Best Ways To Redeem Citi ThankYou Points

International business-class flights can cost thousands of dollars, so using your credit card rewards to book these awards can unlock exceptional value. The best airline program for booking business-class awards depends on where you want to go, but Citi partners with several loyalty programs that have great business-class award prices to Europe, including Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Avianca LifeMiles, Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

You can book awards with Star Alliance partner airlines through Avianca or Turkish Airlines. Turkish charges 85,000 to 90,000 miles for one-way business-class flights from the U.S. to Europe, while LifeMiles typically charges 70,000 miles, although it varies.

Virgin Atlantic is a member of the SkyTeam alliance and has dynamically priced awards. You can book one-way Upper Class (business class) flights from the U.S. to the U.K. for as little as 29,000 points on certain days. However, the price can skyrocket up to 130,000 points on other days. Virgin Atlantic still has fixed award charts for partner flights and there are good deals for business-class flights to Europe on Air France, KLM and Delta. It costs 50,000 Virgin points one-way for a nonstop business-class award to Europe (not including the U.K.) on Delta and 48,500 points one-way for an off-peak award with Air France or KLM (58,500 points during peak dates) from the Eastern U.S. to most of Western and Central Europe.

Meanwhile, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, which is also a part of SkyTeam, sometimes offers business class flights to Europe for as little as 50,000 miles one-way.

Aside from the points or miles you pay for a business-class award, it’s important to pay attention to the taxes and fees. The fees you pay vary depending on where you’re flying and which airline, or airlines, you’re flying with. To save on taxes avoid booking award flights through the U.K. or book with a program like Avianca LifeMiles because it doesn’t add fuel surcharges to award flights.

Book cheap domestic flights

For only 15,000 ThankYou® Points (or less) you can book domestic awards on United, Delta and more. You can book United by transferring points to Avianca or Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines charges 10,000 for a one-way award and Avianca typically charges up to 12,500 miles for one-way domestic awards.

To book flights on Delta, transfer miles to Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic operates a distance-based award chart for domestic Delta flights and charges per flight segment, so trips with a connection cost more. Flight segments start at 7,500 miles (under 500 miles) and go up to 22,000 miles (segments between 2,001-3,000).

JetBlue TrueBlue can be a good option for cheap flights because it prices award flights dynamically. You’ll typically get around 1.1 to 1.5 cents per point depending on the flight you book.

If you’d like to book flights without transferring points to a partner, you can pay for flights through the Citi ThankYou® Points site at a fixed rate of one cent per point. This is a solid option when cash fares are low, plus you’ll earn miles on the flight.

Book free nights in hotels or vacation rentals

Generally, transferring points to Citi’s hotel partners is less valuable than using your points for flights. However, airfare is only one cost associated with traveling, and being able to offset the cost of lodging with your credit card rewards or hotel points is useful. And there are specific hotel redemptions that can be more lucrative.

Citi points transfer to Choice Hotels at a 1:2 ratio (with the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Prestige cards, 1:1.5 otherwise) and certain Choice Hotels awards can be very valuable. Choice Hotels has a large footprint in Scandinavian countries, where other chains aren’t as common and points bookings can be a great deal. Choice Hotels also runs the Sweet Spots promotion, which features discounted award rates at select hotels and can yield similar values per point.

Wyndham charges 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 points per night and Citi points transfer to Wyndham at a 1:1 ratio (with the Citi Strata Premier and Prestige cards, otherwise 1:0.8). At more expensive hotels, Wyndham points can yield a higher value. You can even use Wyndham points to book vacation rentals with Vacasa for 15,000 or 30,000 points per night per bedroom. This is a great option for family vacations and can often yield a value of two cents per point or more. As a side note, you need to call Wyndham Rewards at 800-441-1034 to book Vacasa rentals.

However, you’ll often get less than one cent per point in value for Wyndham bookings. In that situation, it’s better to cash out your ThankYou® Points for one cent each in statement credits and use that money to book the hotel.

Fly some of the best first-class seats

First-class awards can be hard to find and require you to save more points compared to other redemptions. But you can book some of the best first-class flights in the world with ThankYou® Points, including Emirates first class and Singapore Airlines first class. The best way to book these exclusive awards is by transferring points directly to Emirates Skywards or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.

Emirates doesn’t have an award chart but you can use its miles calculator to find the price of any award itinerary. One of the best deals in first-class is flying from New York to Milan, which costs 102,00 miles and just over $100 one-way. The cash price of this flight is regularly $11,000+, yielding a value of over nine cents per point.

Singapore Airlines has a zone-based award chart, so you’ll always know exactly how many points you need for an award. One of the best first-class redemptions is from New York to Frankfurt for 97,000 miles, while other first-class flights cost over 140,000 points.

Although these first-class awards cost more points, it’s easier to collect Emirates and Singapore miles than you think. In addition to Citi points, you can transfer points to either airline from other popular rewards programs, like Chase, Amex and Capital One. So you can open travel credit cards from different banks and transfer all those points to a single airline.

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