| Card Details and Application Link | |||||||||||||
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Citi Strata Elite℠ Card  ⓘ $1274 1st Yr Value Estimate$200 Blacklane credit valued at $80, $200 "Splurge" credit valued at $160, $300 hotel credit via Citi Travel valued at $180 Click to learn about first year value estimates 100K Points Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. 100,000 points after $6,000 spend in 3 months.$595 Annual Fee Click here to learn how to apply This is NOT an affiliate offer. If you would like to support Frequent Miler, click to view curated BEST offers Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: Excellent portfolio of transfer partners, but mediocre bonus categories and a so-so group of credits. Recommend pairing this with Citi Premier and/or Double Cash. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 12X hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through Citi Travel ✦ 6X airfare booked through Citi Travel ✦ 6X dining between 6pm and 6am EST Fridays and Saturdays ✦ 3X dining all other times ✦ 1.5X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Legend issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Transfer points to airline and hotel partners ✦ $300 annual (calendar year) hotel credit on a stay of 2 nights or more when booked with Citi Travel ✦ $200 in annual (calendar year) statement credits on your choice of up to 2 of: 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy®, Future Personal Training, or Live Nation ✦ $200 in annual private chauffeur credit with Blacklane ($100 Jan-June and July-Dec) ✦ Priority Pass Select membership with two free guests (no restaurants) ✦ 4 American Airlines Admirals Club passes per calendar year (for one adult and up to three children) ✦ $120 Global Entry® or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit ✦ Travel protections ✦ $145 annual fee rebate for CitiGold and Citi Private Client members See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide Application Tips
Related Cards (Citi ThankYou Rewards)
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With the addition of American AAdvantage, ThankYou Points now rivals both Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards in terms of its transfer partner portfolio.
The $595 Strata Elite card offers a fairly easy-to-use $300 hotel credit and $200 “Splurge” credit that can be used at places like Best Buy, Live Nation, and American Airlines. It has the requisite Priority Pass membership, Global Entry credit, and earns 1.5x everywhere with no foreign transaction fees, something that neither Chase nor Amex can replicate.
If you combine this card with the Citi Strata, Double Cash, and Custom Cash, you’ll have an excellent quartet of bonus categories and everywhere rewards, even when outside the US. But outside of that 1.5x earning when traveling abroad, it’s hard to see the rationale for most folks to make this the cornerstone of their Citi wallet instead of the $95 Citi Strata Premier.
Application Tips
- 48 Month Rule: With most Citi cards, you can only receive a welcome offer every 48 months. This applies to the same exact card, not families of cards and is counted from the date that you receive the welcome offer, not from when you're approved.
- Velocity Limits: Citi allows a maximum of one card per 8 days and a maximum of two cards per 65 days (includes both business and personal).
- Inquiries: Citi is thought to be more credit inquiry-sensitive than other issuers. We've heard reports that it's difficult to be approved for a new Citi card if you've had more than 6 hard inquiries within the last 6 months. That said, data points abound of people being approved despite being above that, so it's certainly not a hard and fast rule.
- Card Limits: Citi doesn't have a strict limit on the amount of cards that you can have, but it does place limits on the total amount of credit that they will issue you across all cards. Unfortunately, unlike most banks, Citi does not allow you to move credit from one existing card to the another card.
- Application Status: Call (866) 606-2787 or go here to check your application status. For Costco cards, call (877) 343-4118.
- Reconsideration: If denied, call (800) 695-5171 for personal cards or (866) 541-7657 for business cards.
Should you apply?
The Strata Elite card usually has a good welcome bonus that can offer excellent value through transfer partners. It also offers 1.5x everywhere and 3x on dining purchases (6x on weekend nights), as well as excellent rates for booking travel through Citi’s portal.
If you are eligible (see next section), the welcome bonus on this card certainly makes it worthwhile for at least the first year.
Are you eligible?
The bonus for this card is not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Premier® or Citi Strata Premier℠ account in the past 48 months.
Perks
- Travel Perks:
- Priority Pass Select membership with two free guests (no restaurants)
- 4 American Airlines Admirals Club passes per calendar year (each one good for one adult and up to three children)
- Credits:
- $300 Hotel Credit (one per calendar year): Only valid on hotel stays of two nights or more. Must book through Citi Travel℠.
