compared to similar cards

The Citi Custom Cash Card is a World Elite Mastercard Mastercard, meaning you’ll have Mastercard’s highest tier of benefits, which don’t offer extensive purchase protections and travel perks. These features could make a slight difference if you’re deciding between the Custom Cash and a typical no-annual-fee cash back card with minimal benefits, so check with your issuer first to see if your card specifically qualifies for choice features like:

• 24/7 World Elite Concierge assistance
• Three free months of DoorDash DashPass, plus $5 off your first two orders per month
• $5 Lyft credits after three rides each month
• Complimentary ShopRunner membership

Even though its Mastercard benefits and standard Citi benefits like fraud protection and access to presale concert and sporting tickets through Citi Entertainment can slightly set the Custom Cash apart from other no-annual-fee cards with even fewer additional features, the Citi Custom Cash card’s benefits just aren’t remarkable enough to give the card an edge.

Reward value: Higher with other Citi cards

Although marketed as a cash back card, the Custom Cash actually earns basic ThankYou points, which are slightly different from the full-fledged ThankYou points you earn with the other Citi  cards like the Citi Prestige® Card (which is no longer available to new applicants). Basic points can’t be transferred to Citi travel partners for a potentially higher value unless you have a Citi Prestige card to combine with your Custom Cash’s points.

However, unlike the points you’d earn with some other Citi cards, ThankYou points earned with the Custom Cash card retain their value when redeemed toward cash back or statement credits. To maximize value it’s important to be aware of Citi’s rewards program and consider how cards work best together.

Bonus categories: Low rate outside of your top eligible spending category

Here’s a look at how Citi defines some of the card’s bonus categories:

• Select travel categories
• Select transit categories
• Travel agency purchases
• Car rentals
• Taxis and rideshares
• Parking garages and tolls
• Motorhome and RV rentals
• Other major transit categories
• Amazon Prime Video
• Amazon Music
• Apple Music
• DirectTV Stream
• NBA League Pass
• YouTube Red 

If you spent $500 in one of these categories each billing cycle, you’d earn at least $25 cash back, which comes to $75 per quarter or $300 per year (similar to other 5 percent rotating category cards).

Because of the low base rate, this card works better as a second credit card that allows you to maximize your cash back outside of categories that another card already earns bonuses on.

We tried it: Here’s what our experts say

Bankrate editor Robert Thorpe uses the Citi Custom Cash to maximize the money decides to spend, taking advantage of the tiered-rewards rates:

I use my cards for cash back to reduce the amount of money I’m spending each month. I love that I can earn 5% cash back in categories that typically only receive 3% or less with more versatile cards. I use two Custom Cash cards for two of our biggest spend areas that typically would only earn 3%. My wife is the account holder for one, which we use for gas purchases. I’m the account holder for the other, which we use for dining out. When I first started using the card, I couldn’t see if I was eligible for the sign-up bonus. I messaged customer service via the app on a Sunday morning and received a prompt reply that assured me I was eligible. — Robert Thorpe — Editor, Personal Finance

Nouri Zarrugh , another Bankrate expert, also recommends the Custom Cash for its high, flexible cash back rate in a choice category.

This card is so underrated! You can’t get a rewards rate this high in almost any of its eligible categories without paying an annual fee. If you stick to using it for only one category, I think this card is almost a must-have for building a multi-card strategy. I only use it for groceries — that way I always know which category is going to earn the top cash back rate. I juggle several cards, so having this card dedicated to only one type of purchase makes things a bit easier to manage. — Nouri Zarrugh — Senior Editor, Credit Cards

How the Citi Custom Cash compares to other cash back cards

Deciding on a cash back card can be overwhelming. With the hassles of enrollment and rotating categories, it can be hard to maximize rewards every billing cycle with the Citi Custom card. Considering these factors, credit cards with several ongoing bonus categories can be worth looking into.

Recommended Credit Score

Chase Freedom Flex℠

Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.

5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter! 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠ 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.

Discover it® Cash Back

Intro Offer: Unlimited Cashback Match for all new cardmembers – only from Discover. Discover will automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. You could turn $150 cash back into $300.

Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases - automatically.

