Last week we talked about how to earn Citi ThankYou Rewards, but now we’d like to discuss some of the best (and worst) ways you can use your Citi ThankYou Rewards.
Catch last week’s episode about accumulating Citi ThankYou Rewards here.
10 Best and 5 Worst uses of ThankYou Rewards
Mailbag
(01:02) – In a recent podcast Greg stated that United hadn’t before offered discounted business class awards to elites. One listener writes in with a correction that Platinum and 1K have had expanded access to saver awards in business class.
Card News
(03:50) – How to evaluate credit card welcome bonus offers
Compare all the best credit card sign up offers here.
Main Event: 10 Best and 5 Worst uses of ThankYou Rewards
(11:41) – Counting down the best uses of ThankYou Rewards from least favorite to most favorite…
Learn more about the Citi Premier card here.
(13:24) – 10. Transfer to Wyndham to book Vacasa, Cottages, etc.
(15:14) – 9. Transfer to Emirates. Book Emirates 1st class for 102K (JFK to Milan, or Newark to Athens)
Learn how to find and book Emirates first class awards here.
(17:03) – 8.Transfer to Turkish to book 10K one-way to/from Hawaii
(17:56) – 7.Virgin: fly AF/KLM Business class to Europe starting at 48,500; also intra-Europe as low as 4K
(19:39) – 6.Transfer to Avianca LifeMiles to book business class to Europe for 70K without surcharges (LifeMiles+)
(21:55) – 5.Transfer to Choice 1 to 2. Book Nordic hotels, Japan, Preferred, etc.
(24:03) – 4.Transfer to Leaders Club. Book Leading Hotels of the World for 1.6cpp
(25:08) – 3.Transfer to Qatar Avios. Book Qatar QSuites for 70K
Learn more about finding award space for Qatar QSuites here.
(27:14) – 2.Transfer to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands. One-way business class flights from the US to Taipei cost 75K to 80K miles
(30:11) – 1.Transfer to Qatar Avios then to Iberia. Book Iberia biz class from east coast to Spain for 34K off-peak or 50K peak
(33:26) – BEST USE: Transfer to Flying Blue. Book Air France/KLM biz class to Europe for 50K
Learn more about viewing the Flying Blue award calendar here.
(36:15) – Find out about current point transfer bonuses here.
(40:02) – WORST 5: Counting down from best of the worst to worst of the worst
(40:18) – 5.Buy gift cards
(41:30) – 4.Book travel through Citi
(43:30) – 3. Transfer to AeroMexico (or transfer to ANY program to book low-value award)
(44:43) – 2. Pay with Points (0.8 cpp value)
(46:28) – 1. Shop with Points (usually: 0.8 cpp value)
Question of the week
(49:22) – Do you have tips about rental car programs and how to maximize value with car rental rewards?
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Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
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If AA becomes a transfer partner with Citi TY points, where would this rank?
#1, #0, or best? 😉
It may be hard to earn TYP, but they have had a massive amount of transfer bonuses this year.
A small correction to something Nick said. He mentioned that Flying Blue award tickets had modest surcharges, “less than $250.” They can definitely be more than that! My latest was $321. Still better than BA & VS awards (on their metal).
One lesser known rental car trick: booking though Costco Travel gives you an additional driver for free and their prices are often competitive (though not always). It can be handy when traveling as a couple.
Urggghh. Guys you’re killing me. For #2 Eva, you mention flying from NA to Taipei for 75/80k, BUT fail to mention that you can go onward in SE Asia for the same cost. Plus those intra asia segments have great availability.