- $200 Splurge Credit (one per calendar year): Up to $200 in statement credits on your choice of up to 2 of: 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy®, Future Personal Training, or Live Nation.
- $200 ($100 Jan-June and $100 July-Dec) in private chauffeur credit with Blacklane.
- $120 Global Entry® or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit (once per four years).
- Travel Protections:
- Trip Delay Protection: Round-trip travel only, must pay full cost of transportation with card, $500 max/trip, 2 claims per account per 12 consecutive months.
- Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection: Round-trip travel only, must pay full cost of transportation with card, $5K max/trip and $10K/account per 12 consecutive months
- Lost or Damaged Luggage Protection: Must pay in full with card and/or with points associated with card, $5K max/trip ($2K for New York residents)
- Car Rental Insurance: Coverage is secondary within the country of residence and primary outside of that country. Covers rental car only.
- Purchase Protections:
- Damage and Theft Protection: 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim/$50,000 per calendar year.
- Extended Warranty: Citi extends coverage by 24 months on items with a manufacturer’s warranty of 24 months or less. $10K/item. This is the best extended warranty coverage of any issuer.
Earn Points
Intro Bonus
This card earns valuable Thank You points. Here’s the current welcome offer:
| Card Offer |
|---|
ⓘ $1274 1st Yr Value Estimate$200 Blacklane credit valued at $80, $200 "Splurge" credit valued at $160, $300 hotel credit via Citi Travel valued at $180 Click to learn about first year value estimates 100K Points Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. 100,000 points after $6,000 spend in 3 months.$595 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: Excellent portfolio of transfer partners, but mediocre bonus categories and a so-so group of credits. Recommend pairing this with Citi Premier and/or Double Cash. Click here for our complete card review |
Bonus Spend
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers some modest bonus categories:
| Card Name w Details No Review (no offer) |
|---|
$595 Annual Fee Earning rate: 12X hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through Citi Travel ✦ 6X airfare booked through Citi Travel ✦ 6X dining between 6pm and 6am EST Fridays and Saturdays ✦ 3X dining all other times ✦ 1.5X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Legend issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Transfer points to airline and hotel partners ✦ $300 annual (calendar year) hotel credit on a stay of 2 nights or more when booked with Citi Travel ✦ $200 in annual (calendar year) statement credits on your choice of up to 2 of: 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy®, Future Personal Training, or Live Nation ✦ $200 in annual private chauffeur credit with Blacklane ($100 Jan-June and July-Dec) ✦ Priority Pass Select membership with two free guests (no restaurants) ✦ 4 American Airlines Admirals Club passes per calendar year (for one adult and up to three children) ✦ $120 Global Entry® or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit ✦ Travel protections ✦ $145 annual fee rebate for CitiGold and Citi Private Client members See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
Redeem Points
Transfer points to airline and hotel programs
The best use of ThankYou points is to strategically transfer points to airline and hotel partners in order to book high value awards. Your best bet is usually to wait until you find a hotel or flight award that you want before transferring points. If you have at least one premium card such as the Strata Premier or an old Prestige card, most points transfer at a ratio of 1:1. However, Citi regularly runs promotions during which they offer a transfer bonus to a specific program. For example, we've frequently seen 25% bonuses for transfers to Avianca LifeMiles and to Air France / KLM Flying Blue. You cannot transfer points at the full 1 to 1 ratio from Citi's fee-free cards, such as the Citi Custom Cash or Double Cash card, to airline & hotel partners. That said you can pool points with your Strata Premier or Prestige card and then transfer the points at full value. Points can then be transferred to the loyalty accounts of the primary cardholder or any authorized user on the account.Cash Back
Cardholders can redeem points for 1 cent each either as statement credits or as cash back.Redeem points to pay for travel (please don’t)
While it's possible to redeem points for travel through Citi's ThankYou Rewards travel portal, we don't recommend it. You'll only get 1 cent per point in value, be limited to the prices found in the travel portal and won't earn rewards from that spend. Unless you're taking advantage of the Citi Strata Premier card's annual $100 hotel benefit, you're better off booking travel through other sites or direct from the travel provider. That way you can earn points on that booking while at the same time booking with whatever source offers the best price. If you want to then use your points to cover that travel purchase, simply redeem points for cash back.If you are interested in taking advantage of the Strata Premier card's $100 hotel benefit, you do have to book through Citi's travel portal, but you do not have to redeem points. It is better to pay for this travel with your card (so as to earn points) and then you can optionally redeem points for cash back to cover those charges.