Citi Custom Cash vs. Discover it® Cash Back Card

The Discover it® Cash Back is similar to the Citi Custom Cash, with no annual fee and an intro APR for new purchases and balance transfers. Both feature a high cash back rate in bonus categories, allowing you to strategize when and where to earn the most rewards.

The Discover card’s rotating categories can give you more room for earning rewards since you typically receive two to three categories that share a spending limit. It earns elevated cash back after activating on rotating categories each quarter, then a lower flat rate for all other purchases.

The Discover it® Cash Back could offer a bit more cash back with fewer fees, while the Custom Cash may be a more rewarding choice if you want a larger set of categories and plan to utilize a Citi travel card’s transfer partners.

Citi Custom Cash vs. Chase Freedom Flex℠

For sheer reward potential and category variety, the Chase Freedom Flex is the best choice overall if you aren’t planning to get other Citi cards. The Chase Freedom Flex’s rewards could also be pooled with Chase’s premium cards and redeemed for 25 or 50 percent more value toward Chase Travel℠ purchases without using transfer partners. Plus, it earns year-round elevated cash back on Chase travel and a decent cash back rate on dining and drug store purchases.

However, like the Discover it® Cash Back, the Freedom Flex lets you earn cash back in more than one rotating category at a time. If you’re on the fence about Chase’s rotating categories but prefer their stronger rewards potential over the Custom Cash’s single category, keep in mind that the Freedom Flex provides unlimited year-round rewards year-round with its unlimited rewards categories and Chase travel cash back.

Still, the Freedom Flex doesn’t automatically reward your biggest category each month, so the Custom Cash is more convenient if you want automatic cash back without worrying about category activation and tracking.

Hands down, the best cards to pair with the Citi Custom Cash are the Citi Premier and the Citi Prestige ( no longer available ) since they let you transfer your pooled Custom Cash rewards to Citi’s travel partners for a potentially higher value. But any of the Citi ThankYou trifecta cards would be a great choice.

The Citi Premier Card (no longer available)

Your Custom Cash card would be an excellent supporting card with either option, but the Citi Premier lets the Custom Cash card shine a bit more. The Premier card’s restaurant, supermarket, gas station, air travel and hotel categories cover some of the Custom Cash card’s heaviest spending categories, allowing you to earn 5 percent back in rarer bonus categories like transit and live entertainment.

The Citi Double Cash® Card

Adding the Citi Double Cash to your wallet would round out the Citi ThankYou trifecta by providing boosted cash back or points (if you convert them) on all purchases. The Citi Double Cash is a wise pick because of its higher rewards rate than most flat-rate cash back cards . The Citi Double Cash earns 2 percent on every purchase with (unlimited 1 percent cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1 percent as you pay for those purchases). 

Who is the Citi Custom Cash right for?

The single-category spender.

If you spend heavily in one of the card’s bonus categories, you could earn high cash back compared to similar cards. If you want a card dedicated to recurring purchases such as gym memberships and streaming service subscriptions or routine spending on dining, Uber and Lyft, this card could prove beneficial.

The strategized spender

You can easily maximize your earnings if you take the time to plan out purchases that qualify for the elevated cash back each billing cycle, paying attention not to overspend. This method is likely to work best with its travel, transit, home improvement, grocery and live entertainment bonus categories. If  you have a large expense coming up, such as a planned trip, house renovation, family dinner or concert, this card would be the obvious choice to use. 

Bankrate’s Take — Is the Citi Custom Cash Card worth it?

The Citi Custom Cash Card earns a high rewards rate on where you shop the most each billing cycle, with a wide variety of categories.

It also delivers the highest available year-round rewards rate for a no-annual-fee card in key spending areas like groceries, gas and dining.

But for all of its strengths, the Citi Custom Cash card’s reward structure is limiting. Instead of a quarterly spending cap, you have a $500 spending cap per billing cycle in your top category, which could make you miss out on cash back if you can’t plan accordingly. 

However, this caveat makes it a great partner credit card. If you’re already a Citi cardholder (or plan on getting another), the Custom Cash is one of the most versatile supporting cards for generating extra cash back or ThankYou points thanks to its flexible redemption options. The Citi Custom Cash is a strong card for everyday spending in its own right, but pairing it with other Citi cards can really help it flex its muscles.

