5 great ways to max 80,000 points Thank Citi

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With many transfer partners, Citi ThankYou points are some of the most valuable Points are transferable out there. You can take advantage of these transfer partners to book everything from cheap domestic flights to premium international first class tickets with minimal out-of-pocket cost.

In this guide, I’ll show you some of my favorite uses of (approximately) 80,000 ThankYou points – current signup bonus on Citi Premier® Card. Right now, you can earn 80,000 ThankYou points after spending $4,000 on qualifying purchases on the card within the first three months of account opening.

So, let’s take a close look at Citi’s list of transfer partners and how to leverage them to book high value award tickets.

Maximize Citi’s ThankYou Points

While TPG value 80,000 Thank You points at $1,440, you can get significantly more value by transferring them to partner programs, especially if you’re looking to fly senior class. So the real question is, “What are the best programs to use to maximize my ThankYou points?”

Here’s a look at Citi’s change partnerall have a 1:1 transfer rate (meaning 1,000 ThankYou points equals 1,000 miles), except as noted:

• Aeromexico Club Premier.
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
• Avianca LifeMiles.
• Cathay Pacific Asia Mile.
• Choice privileges (1:2 or 1:1.5 for non-premium cards).
• Emirates Skywards.
• Etihad guests.
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands.
• JetBlue TrueBlue (5:4 for non-premium cards).
• Qantas regular customer.
• Qatar Privilege Club.
• KrisFlyer Singapore.
• Royal Thailand Thailand Plus.
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles.
• Virgin Atlantic Flight Club.
• Wyndham Rewards (1:0.8 for non-premium cards).

If you are questioning the merits of some of these partners, you are not alone, as only a few offer high value gift exchange. While the list below is not exhaustive, it demonstrates the power of a handful of these programs. Use them as inspiration for your own award-winning travel, even if you’re not interested in the destinations or flights we outline below.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Citi Thank You Rewards

Flights to India via Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul

Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles is the favorite choice of TPG employees. With business class savings in place, you can get from the United States to Istanbul in just 45,000 miles one way. But we believe that the real appeal of the program is the mile exchange from the US to South Asia – it can be done in as little as 52,500 miles. This includes itineraries to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Flights from the US to Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia and Indonesia cost 67,500 miles.

If you decide to go on Turkish Airlines in business class, try to find a flight operated on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner or Airbus A350. These two planes have airline features business class 1-2-1 newer opposed to business class 2-3-2 or 2-2-2 found on Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s.

The only downside to this award is the process of actually placing it. The Turkish site isn’t the most user-friendly, and there are some bugs you have to pass through in order to book prizes for other travelers. Our test complete guide to Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles for more information.

Fly United Business Class from Mainland US to Hawaii

Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles can also be a great option for United domestic itineraries, especially on flights to Hawaii. Miles & Smiles places Hawaii in the same area as the US, which means you can travel within the same number of miles on an East Coast to Hawaii flight as a short flight from Newark to Washington, DC, for example. Economy class tickets are 7,500 miles, while business class tickets are 12,500 miles one way.

It is difficult to book long-haul non-stop flights from the East Coast to Honolulu using Star Alliance partner programs. You can set ExpertFlyer notifications for “X” (Star Alliance Economy Saver) and “Me” (Star Alliance Business Saver) fare class. That way, if a seat is fully booked, you can quickly book it using Turkish Airlines mileage. (ExpertFlyer is owned by TPG’s parent company, Red Ventures.)

United typically flies its Boeing 767-400ER on long-haul flights from Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL). Unfortunately, most of these planes have yet to receive Polaris retrofits, but United have confirmed that they will be refurbished in the coming months.

Flights from West Coast to Tokyo with ANA

ANA’s new business class is one of the best in the sky, and for just 90,000 or 95,000 miles round-trip, you can reach Japan on a West Coast or East Coast round trip, respectively. One-way tickets cost half that, reducing costs to 45,000 and 47,500 miles from the West Coast and East Coast, respectively.

You can find prizes available on a Star Alliance search engine. I find united.com to be the easiest to use.

Once you find your desired ANA business class route, call Virgin Atlantic and provide the flight details you found online. Once the representative confirms that there is space to award prizes, you can transfer your ThankYou points to Flying Club while still using your phone. Our tests show that ThankYou points to Flying Club money transfer is instant.

Flights to Asia with EVA Air’s top business class product

If the Ferragamo amenity kit, the 2006 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame sparkling wine retailing for $160, and the BMW-designed seats appeal to you, look no further than Royal Laurel’s business class. EVA. I tried this product out earlier this year and it quickly became my favorite way to cross the Pacific.

EVA regularly has scheduled passenger flights to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Airport New York’s John F. Kennedy International (JFK), San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).

The airline also flies to most of the major airports in East and Southeast Asia. If you just booked a flight from Seattle to Taiwan using Avianca LifeMiles, it will take you back 85,000 miles. A quick transfer to Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) and further on to Southeast Asia on a connecting flight will set you back another 5,000 miles. Although the number of prizes is limited, you will find seats if you book about 10 months in advance with flexible travel dates.

Sure, this is a little over 80,000 points, but it should be relatively easy to earn the difference by meeting Citi Premier’s minimum spending requirement. Remember, the card earns 3 points for every dollar on airline tickets, hotels, gas, groceries, and restaurants.

Related: Can’t find a prize with Avianca LifeMiles? Don’t give up until you try this trick

Flights from USA to Frankfurt in First Class Lufthansa

With cash fares starting at $8,300 one way, booking Lufthansa first class on miles is the thing Zach Griff of TPG once called “holy grail of award tickets.”

Lufthansa First Class passengers enjoy a deluxe four-course meal, an 84-inch recliner and a Boeing 747 the opportunity to sit at the nose of the plane.

You can book Lufthansa first class award tickets on LifeMiles starting at 30 days before departure of your flight. As these are some of the most coveted seats on the Atlantic, we recommend booking Prize alert on ExpertFlyer. That way, you’ll be notified via email when a seat is available, allowing you to hopefully get a seat before you do.

How to earn points Thank Citi

As mentioned in the introduction, Citi Premier the card is still offering its best ever welcome bonus of 80,000 points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months of opening your account. This should be enough to put most of the things discussed in this guide once you’ve met the spending requirement. Even better, the card comes in a variety of spending categories that earn 3 points per dollar, including:

• Air travel.
• Many hotels.
• Restaurants.
• Supermarkets.
• Gas stations.

This covers a significant portion of the costs many of us incur on a daily basis and helps to get your next run of coffee, groceries, or gas closer to your next big trip. . Additionally, all other purchases you place on the card will earn you 1 point for every dollar spent. The card also has no foreign transaction fees, so you won’t have to pay more when making purchases abroad.

Related: TPG’s full review of the Citi Premier card

You can also pair Citi Premier with Citi® Double Cash Card, get 1% cash back on your purchase and another 1% cash back when you checkout. However, this cashback is awarded as ThankYou points – for $0.01 or 1 point – which you can combine with points earned with your Citi Premier card. As a result, you can transfer those points to airline and hotel partners for the same fee as Citi Premier.

Now, Citi Double Cash offers a welcome bonus of $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening. This equates to 20,000 points.

Related: How to get maximum value from your Citi Double Cash Thank You points

Transferable point currencies can be incredibly valuable, thanks to their inherent flexibility. You can wait to pass it on to partners until you’re ready to book, and even have the option to redeem directly to travel on multiple airlines. While we are not value Citi ThankYou scores as high as other transferable point currencies, there are some great ways to redeem them for solid value.

Additional reporting by Andrew Kunesh and Nick Ewen.