Other ways to redeem points (not recommended)
It's possible to redeem points for gift cards, merchandise, or experiences through the ThankYou Rewards portal, usually at 1 cent per point value. Just as with paid travel, we don't recommend using points in this way. Instead, pay for what you want elsewhere and optionally redeem points for cash back in order to cover those charges. One exception is that Citi occasionally offers gift card sale where you might be able to get better than 1 cent per point value.You can also use points to pay some merchants directly (Amazon.com for example). Don't do this. These options offer very poor value. Further, they may compromise the security of your account (i.e. if someone hacks into your Amazon account, they might spend your ThankYou points - causing you a headache in getting your points reinstated). The only time that it's worth using points this way is when Amazon runs a promotion to save when using points. You can sometimes use 1 point to save $20 off of $50 (for example) and in those cases it makes sense to use only 1 point and to pay the rest with your credit card.
Transfer Points
The best use of ThankYou points is to strategically transfer points to airline and hotel partners in order to book high-value awards. Your best bet is usually to wait until you find a great hotel or flight award before transferring points. If you have at least one premium card, such as the Strata Premier Card, Strata Elite, or Prestige Card, most points transfer at a ratio of 1:1. However, Citi regularly runs promotions where it offers a transfer bonus to a specific program. For example, we’ve frequently seen 25% bonuses for transfers to Avianca LifeMiles and to Air France / KLM Flying Blue.
Transfer tips
- Wait to transfer points: Don’t transfer points until high-value awards are available and you are ready to book them. Transfers are one-way only. Citi ThankYou points are valuable for their flexibility. Once you transfer, you are locked into a single program that may or may not have awards available.
- Watch for transfer bonuses: Citi sometimes offers improved transfer ratios through limited-time transfer bonuses.
- Move points from one account to another (even to friends’ accounts): You can freely move up to 100,000 points per year to any other Citi ThankYou Rewards account. The catch is that once points are moved, they expire within 90 days. Make sure you have immediate plans for those points before moving them. Exception: The Custom Cash card does not allow moving points.
- Always have at least one transferable account: With a few exceptions, ThankYou Rewards are transferable only from Citi Strata Premier, Citi Strata Elite, AT&T Access More, and Citi Prestige accounts. If you or a friend has such an account, you can move points to that account from any other account before transferring to an airline or hotel program, but you are limited to moving 100,000 points per year this way. Another option is to pool points among your own accounts. For example, if you have the Citi Rewards+ card and the Strata Premier card, you can pool points between them in order to make all of the points transferable.
Current transfer bonuses
If there are any current transfer bonuses from Citi ThankYou Rewards, details will appear here:
| Transfer Bonus Details | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|
| 20% transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Rewards to Qantas Frequent Flyer | 10/19/25 | 11/08/25 |
Transfer points to airlines
For flight awards, our post “Citi ThankYou points sweet spots for high value redemptions” details the best value uses of Citi ThankYou points.