The information about the Citi Prestige Card and Chase Freedom Flex℠ has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.

How we rated this card

We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.

Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).

We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:

Rewards value

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics .

Based on this data, we determine a “chargeable” spend (which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards). This includes the following spending by category:

• Groceries: $5,200
• Dining out: $3,000
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,100
• Apparel and services: $1,700

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 23 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance.

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards.

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value.

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee.

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

Flexibility

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score.

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners.

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less-than-standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits.
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges.
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection.
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs.
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

What is the Citi Custom Cash card's credit limit?

There’s no specific range given for the Citi Custom Cash card, as it is set when you are approved. However, Citibank credit card limits usually range between $500 to $5,000 depending on your credit score, income and debt. You can also ask for a credit limit increase after multiple on-time payments, but it can affect your credit score.

What credit score do I need to be approved for the Citi Custom Cash card?

Applying to the Citi Custom Cash with a fair to excellent credit score (a FICO score of 580 or higher or a VantageScore of 601 or higher) may give you the best approval odds.  However, there are other factors that increase your approval odds . If you want to gauge your approval odds before applying, it’s also worth trying out Bankrate’s CardMatch™ tool .

Should I get the Citi Custom Cash Card or the Citi Double Cash Card?

At first glance, it may look like the Citi Custom Cash Card would earn you the most cash back since it earns elevated cash back on your top spending category each billing cycle. However, its limited bonus categories and spending caps mean you may earn more rewards with the Citi Double Cash Card’s unlimited cash back. The Double Cash card might be a better pick if your biggest expenses fall outside the Custom Cash Card’s 10 bonus categories.

* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.

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Get 10,000 bonus air miles and vouchers worth Rs. 10,000 from Taj Group or ITC hotels, every year after the first transaction.

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Intel could be even with TSMC in manufacturing by 2025: Citi

Citi analysts are turning more positive on Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC) manufacturing capabilities, believing the company could be competitive in manufacturing with TSMC by the second half of 2025.

This outlook stems from a recent meeting with Intel, where Citi gained confidence in Intel's "five nodes in four years" strategy.

However, Citi explains that Intel's roadmap may be more like "three nodes in four years" due to similarities between certain generations (e.g., Intel 7 and 10nm).

Citi also sees an advantage in Intel's approach of spreading innovations across different nodes, contrasting it with TSMC's strategy of cramming multiple advancements into a single node (e.g., 2nm). This, according to Citi, might be delaying TSMC's progress at the 3nm level.

Looking ahead, Citi's optimistic scenario suggests Intel's 18A process could be on par with TSMC's 2nm by 2H25. Despite this potential parity in manufacturing, Citi remains neutral on Intel due to concerns about the company's ambitious guidance for the latter half of 2024 and the long-term profitability of its foundry business.

Citi maintains a neutral rating on Intel with a price target of $35, which they acknowledge is above Intel's historical average but still below the broader semiconductor industry valuation.

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How to Use 100,000 Citi ThankYou Rewards Points

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here .

If you got in on the 50,000-point sign-up bonus offers for the Citi Premier® Card and the Citi Prestige Card — or if you simply have plenty of ThankYou points in your account, you may be wondering how to maximize your travel rewards. Below, TPG Senior Points & Miles Contributor Nick Ewen walks you through some of the best redemption options.

Back in 2014, the Citi ThankYou Rewards program made a significant leap toward competing with other transferable point currencies with the addition of eight airline transfer partners . The program has only gotten better since, adding Flying Blue , Virgin Atlantic , Qantas and (most recently) Virgin America . While these partners may not be as "mainstream" as those offered through Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards, ThankYou points are still quite valuable. Today I want to go through some of the best ways to redeem 100,000 Citi ThankYou points for free travel.

