Virgin Atlantic is a 1:1 transfer partner
of ThankYou Points, Ultimate Rewards, and Membership Rewards plus Virgin Atlantic issues an American credit card with a «90,000 mile» sign up bonus.
One benefit that might be overlooked is the ability to cash out huge amounts
of thankyou points without getting Citi's absurd 1099.
On top
of ThankYou ® for everyday purchases, new Citi Prestige ® cardholders have the ability to earn a 50,000 point bonus.
The one downside in our opinion is the relatively limited value
of ThankYou ® Points, the rewards program.
Citi's policy says: «The valuation
of ThankYou Point redemptions for Form 1099 - MISC tax reporting purposes will be at Citibank's sole discretion.»
You are solely responsible for any personal tax liability arising out of the redemption
of ThankYou Points.»
This is a first in the history
of ThankYou Rewards unless you count transferring to Hilton HHonors, which you've been able to do for a few years now but which no one does since Hilton took a machete to their loyalty program a while back, effectively sending the message to customers not to even think about showing their face around HHonors again if they know what's good for them.
The valuation
of ThankYou Point redemptions for Form 1099 - MISC tax reporting purposes will be at Citibank's sole discretion.
The big news coming out
of ThankYou land over the last few months is the addition of nine airline partners, all of which offer 1 - to - 1 transfers from ThankYou Rewards.
And, though Citi does boast a wide variety of redemption options on its rewards portal — including a very large selection of merchandise and the ability to directly redeem rewards points for Amazon.com merchandise — we don't think that this is a wise use
of ThankYou points.
It's always good to have additional choices in how points can be redeemed, and experienced travel hackers could squeeze a lot of value out
of their ThankYou Points by being strategic about which partners they're transferring to.
Generally, the Nerds favor the Ultimate Rewards travel transfer program over
that of ThankYou Rewards.
Transferring to partners can be done easily online or over the phone and there's no fee involved, but keep in mind the minimum number
of ThankYou Points you can transfer is 1,000.
Certain versions
of ThankYou points, including the ones offered with this card, can now be transferred to airline partners at a 1:1 ratio, which gives you more options for aspirational travel.
The Citi Prestige ® Card could be that card if you want a card with good earning and great benefits (below) as long as you can get good value out
of ThankYou Points (above.)
Singapore miles are also a transfer partner
of ThankYou Points.
Considering that this ticket would normally cost thousands of dollars, it's not a bad use
of ThankYou points, even when you consider the $ 221 worth of taxes and fuel surcharges that you'd have to pay.
And based on TPG's most recent valuation
of ThankYou points at 1.6 cents apiece, you can get $ 1,200 in value by transferring the points for potentially even greater redemptions to any of the 15 partners in the ThankYou program, which includes 13 airlines (like Singapore, Air France / KLM, Cathay Pacific and JetBlue), as well as the Hilton Honors hotel chain and Sears Shop Your Way.
In addition to the loss of Admirals Club access, Citi is reducing the value
of ThankYou points redeemed for flights, discontinuing the Complimentary Golf benefit, and reducing the value (in some cases substantially) of the 4th Night Free hotel benefit.
That essentially brings the value
of ThankYou points to 1.33 cents apiece when redeemed for 4th night stays.
With the Citi Prestige card, I get 1.6 cents value out
of every ThankYou Point when I book an American Airlines or US Airways fare.
I didn't exactly have plans to blow a whole stash
of ThankYou points between now and April 1, I figured I could easily wait a week to see just what, if anything, would be announced.
The best use
of ThankYou Points is to purchase American Airlines tickets with other airlines right behind.
And if you have a Prestige card, every one
of those ThankYou points is worth 1.6 cents in American airfare.
One of the benefits
of ThankYou points is that you can combine your own points from different account and you can also transfer them to other people.
Quite frankly, there's a lot
of ThankYou points out there.
The American Airlines cards were notorious for churning, and some people will constantly switch between different versions
of the ThankYou cards after the first year is up on each one.
With this addition, the number
of ThankYou points affiliated reward programs increases to 13 (12 Airline and 1 Hotel reward program)
If I happen to be in Southeast Asia, have plenty
of ThankYou Points to burn, and want to a fun experience and a stop in Europe... then yes, absolutely.
That would be too rich for my blood, but if you are a determined collector
of ThankYou points, then you might want to go for that.
A unique quality
of the ThankYou program is that you can exchange share your points with anybody!
Citi just upped the sign - up bonus on the Citi Prestige ® Card to 75,000 after spending $ 7,500 and is offering a 50,000 point sign - up bonuses for the Citi ® ThankYou ® Premier Card after you spend $ 4,000 in the first 3 months, so this is a perfect time to quickly earn a lot
of ThankYou Points.
The Citi Prestige Card is part
of the ThankYou rewards program.
but one of my favourite uses
of ThankYou points has been to spend them directly on American Airlines fares.
Having said all of that, and because there are some good redemptions to be had courtesy of the LifeMiles award chart, that's not enough for me to completely rule out a transfer
of ThankYou points.
I'm a hybrid user
of ThankYou points in that I have a 50:50 split in how I use my balance (roughly speaking)-- I like to use my points for transfers to partners and for reducing my outlay on American Airlines flights.
There are several great uses
of ThankYou point.
That brings the value
of your ThankYou points to 1.7 cents per point, which is decent but not spectacular.
Not only will you receive a generous amount
of ThankYou points after signing up, but you will have the option to use your points on travel or on things like gift cards or cash.
The value
of your ThankYou points is determined by what you're using them for.
As will all sign - up bonuses these can vary from month to month but, if you're hoping for a quick influx
of ThankYou points this could be a good place to start.
The card is part
of the ThankYou Rewards family, and the points are easy to accumulate and redeem.
but you have dining, entertainment, travel and gas all covered so there are a lot of opportunities to earn a lot
of ThankYou points.
Many times this can far exceed that standard one cent per point value
of ThankYou points.
Beyond redeeming points, each ThankYou Rewards card earns points differently, so the value
of your ThankYou points will depend, in part, on how you earn them.
Premier and Prestige ThankYou cardholders may want to add the Preferred card to their arsenal as an additional source
of ThankYou points.
In recent years, the value
of ThankYou Points has actually increased.
That means you'll get 1.6 cents per point for American and 1.33 cents per point for other carriers, which is the biggest bonus Citi offers on
any of its ThankYou cards.
As part
of the ThankYou program, you can transfer points to 12 different carriers.
With this addition, the number
of ThankYou points affiliated reward programs increases to 13 (12 Airline and 1 Hotel reward program) Note that you must have Citi ThankYou Premier card or Citi Prestige Card to have the ability to transfer to these frequent...