Best overall airline transfer partners
| Rewards Program | Best Uses | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus Avios | Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Aer Lingus rather than British Airways, Qatar, or Iberia. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. | 1 to 1 via Qatar (~1 day) |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue | Monthly Air France Promo Awards often represent very good value. Air France miles can be used to book Sky Team awards, including Delta awards. Air France often offers very good business class award pricing between the US and Europe & Israel. | 1 to 1 (Instant) |
| American AAdvantage | Best for AA's web special awards or for partner awards such as Cathay Pacific business class, Qatar business class, Etihad first class, etc. AA no longer charges change or cancellation fees on awards. | 1 to 1 (Instant) |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Avianca LifeMiles can be decent for Star Alliance awards. They offer reasonable-ish prices and no fuel surcharges on awards. Best of all, their mixed-cabin pricing can lead to fantastic first-class award prices. See this post for details. | 1 to 1 (Instant) |
| British Airways Avios | While flights on British Airways itself often incur outrageously high fuel surcharges, many BA partners charge low or no fuel surcharges. Excellent value can often be had in redeeming BA points for short distance flights outside the US. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. | 1 to 1 via Qatar (~1 day) |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | Cathay Pacific has a decent distance based award chart, but they don't allow stopovers longer than 24 hours. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles can be a good option for booking American Airlines flights with a distance based award chart, especially if other OneWorld Alliance miles aren't available. For long distance flights, it is possible to reduce the cost of a premium cabin award by adding on a lower cabin segment. See this post for details. | 1 to 1 (Instant) |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | If you want to fly one of the best business class products in the sky, the best way to snag EVA flights is with their own miles since they release more award space to their own members. One-way business class flights from the US to Taipei cost 75K to 80K miles. Fuel surcharges are very low on these routes. | 1 to 1 (1-2 days) |
| Iberia Avios | On their own flights, Iberia offers low award prices and a very reasonable 25 Euro cancellation fee. Partner awards can offer good value under some circumstances as well, but these are usually nonrefundable. Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Iberia rather than British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Qatar. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. | 1 to 1 via Qatar (~1 day) |
| Qatar Privilege Club Avios | Qatar has reasonable award prices for flying Qatar itself. Points are now transferable 1 to 1 to British Airways (and from there to Aer Lingus or Iberia). It is now also possible to book JetBlue flights with Qatar Avios. | 1 to 1 (~1 day) |
Useful airline transfer partners
| Rewards Program | Best Uses | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|
| Emirates Skywards | The best use of Emirates miles has been to fly Emirates itself. Unfortunately fuel surcharges can be extremely steep. One workaround is to book select routes such as JFK to Milan or Newark to Athens. See: How to find and book Emirates first class awards. | 1000 to 800 (Instant) |
| Etihad Guest | Etihad offers a distance based award chart for flying Etihad and another for its partners. Points may offer good value for expensive but short-distance flights. | 1 to 1 (~1 hour) |
| Finnair Plus+ | Finnair points are now "Avios" and points can be moved to/from other Avios programs. Finnair uses zone based award charts rather than distance based. As a result, Finnair sometimes has better (and sometimes worse) pricing than other Avios programs. | 1 to 1 via Qatar (~1 day) |
| JetBlue | JetBlue points offer the most value when cheap ticket prices are available and when award taxes are high relative to the overall cost of the ticket (more details can be found here). The JetBlue Plus Card and the JetBlue Business Card offer a 10% rebate on awards, so you can get more value by holding one of these cards. | 1 to 1 (Instant) |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | Best use is probably for flights on El Al with no fuel surcharges. Also useful for short AA flights. Qantas offers distance based award charts similar to Cathay Pacific. Both are OneWorld Alliance members. I recommend comparing award prices across both programs before transferring to either. Qantas offers round the world business class awards for only 280,000 points (but with many restrictions) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Use to book Singapore Airlines First Class awards (generally reserved for their own members), Alaska Airlines economy awards, or for Star Alliance awards (including United Airlines). | 1 to 1 (~1 day) |
| Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles | Miles & Smiles offers a number of awesome sweet-spot awards including 7.5K one-way anywhere within the US, even to Hawaii. Many awards cannot be booked online but can be booked via phone or email. See: Turkish Miles & Smiles Complete Guide and Turkish business class sweet spots from the US. | 1 to 1 (12-24 hours) |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | Virgin Atlantic offers a few excellent sweet spot awards. See: Best uses for Virgin Atlantic points (Sweet Spot Spotlight). | 1 to 1 (Instant) |
Other airline transfer partners
| Rewards Program | Best Uses | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|
| AeroMexico ClubPremier | AeroMexico is a SkyTeam partner. Club Premier points can be used to book flights on AeroMexico, SkyTeam alliance members (such as Delta or Korean Air), or on select partner airlines. Unfortunately many have reported that awards are extremely difficult to book through AeroMexico so we do not recommend transferring points to this program. If you want to fly AeroMexico, look to transfer points to another SkyTeam partner (such as Air France) and then book AeroMexico with that program. | 1 to 1 (~6 days) |
| Jet Airways Inter Miles | JetAirways JetPrivilege miles are useful only for a few very specific cases such as certain flights to Hawaii for as low as 15K (30K business) one-way, or to the Caribbean or Central America for as low as 10K (20K business) one-way. Details can be found here. | 1 to 1 (Instant) |
| Malaysia Enrich | Given Malaysia's award chart devaluation in June 2017, We're not aware of any good uses for these miles. | 1 to 1 (1 to 2 days) |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | I'm not aware of any good uses for these miles | 1 to 1 (3-7 days) |
Transfer points to hotel programs
One fantastic option is to transfer points 1 to 2 to Choice Privileges in order to get great value when booking Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Ascend Hotel Collection hotels, Cambria Hotels, and Nordic Choice Hotels. Another great option is to transfer 1 to 1 to Wyndham to book vacation rentals starting at 15,000 points per bedroom per night. See: Wyndham Vacasa – Great Value is Real!