At first glance, this number may seem like it was completely pulled out of thin air, but it's actually quite deliberate. I and many others in the points and miles hobby happened to open both the Citi Premier® Card and the Citi Prestige Card last year when both were offering 50,000-point sign-up bonuses (note that the sign-up bonus on the ThankYouPremier card is currently 30,000 points for spending $3,000 in the first three months, and the Citi Prestige is currently offering 40,000 points for spending $4,000 in the first three months, with other cuts coming soon ). If you met the minimum spending requirements on both of those cards, you'd take home 100,000 ThankYou points from the sign-up bonuses alone. You'd also gain access to some fantastic benefits like a $250 annual airfare credit , a fourth night free on paid hotel stays, Admirals Club access (through July 23, 2017) and Priority Pass membership.

In addition, keeping both cards past the first year may not be in your best interest. My Citi Premier® Card just came up for renewal, and I (personally) decided that it wasn't worth the $95 annual fee. Before canceling the card, I made sure to log in to my card account and combine the point balances of each card. This is a great option to enhance the value of your Citi points , especially if you have a lower-tier card like the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card .

Here's the important thing to keep in mind, however. When you close an account, even if you combine the points with another card (as I did), you only have a limited timeframe during which to redeem them. From the ThankYou Rewards Terms and Conditions:

"If you have Points, and you voluntarily close your Citi Account, you must use your Points within 60 days after closing your accounts, or you'll lose them."

When I closed my Citi Premier® Card shortly after moving the remaining points I had over to my Citi Prestige account, the phone agent even reminded me of this. The nice thing is that the program knows which points will expire first, so when you make a redemption, it'll automatically pull those points with the soonest expiration.

So if you're in a similar boat as me (or even if you're not), what are the best ways to redeem 100,000 Citi ThankYou Rewards points? In no particular order:

1. Book directly through the Citi Travel Center

The first (and simplest) way to utilize ThankYou points is by redeeming them directly for flights through the Citi Travel Center . Once you log in to your credit card account, simply click on the ThankYou Rewards logo at the right side and then choose Travel and then Flights from the headings at the top of the ThankYou Rewards page. While many other credit cards restrict your points to a value of just 1 cent apiece when redeemed in this fashion, Citi adds some additional incentive, depending on the card you have:

• Citi Premier : Points are worth 1.25 cents apiece on all airlines
• Citi Prestige : Points are worth 1.33 cents apiece on non-American Airlines tickets, and worth 1.6 cents apiece on American Airlines — though starting July 27, 2017, points will drop to 1.25 cents apiece in value. So some of the redemption examples below won't be available at the same value once this change goes into effect.

Here's an example of what that looks like. My wife and I need to fly from Palma de Mallorca to Lisbon in November, and the best-timed flights are on Air Europa. The itinerary we want would cost $117.40 per person for the one-way flight, but since I'd be redeeming points as a Citi Prestige cardholder, I'd only need 8,827 points per person:

This works out to almost exactly 1.33 cents per point, so your 100,000 ThankYou points would get you $1,333 of free airfare on these redemptions.

You can get even more value by redeeming your points directly for flights on American. Here's an example for a one-way itinerary from Miami (MIA) to Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) on Friday, August 19:

As you can see, the 5:59pm flight is the best deal, requiring just 8,631 points to cover the $138.10 fare. The 6:55am flight is priced a bit higher at 10,818 points for the paid fare of $173.10. In either case, you're getting almost exactly 1.6 cents of value out of each ThankYou point, giving you a total of $1,600 of value from your 100,000 points.

The other great thing about using your points in this way is that the tickets book into a paid fare class, allowing you to both earn miles on the flight and utilize any elite status benefits to which you are entitled. While there are ways to get even more value out of the ThankYou Rewards program, it's always nice to keep money in your pocket, and you're guaranteed to get at least 1.25 cents of value when you book flights using ThankYou points from the Premier or Prestige cards.

2. Transfer to Etihad Guest

Another terrific redemption option involves transferring your ThankYou points to the Etihad Guest program and then redeeming those miles for various partner awards. Even though Etihad has some incredible premium-class products on its own flights (like The Residence and First Apartments on the carrier's A380), those award flights are quite pricey when booked through the Etihad Guest program, so you're best off looking at the carrier's numerous partners spanning all three major alliances and numbering 26 at the time of writing.

