Update 1/21/25: Flying Blue has advised that this appears to have been some kind of glitch because there shouldn’t have been any change from the usual 1:1 transfer ratio. Sure enough, Citi has now fixed things on their end and it’s back to normal.
~
Citi has launched a new transfer ratio from ThankYou Rewards to Air France / KLM Flying Blue. While we’ve seen Citi offer a temporary 25% transfer bonus to Flying Blue many times before, what’s notable here is that there is no temporary language, nor is there any expiration date listed for the offer. It certainly looks like a long-term change. We’ve reached out to Flying Blue for comment and will update this post if and when we hear back. (H/T: Award Wallet)
As seen in the screen shot above, the Citi ThankYou transfer partners page indicates that the transfer ratio from Citi to Air France / KLM Flying Blue is 1,000 points = 1,250 Flying Blue miles.
Unlike past transfer bonuses, this new ratio doesn’t display any promo language. Here’s an example of a past promotional transfer bonus. As you can see, the 1,250 miles are differentiated with a different color and are noted as being a “Promo” rate. There’s also “limited time offer” language under the Flying Blue info. None of what you see below appears on the page today (which is shown above).
We’ve reached out to Flying Blue for comment and will update this post if we’re able to confirm whether this is intended to be a long-term change.
In the meantime, we’ve checked other transferable currencies and don’t see any other transfer ratio changes.
At this point, we don’t know whether this will be a long-term change. It’s certainly possible that this is only going to be a temporary transfer bonus and Citi simply neglected to include the relevant transfer bonus language. On the other hand, perhaps this plays into why we recently saw Flying Blue increase award rates. Those increases would hurt a lot less for those with Citi ThankYou points if this ratio sticks around.
We’re adding this to our Current Point Transfer Bonuses page for now.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
They have 25% bonus quite often anyway, no big deal.
I wouldn’t call a Citi FB transfer bonus “quite often”, that being said that error was probably as a result of a possible upcoming bonus.
July 2024: 25%
June 2023: 25%
May 2022: 25%
April 2021: 25%
Thats rediculous. I’ll wait
What was the purpose of calling the bank here?
To limit opportunities for loyal subscribers and break the #1 rule in the name of generating revenue for themselves from an ongoing story. Or as they phrase it, to provide our readers with the most updated & accurate information possible.
I got in on the glitch by transferring points earlier today at the higher ratio. Which I guess made up for the devaluation.
OK now Flying Blue can tell us that last week’s price increase was also a glitch and prices are restored to originals, please 🙂
“What crazy thing did . . . ” 🙂
I’m 99.9% certain this is a temporary bonus poorly coded. Let’s be realistic. You guys do this for a living no?
Flying Blue has almost TRIPLED taxes! Please investigate this. They devalued the miles and promised “greater saver award” availability which they did, but now when I try to use my FB miles the taxes have tripled from $385 to almost $900. I have checked flights back and forth between US and France both ways and it’s across the board on all cities, is this how Flying Blue will generate hidden revenue after the promise of better award availability after the devaluation? Outrageous!
I’m not seeing that. I just looked up a specific route I’ve been eyeing. Taxes are still the $246.30 that they previously were on this route. Then I just looked up a few more — still about $236 from the US to Paris nonstop.
I do see taxes in the $380 to $400 range departing France, but that higher rate is because of the French departure taxes. I still see taxes & fees around $300 departing other European countries (give or take depending on departure taxes of the country you depart).
Where are you seeing taxes of $900? Are you sure you’re not looking at a total for multiple passengers and/or for travel on Virgin Atlantic / departing the UK (where you’ll always have to deal with the UK air passenger duty)?
Ah yes this must be some sort of glitch, in Business Class from CDG – LAX the taxes in the app are $378, but when I use the website on Safari/Chrome it lists it as $1017.64. hopefully they will get that worked out.
Weird. I’m using Chrome on desktop and seeing correct taxes and all the routes I tried, though I didn’t check that specific route.
Their app shows July 31 CDG-LAX as 177,500 miles and $378 taxes at 10.30am, the Safari website shows (cache cleared) 133,100 miles and $1017.64, this is a typical discrepancy I’ve seen for years with FB.
Mater says, “Dad gum!”