Manage Points
Combine Points Across Cards
If you are the primary account holder with multiple cards, you can combine ThankYou Rewards accounts. When your points are combined, they can then automatically be redeemed at the same value as your best card. If one of your cards is the Strata Premier or Strata Elite, you will be able to transfer points to airline partners even if the points were earned on another card.There are some disadvantages to combining points:
- You lose the ability to pick and choose which points are used when you redeem awards.
- You lose visibility into how many points remain with each card.
Share Points Across Cardholders
Citi generously allows people to transfer ThankYou points to anyone else, for free. There are a couple of “catches” to be aware of:- Shared points expire after 90 days. Make sure you have a specific near-term use in mind before transferring points.
- 100K limit: Each member may share up to 100,000 points per calendar year. Each member may receive up to 100,000 points per calendar year.
- Exception: The Custom Cash card does not have the capability to share points (but you can combine points with other cards that you have). Yes, it's extremely weird that all other Citi ThankYou Rewards cards allow sharing points, but not Custom Cash. We have no idea why this is.
- If you don't have the Strata Premier, Strata Elite, AT&T Access More, or Prestige card (the cards in Citi's lineup that allow full value transfers to partners), you can move your points to a friend who has one of those cards and then they can then transfer the points to an airline or hotel program in order to book high value awards.
- If a friend has airline elite status with one of Citi’s transfer partners with which you want to book an award, you may be better off transferring points to your friend, who can then transfer the points to the airline partner and book the award for you (to get free award changes, for example).
How to Keep Points Alive
There are several situations in which you may have Citi ThankYou Rewards points that will expire:- Points earned by a credit card account expire 60 days after cancelling that account.
- Points transferred to your account expire after 90 days.
- Points earned from some older and no longer available credit cards expire in a set amount of time after points were earned (e.g., 3 or 5 years after December 31 of the year in which the points were earned).
- Points earned from some credit cards expire if your credit card account has no purchase activity in 18 months.
- Points earned from Citibank banking products expire 3 years after December 31 of the year in which the points were earned.
Credit card points: how to keep points alive
With most credit card points (except for some older credit cards, which are no longer available), points remain alive until you cancel the card from which they were earned. Once you cancel the card, points expire after 60 days.Combining accounts does not solve the problem. When you combine multiple ThankYou accounts, it’s natural to assume that as long as you keep any ThankYou Rewards credit card open, your points will be safe. That’s simply not the case. Citi keeps track of where each ThankYou point came from. If you cancel a card, the points earned on that card expire after 60 days. Period. They are not known to reinstate points.
The best way to preserve your ThankYou points is to keep your credit card account alive. If you don’t want an annual fee, then call to downgrade to a no-fee ThankYou card. There is a side benefit to this approach, too: Your no-fee card may be eligible for occasional lucrative retention offers.
Bank product points: how to keep points alive
Points earned from banking products (such as checking accounts) expire 3 years after December 31 of the year in which the points were earned. Fortunately, when redeeming points combined across multiple accounts, Citi automatically uses first whichever points have the most recent expiration date. So, in general, your banking product points (which eventually expire) will be used first if you have combined accounts.Card Lifecycle
How to meet minimum spend requirements
Once you are approved for a Citi card, you generally have three months to meet the required spend in order to get the welcome bonus. If your usual spending isn’t enough, consider using the Plastiq bill pay service to use your card to pay bills that can’t usually be paid by credit card (rent, mortgage, contractors, etc.). Note that Mastercards, like the Strata Elite card, can be used to pay a greater range of payees than Visa or Amex cards. Click here to find many more options for increasing credit card spend.
Keep, cancel, or product change?
Is this card worth keeping in the long run? The main reason to keep this card around long-term is as a way to transfer points to airline and programs. If you want to transfer Thank You points to partners, you’ll need the Strata Premier or Strata Elite. If you don’t need that capability for a while, consider downgrading to a no-fee ThankYou card.