Unfortunately, the process for booking partner awards with Etihad Guest miles is cumbersome, to say the least . None are bookable online, and each one has its own redemption scheme. Richard Kerr's detailed post on booking partner award flights is a must-read before you even begin, and be prepared for a long and frustrating experience with the Etihad call centers. To make matters worse, it appears that Etihad doesn't always have access to the same inventory released by partners, so while a service like ExpertFlyer can give you an idea of what's available , there's no guarantee that an Etihad agent will be able to confirm the itinerary.

However, if you're able to tolerate the "second-world" booking process, there are some gems to be had:

Last year, Japan-based All Nippon Air Airways (ANA) made a major change to its Mileage Club program by shifting from a distance-based to region-based redemption scheme. However, Etihad's published award chart for ANA still bases the number of miles needed on the total distance flown. First-class redemptions are pretty outrageous, but you may be able to find some solid value in the economy and business-class columns. Just be careful about the waitlist quirk in the ANA search engine !

• Sample redemption with 100,000 Etihad Guest miles: Two round-trip economy tickets from Honolulu (HNL) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT)

Even though the AAdvantage program underwent a big devaluation in March, there are still some spots on the Etihad Guest award chart that are cheaper than that of American's. This includes the carrier's new flights to Auckland and Sydney , as booking through Etihad will save you 5,000 miles/35,000 miles/75,000 miles for round-trip flights in economy/business/first class, respectively.

• Sample redemption with 100,000 Etihad Guest miles: One round-trip business-class flight from the US to Europe (115,000 miles if booked through AAdvantage)

Virgin Australia:

Another great partner for award flights with Etihad Guest is Virgin Australia. You won't get very good value on the carrier's flights to North America , as you'll have to spend 60,000/90,000/120,000 miles for one-way awards in economy/premium economy/business class, respectively. However, flights within Australia start at just 6,900 miles in economy, and you can also book short- to medium-haul international flights for just a bit more. I'm especially intrigued by flights from Australia to Auckland for 10,900 miles or to Nadi (Fiji) and Denpasar (Bali) for just 16,900 miles.

• Sample redemption with 100,000 Etihad Guest miles: A series of one-way economy flights starting from Sydney (SYD) and stopping in Melbourne (MEL), Adelaide (ADL), Alice Springs (ASP), Darwin (DRW), Perth (PER), Denpasar (DPS), Brisbane (BNE) and Auckland (AKL) before returning to Sydney, all for just 88,100 miles

3. Transfer to Virgin Atlantic

You can also consider transferring your ThankYou points to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club program. I've flown Virgin Atlantic Upper Class a few times and really enjoyed it, especially since it allows access to the fantastic Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in London-Heathrow plus several others in airports around the world (Los Angeles is the most recent addition). However, even the carrier's economy and premium economy classes of service are quite nice, and if you hold Platinum or Diamond Medallion status with Delta , you can access all Clubhouse locations even if you aren't in business class.

The biggest problem with these awards is the set of fees and surcharges you'll have to pay. Some of these are imposed by the government but others are completely under Virgin Atlantic's control. While there are some ways to avoid these surcharges, you're basically stuck paying them if you book Virgin Atlantic flights. Here's a sample of what you'll have to pay for a round-trip flight from New York-JFK to London-Heathrow (cash prices are from a sample trip in November):

• Economy: 35,000 miles + $433.66 (cash price: $723.76)
• Premium Economy: 55,000 miles + $731.36 (cash price: $1,414.46)
• Upper Class: 80,000 miles + $1,101.36 (cash price: $2,655.46)

As you can see, the economy-class redemption gives you the lowest value at just 0.83 cents per mile. Premium economy is a bit better at 1.24 cents per mile, while Upper Class gives you a much more respectable 1.94 cents per mile.

Here are some sample redemptions that you'd be able to get with 100,000 ThankYou points:

• Two round-trip economy awards from London to Johannesburg or Hong Kong
• One round-trip Upper Class award from anywhere in North America to the UK

Keep in mind, too, that Virgin Atlantic offers transfer bonuses for ThankYou points on a semi-regular basis. The most recent offer was a 25% bonus in March , similar to the one I utilized back in 2015 as part of my trip to Colmar, France . We've also seen the occasional promotion where actual award rates are discounted, like the 30% off economy award promotion we saw earlier this year or the 25,000-mile award sale from last year. Virgin Atlantic also partners with both Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, so you have a multitude of ways to boost your Flying Club account balance.

4. Transfer to Singapore

A final great way to utilize 100,000 ThankYou points is by transferring them to Singapore's KrisFlyer program. This will open up a ton of fantastic premium-class redemptions, since Singapore typically doesn't release business and first-class space to partner airlines. You'll also get a 15% discount when you redeem KrisFlyer miles online for Singapore-operated award flights, and the carrier just opened up premium economy redemptions as of May 24. You can even waitlist for your preferred flight , date or routing if it isn't available at the time of booking.

In some cases, this can lead to hours and hours of in-air bliss, as TPG Editor-in-Chief Zach Honig discovered flying from Singapore to New York via Frankfurt in Singapore A380 business class for over 21 hours (a one-way flight that would only cost 72,250 KrisFlyer miles). There are many other ways to book luxurious products like Suites Class through the KrisFlyer program, and 100,000 ThankYou points opens up the following possibilities:

• A one-way Suites Class award from New York-JFK to Frankfurt to Singapore (93,500 miles)
• Three one-way first-class awards from Hong Kong to Singapore (31,875 miles apiece)
• One round-trip business-class award from Singapore to Sydney (93,500 miles)
• One round-trip business-class award from Houston to Moscow or New York-JFK to Frankfurt (97,750 miles)

Like Virgin Atlantic, Singapore also partners with Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards, so there are many additional ways to earn more KrisFlyer miles outside of the ThankYou Rewards program.

Bottom line

Many travelers consider the Citi ThankYou Rewards program to be a bit of a red-headed stepchild behind Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards. While the program doesn't have a high-profile US-based transfer partner, there are still some terrific ways to make the most of your ThankYou points, especially if you hold the Citi Premier® Card or the Citi Prestige Card . Just be aware that when you cancel one of these cards, the 60-day expiration clock starts ticking on the points you've earned on that card, so hopefully this post has given you some inspiration for how to put them to good use.

How would you redeem 100,000 ThankYou points?

Soaring Wages, Record-Low Unemployment Underscore Russia's Labour Squeeze

Soaring Wages, Record-Low Unemployment Underscore Russia's Labour Squeeze

People sit on a bench on an embankment in Vladivostok, Russia September 10, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo

By Alexander Marrow and Darya Korsunskaya

(Reuters) - Russia's unemployment rate dropped to a record-low 2.6% in April and real wages soared in March, data published by the federal statistics service showed on Wednesday, highlighting the extent of Russia's tight labour market.

Moscow's heavy spending on defence and security as it wages war in Ukraine has helped Russia's economy rebound from a 2022 slump, but economists say the growth relies on state-funded arms and ammunition production, masking problems that hamper any improvement in Russians' living standards.

"Our economy is definitely and severely overheated," German Gref, CEO of dominant lender Sberbank said in the upper house of parliament on Tuesday. "We have never in our history had our main capacities so overloaded."

A central bank survey of Russian companies showed production capacity at a historically elevated level of 81% in the first quarter.

"This is a limit above which it is simply impossible to move," Gref said.

Many officials have flagged the labour shortage as a key concern, aggravated by a military mobilisation in 2022 and the emigration of hundreds of thousands of people since Russia invaded Ukraine. The central bank has repeatedly said it is the key constraint on increasing output.

Real wages, which are adjusted for inflation and reported with a one-month lag, leapt 12.9% year-on-year in March, the statistics service, Rosstat said, above analysts' expectations.

Economists say wages are growing fastest in parts of the country with high concentrations of defence industry work.

Wages are a sensitive issue in Russia, where years of high inflation have eroded citizens' purchasing power. Despite rising real wages, real disposable incomes have been stagnant over the past decade.

Weekly consumer inflation rose 0.17%, Rosstat data showed, just two days before the Bank of Russia sets interest rates on Friday.

Analysts polled by Reuters on Monday were leaning towards a hold at 16%, although a quarter of those surveyed predicted a hike to 17% as inflation remains stubbornly high and well above the bank's 4% target.

Growth in retail sales, a key gauge of consumer demand, eased to 8.3% in April form 11.1% in March, offering the central bank a crumb of comfort as it looks to bring inflation down.

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Darya Korsunskaya; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Rod Nickel)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

Tags: Russia , Europe

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In Former Soviet States, a Tug of War Between East and West

Geopolitical rivalry, intensified by fighting in Ukraine, is amplifying domestic struggles in countries like Georgia and Moldova whose people are split on which side to support.

• Share full article

By Andrew Higgins

Andrew Higgins reported for many years from Russia, Georgia, Moldova and other states of the former Soviet Union.

In Georgia, protesters waving European Union flags have rallied against what they see as their pro-Russia leaders. Moldova’s government is pushing to join the western bloc, enraging citizens hoping for closer relations with Moscow. Armenia, too, has reached out to Europe, angered that Moscow, a longtime ally, is courting its enemy, Azerbaijan.

Fueled in part by the Ukraine war, tensions have been mounting within some of the former lands of the Soviet Union, pitting those favoring closer relations with Russia against those orientated more toward Europe.

Many of those tensions predate the war, rooted in longstanding domestic struggles over power, money and other issues, but they have been amplified by geopolitics, with both Russia and the West pushing countries to choose a side.

Across the former Soviet Union “the whole context is now shaped by how the Ukraine war has radicalized competition between Russia and the West,” said Gerard Toal, author of “Near Abroad,” a study of Russia’s relations with former Soviet territories.

Fearful of losing influence, Moscow has issued blunt warnings to countries like Georgia and Moldova: Remember what happened in Ukraine. Without threatening to invade either country, it has pointed to the tumult and bloodshed that followed Ukraine’s tilt toward the West after a popular revolt in 2014 ousted its pro-Russian president.

Russia is also hoping that recent successes on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine can help reverse the many setbacks it suffered to its prestige and influence in a string of former Soviet states earlier in the war.

“Russian information campaigns have been fueling this idea that closer alignment with the West threatens a war that only Russia can win,” said Nicu Popescu, the former foreign minister of Moldova. “Everything depends on Ukraine.”

With the war’s outcome looking increasingly uncertain, “Russia is enjoying the West’s discomfort,” said Thomas de Waal, an expert on the former Soviet Union with Carnegie Europe, a research group.

Russia has much ground to regain, and some of its losses may be irreversible.

Distracted by the war and determined to expand relations with Azerbaijan, a rising energy power, Moscow last year alienated one of its closest allies, Armenia, by ordering Russian peacekeepers to stand aside when Azeri troops took over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed mountain enclave. Armenia later said it was considering applying to join the European Union and leaving a Moscow-led security pact.

Moldova has ramped up its efforts to join the European Union, which in 2022 granted it candidate status. Last week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited Moldova to show American support for Ukraine and neighbors that could potentially be at risk.

But even in Georgia — which was invaded by Russia in 2008, lost 20 percent of its territory to Moscow-backed separatists and harbors deep anti-Russian sentiments — a substantial minority still wants to improve at least economic ties with Russia.

“This is not because they like Russia but because they are afraid of Russia,” said Koba Turmanidze, director of the Caucasus Research Resource Center, a research group in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.

Mr. de Waal of Carnegie Europe said that while Georgia wanted to stay out of the Ukraine conflict, “It sees that the war is blowing more in Russia’s direction. It is tilting more toward Russia while trying to stay nonaligned.”

The Georgian government, though officially striving to join the European Union, a goal widely supported by the population, has used fear of Russian retaliation to justify its refusal to join European sanctions against Moscow.

The governing party, Georgian Dream, Mr. Turmanidze said, would never say it is siding with Russia against Ukraine because “that would be political suicide,” given public hostility to Moscow. But it has taken steps, notably a controversial law on foreign influence that set off weeks of street protests, that “are Russian in style,” he added.

Maintaining influence over former Soviet lands has been a goal of Moscow since the early 1990s but was given new emphasis in a revised “foreign policy concept” signed by President Vladimir V. Putin last year.

The document committed Russia to preventing “color revolutions,” Moscow’s term for popular uprisings “and other attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of Russia’s allies and partners” and “preventing and countering unfriendly action of foreign states.”

Casting recent street protests in Georgia as a replay of what, in Moscow’s view, was a C.I.A.-orchestrated coup in 2014 in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry warned last week that the demonstrations in Tbilisi were “just like what happened in Ukraine.”

And “look how the situation is developing in Moldova,” the ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, added, referring to tensions there ahead of an October referendum on joining the European Union. Opinion is divided in Moldova between those who favor closer integration with Europe and those looking to Russia.

“This looks like the very scenario that was prepared by Western masters for Ukraine,” Ms. Zakharova said.

The 2014 street protests in Kyiv that toppled Ukraine’s elected president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, were set off by public outrage over his rejection of a trade and political deal with the European Union that he had pledged to sign.

“Russia’s general narrative is that there is a geopolitical conspiracy by the West to subvert the sovereignty of independent states,” Mr. Toal said.

The West, too, has its own Ukraine-framed story, one that Mr. Blinken recited last week in Moldova.

“Moldovans are acutely aware that what happens in Ukraine matters not just to Ukrainians, but to Moldovans, too,” Mr. Blinken said at a news conference with Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu. Left unchallenged, he said, Russia “would not stop at Ukraine.”

A few weeks earlier, customs officers at Moldova’s international airport found more than $1 million in cash in the luggage of some Russia-aligned politicians returning from Moscow.

Mr. Popescu, who stepped down as Moldova’s foreign minister in January and is now a fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the money was for financing political activities ahead of the October referendum and a presidential election at the same time.

“You are allowed to do politics, but you cannot bring in bags of cash from Russia,” he said.

He said the danger of a direct military intervention in Moldova by Moscow, a serious fear at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, had receded. But recent advances by Russian troops “are a worry,” he added. “They are still a long way from us, but everything hinges on the outcome of the war.”

The war has become the organizing principle around which even narrow domestic disputes now revolve, turning domestic quarrels into high-stakes geopolitical confrontations.

The recent tumult in Georgia over the foreign-influence law was in many ways “a local power struggle between different political networks,” Mr. Toal said, but, the war turned it into a “battle shaped by geopolitics.”

But what protesters see as evidence of their government’s shift away from the West toward Russia is, in the view of some analysts, a sign of narrower concerns ahead of an October election — like getting a Swiss bank to unfreeze billions of dollars belonging to the country’s most powerful oligarch, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the Georgian Dream party.

Mr. Ivanishvili has been involved in a long dispute with Credit Suisse bank over his money. After winning several court cases and recovering some cash, the Ukraine war added a new hurdle with the freezing in 2022 of $2.7 billion because of concerns over its potential Russian origin.

His party believes that Washington forced the freezing of the money to try to get Georgia to side with the West against Russia.

Whatever the truth, the financial blow made him more determined to confront his perceived domestic enemies whatever the cost, Mr. de Waal said.

“He is paranoid and thinks this is part of a worldwide conspiracy against him,” he said.

Andrew Higgins is the East and Central Europe bureau chief for The Times based in Warsaw. He covers a region that stretches from the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Kosovo, Serbia and other parts of former Yugoslavia. More about Andrew Higgins

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

The decision by the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia  with American-made weapons fulfills a long-held wish by officials in Kyiv  that they claimed was essential to level the playing field.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that Ukraine’s use of U.S.-supplied arms could expand beyond the current limitation  to strikes in the Kharkiv area.

Top Ukrainian military officials have warned that Russia is building up troops near northeastern Ukraine , raising fears that a new offensive push could be imminent.

Zelensky Interview: In an interview with The New York Times, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine challenged the West  over its reluctance to take bolder action.

Tug of War:  Fueled in part by the Ukraine war, tensions have been mounting in former Soviet states like Georgia and Moldova , pitting those favoring closer relations with Russia against those orientated more toward Europe.

Fleeing a War Zone: A 98-year-old Ukrainian grandmother stumbled past corpses and bomb craters  to escape Russia’s attacks.

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .